Date: Fri 25-Oct-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

candidate-profiles-Lovegrove

Full Text:

Candidate Profiles - Lovegrove

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Fred Lovegrove is seeking to retain the 28th district's state senate seat he

has occupied since 1982, standing by his record and vowing to continue to look

out for Newtown's best interests.

Mr Lovegrove's challenger, Tom Ganim, has raged an intense campaign against

the incumbent, however, using television ads to attack his voting record and

question his motivation.

But the Fairfield resident has a solid Republican backing throughout the

district, and he hopes to earn reelection and return to Hartford for an eighth

term.

Taking the credit for breaking what he calls "Hartford's tax and spend

habits," Mr Lovegrove, 57, said he's proud of his record in Hartford and

believes Ganim's allegations that he is a poor legislator are "twisted.

Mr Ganim promised to take his opponent to task this fall, but so far Mr

Lovegrove sees his opponent engaging in a nothing more than negative campaign

rhetoric.

"He is distorting the truth. He's not taking my record factually," Mr

Lovegrove said. "If there's something to take me to task for, I assume he'd be

doing it, but he's not."

The state senator believes Mr Ganim, who's brother, Joe, is the mayor of

Bridgeport, has sought to unseat him because of his vote against the

construction of a casino in Bridgeport this past year.

Mr Lovegrove said he only voted against the casino because of traffic

concerns. "I-95 is currently running at 165 percent capacity and it's growing

at two percent per year," he said.

As chairman of the State Human Services Committee Mr Lovegrove helped write

one of the nation's "most successful" welfare reform plans, created to help

people become more self-sufficient.

"Tough, but fair, the plan has helped over 6,000 families off the state's

welfare roles," he said in a recent campaign newsletter.

The bill requires all employable welfare recipients find a job within 21

months. If not, they lose their welfare. But, as Mr Lovegrove points out,

those who do get a job, will continue to receive state assistance, including

both medical benefits and day care for two years after welfare, and job

training for those in need of it.

Mr Lovegrove points out that the Welfare Reform Bill has already delivered a

$166 million savings since being enacted 19 months ago and has helped create

the first decrease in state spending in over a decade.

Mr Lovegrove has also been working to abolish welfare programs for single

adults, pointing out that 29 states have already done so.

"The Democrats are dragging their heels on this one," he noted.

In response to Mr Ganim's criticism of his decision to vote against the gas

tax cut in May, Mr Lovegrove said it was the Democrats who were responsible

for raising the gas tax in the first place in the early 90s by spending the

state surplus.

"It's extremely hypocritical for a Democrat to come out and say he's cut the

gas tax," he said.

Mr Lovegrove says he was a leader in the state's successful fight to reduce

the state income tax and was an outspoken opponent of the income tax in the

first place. The tax reduction along with direct property tax relief, "has put

as much as $200 million back into taxpayers' household budgets at a time when

they needed it most," he said.

Mr Lovegrove believes the state is a safer place to live in since his work in

enacting a workable death penalty and the requirement that violent offenders

serve a minimum of 85 percent of their jail sentences. The Republicans also

had a hand in the passage of "Megan's Law" requiring community notification of

the presence of sex offenders.

He said he and his fellow Republicans passed the Dead Beat Dad's Bill that

revokes the driver's license of a father not paying child support.

A lover of animals (he's raised Bantam Chickens since he was 6) Mr Lovegrove

has taken on the role of animal/wildlife advocate among the senators. He was

instrumental in passing the Duck Stamp Act which reportedly raises about

$500,000 per year for the state. The stamp is required by hunters in order to

hunt ducks.