Paralegal Seeks House Seat

BRISTOL — Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his well-known father, Christopher Wright declared this week he plans to seek election to northeast Bristol’s 77th state House district.

Wright, 35 and a Democrat, said he wants to represent the area in Hartford so he can “fight for cleaner air and cleaner water, better schools and better health care for all our citizens so that we can continue the promise made by those who came before us to leave our children a state better, stronger, cleaner and healthier than the one we live in today.”

Wright, one of former state Sen. Gardner Wright’s children, is eyeing the seat currently held by state Rep. Ron Burns, a first-term Republican who snatched the district from Democratic hands two years ago.

Burns, who knocked out longtime incumbent Roger Michele, has not said whether he’ll seek re-election in the heavily Democratic district.

It is unclear whether any other Democrats may vie for the right to seek Burns’ seat. At this point, Wright said, he doesn’t know of any other contenders.

Wright said he’s jumping into the race because he’s concerned that government is doing too little to balance its books, protect the environment and ensure affordable, quality health care for everyone.

He said Republicans have failed ordinary Americans because the GOP has “cut tax rates for only the very wealthiest in our society, ballooned our public debt to levels that not even Ronald Reagan or the first George Bush could have imagined and have left working Americans with incomes that are, at best, stagnant and in all too many cases shrinking when compared to the rate of inflation.”

Wright said the state needs to preserve “the last remaining remnants of open space” that it has. “We lecture other countries about the destruction of their forests, yet we plow over ours to build bigger and bigger McMansions,” he said. “What kind of a legacy is this leaving for our children?”

He called for environmental policies “which encourage the reclamation and reuse of brownfields instead of the destruction of greenfields” as well as policies for fuel-efficient vehicles, cleaner emissions and sustainable economic growth.

Wright said health care needs more attention, too.

“The fact that 10 percent of the population in the state which calls itself the insurance capital of the world goes without health insurance is unacceptable,” he said.

Gardner Wright, who serves as one of the city’s downtown commissioners, is a former city councilor, state House member, congressional candidate, city Democratic leader and chairman of the state Commission on Hospitals and Health Care. He represented the 77th District in the 1970s and early 1980s until he gave up the seat in an unsuccessful bid to win an open congressional slot.

“One thing my father told me was, ‘Son, all you have in life is your name, so never do anything to harm it,’” Christopher Wright said.

“Of course, he also once told me, ‘Son, don’t be humble, you’re not that great,’” the son added.

“It must be that which gives me the gumption to stand in front” of the town committee to “tell you why you should help elect me Bristol’s next state representative,” Wright said.

He grew up in the district, attending Mountain View, Ivy Drive and Northeast Middle schools before graduating from St. Paul Catholic High School. He earned a degree in economics from Central Connecticut State University in 1991.

After college, he earned a paralegal certificate and attended a seminary for a time before putting in eight years with the Federal Deposit Insurance Co. He currently works in registration for St. Francis Hospital. (Source)