.
Feedback

Letter: Brand's Leadership Has Benefited Fairfield

By Coralee Reiss

 

Dear Editor,

Democrats – please put the August 14th Democratic Primary on your calendar, and remember to vote for Sue Brand for state rep in the 132nd district. She is endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee. Brand has given us 20 years of honesty, intelligence, and commitment, qualities which have made her extremely transformative in Fairfield. Let’s give her our support.          

Did you know that Brand protected the teachers and students at while it was under construction? She realized that the original traffic layout at TMS would be dangerous during construction, and worked with town engineer Bill Hurley and others to change it.     

When a radon test in one classroom was 6 times the EPA limit, she, along with parents, called for school wide testing. Brand consulted the Environmental Protection Agency to find out the specific rules which had to be followed. In the end, the school’s air quality testing company received additional training, which was great for everyone. Then, to protect all the schools, Brand wrote the PTA protocols for Occupied Renovation & Building Committee Safety & Security Practices, adopted by the Board of Selectmen in 2007.  

This one block of time in her years of community service illustrates how her leadership and ability to work with others for a common goal has benefited Fairfield. We need her in Hartford working for us. August 14th, vote for Sue Brand in the Democratic primary for state rep, 132nd.

jimmy June 15, 2012 at 02:20 pm
You have got to be kidding me???
We have kids scrambling to schools all over Fairfield because of this woman and now we are suppose to reward her by electing her as state rep. Democratic party has to do better than this......
Mark Francis June 15, 2012 at 04:01 pm
Please, get your facts straight. Brand voted against redistricting Option E, along with Dow, Fattibene, and Liu. Who voted for it? Mitola, Iacono, Kerry, Albin and Zahn. Brand even proposed an alternative plan emphasizing neighborhood schools, which got no traction. It's in the CT Post, 9/15/10.
jimmy June 15, 2012 at 04:12 pm
a b c d e f they all stunk. Has nothing to do with getting facts straight, Thats how she is going to run for for cover? Because option E was the one that passed? Please... you can do better than that. What about Sue Brands 9-9-10 plan???
From the CT Post the board." "Board Chairman Sue Brand at the meeting presented a new plan that would have created a "singleton" school (Burr Elementary School), but changed the middle school assignments for students at only four schools, not eight, as in Option E. Brand's proposal emphasized the neighborhood school concept and would have increased the number of students who walked to school. The high school feeder pattern was also an integral part of the her proposal, whereas Option E disregards the elementary and high school levels. Brand's proposal provided for no change to the high school feeder pattern for one to two years" Fairfield Minuteman 9/17/10 In the auditorium’s vestibule, Seth Block, parent of two, expressed his discontent with the superintendent’s contributions to the Board discussion and with the way members handled the problem. “What a joke! We wasted our time.” It was Mr. Block’s view, strongly voiced, that it was due to “...a lack of character and laziness that the Board did not listen to the Town’s overwhelming views and incredible that they ignored the welfare of students.”
Mark Francis June 15, 2012 at 04:42 pm
You just proved my point. Brand didn't want option E, tried to find an alternative, and voted against E. The BOE majority pushed it through ignoring parents, the minority 4 voted no.
jimmy June 15, 2012 at 04:52 pm
Mark I can't argue with obviously a fellow democrat that is just blinded by party loyalty. Sue also had a ridiculous plan it just wasn't approved. Just because she didn't vote for option E but had her own terrible redisctricting plan doesn't prove your point at all. But it doesnt matter. The Democratic Town party just screwed this one up and handed another victory to the republicans....For that matter anyone on the BOE running for any office in any party is damaged goods...
J Selznick June 15, 2012 at 04:59 pm
Sorry Ms. Reiss, you’re only one of a small but very vocal group of “SueBrandees”. Even her endorsement by the Democratic Town Comicalitee smells fishy. A very good friend that I play poker with is on the DTC and was laughing hysterically about your “endorsement”. He said that Sue Brand got her husband, Patrick Brand (head of the U.S. Mailing Division at Pitney Bowes), as well as a few other good friends, to join the DTC just days before the runoff. My buddy was cracking up (I didn’t think it was funny) because he said Sue Brand was still only able to win by one vote- her husband’s!!!! Maybe you can confirm whether this is true? If it is true, that’s a pretty big asterisk next to her “endorsement”; it also makes you wonder what type of candidates are being served up by the Democrats. I had never even heard of the guy she is running against and Sue Brand, like Vlad the Impaler, has been around forever, so I guess a lot of loyal democrats who know Sue Brand well don’t use the same Brand of rose colored glasses? They may have the Brand that sees self serving rot for what it is.
Mark Francis June 15, 2012 at 08:14 pm
Many of you on here have a nasty, viscious tone. It borders on cyberbullying. It needs to stop.
Fully Informed June 15, 2012 at 09:30 pm
I beg to differ Brand, is a terrible choice for State Rep. PTA work isn't enough. Find a past democratic member of the BOE who is willing to endorse her, you won't. Current members don't count, namely because one follows her blindly and the others still need to work with her so they won't want to get involved. But those with no skin left in the political game won't endorse her, that voters, says a lot.
Justin Case June 16, 2012 at 01:15 am
Wow! 6 times the EPA limit and she called for testing you say? Genius. Let's elect her to the State Senate!!! Kudos for the gumption to make an obvious phone call that a 3 year old could make on an issue she could not lose on. This just boills down to a coffee clutch Fairfielder looking for a title - with no real world experience managing anything but highly flawed and poorly thought out redistricting plans.
Unemployed June 16, 2012 at 09:36 pm
Sue Brand’s husband, Patrick Brand, laid off me and most of my friends from Pitney Bowes over the last year. My cousin worked for Pitney Bowes in Virginia and he was laid off too. The senior management of Pitney Bowes which includes Patrick Brand has made millions of dollars for themselves while the stock price of Pitney Bowes has gone from $46 per share to $15 per share over the last 5 years. This means the value of Pitney Bowes has shrunk from over $9 billion to about $3 billion over the last 5 years while senior management has made enormous amounts of money and the workers who have been there for 25 years or more, of which I am one, have suffered. Patrick Brand’s boss, Murray Martin, during the last five years has made over $24 million in compensation (most of this during the financial crisis and period of layoffs of our work force). Plunkett Research, Ltd. shows the average compensation for an executive at Patrick Brand’s level to be $540,000 base plus $1,000,000 bonus per year. This is in line with what I had heard when I still worked there. The Brand family has not suffered financially compared to most of us. I googled my former boss and saw on this site that his wife is running for state rep. I also saw that she voted against a 25 cents per hour wage increase for school cafeteria workers who make only $8,000 per year. I am not surprised at this hypocrisy.
jimmy June 18, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Mark. Cyber bullying??? Really?.. I guess you don't like dodgeball either....

Newsletter & Alerts

Get the best stories each day and important breaking news

Subscribe

Not from Fairfield Patch? Find your Local Patch »

Note Article
Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Creeky June 18, 2013 at 08:46 pm
FHA Exposed, you can rest. She turned herself in:Read More http://www.justice.gov/usao/ct/Press2013/20130604.html If you are looking for some comeuppance for those that kept this quiet, and handled what they could out of the public's eye, I wish you success in your endeavors, and the best of luck--I think you'll need it.
Thomas Paine June 18, 2013 at 10:21 pm
Creeky - For a dead guy, I try to keep busy: http://wilton.patch.com/blogs/thomas-paines-blog
Creeky June 18, 2013 at 10:59 pm
Thomas, you certainly do. I enjoyed "Outside the Box."
Creeky June 18, 2013 at 09:34 pm
Atticus, Ralph Arnone is next scheduled to appear in court on July 1st, at which point he isRead More expected to enter a plea. As an aside, one isn't supposed to go to bed and wake up still angry at the same thing, day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out... I'm not trying to give you a hard time. I care deeply about firefighters and I'm genuinely concerned about you. You were exposed to a lot of chemicals in your career. You may have some endocrine system damage or something causing an electrolyte disorder. This stuff starts out with things like joint pain and minor psychological implications but, it gets much, much worse. Get to the doc. Maybe you're just a spicy guy, maybe Ralph hurt you in some terrible way, or maybe you are sick and as a result, you'll be facing a much shortened a painful life. Honestly, I'm not trying to give you a hard time or pick a fight.
Atticus Fich June 19, 2013 at 06:01 am
Well thanks for your concern Creeky. But at my age I cant say I have lived a shorten life. As forRead More chemicals...well as most of the posters here on this rag say, firemen do nothing 99.9% of the day so I guess the on chemical exposure would be to the big comfy leather chairs in the dayroom. Why do you care anyway Creeky? In your previous posts about me you said, don't feed to trolls. You are not honest Creeky. Take your fake concern and false "honesty" and waste it on someone else. Not trying to give you a hard time, those are your comments about me. Where did you get the info on Ralphy?
Creeky June 19, 2013 at 08:05 am
Atticus, review your own posts. It isn't trolling. It's a vendetta. If you think I'm dishonest,Read More fine. I'm not going to try to speak rationally with someone whom is irrational. Why do I care? Because I've seen how much care fireman are capable of, and how much they give of themselves. It's respect and karma. As far as where I got the info, it's publicly available. If you wanted my help in how to find it yourself, perhaps you shouldn't have attacked my character. You are on your own now.