House Republican Press Release

January 2, 2009

Press Office: 860-240-8700

Rep. Harkins Receives Leadership, Committee Assignments

Restoring Prosperity, Full Employment; Major Local Infrastructure Projects are Top Priorities for 2009-2010

State Representative John A. Harkins has been appointed as Deputy House Republican Leader at Large, one of top leadership positions within the House Republican Caucus, House Republican Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, announced today.

Representative Harkins, R-120^th District, also was appointed as the House Ranking Member (Republican Leader) on the General Assembly’s Select Committee on Veterans Affairs and was reappointed to the Transportation, Banks, and Legislative Management committee, Representative Cafero said.

“John Harkins has been an indispensable member of the House Republican Caucus’s leadership team for several years,” Representative Cafero said. “The leadership qualities John displayed as the House Republican Caucus Chairman in 2007-2008 made it clear that he was ready to take on greater responsibilities. John was a natural choice for one of our top leadership positions and I will be relying on him more than ever over the next two years as we take on the challenge of bringing our state out of a major recession, stimulating economic growth and creating and preserving jobs.”

“Ending the recession in Connecticut, restoring economic growth and providing more job opportunities is the single most important challenge facing the General Assembly in 2009,” Representative Harkins said. “We will be faced with difficult and unpopular choices that will be painful in the short term, but are critical to the long-term economic health of our state. We will have to make prudent reductions in state spending and avoid increasing taxes on families, individuals and employers. If taxes go up, consumers will further curtail discretionary spending, businesses will lay off more people and the recession will be aggravated and prolonged.”

“We must limit spending throughout state government, excepting only programs hat help our most vulnerable citizens and projects that are necessary to preserve public health and safety and which stimulate economic growth and preserve and create jobs,” Representative Harkins said. “In the Greater Stratford area, two critical projects that I will be fighting for are the replacement of the Moses Wheeler Bridge and the improvements to the Stratford Train Station Parking Garage. The deteriorating superstructure of the Moses Wheeler Bridge is a disaster waiting to happen and upgrading the parking garage to accommodate 400 more vehicles will be critical to the future of mass transportation in Connecticut. Both projects will create hundreds of new jobs, stimulate economic growth and help put an early end to the recession.”