A sincere and humble "thank you" to everyone who supported my campaign for State Representative in Fairfield's 133rd legislative district – both to those who gave their time, energy, and resources, and to those who cast their votes for me.
And congratulations to my opponent, Kim Fawcett, for winning another term and to her team for all their hard work. I enjoyed meeting Kim’s poll workers at North Stratfield School – hard, dedicated workers, just like mine.
My decision to run for State Representative was made after deep reflection on a simple question that I believe every citizen should ask himself or herself: If elected, what would I do?
The answer to this question clearly depends on how each of us views the status quo.
A majority of Connecticut voters obviously believe that things are basically fine, and thus they voted in favor of a continuation of the policies of the party that has controlled Hartford for most of the last 46 years.
Others, like me, believe that Connecticut has some very serious fiscal and competitive problems that will increasingly constrain our ability to preserve our quality of life, to invest in education, to protect the most vulnerable among us, and to improve our infrastructure. And we believe these problems have clear negative implications not only for the people of Connecticut but also for the value of the property and businesses we own.
Only time will tell who is right, but I remain convinced that the signs of increasingly serious problems are all around us, particularly in the ominous lack of growth in population or jobs since 1990 as more and more seniors, young people, job-creating businesses, and families choose either not to move here or not to stay here because our tax rates and our cost of living are simply too high.
Eighteenth-century philosopher and member of the British Parliament Edmund Burke believed that “society is a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living… and those who are to be born.” In other words, we have an obligation to future generations. In this important sense, it is not moral for Connecticut’s state government to keep spending and to keep making future commitments that exceed what we can reasonably afford, knowing that an unsustainable financial burden is being created that will undermine the future prosperity of our state and add hardship to the lives of our children and grandchildren – at least the ones who choose to remain in Connecticut.
Robert Kennedy once stated, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ...” I agree, and this is why I will continue to do my part to better our town, our state, and our nation – as a parent, educator, and private citizen. I hope you will join me in this commitment.
