Exclusive Interview: New Fairfield State Rep Pat Callahan’s Candid Thoughts on the Governor’s Scrapped EV Plan

I like to think I am good at forecasting who will run for what office.

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When I met Roberto Alves he was a relatively new City Councilman in Danbury and I said you're going to be Mayor one day and here we are, Roberto was sworn in as the Mayor of Danbury last week. This was a lot like the "Goldie Wilson" moment in Back to the Future.

Anyway I think I'm good at this and here is my next prediction: New Fairfield State Rep Pat Callahan will run for Governor. I don't know if he'll win yet my crystal ball is a bit cloudy but he will run.

I asked him about this on the Tuesday (12/05/23) edition of the I-95 Morning Show, here is how that went down.

Lou: I was thinking about you, we've had you on the show a bunch and I read about your work in the newspaper and everything I read says you do a lot of bipartisan work, everyone seems to like you and gravitate to you. So, I'm calling for you to run for Governor already. 

Callahan: "I've got one problem, I'm not rich but I appreciate the vote of confidence. Hey, part of the battle is, don't be a jerk."

Then, I joked that I could get a corporate sponsor to fund the campaign and we laughed and laughed. Finally, it was onto the real business of the day, we asked Callahan about the recent EV plan that was scrapped by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.

Lou: We wanted to talk about EV's, Governor Lamont pulled his plan that would've mandated that we go to all electric vehicles by 2035. Even idiots like us were sitting here months ago saying, I don't think we are ready, what happened here? 

Callahan: "Here is what the process was, you know what is going on here. President Biden tells his Democrat Governors, push my policies. So Governor Lamont and the Commissioner of DEEP are pushing the policies. The way it works, back in 2002 I believe there was a vote by the full legislature before I got there about, we're going to follow California regulations which in itself is crazy because you, me and all my constituents didn't vote for anyone in California. So, it goes to a committee, regulations review seven Democrats and seven Republicans and all the Republicans were voting no because it is a stupid plan. Out of the seven Democrats, a couple of them balked. So rather than have the committee vote and put any of them on record as approving of it, the Governor just pulled it because he didn't have the votes." 

Lou: So he did not want egg on face? 

Callahan: "Correct or any of his Democrat reps didn't want to force a vote on that but now it's going to go to the full legislature which is where it should be because now it will go through Energy and Technology which is Billy Buckbee and it will go through the Environment Committee which is me and Steve Harding, as ranking members. Now it can be fully vetted and I plan on having a lot to say about this because there is just no way this could work in Connecticut." 

Callahan went into detail about why this plan is flawed, listen to the rest of the interview below.

"Everything You Need to Know About Charging an Electric Vehicle in Connecticut"

Check out the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave Podcast on Apple and Spotify

Maybe I am from the future?

If I'm already walking around telling people how things will work out, I really need to keep a close eye on my family photos.

P.S. If you have any question about the legitimacy of my Roberto Alves story, ask the Mayor and you can hear it from him.

Download the entire Pat Callahan Interview