Barnes: GOP can do better than Democrats

Open letter from Thomas Barnes, Jr, the head of the city's Republican Party:
The Democrats have said to the local GOP don’t count on any change in Hartford because they are doing such a great job running our great state. This is from the article in the Bristol Press 07/27/2010 headlined Dems to GOP “Don’t Count On It.”
I first would like to say that the local GOP is not counting on anything and from the sounds of the article the only politicians that are counting on winning are the Democrats. We understand that we are the minority party in Connecticut and in Bristol. We also understand our victory is anything but assured. That being said, I think voters are starting to wake up to the fact that the state is on a fast track to fiscal doom if something doesn’t change. Let’s take a quick look at the legacy that this current legislature is leaving for the incoming legislature.
The last 2 budgets have been balanced by borrowing close to a billion dollars for each year and using numerous one-time income sources such as federal “stimulus” money. All this has done is push the deficit higher and higher so that next fiscal year the TAXPAYERS face a 3.5 billion dollar budget deficit.
Let’s put that number in perspective. The total state budget for 2011 is 19 billion and the deficit, as projected, is about 18 percent of that budget. The Democrats think this is a job well done?
We have unfunded liabilities in the 50 to 60 billion dollar range. Has the legislature done one thing to address those problems? Do they view TAXPAYERS as a money tree?
The Democrats have also said that they are the ones who are “for” middle class, but they continue not to fund the state pension. They continue to borrow money and put the burden on future generations. These are the very voters who claim to serve and whose votes they are counting on in November.
Our property taxes continue to go up and municipal leaders have been calling for a repeal or suspension of the unfunded mandates that burden our local municipalities. Has anything been done about that? They set up a commission to review this burden chaired by our very own Frank Nicastro. Did anything come of that? No. Instead, this Legislature continues to pass on more and more of these unfunded mandates that are crushing our cities and towns. 
We CANNOT continue down this path forever. At some point, we have to rein in our ever growing state budget and begin to get serious about funding the promises that have been made to our state work force. We are the most taxed state in the United States and it still isn’t enough for the current state legislature.
While the local GOP knows nothing is guaranteed, what we do know and understand is that every seat at the Legislature belongs to no political party or candidate. Those seats belong to the people of Bristol, Plymouth, Plainville, and Harwinton.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com