Rep. JP Sredzinski who represents Monroe and Newtown resigned Wednesday citing the need for a life and work rebalancing.
Sredzinski who represents the 112th General Assembly District said in his resignation letter that he didn’t make the decision lightly.
“If there is anything positive that the COVID-19 pandemic has showed me is that family and personal relationships are the most important aspect of our lives. There is no replacement, none at all, for quality time with family and our loved ones,” Sredzinski wrote. “As you know, the position of a state legislator is a “part time” job – requiring most people to have a full-time career outside the legislature in order to pay bills and support a family. For me, it became a balance of family, career and elected office. It is clear to me now that this balance needs a readjustment.”
That readjustment means he’s giving up what is essentially a $28,000 legislative job.
Connecticut lawmakers haven’t had a pay raise in more than 20 years, but the amount of work they are expected to do has increased to a point where some feel it’s no longer part-time.
But for Sredzinski it wasn’t about a paycheck.
“I am at such a crossroads right now,” Sredzinski wrote. “Professionally in my career as the Superintendent of a 9-1-1 Dispatch Center; personally in my life as a husband, father, son, brother and friend; the decision to step down from elected office at this time is the right decision. Simply put, I need to prioritize the hours I have every day. And for me, family and career are the best investments of my time.”
Politics have also changed over the past several years.
“When I first got involved in Monroe in 2004, politics was a different world from where it is today,” he wrote. “Politics was about improving our community – despite a difference of opinion on how to do that. Whether that community was your neighborhood, your town, your state or your country – it was about making our community a better place to live. That is not where we find ourselves today.”
A special election for Sredzinski’s seat will need to be held 46 days after Gov. Ned Lamont issues a writ for the special election. The governor has 10 days to issue the writ.
