Markeshia Ricks Photo
Bob Megna shifted into drive for his reelection campaign — on decidedly mellower wheels.
Megan, a Democrat who has represented the 97th state General Assembly District since 2000, is facing a Republican challenger, John Cirello, in the Nov. 4 election.
Megna hasn’t broken much of a sweat campaigning, but he’s still making the rounds, on a new Vespa. He used to travel the district on a Hartley Davidson motorcycle. He traded that in for the much smaller scooter just a couple of months ago. While on a visit to Thailand he noticed that a lot of people got around by scooter and were able to zip around traffic with very little trouble. And that got him thinking he should make the switch.
On a cold and windy Friday, Megna zipped through parts of the district — which roughly covers the city from east of the Quinnipiac River up to the North Haven and East Haven town lines — pointing out places where he’s had some political success and talking about issues he’d like to tackle should voters send him back to Hartford.
Riding a Vespa is a little like riding a motorized bicycle and very unlike riding a Harley. As a former Harley rider Megna would have the power to make certain turns in traffic and roar up hillsides. But he knows it would be unwise to attempt such maneuvers on a Vespa, so he doesn’t try. In fact, he often behaves like a bicyclist on the road, pulling closer to the right hand side of the road, allowing bigger, faster vehicles to pass him. He said friends who know him from his Harley days have tons of jokes about his new ride. But when it comes to parking and taxes he has the last laugh. Megna said the scooter is treated much like a bicycle, which allows him to park anywhere a bike can. And the bonus? He has a second vehicle that doesn’t incur any taxes. When he needs four wheels and doors, he drives a Toyota Prius.
If you talk to Megna long enough you will learn that taxes bug him, particularly the way wealthier municipalities minimize their tax contributions to the state’s coffers, while cities with poorer residents get stuck with bigger tax bills. He said the residents who can least afford to pay are the ones hit the hardest. He noted that people in wealthy Greenwich pay one-quarter the taxes that people in New Haven pay for the same vehicle.
“I don’t think that there is anything wrong with being wealthy,” he said. “But there should be some balance.”
As the co-chair of the General Assembly Insurance and Real Estate Committee, Megna said he sees his role as a fighter for the little guy — the average resident who is fighting a power plant that’s spewing emissions, like the east shore; or being gouged by insurance companies with loopholes that leave individual residents assuming too much risk when it comes to coverage.
Being the little guy was what initially drew him into politics. When Megna’s then state representative — the last Republican to hold a state legislative seat in overwhelmingly-Democratic New Haven — voted against legislation that would have required the Harbor Station power plant to reduce its emissions to current standards he decided to run against him and won.
Megna said since that time he has tried to use his experience in the insurance industry and real estate investment to look for practical fixes that even his Republican colleagues in the statehouse can support.
For instance when insurance companies in the state refused to insure residents who live along coastlines unless they purchase expensive permanent, plywood storm shutters, forcing homeowners into surplus insurance lines intended for homeowners with a long list of claim in their past, or poorly maintained properties, Megna drafted legislation to put a stop to it.
Megna also successfully pushed legislation to eliminate real estate transfer fees and to prevent insurance companies for steering car-owners to specific plate-glass repair shops.
Megna also is proud of insurance-related legislation that ensures that insurance claim payouts match what it would cost a property owner to rebuild, not just the fair market value of the property.
He said before that change to the law, insurance companies could charge a lot of money for insurance premiums. But when property was lost because of a fire, for instance, they would pay out much less than what it would cost someone to re-build. Megna said the legislation makes Connecticut the first state in the country to take such a step.
Megna said he came into politics as an environmentalist, and has evolved into a consumer advocate. He has his sights set on transportation issues, particularly when it comes to making life a bit easier for residents who don’t drive cars. He’s been working with residents of the Bella Vista senior complex to address concerns about sidewalks that can accommodate wheelchairs. (Read about challenger Cirello’s recent visit to Bella Vista here.)
He’s also interested in ways to improve transit in New Haven with an eye toward creating an advisory board of bus riders who have input on routes.
“I look for issues that we can actually get done — that I can actually fix,” he said. “And there are so many things to fix.”
Previous coverage of this race:
• Republican Seeks Megna’s Seat
• Petitions On Tap At Christopher Martin’s
• Candidates Neck & Neck — In Money Race
• GOPer Storms Bella Vista With Kids, Cannolis
Megna has had many, many years to contemplate and act upon the vastly inequitable property taxes paid by New Haveners and yet, even with a Democratic majority and Democratic governor, has done nothing about it.