North Haven resident and business owner David Yaccarino has announced that he will run as the Republican candidate against North Haven State Representative Steve Fontana for the incumbent’s seat in the 2010 election.

Yaccarino is the owner of DJ’s Sports Collectibles and Comics, 1 Lincoln St. in North Haven. Yaccarino is also a member of the North Haven Republican Town Committee and a former member of the U.S. Navy reserve.

“The biggest thing about my platform will be fiscal responsibility,” Yaccarino said when contacted. “What is and what’s not working needs to be looked at, and what’s not working most likely needs to be changed. There are things that need to be done.”

Yaccarino added that he would focus on cost-saving on energy and looking into the Connecticut’s Educational Cost Sharing formula, which he thought might have become erroneous since it was last set.

Yaccarino also pointed to a vast Democratic advantage in the state’s House of Representatives as reason for his running.

“There are 144 House Democrats to 37 House Republicans,” he said. “That’s an imbalance. If it was the other way around, I’d feel the same way. It’s not a true democratic process. You need balance.”

Yaccarino has lived in North Haven for 49 years, he said, moving into town when he was two years old and eventually raising three children of his own in North Haven. Yaccarino has never run for political office before, but said that his past experiences have provided him the experience necessary.

“I joined the Navy Reserve when I was 17,” he said. “I was at navy boot camp. You can’t leave boot camp. You had to work with people of all different ethnicities and economic backgrounds every single day. You have to learn how to compromise with each other. I learned a lot from the Navy.”

Yaccarino added that he served as an Exxon dealer representative from 1989-1991, which gave him “practical experience.”

Yaccarino said that he solidified his decision to run last week after meeting with Republican leaders in Hartford.

Fontana has held the town’s state representative seat since 1994, defeating Republican candidate Veronica Kivela by 7,989 votes to 4,836 in 2008.