Fourth generation Bethel resident Will Duff believes broad perspectives gained as a local political leader, tech boom innovator, and Main Street business operator will serve him and Connecticut's Second Assembly District constituents well, if he is elected this month to fill a seat vacated by Representative Dan Carter. The Second District encompasses Bethel, parts of Redding and Danbury, as well as several western neighborhoods in the Dodgingtown section of Newtown.

Mr Duff sat down October 11 with The Newtown Bee to discuss his ideas and plans if he is ultimately successful on Election Day. He is being challenged for the seat by fellow Bethel resident Raghib Allie-Brennan.

According to his biography, Mr Duff was elected to Bethel's Board of Tax Review while still in college. Two years later he was nominated to serve as a town selectman, and more recently he served on the Board of Education.

He acquired a reputation of being true fiscal conservative while serving on these boards, the biography states, and as a selectman he helped affect the first tax freeze for property owners, and co-authored the Bethel Ethics Code.

For ten years, Mr Duff was a member of Fairfield County Sheriff Department and he currently serves Bethel as a constable, which provided him familiarity with the needs and challenges of law enforcement professionals. His subsequent work in the field of information technology provided Mr Duff insight he believes will help him advocate for the state and district residents in today's technology-based economy.

Working behind the scenes heading Bethel's Republican Town Committee has put him in proximity to many current state leaders in Hartford. Having worked with many Bethel residents appealing property tax assessments, and serving as co-owner of a family mailing business in downtown, Mr Duff believes he has acquired a frontline understanding of the district's diverse population.

The Republican candidate additionally brings a unique perspective on the subject of health care. Having suffered with cystic fibrosis since birth, he survived and is in what he describes as "the best health ever," following a double lung transplant several years ago.

"This has been something I've wanted to do for awhile," Mr Duff said. "I want to live here in Connecticut and I'm seeing how the Democrats in Hartford are letting things spin out of control as far as spending goes, leaving us all in a pretty dismal financial situation."

He said because of the current financial crisis, the state is doubling down overtaxing residents and maintaining a climate that is costly and unfriendly to incoming and existing businesses working to grow and thrive here.

"The flight of businesses from Connecticut is also taking smart, high-earning taxpayers with them," he said. "And we're also losing young people who go off to college, start families, and then can't afford to come back to live here."

Mr Duff started becoming increasingly concerned with matters in Hartford when the financial crisis hit the nation. And instead of cutting spending and proactively working to reduce costly state jobs, "the governor started playing around with HUSKY insurance, basically tossing off 20,000 families - middle class working families lost their insurance to shore up the state budget."

"At the same time he worked to protect state unions and the high-paying jobs of his political appointees," Mr Duff said. "While more recently he has had to face cutting state jobs, what has been most concerning is his administration's willingness to go after soft targets first when he's looking to reduce spending - mental health programs, aid to hospitals, and cutting insurance assistance for the working poor."

Mr Duff's concerns about escalating reductions, or failure to enhance mental health support relate to his position on Connecticut's recent enactment of some of the most restrictive firearms laws in the state. He said he was a gun owner at one time, but no longer.

So when it comes to preventing incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, Mr Duff believes that better systems to support state residents suffering with mental health issues may be more effective at identifying and intervening when violent tendencies present.

"You can take away all the AR-15s in the world, but if someone is hell bent on hurting someone else, or themselves, they will find other ways do it," he said. "We had a tragic incident in Bethel, where an individual known to have a history of mental illness set his house on fire to take his own life. But we could have lost several firefighters in the process - there was no concern about that."

Mr Duff acknowledged that sustaining and increasing mental health programming, as well as supports for youth, education, senior services and other initiatives, is expensive, and he wants to be part of the team helping the state recruit, retain, and grow businesses as a way to generate the level of revenue needed to fund these programs.

He supports providing select tax abatements, particularly for high tech manufacturing, and considering eliminating or reducing sales tax on the products state manufacturers have to charge customers, particularly on multimillion-dollar products from helicopters to medical robotic equipment.

"I know it reduces revenue, but ever so slightly," he said. "And we know we have to reduce on the spending side, as well. But if we want to keep businesses in the state, we need to create a more friendly environment to keep revenues from those businesses flowing."

Ultimately, Mr Duff said his diverse life experience - including elected or appointed government service in both municipal and educational leadership, his work in law enforcement, and his practical knowledge gained in both the complex world of high tech and running a storefront family enterprise in his hometown - adds up to a win for constituents who choose to support his Second District statehouse bid on election day.

Learn more about the GOP candidate at willduff2016.com or on his Facebook page.