David J. Alexander is a former member of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an ...

, representing the 58th district, from 2013 to 2017.

Background

He was born in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Upon graduating from law school he graduated from Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant. Upon graduating from Marine Corps Basic School he served on active duty with Marine Wing Support Squadron 172 in Okinawa, Japan and 1st Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Pendleton, California. Upon leaving active duty in 2011, he served in the Marine Corps Reserves with 1st Battalion, 25th Marines at Fort Devens, Massachusetts from 2011 to 2014. He left the Marine Corps obtaining the rank of captain. In 2012 he challenged Kathy Tallarita, a 14-year state representative incumbent, in a Democratic Party Primary and defeated her by a 2-to-1 margin. Upon taking office in 2013, his comments in support of the Connecticut Gun Safety Act, as part of the state's response to the Newtown Shooting, was covered by NPR due to how he compared gun safety to weapons safety within the Marine Corps. In 2014, he was spearheaded the passage of an adoption birth certificate bill that was covered in USA Today, Reuters and the Hartford Courant due to its importance. He also was instrumental in passing a veterans jobs bill in 2014 that stands as a national model. David graduated from Trinity College, with honors, in 2003. His honors senior thesis that he wrote while a student at Trinity College focused on state and federal policies aimed at increasing voting. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2006. In 2020, he earned a Masters of Public Affairs Degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. From July 2015 to June 2016, he was a student at the

Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executives ...

in their MBA for Executives program. In July 2016, Yale granted Alexander a leave of absence to tend to personal issues, but Yale University declined to allow Alexander rejoin the MBA for Executives program upon the conclusion of the leave of absence. From 2002 until 2007, Alexander served on the Enfield Zoning Board of Appeals as an Alternate Member.

Legal issues and altercations

Alexander was arrested for a

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

in 2015, leading to his removal from the position of vice chairman of the House's government and elections committee. In 2016, he was arrested on another DUI charge and removed from his committee assignments. Later that year, Alexander was arrested for assaulting his father while intoxicated, resulting in charges of breach of peace and assault on an elderly person. This incident occurred shortly after he lost his bid for re-election. In 2018, Alexander was arrested for an alleged intoxicated assault on his mother. Local police believed that he threw a mug at his mother, hitting her in the head and breaking both of her wrists. Alexander’s mother denied this, and she stated that she injured herself by accidentally falling. He was charged with assault on an elderly person and disorderly conduct, and he pleaded guilty to breach of peace (2nd degree) as part of a plead bargain. The primary reason for this plea bargain was the fact that both Alexander’s mother and father continually stated that Alexander did nothing to harm his mother. In response, the

Connecticut Superior Court The Connecticut Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears all matters other than those of original jurisdiction of the Probate Court, and hears appeals from the Probate Court. The Superior Court has 13 judicial distr ...

suspended Alexander's ability to practice law in the state for one year.

2016 texts

During 2016, Alexander was involved in a rivalry with Republican Tim Herbst, a candidate for governor. Herbst sent a text message to Alexander containing a video clip from the film

Sudden Impact ''Sudden Impact'' is a 1983 American vigilante action thriller film, the fourth in the ''Dirty Harry'' series, directed, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only ''Dirty Harry'' film to be directed by Eastwood himself) and co ...

of a character pointing a gun and saying "

Go ahead, make my day "Go ahead, make my day" is a catchphrase from the 1983 film ''Sudden Impact'', spoken by the character Harry Callahan, played by Clint Eastwood. The iconic line was written by John Milius, whose writing contributions to the film were uncredited ...

". Alexander interpreted this as a threat and filed a formal complaint with police, who advised Herbst to have no further contact with Alexander. Herbst maintained that the text in question was not a threat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, David J. People from Connecticut 21st-century American politicians Connecticut Democrats Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni Living people 1981 births