Cohen Announces Candidacy

A fourth candidate has thrown her name into the running for the 136th District in the Connecticut House of Representatives.

Nitzy Cohen has announced her plans to pursue the Hartford post for the second time. She ran in 2008 against then incumbent Rep. Joe Mioli, who has announced he won't be seeking a fourth term.

Democrat Jonathan Steinberg and Republicans Stephen Rubin and Allen Levy have also announced their interest in serving as state rep.

Mioli, a native of Italy and former co-owner of Westport Pizzeria, has plans to seek office in the 945-member Italian Parliament, which has openings for Italians living abroad. That election is coming up in spring 2012.

In her last attempt at seeking public office, Cohen earned 35 percent of the vote against Mioli.

"The elections of 2008 were different. It was the first time I ran for office," Cohen said. "I was really the only one in my campaign. It was a time when nobody wanted to vote for the Republican. It was the Obama wave,  a straight-ticket Democrat (election) You combine all that together, and it's a wonder I even got 35 percent."

Cohen said she had been mulling her decision to run for a while and ultimately decided to make a go of it because of the majority Democratic legislature, which she says has not been "professional in its decisions." 

The state's economic trouble was also another reason for her decision to run, specificially because of the unemployment insurance fund being bankrupt, the immense debt the state is faced with and the underfunded employee pension system. Cohen said the state is heading towards further economic upheaval without a strong and steady voice and constructive ideas, which she said she would bring to the table. 

"And it's going to hit us in ways that we cannot even fathom, especially in Westport and all of Fairfield County because we are the cash register for the state," Cohen said. "Government has grown beyond what it can be efficiently in charge of and when you have one-party rule then there is no debate, there is no input from the other side. So I couldn't sit on the fence. I have to jump in and I have a personality that is perfect for this."

Cohen was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and immigrated to the United States after her Israeli Army service 29 years ago. She became a U.S. citizen in 1990. She is a mother of three children — Erik, Maya and Mikey.

She is a small, international business owner of International Basics, which was founded in 1995 to supply the food processing industry with creative ingredients. It also exports American commodities and food processing technologies to many countries.

In addition to her business, she is a consultant for USAID for developing and third world countries where she can help small manufacturers and women-owned food businesses evolve and grow using western economic principles.

She also serves on the Connecticut-Israel Exchange Commission, a post she was appointed to by Gov. Jodi Rell.

For more information on Cohen, click here.