Conley and Gauthier differ on police bill and marijuana, find other common ground in debate
"I have been, as your representative, a champion of health care rights, and a champion of education, getting funds from
Twice in the debate, Conley pointed to delivering
Gauthier said in her opening statement, "As a millennial trying to start a life in
Gauthier said if elected, her first priority would be reducing
Her second priority would be bringing innovative businesses into
Conley said her top two priorities would be moving online gaming forward and increasing accessibility to health care. But she noted it was hard to narrow her priorities down to two, that she was working on 30 bills when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the
Conley defended her vote on the controversial police accountability bill over the summer, saying it "does a lot of great things that police departments across the state approve of," such as
"The state does require many professions to be licensed and held accountable, and that includes doctors, nurses, teachers and many others," Conley said.
Gauthier criticized the
The first session did address telehealth, which both Conley and Gauthier support expanding.
They also both support increasing state investment in tourism marketing, expanding the Connecticut Bottle Bill to include nips bottles, and early voting and no-excuse absentee voting. Gauthier said she would "encourage some provisions being changed" on early voting and no-excuse absentee voting bills, though, to ensure elections are secure.
Both are advocates of the Citizens' Election Program, which allows for state funding of campaigns. But Gauthier would like to see some reforms, such as allowing ranked choice voting and randomized ballot orders, and providing benefits to minor-party candidates.
On the topic of tolls, Gauthier called tolls a "regressive tax" and said we need a different plan than tolls on tractor-trailers, which Conley has supported, as that has "already failed in courts."
Pointing to the half a billion dollars needed to repair the
The candidates differed on the legalization of recreational marijuana. Gauthier said she doesn't support widespread legalization, primarily for health and safety reasons but also because she's not sure how realistic revenue projections would be. She also said she's not willing to risk losing federal defense contracts or employees.
Conley said she supports legalizing recreational marijuana for those 21 and older, saying people are using marijuana and the state needs to regulate that, and "the state could certainly use the revenue."
She said the
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