Dave Yaccarino

HARTFORD–State Representative Dave Yaccarino on PURA Chair Marissa Gillett and the Need for New Leadership.

“Leadership in government, just like in sports, is about results and accountability. And right now, PURA under Chair Marissa Gillett isn’t delivering the results Connecticut families and businesses need.

This week’s revelation in court that key text messages were deleted, messages potentially relevant to an ongoing legal case involving PURA decisions, raises serious concerns. While Chair Gillett’s legal team says the deletion was unintentional, the fact remains: important public records were lost, and it took months to disclose that.

I’ve always said transparency is key. We need sunshine in government so the public can see clearly what’s being done on their behalf. Using personal phones with auto-delete settings to conduct state business undermines that principle. For months, the utilities, lawmakers, and the public were told these records didn’t exist. That’s not how we build trust.

On the House floor, I pointed out a growing concern: driving credit rating downgrades for major utility subsidiaries of Avangrid and Eversource due to Connecticut’s hostile regulatory market. That instability has real consequences for our ratepayers and our economy.

I urged Chair Gillett to step down during her reappointment hearings because I believed then, as I do now, that PURA needs a new direction. Today, I join House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora in renewing that call. The public deserves confidence in its regulators. We need a fresh start at PURA—one that prioritizes transparency, accountability, and real results for the people of Connecticut.”