State Sen. Carlo Leone won’t be taking the oath of office this week. Instead, he will be joining Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration as a special adviser to state Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti.
Leone, 57, of Stamford, has been the co-chair of the legislature’s Transportation Committee for the past four years.
“It has been my great honor to serve as the Senator for the 27th District and as a member of the Connecticut Senate and I will forever cherish my time there,” Leone said in the Jan. 2 resignation letter to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.
Leone, who supported Lamont’s trucks-only tolls plan, which was defeated by bipartisan opposition, will be tasked with helping keep the Special Transportation Fund from going broke in 2024.
Leone will likely use his relationship with lawmakers to help the administration move forward its agenda to improve Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure.
Leone also served as the vice chairman of the tax-writing Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee. He is an Air Force veteran and worked at Xerox Corp. for 17 years.
A special election for his seat will be held 46 days after Lamont issues a writ, which he has 10 days to do after receiving Leone’s resignation on Jan. 5.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Coverage of the 2020 Multimodal and Transit Summit, as well as a follow-up series on related transportation issues, is being partially underwritten by the Transport Hartford Academy at the Center for Latino Progress.
Underwriting is funding for journalism that will be reported and produced independently, without prior review by the funder before publication.