Bio
Kim was elected to the Wilton Board of Selectmen in 2021. She has been engaged in the 2022 state legislative session, testifying against proposed zoning bills that would negatively impact our towns. Kim is a CPA and former auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is married, has four children, and has lived in Connecticut since 1994. Kim is highly active in town. She is currently co-chair of Minks to Sinks, formerly a member of the Wilton Conservation Commission as well as past treasurer of the Wilton Library Board of Trustees. Kim was active in “Hands Off Our Schools” and testified against forced school regionalization. She is a staunch defender of women’s rights and is an appointed member of the CT Reading Leadership Implementation Council.
Full Candidate Interview
Op-Ed
My name is Kim Healy, and I am running to be your next State Representative for the new 42nd District. The district includes all of Wilton and small portions of New Canaan and Ridgefield. I am a wife, a mother, a Wilton selectwoman (since 2021), a former auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and an engaged, proud resident of our community. I have focused my community involvement in areas that mean a great deal to me — childhood literacy, environmental stability, and helping others. Until 2021 I served on the board of the Wilton Library Association as treasurer, and earlier this year, I was appointed to the Connecticut Reading Leadership Implementation Council, a committee focused on closing the reading learning gap in underprivileged communities. I previously served on Wilton’s Conservation Commission, where I was able to focus my passion on sustainability and environmental health. I am co-chair of Wilton’s Minks to Sinks, an all-volunteer, all-female rummage sale that raises money for the Family & Children’s Agency of Norwalk. I am a volunteer tax preparer for retired and low-income individuals. I am also involved with other wonderful organizations such as the Robin Hood Foundation and Our Lady of Fatima Parish.
I tell you all of this only so you understand how much I care about Wilton and about serving others, and have been involved long before I ever considered running for any office. In fact, like most others, I never thought much about anything in politics. I was focused on my family and serving our community in other ways, and I was quite content.
Then, in early 2019, the Democratic majority in our state legislature attempted to push the state’s pensions obligations onto our towns (obligations we had no control over) and tried to aggressively force school regionalization between districts. I started to pay closer attention than ever before. I testified on school bills and attended information sessions in Wilton and Ridgefield. I don’t need to explain to you how much we appreciate having a say in our town’s affairs (zoning and education most notably) and treasure our close-knit schools and community. I also don’t need to tell you that we already shoulder among the highest tax burdens in the country. Any state mandates that would make our towns less desirable and less affordable would greatly diminish the reasons that drove you to move your family here. Like most of you, I was enraged by the supermajority’s attempts, and I felt pushed to pursue public service.
Since then, I’ve been doing lots of research and have become even more determined that changes need to be made in Hartford. Our state legislature has been under the control of the Democratic Party for nearly 40 years, and the results speak for themselves. Connecticut is at the bottom of nearly every economic rating, experiencing net out-migration, is prohibitively expensive, and losing businesses regularly; our energy costs are some of the highest in the country. This matters not because of the impact on your wallet, but the impact on your quality of life, on economic mobility, and for the job prospects for your kids and hardworking people in our economically depressed cities that need more opportunity. Economic growth will allow Connecticut to spread the tax burden over a greater number of people, enabling more services at a lower per-capita costs — this is basic economics that has worked wonders for pro-growth states and we can do all of this with an eye toward sustainability and improving the environment.
A key component in Connecticut’s future is turning around the substantial and well-understood educational declines that occurred as a result of COVID and school closures or remote schooling. A focus on rigor, academic excellence, and transparency of curriculum should be encouraged at the state level, with a focus on preparing our students to lead successful and fulfilling lives in an ever more competitive global economy. A continuation of local control, which I will fight fiercely to maintain, will allow each town and city to cater its school system to its specific needs.
I’m a Republican, but far, far more importantly, I’m a mother, a wife, a friend, a Wiltonian, and a Nutmegger. When I’m at the grocery store or Wilton High School football game I’ve never separated people based on political affiliation, and I sure don’t intend to start now. I want to be your state representative to represent you, not push partisan interests. Organizations endorsing me include a set of upstanding, uncontroversial, and common-sense groups like the CT Independent Party, the CT Fraternal Order of Police, the National Log Cabin Republicans, and the National Federation of Independent Business.
This is an important election at a critical time in Connecticut. I hope you will elect me to serve you and be your voice in the Connecticut legislature. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you Heather. Interviews are helpful to get to know the candidates and their character beyond scripted remarks and mailers. In Kim Healy’s interview about her concern over an LOE about separation of church and state, you stated the religion of the two Republican candidates is well-known in town. Not sure you are correct. I have no idea, nor do I care about a candidate’s religion. I also didn’t consider the letter an attack on the candidates in any way. Instead of pity parties and publicly airing grievances, I would hope any candidate or elected official worth their salt would reach out and have a discussion to better understand their constituent’s concerns and how they can help to address them.