You know his name. He’s been representing the district for decades. But here’s what you may not know about Kevin Ryan: it doesn’t matter who the person is that calls; on the tax rolls or not, registered voter or not, Democrat or Republican, if “someone calls and needs something, I answer. Always.”
“And you would be surprised how many folks call us,” he said in a recent interview.
Ryan, who is the incumbent running for the 139th district seat was first elected in 1992. He lives in Oakdale, and is a professor at the University of New Haven.
A economically speaking, albeit not as quickly as he’d like, there is “plenty left to do.” And he wants your vote so he can “keep on working for the people of Montville.”
And he said one of his biggest priorities is a continued focus on heath care.
“Looking at the cost of health care, it’s almost a cliché but access to quality, affordable health care is so important. I’m looking to seeing come to fruition the enactment in 2014 of the affordable health care act,” he said.
And he said there are far too many who cannot afford to make mortgage payments and cover high medical costs.
“People losing their jobs even as they’re worrying about how they’ll cover their health care costs is not acceptable. Let’s take care of health care so it’s one less thing to worry about. We cannot have people making a choice between medication and mortgage payments.”
But Ryan said he recognizes that the economy, for most voters, is “the main issue.”
Why vote for him?
“A number of reason,” he said. From his experience with running a family business, his experience as an educator and being in the health field, he said he will continue to “bring a lot to the General Assembly.”
What he’s working on:
Job creation and retention: He pointed to the recent announcement of new jobs at the Thomas G. Faira Company located in Uncasville.
Education: He said he wants to work more closely with community colleges to help retrain people: “There are certain jobs that cannot be filled because employers cannot find that skilled labor.”
Accessibility and history
“I do make myself very accessible. If someone has an issue with state government, we always make a very good faith effort to help,” he said.
And he knows the region and his district, he said: “I’ve been here for 52 years.”
