Lavielle nominated unanimously by Republicans for third term as 143rd rep

WILTON, Conn. — State Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-Wilton) received the unanimous endorsement Monday from Republican delegates at Wilton’s Comstock Community Center to continue to represent the 143^rd Assembly district, which comprises most of Wilton, the eastern section of Norwalk, and the western part of Westport.

Currently serving her second term in the state House of Representatives, Lavielle is the House Republican leader of the General Assembly’s Commerce Committee and a member of the Appropriations, Education, and Higher Education committees. She also is the House Republican leader of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.

In accepting the nomination, Lavielle said her campaign committee had completed its fundraising for the 2014 election cycle. Several weeks before the convention, the Lavielle campaign had already raised the number and amount of contributions required to apply for a grant from the Connecticut Citizens’ Election Fund.

As a member of the House Republican caucus’ budget team, Lavielle has consistently proposed fully vetted budget alternatives that would require state government to operate more cost-effectively and efficiently and reduce the tax pressure on families, businesses, and municipalities, according to a press release from Lavielle. She said she has worked “diligently” to eliminate tax and regulatory barriers to business growth and job expansion, improve mass transit safety and service, strengthen the state’s K-12 and higher education systems, preserve open space, and obtain mandate relief for schools and municipalities. She has been recognized with numerous awards for her legislative work on behalf of the environment, children, the business community, and education, the release said.

“People throughout the state fear that neither they nor their children can have a future in Connecticut,” she said in her acceptance speech, according to the release. “They worry about jobs, about high taxes, about the costs of higher education, and about retirement. Connecticut’s fall to the bottom of so many nationwide rankings, along with the decline of its education system and infrastructure, is all the more distressing because our state is endowed with enormous potential. I am determined to continue fighting to bring Connecticut — as a place to live, work, raise a family, and retire — back to the top where it surely belongs.”

“I especially want to note how much I appreciate Gail’s ability to understand the issues of both the city of Norwalk and the two suburban towns of Wilton and Westport,” said Doug Hempstead, Norwalk’s Common Council President. “Her ability to represent all three communities equally well is enormously impressive and makes her a natural fit for the 143^rd district.”

“Gail has adopted Norwalk, and Norwalk has adopted Gail,” said Olga Arteaga of Norwalk, who nominated Lavielle at the convention. “She has been instrumental in calling attention to the huge inequity in Norwalk’s state education funding and in taking steps in Hartford to change it. My late husband, who owned a small business, always appreciated her understanding of business and financial issues, and her determination and hard work in helping businesses succeed. She has made an indelible mark on our district and on our whole City, because people trust her to take an unbiased approach to issues, to listen to and respect their points of view, and to be there for them always when they need help. Her constituents are far more important to her than politics. We couldn’t ask for a more dedicated and effective representative.”

Lavielle worked for more than 25 years in finance, marketing, and communications, holding senior executive leadership positions with Fortune 500 corporations. These included chief executive officer of an Interpublic Group subsidiary in Europe and senior vice president of Suez Environment. She has served on the Wilton Board of Finance and the Wilton Energy Commission, as well as on two state commissions in the transportation and education areas. She also taught upper-level courses to undergraduates at UConn.

Active in many community organizations, she is a member of the boards of the Norwalk Senior Center and the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County, and the advisory boards of Wilton Go Green, ITN Coastal, and Norwalk Hospital. She has also served on the board of the Girl Scouts of Southwest Fairfield County and the Stamford Symphony Chairman’s Council, and has been a delegate to the Yale Assembly.

She holds an MA in French from Yale, a BA in English from Cornell, and an MBA in finance from UConn, and is the author of a book on opera. She and her husband Jean-Pierre live in Wilton.