Carlo Leone

Carlo Leone was born in Rose, Italy. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration from Sacred Heart University. Leone and his wife, Karen, have one child.^[3]

Leone served in the United States Air Force from 1981 to 1987.^[4] During his service in the Air Force, Leone served with NATO forces in Spain, Italy, and Turkey.^[5] Following his Air Force service, he worked at Xerox as a technician. Leone left Xerox after 17 years of working there. Following that, he founded The Workplace, an agency that helps homeless veterans find housing in Fairfield County.^[6]

From 2003 to 2011, Leone served in the Connecticut House of Representatives representing the 148th district, which encompasses a small portion of Stamford. While in the House, as a Democrat, Leone served as the Deputy Majority Whip of the House.^[7] While in the House, Leone also served as the Vice Chair of the Regulations Review committee.^[8] Among the committees that Leone served on during his tenure in the House were the Transportation, Regulations review, and the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding committee.^[4]

On February 23, 2011, Leone won a special election for the 27th District seat against Republican Bob Kolenberg; the election was held to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Andrew J. McDonald, who left the Senate to serve as Governor Dan Malloy's chief legal counsel.^[9] Leone won the 2012,^[10][11] 2014,^[12] 2016,^[13] and 2018^[14] elections and won re-election for the 5th time in the 2020 election.^[15] Winning by 9,865 votes over Republican Eva Maldonado, who also ran against Leone in the 2014 election.^[16] Leone formerly served as Chairman of the Transportation Committee and Vice Chairman of both the General Law Committee and the Finance, Revenue, and Boarding Committee in the General Assembly.^[4] Leone also served as the Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate and Chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee.^[17]

In 2013, Leone and then-State Representative William Tong co-authored a bill to help preserve homeowners rights during the Foreclosure process.^[18] In 2018, Leone was one of 6 members of the General Law Committee to vote in support of Marijuana legalization. The bill ultimately failed to make it to the General Assembly as it was struck down in a 6–11 vote.^[19] In November 2019, following a report that stated that the Connecticut Port Authority was misspending several thousands of dollars on expensive meals and liquor. Leone was one of 21 Democrats to vote for a police reform bill in July 2020. And later stated that he hoped that similar bills would pass in the regular session in January 2021.^[20] When Hurricane Isaias hit Connecticut in August 2020, hundreds of thousands of residents were left without power for several days.^[21] Eversource, which supplies most of Connecticut with electricity, was criticized for their slow response to the storm damage.^[22] After this, the Connecticut State Senate passed a bill in a 35–0 vote that would hold utility companies such as Eversource to tougher standards. Leone was one of many state senators who spoke out in support of the bill, saying: "We’re not here by choice, We’re here because our constituents demanded us to act."^[23]

In January 2019, President pro tempore Martin Looney drafted a bill that would force towns with a population of below 40,000 full time residents to consolidate and regionalize their school districts with neighboring towns.^[24] In response, Leone claimed that the bill was "only a starting point to have serious discussions" and that it was "Not prudent to rush to any judgements" in a statement given to the Darien Times.^[25] Leone has also spoken out in support of consolidating Connecticut Community colleges.^[26]

While Chairman of the Transportation Committee, Leone worked on pedestrian safety legislation. In 2019, Leone wrote a bill that would impose $20 fines on pedestrians for what he referred to as "distracted walking" or using a cellphone while walking on a street.^[27] The bill faced scrutiny from many prominent Republicans.^[28] Leone reasserted his claims, citing that the state transportation fund is set to be completely depleted by 2024. And reasserted that there is a risk of major transportation projects being canceled as a result of the waning transportation funds.^[29] In December 2020, Governor Ned Lamont announced that he would move to raise the Gasoline Tax.^[30][31]

On December 31, 2020, it was announced that Leone would be leaving the State Senate in order to take a leadership position in Governor Ned Lamont's administration as a senior adviser to state Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti.^[32] Leone resigned from the Senate on January 5, 2021.^[33] A special election in order to replace Leone took place on March 2, 2021.^[34][35] State Representative Patricia Billie Miller won the election.^[36][37][38]

On January 5, 2021, Leone began serving as the senior adviser to ConnDOT commissioner Joseph Giulietti.^[39]