E.J. Maher, A personal introduction: Democratic candidate state representative in 89th district (Cheshire, Bethany, Prospect)

E.J. Maher

By E.J. Maher
Democratic candidate for State Representative
of the 89th district (Cheshire, Prospect, Bethany)

I am 40 years young and I am a lifetime Connecticut resident. I grew up in Stratford, went to high school in Milford and have lived in many of the surrounding towns since graduating from New York University in 2004.

I have been married to my beautiful wife Sandy for 13 years and we have lived in Bethany since 2013 with three incredible young ladies we are proud to call our daughters. I have been a firefighter for the City of Norwalk for over 10 years. Prior to that I was the production controller for an aerospace component manufacturer in New Haven.

​After attending NYU, I worked in film production and for an Internet start up. I also have a deep understanding of the construction business having worked in various capacities on numerous construction projects. I have also worked in the retail and food service industries.  

I formerly sat on the Cable Television Advisory Council for the City of New Haven and I am a former Vice-President of the New Haven Chapter of the CT Young Democrats. I am currently serving in my elected position as a member of the Bethany Community School Board of Education. I also serve as Bethany’s representative to the ACES Regional Governing Board.

I have always strived to be of service to my community. Running for State Representative of the 89th district is an opportunity to expand the reach of that service. To be able to serve the communities of Bethany, Cheshire and Prospect at the state level will be a privilege that I will not take for granted. 

The status quo in Hartford isn’t going to cut it anymore. For far too long our problems been have ignored. What’s more, we have failed our most vulnerable, underserved citizens and communities. The COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic have cemented my resolve to ensure that healthcare is within reach of every single resident of my community and in the State of Connecticut. 

The education of our children needs to be equitable and rigorous for all students, regardless of where they live or what personal obstacles they may have to overcome to learn and thrive. I further believe that our vocational preparation is failing to reach the students that need it the most. We need a pipeline to apprenticeship for non-college bound young people.

Vocational training should be accessible to any individual and we must guarantee that a full week of work will provide the income necessary to support a family. I will fight to ensure all workers, male, female, LBGTQ and minorities are treated equally and alike and that they receive a living wage for their honest time and labor. We must ensure businesses pay their fair share of taxes. We also need to examine the tax-exempt entities in this state to ensure compliance with current laws while reexamining existing laws to ensure the spirit and intent of tax exemption is not being at best misinterpreted or at worst outright abused. 

We need strong unions and easy access to union representation for all workers.

Investing now in our state’s infrastructure, our roads, bridges, historical buildings and tourist attractions can provide good paying jobs now to those who need them most while recovering from the losses caused by measures taken to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Our residents and our businesses will need help to recover from the COVID 19 pandemic, I want to make sure state resources are distributed fairly while ensuring there is no abuse.

I believe we can protect our state’s resident’s 2nd amendment rights while doing more to keep guns out of the hands of those who would seek to do harm with them. 

Finally, I believe indisputably that black lives do matter. I steadfastly and unequivocally support our public safety officers and the good work they do every day, often without thanks, but we can no longer tolerate the undeniably disproportionate impact of law enforcement on communities and citizens of color. Any complaint of abuse at the hands of law enforcement needs to be examined and recorded by an independent panel assembled for this sole purpose and any death within police custody must be investigated and prosecuted at the federal level as many national leaders have demanded. For far too long we have ignored the impact of years of racism. I will fight for racial equality and help bring an end systemic racism. 

We have so much good work to do in Hartford in the coming months and years. We must meaningfully engage the groups and communities that we will be working for; Black, Latino, Women, LGBTQ and those living in poverty to identify short and long term goals and to immediately implement the best strategies and plans to meaningfully and quantifiably move toward a better future for all of Connecticut’s residents. From the moment the next class of senators and state representatives are sworn in next year I will work hard to bring equality to all Connecticut residents and to ensure that no one is held down again while they are begging to breathe. We cannot elect leaders anymore who show up and list the reasons why we cannot do all of these things. We must show up to fight for progress that has heretofore stalled without making any more excuses.

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