Marty Foncello is the current Republican State Representative for the 107th district, currently campaigning for re-election. District 107 covers Brookfield and parts of Bethel and Newtown. Foncello is also endorsed by the Independent Party.

Foncello, a husband and father of one, has served as State Representative since 2023, but has held many titles over the years.

He served as the first selectman of Brookfield from 1999 to 2003, and also served in the US Army for 28 years between the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard.

Foncello said he was Brookfield’s first selectman when 9/11 happened and got called into active duty, meaning that he served as both first selectman and a United States Army officer for a period of six months. After leaving his role as first selectman, Foncello joined the then-newly formed Department of Homeland Security, which he retired from in June of 2022.

Much like when he ran for re-election two years ago, Foncello said his biggest concern is affordability.

“We’re here to make sure that Connecticut is affordable for everybody — young people, old people, and businesses,” Foncello said. “This way, people can live their entire lives in Connecticut and afford to live them here.”

One way this can be done, Foncello said, is to reduce or remove taxes. Foncello said that because he is a member of the House’s Appropriations Committee, looking to cut back and trim spending is incredibly important to him. He said the committee’s work has its members review budgets presented by different entities and find ways for them to save money.

“It’s a matter of being a good shepherd of the people’s money,” Foncello said.

Beyond keeping Connecticut affordable, Foncello said he wants to keep residents safe and support police and other first responders. He also said he wants to support schools, along with businesses small and large, because Connecticut needs both.

“[Businesses], small and large, provide goods and services and jobs, which we need. And it gives people a place to spend their money, too,” Foncello said.

Other issues that are important to Foncello include taxes, utility costs, and food expenses.

“I always say, we want to provide the best possible service at the best possible price for the people,” Foncello said.

Another important topic to Foncello is local control of government. He said people do not need mandates from Hartford dictating how towns should operate.

“People in the towns know their town the best, so they should decide how the town develops,” Foncello said. “Who are people 60 miles away in Hartford to say the way a town should develop?”

Foncello also wants to make sure schools get sufficient funding. He said a big topic right now is educational cost sharing (ECS), which is the money that goes back to the towns for the schools.

Foncello said he is all for being fair, and believes the money needs to “come back fairly to be distributed fairly amongst the towns.

“So as you would think, the bigger cities with more school kids … would qualify for more money than a small town, but when you look at the whole universe and say, ‘Let’s group the small towns together and see what that looks like,’ they should get fair, similar amounts depending on the size of their communities,” Foncello explained.

Whenever those numbers do not look fair, Foncello said they need to get them back in line and make sure everything is balanced. He added that the state representatives receive comments from first selectmen, mayors, and superintendents of schools to make sure they get the appropriate funding that they need.

Fairness, in general, is important to Foncello. He is also on the Government Administration and Elections Committee, and said fair elections have been a cause of concern for many people. More than anything else, Foncello said they just want the process to be fair.

“The thing that I recommend, because I hear it from a lot of people … is I want to see a review done,” Foncello said. “I want the people at the higher level … to sit down together and say, ‘Let’s take a look at the process here for elections and make sure that’s being conducted fairly.’”

If they were to find holes and weaknesses through their research, then they should be able to determine the necessary solutions and plug those holes, according to Foncello. He said that, once they have done that, everyone from all parties can shake hands, say they have a job well done, and no one can complain the day after Election Day that it was run poorly.

Foncello said that he reaches out to people and that they reach back out to him on a number of topics. However, Foncello noted that there are some issues that he, as a state representative, does not have control over; rather, it would be something that should be handled at the town level.

He said someone told him about stop lines not being painted on their roads and asked what he was going to do about it. Foncello responded that there is nothing he can do about it if it is on the town’s road.

If it is on a state road, like US-6 or Route-25, then Foncello said he can go to the state Department of Transportation and ask, “How about fixing this intersection?” However, Foncello said he and the other state representatives are there to literally be the representative of those people at the state level.

“As I say, you don’t always get the answers that they want, but we try,” Foncello said. “We each get one vote … we don’t have magic wands to make things happen, but what we do is work with other people within your party and the other party to do what’s best for the people in the community.”

In that sense, Foncello said it is less about what he is doing differently compared to his last term, so much as it is continuing what he has already been doing.

“The questions, the issues will be different,” Foncello said. “The issues will require some creative thinking … but we get back to them, and keep people in the know.”

If people have specific topics they want their state representatives to look at, Foncello encouraged them to tell them shortly after the election is over but before January 1. This is the one to two month period in between terms when Foncello said they tend to focus on topics they want to write bills for.

It is also when topics such as veterans issues and senior citizens issues come up, according to Foncello.

“It may require a meeting, maybe a phone call or an e-mail, but in that period of time, we prepare the legislation for the new session,” Foncello said. “I mean, there’s just so many issues out there … We help everybody. We’re here for all the people of Connecticut.”

Foncello said he also wants to consider far-reaching issues other than financial ones, such as environmental and public health and safety issues.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.