U. S. Senate Candidate Matt Corey

Matthew McKinnon Corey was born January 11, 1964 in Hartford, CT, and is a lifelong resident of Manchester, CT. In 1951, Matt’s parents, Frederick Thomas Corey and Marie Jean Corey, came to Hartford for better job opportunities after Matt's father served in WWII. 

Matt enlisted in the United States Navy in 1982. He was deployed to Beirut in 1983 and served in the Navy until 1987, receiving an Honorable Discharge. 

Following his military service for our great country, Matt worked for the United States Postal Service and for the Teamsters. In 1990, Matt opened Advanced Services International, providing window cleaning services for several high rise buildings throughout Connecticut. Matt also owned and operated McKinnon's Pub in Hartford beginning in 2002. He now owns and operates The One Wood Pub at East Hartford Golf Course. 

As a business owner and a resident, Matt understands how both action and inaction have impacted Connecticut's residents and business owners alike, whether in daily life, professional ventures or long term goals. 

What is your understanding of the war between Israel and various militant groups in Gaza?

Look, this was an administration and it was Senator Murphy's appeasement approach to Iran, who is funding Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels, and Hamas. And so what happened was, Iran was able to sell not just hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day, but up to millions of barrels of oil a day to China. So they're funding these terrorist groups who, innocent victims from Israel were attacked in October. Senator Murphy has taken the Houthis off the terrorist organization watch list. Saudi Arabia was taking on that fight as they cut arms to Saudi Arabia.

Where is the information that claims that Senator Murphy and the administration are funding the terrorists?

I didn't say they're directly funding the terrorists, but if you're not enforcing the sanctions on Iran and you're easing them, that is the information we have. So when Iran is selling millions of barrels of oil a day and funding the terrorist organizations over there, that is appeasement. Senator Murphy went over there under the Trump administration and talked to the Iranian mullahs without authorization, and they still want to cut that Iranian nuclear deal, which we had full, full maximum pressure sanctions on Iran, and there was no war in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords were being signed.

When you say the leader of Qatar is one of your good friends, they are harboring, I think now, the Hamas leaders with a combined income of $11 billion. And when it comes time to rebuild Gaza, those Iranian leaders should be spending their money before any American dollars go into rebuilding Gaza.

What is the most likely short-term resolution to ending the current war? And what's the best option for the United States?

If they didn't withhold arms and they backed Israel 100% with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who came over to Congress to speak. The Vice President, who was running for President, wasn't there to meet him. Senator Murphy sat on his hands in the chambers, which was a disgrace. So when they're running foreign policy due to the electoral college of getting and appeasing these Hamas supporters, it's wrong. Once again, we need to back Israel 100% and if you eradicate Hamas in Gaza, do not negotiate with terrorists.

What is your understanding of the war between Russia and Ukraine?

My understanding is that when President Zelensky ran for office, he ran on peace with Russia. What they had said is just on the consideration of joining NATO, President Putin was not going to have it, that he did not want NATO on his borders. After the first day of invasion, the next day, President of Russia, Putin, wanted a peace deal.

It didn't happen. And now what's happening is this administration has an unfettered amount of money that he wants to send to Ukraine until it's over. Until what's over? Until what resolution? My understanding is, why aren't we over there talking about peace and finding out how we can cut a peace deal instead of losing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.

Are you aware that Vladimir Putin accused the leader of Ukraine of being a Nazi and he wanted to take over Russia?

I wasn't aware of those statements. I haven't seen them. I'll have to look into that. But I do know that it became, that Zelensky became unfriendly to Russia, and that's what happened.

Are you then in favor of a country unilaterally invading the borders of another country based on a lie?

Absolutely not.

Well then, what is your response to Russia doing that?

My response is to find out, to go over there and cut a peace deal and have them remove their soldiers from Ukraine.

You don't think that's already been attempted?

I haven't seen any resolution. All I've heard from this administration is whatever it takes. And what does that mean?

What do you think it means?

I think it means just keep sending money over there. And so, I don't know what that means. That it's a very dangerous situation when you have missiles, NATO missiles being sent over there and being shot into the Russian territory. It's a very dangerous situation.

And the weapons that have been fired into public areas into Ukraine, that's okay?

No, it's not okay. You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I am saying that the whole situation is a dangerous situation, could lead to World War III. What I'm saying is, we are leading from behind, we have a weak administration. Let's get the Russian troops out of Ukraine and take Ukraine as a neutral country. NATO is encroaching on Russia. It's an encroachment.

How is that?

Well, when you're inviting all these countries on the border of Russia, it's a threat to Russian sovereignty.

In November of last year, the Supreme Court adopted a code of ethics for its justices. What should Congress do if they violate those standards?

Well, I mean, it's an ethics problem. So I mean, this should be investigated. I don't know how far they want to go with it, do you remove a Supreme Court justice if it seems that that justice is being bought? I mean, it depends.

I would have to look at what the proposals were to do. I mean, it's the same thing with Congress. I mean, they can't take gifts from corporations or friends or family, but if it impacts a case, I mean, you have to look at it case by case.

Do you support term limits for Supreme Court justices?

I do not.

In its last term, Roe v. Wade was struck down by the Supreme Court, eliminating the national right to obtain an abortion. Recognizing that there are deeply held views on both sides of this issue, we'd like to ask you what you think the practical and political implications are of that decision?

I think government should be brought back closer to the people of states where the states have their own laws as to abortion. So I stand with the people of the State of Connecticut, and it should be brought back to a local issue. So it's voted in state legislatures, what the people of that state feel like.

The most recent numbers on inflation show that inflation has now dropped below 3%. At one point in 2022, it was running around 9%. What do you think caused the 2022 spike?

Well, $7 trillion that this administration has spent. You had many dollars chasing very few services. I mean, $7 trillion of overspending. They didn't need to do that. And they're voting for more. They're voting for more spending in the 2024 election.

If 2025, they're voting for a $5 trillion tax increase with more spending, it's going to be more inflation, higher taxes, nothing to cut the deficit, nothing to cut the spending. It's all about higher taxes and more spending. And it's just gonna crush the economy.

The current inflation has dropped below 3%. So why do you think it has come down?

More people are back to work. Your wages are still down. Prices are still up. I wouldn't say it's down that much where it's affordable. I'm in the hospitality restaurant business, so it hasn't really come down much for us.

What does it mean then in terms of the overall direction in which the economy is headed?

The businesses are going to do what they can to make things work. But the direction of this economy is not going to be good with more spending increases on its way. We need tax cuts and we need jobs. And to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, we're not going to be competitive in the global market, we're gonna be losing companies overseas. I've already seen it. The US Surgical used to be in New Haven. They're all over to Ireland. They're all leaving. So the direction of this economy under a democratic administration is not going to be a good direction.

How well or poorly should the American people feel about the current state of election integrity? In other words, how safe is your vote?

Well, I think a lot of people are worried about how safe our vote is. The way that all these people are coming in illegally, and there's no way of checking if they're a citizen as they get their driver's license and as they were able to register to vote. They're not checking. If you have certain sanctuary cities, such as New York City, they're allowing people illegally to vote. And what is the checking process on that?

Do you have any proof of what you're saying?

Do I have any proof? Yeah. They allow illegal immigrants to vote in municipality elections in New York City. As a matter of fact, Massachusetts are letting people get a driver's license without any identification tag, saying if they're illegal or not. So how can you prove, if you have a driver's license, how can you prove that you're not a citizen or a non-citizen or being a citizen? So when you go for public benefits, the first thing they do is they give you forms to register the vote. So who is looking at that? I'm not trying to be a radical, I'm just saying people are worried about the integrity of the voting process, especially what happened in Bridgeport.

In five presidential elections, the winner of the popular vote has not won the electoral vote. Do you support efforts to replace the Electoral College with the national popular vote?

No, I support the Electoral College as it's written.

Okay. Matt, I thank you so much for participating in this.

Thank you very much. And look, you can look up those facts about New York City and Washington, D.C. by all means.

Well, I did, actually, and I've got it up here on my monitor if you'd like to hear the headline.

Sure, go ahead.

“New York judge strikes down New York City law granting voting rights to non-citizens.”

That must have just happened. When did that happen?

June of 2022.

Ah. Let me see. I misspoke.

I mean, I don't keep up with all that kind of news, but you're asking me about voter integrity. I said people are always worried about it.

So “New York City Council appeals decision to strike down”, this is March of 2024.

Well that's an appeal. Let's see what happens.