Beth Cliff, of Easton, is challenging incumbent Republican Tony Scott to represent the 112th District in Hartford.
The Democrat vows to advocate for the needs of working families, support programs improving education in the district’s public schools, and to fight for women’s issues, while giving the towns of Monroe, Easton and Trumbull “a seat at the table” in the Democrat controlled General Assembly.
Cliff said majority members can bring back more funding to their districts, using the example of State Rep. Sarah Keitt, D-134th, securing 44-percent funding for the new reconstruction of Hillcrest Middle School in Trumbull in her first two years in office.
“As someone who took early retirement, I have the time, opportunity and energy to put in the long hours this job requires — not just in the General Assembly, but around town,” Cliff said during a recent interview at Last Drop Coffee Shop in Monroe. “Especially listening to people and what’s on their minds and then fighting for their needs in Hartford. I’m not sure folks have had that in a while.”
Cliff and her husband Gordon have two grown daughters, Lorraine, 26, who works in finance in downtown New York, and Ellie, 24, who lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Cliff said she is a Connecticut native, who grew up in a small farming community on the Massachusetts border, with a blinking red light in the center of town, a small post office and an old cider mill.
She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she played on Princeton’s Division 1 varsity lacrosse team, which had ranked No. 2 in the country. She went on to earn an MBA from the University of Virginia.
Cliff said she has over 30 years of management and leadership experience in American corporations, at universities of international standing, and in boutique consulting firms serving Fortune Global 100 companies. Her roles have included work in marketing, sales, operations and human resources.
Cliff often worked with executives on plans to change business models to increase efficiency and profitability. Before putting together an action plan, she presented to employees to get their input and get them onboard. She believes these skills will be useful as a state representative.
If elected, she said she would work to ensure her constituents are informed about the issues that affect them.
“It’s listening. Asking the right questions, so you get input, getting more information from each other,” Cliff said. “It’s about getting people involved. If they’re involved, they have ownership.”
“Trump made everything so vitriolic and nasty,” she said. “If it’s a good idea and happens to be a Republican idea, I don’t care. It’s a good idea. If it’s a good idea and it happens to be a Democratic idea. I don’t care. It’s a good idea.”
“I’m open to whatever,” Cliff said of different solutions. “Let’s get people together and talk about it. ‘Is that fair? Is that equitable?’ Ideas based on sharing opinions, supported by facts without devolving into name calling.”
Women’s voices
Cliff said she does not want her daughters’ gender to ever hold them back from pursuing what they want out of life. One moment from their childhoods stuck with her.
“I took a year off to raise our two daughters, not everyone is able to do that,” Cliff said. “I had a one- and a three-year-old. The three-year-old said, ‘daddies work and mommies stay at home,’ so I went back to work.”
Cliff is an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport, where she has headed up various committees, sings in the choir, and sings with kindergarteners at the Beardsley Schools in Bridgeport as part of UU Westport’s social justice network.
She is also an active member of Friends of the Easton Library, and is its former president. Cliff said seeing women like state representative, Anne Hughes, who represents a portion of Easton, in action inspired her to run for the General Assembly herself.
“I think women need to be more involved in government,” she said. “Women’s voices need to be heard. Connecticut used to be second in the country for women in the General Assembly. We’re down to 18th.”
She said women make up 51 percent of Connecticut’s population, but account for 37 percent of the representatives in the General Assembly.
“Only Massachusetts is behind us in New England,” she said. “We can do better.”
Cliff said recent events, especially the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, which led to 22 states banning abortion or restricting the procedure earlier in pregnancy, makes it even more important for women to get involved in government.
“Women know their bodies,” she said. “They should be able to make choices about their own bodies with their doctors. They should be able to make that choice without government interference.”
Cliff noted how women working full time earn 84 cents for every dollar men are paid, and said other important issues are access to affordable childcare, work policies that support families, making it affordable for seniors to remain in their communities, and gun safety.
Cliff said everything comes down to economic issues. The state had budget surpluses the last two years and she wants to give more money back to taxpayers. A $600 per child tax credit, capped at $1,800 per family, had been considered and Cliff said it is being talked about again.
“Connecticut saved a lot of money thanks to Governor Lamont,” she said. “More money in our coffers should be used to give people help.”
Cliff said she wants to look at a fiscal policy that lowers taxes, “especially at the bottom of the spectrum.”
Derailing the Trump train
Cliff said she strongly opposes the far right agenda of the MAGA movement around former president, Donald Trump, including Project 2025. She said she believes Trump opposes democracy and that votes for Republican candidates in Connecticut are votes for Trump.
“I differ from my opponent, who said, ‘I don’t like him as a person, but I like his policies,’” Cliff said. “I think they’re bad policies. At the end of the day, it’s not about him, it’s what is good for the country.”
Cliff said she is involved in her congregation because she cares of about the inherent dignity of everyone. “All lives matter,” she said, “Black, brown, White, poor, rich, Jewish, Arab, Ukrainian, LGBTQ+ … we’re all people.”
Reprinted by permission, Bill Bittar, The Monroe Sun
