Biography
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State Representative John E. Stripp takes pride in his accomplishments on behalf of his district and in his efforts to enact legislation that protects the environment and encourages economic growth and job creation.   

Rep. Stripp’s record of achievement as House Ranking Member (Republican Leader) on the General Assembly’s Banks Committee and his demonstrated leadership abilities led House Minority Leader Robert M. Ward, R-Northford, to appoint him as an Assistant House Minority Leader for the 2003 – 04 and 2005 - 2006 legislative sessions.

As an assistant leader, Rep. Stripp helps shape House Republican legislative initiatives; helps organize rank and file members of the House Republican caucus; helps ensure good communication between the House Republican leadership and the members; helps keep the leadership abreast of the concerns and legislative goals of individual caucus members; and helps familiarize new members with House rules and procedures. He currently chairs the House Republican Bill Screening Committee

Rep. Stripp serves on the Appropriations, Banks and Commerce committees.

Several grants for the 135^th District were approved during the 2003 and 2004 legislative sessions, including:

• A $128,580 grant to help pay for a $600,000 energy conservation project at the Hurlbutt Elementary School in Weston.

• The Town of Redding and the Nature Conservancy were awarded a $462,000 grant towards the cost of acquiring the Sember property for open space. Acquisition of the 50.75 acres will link existing forested conservation areas and provide protection to the tributaries of the Saugatuck River.

• A $41,502 grant was approved for the restoration of Easton’s Bradley-Hubbell House, which will be used by the Historical Society of Easton, Inc. as a local house museum. The house is an architectural treasure that, when restored, will enable us to look back to a time when agriculture was the basis of our state’s economy and life moved at a slower and more graceful pace.

• State funding in the amount of $2.5 million was approved for renovations to Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding. The funding will pay for the renovation of the historic 3,300 square foot pavilion (built in 1893), the restoration of the Israel Putnam statue, and for upgrades to various park access areas.

During the 2002 General Assembly session, Representative Stripp cosponsored a law that established moratoriums on final approval of proposals to build overland electric transmission lines from Bethel to Norwalk and energy and telecommunications lines under the Long Island Sound seabed between Connecticut and Long Island.

The state Bond Commission approved funding in the amount of $80 million to be used to help purchase about 14,496 acres of the Kelda Group’s watershed lands, including 5,521 acres in Easton; 576 acres in Weston; 2,536 acres in Redding; and 642 acres in Newtown.

The Kelda land acquisition is the culmination of years of work by groups (such as The Nature Conservancy), individuals and legislators committed to preserving Connecticut’s rural heritage as a legacy for future generations.

Open Space grants awarded to Redding and The Nature Conservancy in 2002 made possible the acquisition and preservation of two valuable parcels. The grants included $797,966 to purchase the 116.83-acre Granskog Property and $427,500 to acquire the 58.6-acre Edwards Property.

Representative Stripp, working with the Governor and the Office of Policy and Management, helped secure state grants and funding for Easton, Weston and Redding during his 2001-02 term, including:

• $500,000 to help pay for improvements to a school and community artificial turf athletic field in Weston.

• $500,000 to enable Redding to implement its Streetscape Enhancement and Traffic Plan for Central Georgetown.

• $200,000 to help pay for construction of a new community center in Easton.

• A $287,500 state Natural Heritage, Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Grant awarded to Wildlife In Crisis, Inc. in Weston to defray the cost of purchasing two parcels of land totaling 4.3 acres to be preserved as open space.

• State funding in the amount of $263,405 to finance designs for renovations and improvements to the Israel Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding.

• State funding totaling $16.9 million for four Weston school projects, including: $7,674.081 for alteration and addition and roof replacement projects at Weston High School; $5,014,027 for a new intermediate school; $2,175,732 for alteration and addition and roof replacement work at the Hurlbutt School; and $2,053,500 for alteration and addition and roof replacement projects at the middle school.

Representative Stripp also worked with other area legislators to secure a $5 million grant for the Westport Country Playhouse to help fund a $17-million expansion project to enable the popular theatre to operate year-round. The State Bond Commission approved the funding at its September 2002 meeting.

During the 2002 legislative session, Representative Stripp supported a law that established terrorism as a crime in Connecticut. It also created the crimes of contaminating a public water or food supply and damaging public transportation property for terrorist purposes. It also defined fabricating weapons involving chemicals, disease organisms or radiation as terrorist crimes.

All school boards are required to develop policies addressing bullying and ensuring that time is made available during each school day for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, under a law Representative Stripp cosponsored. However, the act does not require individuals to recite the pledge.

In 1999, Representative Stripp took part in a ceremony marking the transfer of the 758-acre Trout Brook Valley parcel from the Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. to the Aspetuck Land Trust, Weston and the Department of Environmental Protection. A significant share of the funding that enabled the parcel to be preserved came in the form of a $6 million open space grant from the DEP. The funding was made available under the 1998 Open Space Act, which Representative Stripp co-sponsored. Trout Brook Valley abuts existing open space parcels owned by the Aspetuck Land Trust and is now an integral part of the largest contiguous ecosystem in Fairfield County, which includes Devil’s Den.

Representative Stripp supported several economic development initiatives during the 1999 and 2000 legislative sessions. They included:

• An act allowing the state Department of Economic and Community Development to assist businesses in developing the expertise they need to begin exporting to foreign markets.

• An act that created a high-technology infrastructure fund within the Connecticut Development Authority to provide financial assistance to companies for information technology projects.

• A law that extended state-reimbursed property tax abatements and corporate business tax credits to firms that supply goods and services for telecommunications, communications, and computer hardware, software, or networking. To qualify for the tax benefits, companies must build new facilities and create jobs.

Representative Stripp has supported budgets that reduced taxes on individuals, families and businesses, including the phase-out of the inheritance tax, and a $487 million reduction in state income tax rates. Tax cuts helped pull Connecticut out of the prolonged recession of the early 1990’s and played a significant part in the unparalleled economic growth the state enjoyed for the second half of the 1990’s. The corporation business tax cut, which reduced the tax from 11.25 percent to 7.25 percent by 2000, has been widely praised for improving the state’s business climate, encouraging economic growth and creating new jobs.

In 1999, Representative Stripp strongly supported a law that promotes academic excellence in our public schools. Among other things, the law requires school boards to review and revise promotion policies to foster student achievement, reduce social promotion and help failing pupils.

Representative Stripp also co-sponsored the 1998 early reading success law, which targets K-3 students reading below grade level for intensive instruction.

During the 2000 legislative session, funding for school construction projects in several 135^th District towns was secured. The grants included:

• $7,582,637 for an extension-alteration project at the Joel Barlow High School in Redding.

• $3,342,564 for an extension-alteration project at the Helen Keller Middle School and $859,615 for an extension-alteration project and to correct code violations at the Samuel Staples Elementary School, both in Easton.

Representative Stripp was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992. He was re-elected in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004.    

Representative Stripp received his B.S. degree in Engineering from Pratt Institute and earned his M.S. in Management from Columbia University.  He also completed the Senior Bank Executive Program at Harvard University.

More recently, Representative Stripp has had Senior Lending and Corporate Financial positions with commercial banks, including Citicorp and several Connecticut banks. Representative Stripp is a vice president of the Fairfield County Bank.

Active in local and civic organizations, Representative Stripp served from 1983-1992 on the Weston Board of Selectmen. He was a member of the Weston Board of Finance from 1973-1981, completing his service on the panel as chairman.  He also chaired the Weston Land Acquisition Committee from 1987-1989. 

Representative Stripp was a member and former chairman of the Weston Republican Town Committee. He was vice chairman of Weston's Ethics Committee, the body that drafted an Ethics Policy for the Town of Weston.

He and his wife Judy have two grown children, Dianne and Jeffrey, as well as four grandchildren.