NORWALK, Conn. – Republican Bill Dunne, a member of the Norwalk Planning Commission and a 24-year resident of Norwalk, announced Saturday his candidacy to challenge incumbent Democrat Bob Duff to represent the 25th Connecticut Senatorial District in the Nov. 4 elections.
The district encompasses all of Norwalk and most of Darien.
“Darien and Norwalk deserve much better representation in the State Senate than we’ve been getting,” Dunne said in a press release sent Saturday to NancyOnNorwalk. “Bob Duff, the incumbent senator, has been enabling Hartford to treat taxpayers in this district like an ATM to pay for hugely expensive and wasteful projects elsewhere in the state. This has to stop.”
Dunne also cited what he called the “very alarming downward slide of Connecticut’s economy and fiscal health. This has put our state at or near the bottom of all 50 states in almost all important fiscal measures. It’s gotten so bad that a recent Gallup Poll indicates that half of Connecticut residents would like to move away from our state. Mr. Duff bears a substantial share of the responsibility for that, most notably by casting the deciding vote in 2011 for the largest increases in taxes and fees in Connecticut’s history.
“Darien and Norwalk are wonderful places,” Dunne said. “Each has very distinct charms and histories, and both deserve to have their local concerns vigorously represented in Hartford. That’s not what has been happening, and we have suffered as a result. I think the voters of Darien and Norwalk will agree that the process of reversing the downward slide can’t begin too soon.”
Reached for comment Saturday night, Duff said, “Democracy is best served when voters have a choice. America is a great country where anyone can run for office.”
Dunne was appointed to the Planning Commission in fall 2013 to fill the vacant seat of the late Don Nelson, who died in 2012. The appointment caused a small controversy because of Democratic opposition after Dunne’s personal Facebook posts came to light in a video posted online. The Facebook posts and other writings indicated that he does not believe in the theory of global climate change, and slammed President Obama. Some of the Facebook posts were subsequently removed. The planned August vote was postponed for a month.
Prior to his current service on the Planning Commission, Dunne served on the Norwalk Fair Rent Commission.
He is a graduate of Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in economics; a retiree of the IBM Corp. where he worked in media relations and executive communications; and for the past 20 years has been running an executive-communications consultancy in Norwalk. He and his wife, Midge, have two grown children and two grandchildren.
Dunne is the second person to announce a challenge to the five-term incumbent. A Democratic newcomer, Israel Navarro, announced earlier this spring he would make a bid for the nomination.
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