Fitzgerald makes her case for 77th District seat

Prepared speech by Jill Fitzgerald for delivery at last night's 77th District Republican convention:
To my fellow Bristol residents;
I am honored to accept the nomination to be your candidate for the State House Seat in the 77th district.
It was a desire to serve my community and a concern for our children’s futures that motivated me to run in 2008. As I went door to door, listening to my fellow Bristol residents I quickly found that many of us share the same concerns and frustrations and I made a connection with the people that has stayed with me.
Over the last two years, circumstances have become more difficult, and I have become more frustrated and determined to become a part of the solution to the problems we face in our city and in our state.
- As our daughter heads off to college in the Fall I wonder if there will be opportunities here for her and will she choose to come back here and live because statistics show our young people are not.
- For the first time in our 25 years of marriage, my husband, Shawn spent 7 months of the last year unemployed and we quickly realized our problem was as much a spending one as a revenue one
- In my own business, as I handle bookkeeping and process payrolls for small businesses and professionals I hear their concerns for the future and I see hard decisions being made
- In our city we are facing property tax increases close to 6%, and our State continues to burden the cities with unfunded mandates.
This leads me to question whether our representatives are even listening to our concerns. Our own representative, since taking office in 2009, has voted “yes” to depleting the rainy day fund; “yes” to a proposed extraordinary tax increase to Bristol’s own ESPN; and most recently, “yes” for a biennial budget adjustment that includes $1.5 Billion in tax increases; $300 Million increase in General Fund spending; $50 Million cut in municipal aid; and the borrowing of $1.3 Billion. This is just to name a few votes.
Abraham Lincoln said “you cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Yet this is what we continue to see happening and it is frightening. It is not a stretch to believe that we can do better than this, but we cannot continue to vote in the same people and expect different results.
I am an independent thinker who places a high value on hard work, personal responsibility, giving back to your community, individual freedom and liberty; and I understand that we must have all the government we need, but only the government we need.
Once elected,
• I promise …you will not find a better listener and advocate for the greater good of the people and for the City of Bristol.
• I promise …To apply the same common sense we use in our own homes: if we can’t afford it, we can’t have it and to operate with the most efficiency we can.
and
• I promise …To always remember that I am a public servant and that serving is a duty, not an entitlement.
This is a year of great opportunity for the people in the State of Connecticut, for this is the year we can bring balance, responsibility and common sense back to our State Legislature.
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