Coyner: 'Fairfield Comes First' in Run for State Rep

Kevin Coyner, may not have lived in Fairfield for very long, but he intends to retire here.

“I haven’t been here for 20 years, but I want to be here for the next 20 years,” Coyner told Patch in a recent interview.

That’s why he decided to launch a bid to run against incumbent State Rep. Brenda Kupchick for the 132nd General Assembly District. (Fellow Democrat Sue Brand for the seat on Monday). Coyner wants to make Fairfield the place to live as a small child through retirement.

“Fairfield is a great place to live… but it’s becoming increasingly harder,” he said. “I’m seeing a lot of people forced out, forced out of the state. That shouldn’t be the case.”

Coyner’s decision to run boils down to the fact that he wants to do something about the issues the town and state faces.

“I do like challenges. I feel like I’m capable of analyzing complex challenges and finding solutions.”

Background

Though Coyner is relatively new to Fairfield – he and his wife Natalia moved to the Pine Creek area of town three years ago -- he’s not new to politics.

“Politics has been in my blood,” he said. His father, Wesley Coyner, was the chief of staff for former Gov. Bill Egan of Alaska and helmed to gubernatorial campaigns.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Lewis and Clark University in 1980, the younger Coyner spent time in Japan as a member of the state of Alaska’s Tokyo office, working on export and trade promotion. He returned to the United States to get his Masters of Business Administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

While in D.C., Coyner worked as a legislative assistant to then Alaskan Sen. Murkowski. After he was offered a position with Citibank, Coyner began a 14-year career in the finance industry as a bond and options trader.  He began with Citibank and then started working for Morgan Stanley in both their Tokyo and New York offices.

Coyner relocated to the U.S. for good and made his way to the Greenwich/Stamford area. In 1999, after ending his Wall Street career, Coyner spent some time in the technology field, creating websites and building databases for local businesses and organizations.

In 2003, Coyner became a volunteer firefighter for the Greenwich Fire Department. That volunteerism became a career when he became a fulltime member of Greenwich’s bravest in 2005, a position he holds today.

“I liked it so much I wanted to step it up a notch,” Coyner said. “As a career firefighter you have the opportunity to get involved more and help more.”

Coyner served as member of the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting before moving to Fairfield. He currently serves as an elected of the Retirement Board in Greenwich and as an executive board member of the local firefighters’ union.  

Coyner has two grown children: Alison, who lives in Greenwich; and Ryan, who works for a software company in San Francisco.

‘The Helpful Neighbor’

Though he comes from a varied background of politics, economics, and public service, Coyner summed up his part in town as “the helpful neighbor.”

As a neighbor, he’s seen his fellow residents struggle to stay in town. “They’re trying to stick it out but it’s increasingly difficult,” he said.

Coyner recalled Fairfield’s top-10 ranking in Money Magazine’s “Top Places to Live” feature in 2006. “I want to see us have that ranking every year,” he said. “I think we’ve slipped, the state has slipped. I want to see us there again.”

Considering his diverse skillsets, Coyner believes he can bring “expertise and experience” to Hartford.

“I like to think I have ideas. I want to be proactive, not just an advocate,” he said.

Platform: ‘Fairfield Comes First’

Three words encapsulate Coyner’s platform and have effectively become its slogan: “Fairfield comes first.”

To get Fairfield to the level Coyner wants to see -- a place to be born in, live in, and retire in without being forced out by climbing taxes -- “we need jobs,” Coyner said.

“We need jobs in Fairfield, in Connecticut, across the nation. Once we get jobs growing again, there’s more business activity and higher tax revenues.”

Coyner said we must be mindful that we need to grow the economy on local and national levels, and we also “want to give it direction and future.”

That future lies in 21st century jobs, Coyner contends. “Twenty-first century jobs are more recession-resistant than industry jobs.”

Twenty-first century jobs encompass the technology, engineering, high precision manufacturing, and green energy fields. “Those are what I think we need to promote more.”

Coyner has already drafted a legislative idea to promote those fields. He would like to see a state student loan program that targets students studying 21st century jobs as undergraduates. The loan would apply whether the student chose to go to school in-state or out of state. Partial loan forgiveness would be offered should the student come back to Connecticut and find a 21st century job.

“It’s an incentive for young educated people to come back and develop business here in the state,” Coyner said. “We have a great education system in Fairfield and Students go off, study, and don’t come back.”

Coyner also proposed that, if elected, he would draft legislation that would require the State Board of Education to include a member from one of the 21st century job fields.

“Getting the economy back on its feet means first getting everybody employed. Job growth is critical.”

Education and Health Care

In addition to job growth and the economy, Coyner addressed two other concerns: early education and preventative health care.

“Early education is very important. You have to develop those good habits very early and carry on throughout your education,” he said.

Bullying has also been a concern for Coyner. He believes that “raising awareness is half the battle” for bullying, but it’s necessary to get a handle on the issue and try to measure it.

As for health care, Coyner said it’s important for health care to be available for everyone but perhaps more pressing is learning to prevent illness.

“If we can treat and educate people to be healthy in the first place they wouldn’t get sick,” he said. “Health care should be the total health solution, not just based on procedures. It should be based on results.”

Parting Words

Residents will continue to get to know Coyner as election season nears -- he’ll continue to knock on doors and talk to constituents, listen to their concerns.

Coyner encourages residents and readers to visit his campaign website and donate if they can. Enough donations from residents, which count as signatures, will ensure Coyner a place on the Democrats’ nomination and funding from the state’s public financing program.

 “It puts everyone on even footing,” Coyner said of the program.

Coyner also urges all residents of age to “get out and vote” when the time comes.

“It’s very important. Every vote counts.”