Meet Republican Candidate for State Representative in the 149th District, Political Newcomer Tina Courpas

Republican Tina Courpas is running for state representative in the 149th District. A first-time candidate, Courpas said she filed for the nomination in February, a first, and was approved by the state’s Citizens Election Program, a voluntary program that provides full state funding to qualified candidates and is designed to improve the electoral process.

Courpas shared her background and why she decided to run for the 149th District.

Having moved to Glenville 20 years ago, Courpas said Greenwich has been a great place to raise her four children and she wanted to run for office out of concern for the town’s future.

“I worry that if we take things for granted, we lose what makes Greenwich great,” she said. “And because I’m tired of the extreme, divisive politics and lack of common-sense solutions in government.”

Courpas previously had a career on Wall Street as a corporate lawyer and investment banker.

“I think this highly competitive environment has prepared me for this environment,” she said. “My years in the financial world will help me add value to our state’s budget issues, which I believe are important.”

After her years on Wall Street, Courpas led two nonprofit organizations as executive director. The first was the Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, which was created by the state legislature in 1973. The commission is bipartisan in its advocacy for legislation for Connecticut women and girls.

“I’ve often been told that it’s unusual for a Republican to stand up for women’s rights, but for me, that’s not the case. I believe in the rights and freedoms of all women and men.”

Courpas described running a nonprofit as being a steward of donor money.

“It’s not your money. And I will take the same attitude as a legislator when you have the heavy responsibility of spending taxpayers’ money.”

The second and most recent nonprofit organization Courpas served as executive director of was The Hellenic Initiative, which she described as a philanthropic organization that raises funds from the Greek diaspora around the world to invest in Greece’s economic recovery.

Courpas, a first-generation Greek American, said both of her parents immigrated to the United States from Greece with nothing.

“Through their hard work, they lived the American dream,” she said, adding that her father was an obstetrician-gynecologist and her mother was a pediatrician.

“I care deeply about my Greek heritage and was very happy to be able to support charities in Greece through my work at the Hellenic Initiative,” she said.

As for her foray into politics, Courpas said she always wanted to get involved in the political arena.

“And despite all its current dysfunction, I still believe in our American democracy and that government is the best way to bring lasting change and improve people’s lives,” she said.

Courpas said his campaign would focus on three themes.

Local zoning control

Courpas said that while she believes Greenwich needs to increase its affordable housing stock, the question for her is how to do it.

Commenting on the state’s long-standing affordable housing law, which has recently been used by developers to circumvent local zoning, Courpas said: “The 8-30g law has not been effective in the 35 years it’s been on the books. And it’s had a lot of unintended negative consequences. In some cases, it ignores historic review – allowing for the demolition of historic buildings that we’ll never get back.”

“In some cases, it also bypasses environmental assessment, which is particularly problematic with the shoreline that we have in town, and it also takes decisions that are more efficiently and democratically made by local officials and transfers them to Hartford.”

Courpas said that as a state legislator, her job would be to make sure 8-30g does not extend to bills like the transit-oriented development bill.

As other Republicans, including state Sen. Fazio, have suggested, Courpas believes that private school employee housing, hospital housing and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) should count toward the 10 percent 8-30g requirement.

Connecticut State Law 8-30g, enacted in 1989, sets a goal that 10 percent of each municipality’s housing stock be considered “affordable” housing according to a state formula based on the state or local median income. Until the 10 percent goal is met, developers can propose projects that are not subject to local zoning regulations. The bar for denial by a local planning and zoning board is high. An 8-30g project can only be denied on very specific grounds—that is, if it presents health, safety, or other concerns that outweigh a town’s need for affordable housing.

Courpas said she believes the best way for the city to increase affordable housing is through Greenwich Communities (formerly the Housing Authority), where 100 percent of residential units built count toward the 10 percent requirement.

Connecticut’s Economy

Courpas said she plans to visit 50 local businesses in the 149th District before the election to explore “ways to reduce red tape and barriers to growth.”

She said a major priority was keeping taxes low for Connecticut citizens.

“I am a fiscal conservative and believe the Legislature took a strong stance in 2017 to put the state on a path to fiscal recovery — and it worked,” she said. “In January, we all got the largest tax cut in state history, but in May, the Legislature overshot the current budget and violated fiscal safeguards just as our recovery was starting to work — I do not agree with that vote.”

Courpas said it’s also critical to find ways to make Connecticut a place where businesses want to operate.

She said that according to the Yankee Institute, Connecticut has ranked 47th out of 50 states for its overall business climate every year since 2014.

Public safety

Courpas said the residents of Greenwich and Stamford are fortunate to have excellent police forces, but the Legislature has hampered their ability to do their jobs.

“The Police Accountability Bill 2020 removed car theft as a juvenile offense,” she said, adding that Greenwich police attributed the increase in car thefts in Greenwich and Stamford directly to that change.

“The legislature has also limited consent searches and recently passed a bill that prevents police from stopping someone even if they were smoking marijuana while driving a car,” Courpas added. “These policies make no sense to me or to most of the constituents I speak with. This needs to change.”

Reproductive rights

“I support a woman’s right to choose in Connecticut and will fight to uphold Connecticut’s current law,” Courpas said. “I am a pro-choice candidate.”

Courpas said she also supports the idea of ​​providing as broad access to contraception as possible in Connecticut.

As for abortion, she described it as a heartbreaking personal decision for women.

“Abortion must be safe, accessible and rare,” Courpas said.

National elections

Noting that the Trump-Biden debate took place the night before her interview with GFP, Courpas said she subscribes to Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment: “You will not speak ill of another Republican.”

“I will never do that,” she said.

“I am not commenting on the national race in this election for state representative. The office that voters are seeking from me is state legislator. My goal in this campaign is to bring people together to solve the problems we face at the state level.”

Courpas concluded on a positive note: “I am very excited to run for office. I have always wanted to run for office.”

Editor’s note: GFP limits profiles to first-time candidates, meaning those who have never been elected or appointed to a local government position. We previously interviewed Nick Simmons, a first-time candidate for the 36th District State Senate.