Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 31, 2008
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77th District race is up for grabs
But two years ago, Republican Ron Burns mowed down Michele to capture the 77th District seat, the only place in New England where the GOP knocked out an incumbent Democrat in 2006 and one of the few in the entire country during an election that treated Democrats gently.
It appeared the district might stay in Republican hands for a long time.
Then Burns announced in May that he wouldn’t seek reelection and suddenly the district was up for grabs.
Two political unknowns leaped into the fray – Democrat Chris Wright and Republican Jill Fitzgerald – and soon dotted the district with signs and filled mailboxes with flyers in hopes of making the jump to the General Assembly.
Wright, 35, a hospital admission clerk who is the son of well-known city politician Gardner Wright, had made health care a centerpiece of his campaign.
Fitzgerald, 48, a bookkeeping company owner, touts her opposition to taxes and commitment to controlling state spending.
With many new voters on the rolls boosting an already large Democratic advantage in the district, Fitzgerald knows the odds are against her. But, she said, people are more interested in accountability than partisanship.
“Jill is in an extremely competitive race,” said state Rep. Bill Hamzy, a Plymouth Republican whose 78th District includes a portion of Bristol. “Jill can win this race.”
With the economy in turmoil, and many city residents struggling, the candidates offer sharply varying ideas about how best to handle what could become a dire situation.
Though both agree that extending unemployment benefits may be necessary, Wright is ready to consider more far-reaching aid.
“Historically, Democrats have implemented public works projects in hard times in order to create jobs,” Wright said.
“While we all hope that the economic downturn we are currently experiencing will not be severe enough to require such measures, I think that we have to at least acknowledge the possibility that it may come to this. After all, businesses cannot create jobs if people have no money to buy their products,” he said.
“The last thing we should do in these times is raise taxes on anyone,” Fitzgerald said. “Connecticut families and businesses already pay more taxes than anyone else in the country.”
Fitzgerald said the state needs to “to pay attention to the long-term picture” so that “we are prepared to begin creating jobs when this storm passes. We need to find a way to reduce the tax burden of businesses.”
Fitzgerald owns Bookkeeping Basics, a business she started so she could work at home when her children were young. She’s a QuickBooks Pro advisor.
Born in Southington, Fitzgerald has lived in Bristol her entire adult life. She has two children attending Bristol Eastern High School, a son who’s a senior and a daughter who’s a sophomore.
She and her husband of 23 years, Shawn Fitzgerald, co-produced two musicals for the community theater, including last fall’s production of “High School Musical.”
Fitzgerald is treasurer of the performing arts booster club at Eastern and has served on the school’s governance council in the past. She’s also active with her church, Baptist Community Valley Church in Avon.
Since graduating from Southington High School in 1978, Fitzgerald said she’s taken some courses in accounting and English, as well as some classes for certification she needs for her job, but does not have a college degree.
Wright grew up in the district, attending Mountain View, Ivy Drive and Northeast Middle schools before graduating from St. Paul Catholic High School. He earned a degree in economics from Central Connecticut State University in 1991.
After college, he earned a paralegal certificate and attended a seminary for a time before putting in eight years with the Federal Deposit Insurance Company. He currently works in registration for St. Francis Hospital.
Wright is not married and doesn’t have any children.
State lawmakers serve two-year terms and earn $28,000 for their part-time positions. The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
For details about where the candidates stand on key issues, check back here after Saturday morning. I'll add quite a bit right here as soon as I have a chance.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Trick or treat
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
COO backers say unions, mayor have made their case for them
Press release from the ChooseCOO group:
UNIONS AND MAYOR MAKE CONVINCING CASE FOR COO
If ever there was a time for a COO, this is it. Local union leaders, by their actions, have made a convincing case for the COO (aka ‘Chief Operating Officer’ or ‘City Manager’).
The Mayor needs help. This is a given. Our present Mayor and past mayors have acknowledged this fact. However, while the unions and their Mayor are saying in words that they are all about the taxpayer, their recent actions paint a different picture.
Local union leadership is against the COO, but all they want to talk about is the cost, not the benefits. In fact they are running the anti-COO campaign. Of course they’re against the COO – do you really think they want someone hired to focus on the efficient delivery of City services? Do you really think they are going to put the best interest of the taxpayers ahead of their own self-interest? Let us give you an example: A new city committee is looking into the possibility of using money from overfunded pension accounts to pay for retiree health benefits instead of asking taxpayers to pay the tab – a move that would lower property taxes by nearly half a mill. Nine of the 19 members of this new ‘GASB 45 Committee’ are union representatives and some others are friendly to the unions. Do you think union leaders are ready to throw their support behind a decision that will save taxpayers $1.8 million now and much more in the future? Wouldn’t that alone more than pay for the COO position?
Further, union leaders have the Mayor in their hip pocket. How do we know? Well, first the Mayor loaded this GASB 45 Committee with union members. Then, the Mayor issued a press release parroting the unions’ argument against the COO. Do you believe that his actions are not politically motivated? Whose turf is he protecting? Do you think there is any conflict of interest here? After all, when the COO position is introduced, doesn’t that lessen his job duties and, perhaps, his pay?
This community may be facing the greatest economic challenges in our history in the coming years. Our present system is laden with cronyism and lacking accountability. Taxpayers, this is your chance to say, “Enough politics!” and get the professional leadership we need -- someone with the expertise of a Chief Operating Officer – by voting ‘Yes’ to Question #5 on Election Day.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Take a look at this candidate's personal website
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Near record number of voters face many choices Tuesday
With nearly as many voters its rolls as ever before, Bristol may see busier polling places than it has in decades.
But election officials, who have been figuring out how to deal with the crush for months, anticipate few problems at the polls Tuesday.
“We spent a lot of time planning for this,” said Bob Badal, the Democratic registrar.
There are 34,708 registered voters this year in Bristol, more than 84 percent of them Democrats or independents. Republicans trail badly.
Still, city GOP chairman T.J. Barnes said that his party has the potential to do well in Bristol this year, with its emphasis on keeping state Rep. Bill Hamzy in office and getting newcomer Jill Fitzgerald to join him.
Voters will get the last word on a number of political contests, from the presidential slugfest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain on down to uncontested local races.
They’ll also decide whether to change Bristol’s charter to create a chief operating officer as well as four non-controversial charter change questions. There’s also a hotly debated state issue on the ballot about whether to require a constitutional convention.
The 1st District congressional race features U.S. Rep. John Larson, an East Hartford Democrat, and two long-shots, Republican Joe Visconti of West Hartford and Green Party champion Stephen Fournier of Hartford.
The most watched race among Bristol’s political insiders is in 77th District.
Fitzgerald is locked in what appears to be a tight race there against Democrat Chris Wright in northeastern Bristol. The two are vying to succeed state Rep. Ron Burns, a Republican who opted not to seek re-election after a single term in Hartford.
Hamzy is scrambling to fend off Democrat Jacqui Denski in the 78th District, which includes Chippens Hill.
In the 79th District, state Rep. Frank Nicastro is facing a token challenger, Republican David L. Norton, who stepped in at the last minute to replace Derek Jerome, who apparently committed suicide last month to escape financial woes.
In the 22nd District, which includes fewer than 1,000 voters in the Forestville section of town, state Rep. Betty Boukus, a Plainville Democrat, is facing a challenge from Republican Scott Saunders.
State Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat who has represented the 31st District since 1992, doesn’t have an opponent for the first time in his career. The district includes Plainville, Plymouth and part of Harwinton as well as Bristol.
To deal with the many voters expected to show up at the polls, Badal said there are going to be two check-in lines for voters at the precincts.
Moderators at each precinct have also worked up floor plans to speed people through as quickly as possible, Badal and Republican Registrar Ellie Klapatch said.
Klapatch said that it will help if voters are prepared to show identification at the check-in tables.
She also said that the machines and ballots are ready to go.
“Everything’s running smooth,” said Klapatch, who’s been supervising elections in Bristol since 1971.
The precincts with the most voters this year are 79A, 78A, 79B, 79C and 77A, the registrars said. All of them have more than 4,000 registered voters, Badal and Klapatch said, so voters there should give themselves some extra time.
The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Polling Places for the Election will be as follows:
Council District One
77A– Edgewood School – 345 Mix Street
77B – Northeast School - 530 Stevens Street
77C – Mountain View School – 71 Vera Road
Council District Two
78A – Chippens Hill Middle School – 551 Peacedale St.
78B – Clara T. O’Connell School – 120 Park Street
79A – South Side School – Tuttle Road
Council District Three
79B – American Legion – 22 Hooker Court
79C – Greene Hills School – 718 Pine Street
77D & 22 - Stafford School – 212 Louisiana Avenue
Note: An earlier version of this entry provided a bigger number for the registered voters tally because of an error at the registrars' office. It is now correct.
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Krawiecki to succeed Klapatch as GOP registrar
Klapatch is stepping down to make way for Sharon Krawiecki, a GOP loyalist who has served as an assistant registrar for years.
Democratic Registrar Bob Badal remains his party’s candidate for the position.
The city has two full-time registrars, one from each party, who are chosen in what amounts to an uncontested election since Krawiecki and Badal are the only candidates for the two positions.
The registrar's office's major job is to keep tabs on who is eligible to vote, nearly 35,000 people this year.
Registrars serve two-year terms for about $48,000 annually.
But their term could change next time around if voters approve a charter question on the ballot that proposes giving them four-year terms in the future. The change had the unanimous backing of the Charter Revision Commission and the City Council.
Klapatch said that Krawiecki “has been working for each of us here in the office for years. She’s going to be great.”
Krawiecki is “a very caring person” who knows the job already, Klapatch said, and who will serve the city well.
Klapatch first served as the Republican registrar in Bristol in 1952, when it was a part-time job. She said Friday that it proved so much work that she didn’t run again until it was made a full-time position.
In GOP circles, Klapatch has long served as a sort of mother hen, the expert to rely on for information on decades of city politics and arcane election rules.She’s met every Republican president and presidential contender since Thomas Dewey in 1948 and is friends with governors, senators and scores of political figures across the state.
Klapatch is the first woman to run for mayor in Bristol, a long-shot bid in 1987 that she made because she didn’t want Democrat John Leone to get a free ride for re-election. She constantly pleads for her party to make sure it has candidates in every possible race so that voters have a choice.
But one choice voters won’t have again is Klapatch.
She said she’s finally ready to retire.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
ESPN gets last word on presidential race
Both candidates will, of course, claim to be rooting for the Steelers because Pennsylvania's a bigger electoral prize, but they'll have kind words for the Redskins, too, since Northern Virginia is prime 'Skins territory and also in a battleground state.
ESPN's Chris Berman is going to talk to both contenders separately earlier on Monday. Since he's angling for a cushy government job, he'll likely go easy on them.
The halftime special is probably going to be the last time America hears from both hopefuls before the voting begins Tuesday morning.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Colapietro honored by subcontractors group
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 30, 2008
Ward: 'They shoot mad dogs'
Mayor Art Ward, a Democrat, denied the charge and fired back at the freshman Republican councilor.
Ward called Cockayne’s charge “totally disgusting. He should be ashamed of himself.”
Cockayne decried Ward's decision to put so many union representatives on a new panel looking into the possibility of tapping excess pension cash to lower property taxes.
"It's absolutely ridiculous," Cockayne said. "The unions basically control the whole board. This is not a fair and balanced committee."
Ward was stunned that Cockayne would have hurled such insults, especially since the two men hadn’t spoken about the appointments.
“That’s very childish,” said Ward. He said Cockayne isn’t setting a good example for his son, or thinking about the impact the personal attacks could have on Ward and his family.
“It’s uncalled for,” said Ward. “He needs to grow up. Get a lasso and rope some maturity, park his little pony.”
Nine of the 19 members of the new GASB 45 Committee are union representatives and some of the others are friendly to the unions.
"When I looked at the list, I almost fell off my chair," Cockayne said.
Cockayne said the pro-union leaning of the panel is "another example of Ward pandering to the people who got him elected."
Cockayne also took a shot at Ward for failing to put himself on the panel.
"Removing himself from the issue is just cowardly," Cockayne said.
He said the mayor ought to be the panel's chairman so he would have a stake in its decision.
Though he was in the office almost all day Thursday, Ward said, Cockayne didn’t approach him with his concerns.
“I guess maturity is very elusive for some, or fleeting if he ever had it,” said Ward. “I can’t believe this kid. He’s never called me. He’s never asked me about it. He shoots from the lip. He needs to think about putting his brain in gear.”
Ward was surprised that Cockayne referred to himself as “Mad Dog.”
“They shoot mad dogs,” said Ward. “I think he needs a tetanus shot.”
Ward said his wife’s 26-year employment with the Bristol Board of Education – and membership in an employee’s union – could pose a conflict if he served on the board, which is why he opted out.
Ward said his wife’s position had nothing to do with politics – she had held the job for seven years before he ever got involved in politics, he said.
While under “normal circumstances” it might make sense for the mayor to chair the board, Ward said, it didn’t apply in his case.
Cockayne’s assessment showed a “limited ability to exercise any type of rational judgment,” said Ward. “While he didn’t give it any forethought, I did.”
Ward "has really stacked this committee knowing the outcome," Cockayne said.
"Here's an example of direct savings for the taxpayers and we know what their answer is going to be," Cockayne said.
He said the unions won't agree to transfer money from the pension accounts to cover their own health care without getting something extra in return.
Cockayne said the decision about how to handle the pension excess is "a management issue" and "not a collective bargaining issue."
There's no reason to give unions so many seats at the decision-making table, Cockayne said.
But Ward said the role of the new panel is “strictly advisory.”
“They make a recommendation to the Joint Board,” said Ward. “It’s up to the Joint Board where it goes. It’s highly unlikely that anything that was not favorable to the city would go any further.”
The Joint Board is made up of members of the City Council and finance board, and finance commissioners outnumber councilors nine to six, said Ward, who said he’d like to believe that it would offer objective oversight.
Because the decisions made will directly impact the employees who belong to the unions, Ward said, it made sense to make sure they were represented on the panel.
“They need to have input,” the mayor said, because the decisions deal directly with their pension money.
“If he’s talking about being fair and equitable, why wouldn’t they have representation?” Ward asked.
Ward said he appointed T.J. Barnes, the chairman of the Bristol Republicans, to lead the new board. It wasn’t because of politics, said Ward, but because of the financial expertise that Barnes has.
Barnes, a banker at Valley Bank, has “a wealth of knowledge that he can contribute to the process,” Ward said.
Ward questioned whether Cockayne’s latest outburst would undermine Barnes’ work on the board.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Some thoughts on the chief operating officer
Of course, I'll try to do it justice in a news story soon -- very soon!
But I also created a web page that has the text of the proposed changes to the city charter with links to some of the provisions that raise questions, some of which might have answers that I don't know.
I'll keep adding my thoughts and questions (including questions that others have raised) until Tuesday. Feel free to comment on it just as you do here.
Here's the link. I'll try to pretty it up, too, so that the links on the tex are easier to notice.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
City eyes pension options
Faced with the need to pump as much as $8 million annually into a fund for health care for retired city workers, officials are eyeing three potential options.
One is to continue a ‘pay as you go’ tradition that is currently costing taxpayers about $1.8 million annually, though that number could rise tenfold within a decade.
Another is to renegotiate the post-employment benefits that municipal workers receive to lower the cost, perhaps by reducing the 10-year period that worker remain eligible for full health care coverage.
Finally, a new city committee is eyeing the possibility of tapping into overfunded pension accounts in order to use some of the excess to pay the tab – a move that would immediately lower property taxes by nearly half a mill.
City Councilor Ken Cockayne, who pushed for the committee’s creation, said that shifting the money is “the one drastic step” City Hall could take to help ease the burden on taxpayers.
After hearing the options laid out in detail by city Comptroller Glenn Klocko this week, the new GASB 45 Committee, named for an accounting rule, plans to study the information carefully before taking any action.
“We should probably take some time and go through this,” said T.J. Barnes, a member of the new panel.
Mayor Art Ward said the committee will make its recommendations to the Joint Board, which consists of city councilors and Board of Finance members. It will have the last word, the mayor said.
Klocko said the city needs $71.7 million to cover the anticipated future costs of the post-employment benefits other than pensions. He called the figure “the problem child we’re dealing with.”
It has a trust fund established to cover that tab, but “the problem is we don’t have any funding” for it, Klocko said. The trust fund is empty.
Klocko said that bond rating agencies want to see that Bristol has a plan for dealing with the issue, not necessarily a complete solution to the problem.
Continuing the ‘pay as you go’ practice, the comptroller said, “is going to get very difficult” because rising costs will eventually make it almost impossible for taxpayers to cover the yearly tab.
In Norwalk, which adopted a plan recently, officials plan on putting $2 million a year in tax revenues into a trust to pay the cost. They also renegotiated the benefits union members get in order to lower the overall expense.
Under Internal Revenue Service rules, the city would have to leave at least 120 percent of the expected pension fund needs intact in the existing trust. It could only tap money over and above that figure.
This week, the city’s fire and police pension funds are still so flush that the city could easily meet the IRS rules to tap into them. There’s also enough in the general city trust fund to dip in on a yearly basis.
Overall, the three trust funds totaled $426 million as of Tuesday. They reached a low of $412 million at the low end of the market this fall. They have been as high as $550 million last spring.
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
'Mad Dog is back'
Claiming that “Mad Dog is back,” city Councilor Ken Cockayne today blasted the mayor for being a 'coward' who's in the pocket of the unions.
Cockayne decried Mayor Art Ward’s decision to put so many union representatives on a new panel looking into the possibility of tapping excess pension cash to lower property taxes.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Cockayne said. “The unions basically control the whole board. This is not a fair and balanced committee.”
Nine of the 19 members of the committee are union representatives and some of the others are friendly to the unions.
“When I looked at the list, I almost fell off my chair,” Cockayne said.
Cockayne said the pro-union leaning of the panel is “another example of Ward pandering to the people who got him elected.”
Cockayne also took a shot at Ward for failing to put himself on the panel.
“Removing himself from the issue is just cowardly,” Cockayne said. He said the mayor ought to be the panel’s chairman so he would have a stake in its decision.
Ward “has really stacked this committee knowing the outcome,” Cockayne said.
“Here’s an example of direct savings for the taxpayers and we know what their answer is going to be,” Cockayne said.
He said the unions won’t agree to transfer money from the pension accounts to cover their own health care without getting something extra in return.
Cockayne said the decision about how to handle the pension excess is “a management issue” and “not a collective bargaining issue.”
There’s no reason to give unions so many seats at the decision-making table, Cockayne said.
Ward said this week that he wanted each of the city’s unions to have a representative so they would all understand the issues at stake and know what’s going on.
Here's the committee membership list:
Phyllis Amodio (public health union)
T.J. Barnes (Retirement Board)
Cliff Block (City Council)
Greg Boulanger (Local 818)
Dan Carter (BPSA)
Dale Clift (city attorney)
Ken Cockayne (City Council)
Steve DeVaux (school business manager)
Diane Ferguson (personnel director)
Jack Hines (Fire Board)
Paul Keegan (Local 1338)
Glenn Klocko (city comptroller)
Peter Kot (police union)
Chad Lockhart (Local 2267)
Rich Miecznikowski (finance chairman)
Peter Munn (fire union)
Collen Ryder (education secretaries)
Mayra Sampson (Local 233)
Bill Veits (city treasurer)
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Yarde says yes to COO
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Mayor says no to COO
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Planners to decide on new school site Monday
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 29, 2008
Lavoie recounts an awful day in Iraq
One month ago, Bristol native Matt Lavoie lay wounded on the ground in Iraq, his arm shattered and gushing blood, screaming for his buddy Lennox.
"I remember everything getting cold and blurry, real foggy," Lavoie said Wednesday. "I almost died right there."
But Lavoie, a 2005 Bristol Eastern High School graduate, pulled through from his Sept. 30 injuries caused by a roadside bomb.
Though he remains in pain, and can barely walk, he is on the mend at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation's capital.
"He's got a long way to go," said his mother, Pam Lavoie, who's been at his side most of the time since he arrived back in the United States on Oct. 4. "It's a very bad injury."
Matt Lavoie, a U.S. Army corporal, said he signed up for the infantry after working a number of dead-end jobs after high school. He said he wanted to be a soldier and fight for his country.
Though he said "I wish I'd never signed that paper," he also said that he would give anything "to go back to my boys in Iraq" because he misses them so much.
Lavoie said he spent "my whole tour outside the wire" in Iraq, going on patrols.
On the day the bomb went off, he said, his unit had gone on a patrol at a fish farm and taken roads that appeared "perfectly safe."
But during the 90 minutes the troops were checking things out, Lavoie said, "one of them little slimeballs" put an explosive device along the road they'd taken.
On the way back, Lavoie drove the lead vehicle, which had a mine roller attached to its front that's designed to set off roadside bombs before the truck itself reaches them.
"It's supposed to blow up before you get to it," Lavoie said.
But about a mile and a half down the road, "I heard the biggest explosion of my life," Lavoie said, and realized that he was six feet in the air.
The truck crashed down at a 45-degree angle and the steering wheel went through his leg, he said.
"I honestly don't know what happened to my arm," Lavoie said, but his right arm was "completely shattered" and bleeding profusely.
"All I heard was everyone screaming" to get out, Lavoie said, but he couldn't move. He did, however, manage to shift around so the gunner could step on his head to escape the wreckage.
"I actually yanked the steering wheel out of my own leg," Lavoie said, and then scooted out himself.
He lay on the dirt, he said, and yelled for his best friend, Lennox, who rushed to his side to help with the bleeding.
As he began to feel cold and groggy, Lavoie said, he thought about "friends and family back home" and snapped to life again. He said he nearly died three times that day, including once on the 15-minute helicopter evacuation to the hospital.
His parents heard from the Army that their son had suffered injuries to his "lower and upper extremities," leaving them worried about all sorts of possibilities.
Four hours later, Matt called from the hospital in Baghdad.
He told his mother that he had "busted my arm."
She asked if it was in a cast and whether he was OK.
"No, Mom, I'm not OK," he answered, explaining that his right arm was shattered.
"I freaked," Pam Lavoie said Wednesday.
But through 10 surgeries so far – with at least a couple more likely – doctors have begun to repair the damage, putting in a titanium rod, attached muscle and skin from other parts of the body and carving out dead and dying flesh and muscle.
Lavoie's mother said she's been able to be at her son's side most of the days he's been at the hospital because her employer, the Plainville-based Gems Sensors & Controls, has been generous and kind.
"I love being here with him," she said, even though "it's the worst that a mother wants to go through" to see her son in so much pain.
Lavoie said he is "tired of being here" and determined "to work my ass off" to get better so he can leave.
The former high school wrestling team captain said he managed to "walk like a little penguin" for four feet this week to a chair in his room. His next goal is walk to the toilet.
But he's got his eyes set on a full recovery as fast as he can do it.
"I want to be in Bristol," he said. "That's my home."
Fundraiser to help Lavoie
A fundraiser has been scheduled for Nov. 13 to help Corp. Matt Lavoie and his family cope with the expenses related to his care.
Organized by his mother's boss, Carrie Tonon, the $15-a-person pasta dinner fundraiser is slated for 5 to 7 p.m. at Nuchies.
Lavoie called it a "very nice" gesture.
"I wish I could go," he said, adding that he probably can't.
But Pam Lavoie is hoping they can rig up a webcam so at least he can make some sort of appearance.
State Rep. Frank Nicastro, a former mayor who put in 30 years in the military, said that Lavoie is "a young man who placed his life on the line for his country" and deserves the help of the entire community as he tries to recover.
Nicastro said that it is "well worth the money" for everyone to attend the pasta supper and to lend a hand to a brave young soldier.
"This family could use all of our community support," Mayor Art Ward said.
Tickets will be available at the door or by emailing Tonon at tonon@snet.net or ctonon@gemssensors.com.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Bristol soldier wounded in Iraq
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Obama running strong in presidential contest
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
School chief freezes budget
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October 28, 2008
Democrats donate $500 to help Jerome boys
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Get the GASB 45 details Wednesday
If the new GASB 45 Committee, named for an accounting rule, determines that it can tap the money, taxpayers could save more than $1 million annually, officials said.
The first meeting of the new committee is slated for 5 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council chambers at City Hall.
Mayor Art Ward said he’s eager to have the issue explored thoroughly to determine if savings are possible for taxpayers.
The 13-person panel includes Comptroller Glenn Klocko, city Councilors Ken Cockayne and Cliff Block, city attorney Dale Clift and the presidents of each of the city’s unions.
Klocko said the initial session will devote an hour to explaining the issue in some depth to members and others who are interested in the subject.
He said that a PowerPoint slide show will cover the reason the city has to have a plan for tackling the costly post-employment benefits that workers receive in addition to their pensions, the legal rules governing the use of pension money and the actuarial figures involved.
“We’re going to show them the facts and figures,” Klocko said.
Klocko said once the committee has the information, its members will discuss what should be done, if anything.If a recommendation to pursue the idea is adopted, city councilors would have to give their approval, he said.
Those pushing the concept, including Cockayne, have long argued that taking some of the surplus cash in the city’s overfunded pension accounts and putting it a new trust for health care for retired workers would help everyone.
The city has a long-term plan to use tax money to fill the new health care fund, but doing it will require ever increasing funds to meet the demand and get ahead of the costs.
The city’s unions have been at best skeptical of the idea, claiming it risks losing pension money that may well be needed. They also say the city should negotiate any change with them.
Klocko said he hopes the information gathered by his office, the city’s pension lawyer and actuarial experts will aid in understanding the issue.
“We’re going to clear the misconceptions up,” he said.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Wright wants to help ESPN find workers
Chris Wright, the Democratic candidate for State Representative in Bristol’s 77th District, wants to ensure that ESPN’s future employment needs are met by the state by considering implementing education and job-training programs to meet ESPN’s requirements for employment.
“We are all proud that ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports, is headquartered right here in Bristol and is a leading Connecticut corporate citizen,” Wright said.
Wright pointed out that ESPN currently provides thousands of local and state jobs and career opportunities in a unique cultural and diverse environment.
“We should use all our educational and job-training resources to help ESPN maintain that workforce,” Wright said. “That might mean working with ESPN to create special job training courses at our vocational-trade schools or a more sophisticated curriculum at our community colleges or at the university level.’
Wright expressed concern that many businesses in Connecticut are worried about being able to find trained workers to fill their future employment needs.
“ESPN may not be having problems filling their workforce needs today, but let’s not take that chance with a company that has put Bristol on the map and means so much for Connecticut,” Wright said.
“This obviously would have to be undertaken only if it is something that ESPN believes is worthwhile and welcomes,” Wright said. “Let’s be prepared to make the offer and be ready to act, because ESPN is too important for Bristol’s and Connecticut’s future.”
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
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Two city meetings of note
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
City's high school seniors aiming for free Florida trip
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 27, 2008
Approaching a record number of voters in Bristol
It’s been a quarter century since so many people wanted to vote in Bristol.
At the close of business Monday, with one more day left to register to vote, the city voters rolls totaled 34,362 – with almost 1,200 of them signing up in the past three weeks.
“It’s like a zoo,” Republican Registrar Ellie Klapatch said Monday.
Voters have until 8 p.m. tonight to sign up to vote at the registrars’ office on the first floor of City Hall.
Klapatch said that given the expected swarm on Tuesday, the final registration tallies for Bristol probably won’t be done until Thursday.
But already they show the highest number of registered voters since the early 1980s. They far exceed the registration numbers of any presidential race in 20 years.
For the first time in a couple of years, the number of unaffiliated voters – those who didn’t pick a political party – exceeds the number of Democrats.
Democratic Registrar Bob Badal said there was a jump in the number who signed up as unaffiliated voters.
“Now they know it’s a general election,” he said, and they don’t need to pick a party as they would in a primary.
“The young people know what’s going on,” Badal said. He said he hopes the new voters will vote in all the races, not just the presidential contest.
There’s an unmistakable Democratic tide to the overall picture.
Since October 8, there have been 181 new Republicans added to the voter rolls. The Democrats, on the other hand, have added 774. That’s a 4-to-1 margin.
The number of unaffiliated voters stood Monday at 14,367 while Democrats trailed slightly with 14,316. Republicans claimed 5,635. There are 44 people registered to minor parties.
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Homeowner facing foreclosure may qualify for state help
“Foreclosure isn’t just a problem for individual homeowners,” said Senator Colapietro. “It hurts property values and strains communities, which is a problem for all of us. The state has programs available that may help people who are having trouble with their mortgage, but they have to know where to look and who to call; and it’s not always easy to figure it all out.”
Programs for individuals and families facing possible home foreclosure are available through several agencies. Connecticut resident can also contact the state Department of Banking’s Mortgage Foreclosure Assistance Hotline at (877)472-8313.
The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) offers three financial assistance programs for homeowners who qualify:
Connecticut Fair Alternative Mortgage Lending Initiative and Education Services Program (CT FAMILIES): CT FAMLIES loans are for individuals and families who bought any current home using an Adjustable Rate Mortgage, or who had an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and refinanced into another Adjustable Rate Mortgage. You must reside in the property as your primary residence and must meet certain income guidelines to qualify.
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Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (EMAP): A program for homeowners who have received a Notice of Foreclosure dated on or after July 1, 2008, the EMAP loan is available to eligible homeowners who are not able to meet their monthly mortgage payment obligation due to extenuating circumstances. CHFA provides assistance in paying a portion of the homeowner's monthly mortgage payment for a maximum of five years.)
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Homeowner Equity Recovery Opportunity Program (HERO): HERO is a $30 million program that allows CHFA to purchase mortgages directly from lenders and place eligible borrowers on an affordable payment schedule for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. To qualify for HERO assistance, borrowers must have made an effort to meet financial obligations, have a sufficient and stable income, have the legal title to the mortgaged property and reside in it as their permanent residence, show an accounting for their cash flow and agree to attend in-person financial counseling at a CHFA-approved agency.
The General Assembly also created the statewide Mortgage Crisis Job Training Program through The Workplace, Inc., which offers customized employment services, job training scholarships, job placement assistance, financial literacy, credit counseling and referrals to other needed services for borrowers who are at least 60 days past due on their mortgage payments on their primary residence in Connecticut and have a household income of less than $120,000. There is no cost to qualified participants.
To for more information on financial assistance programs or to contact CHFA, visit www.chfa.org or call (860)721-9501.
For more information on the Mortgage Crisis Job Training Program or to contact The Workplace, Inc. call toll-free (866)683-1682 or visit www.workplace.org/mortgage.asp.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Dealing with the state's deficit - 77th District hopefuls offer answers
With the state facing a budget gap this year that tops $300 million – and is likely to be much higher next year – the candidates for Bristol’s 77th District have different ideas about how to deal with the red ink.
Republican hopeful Jill Fitzgerald said that among the ideas worth pursuing are an early retirement program for state workers, a shift to a paperless bureaucracy and pulling the plug on about $300,000 worth of pagers and beepers carried mostly by highly paid state supervisors who also carry cellular phones paid for by taxpayers.
Democratic contender Chris Wright offered no specifics, but said that Gov. Jodi Rell’s plan to deal with the current shortfall “has merit and should be considered.”
“It is very difficult for the state to obtain significant savings in the short term with spending cuts without seriously impacting vital services and local property taxes,” Wright said.
The two candidates are vying on Nov. 4 for the northeastern Bristol House seat that Republican Ron Burns has held for the past two years. Burns, who defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Roger Michele two years ago, is stepping down after a single term.
Wright said that in terms of dealing with budget, “the bottom line is that the state has spent too much money for years, and it is times like these when those spending habits catch up with us.”
Wright said that private companies get can save money in the short run through layoffs, “but the state faces more demands for services in hard times, and layoffs would only increase the workload of the state employees who provide those services.”
Also, Wright said, “since the state pays unemployment compensation only after a layoff and must pay terminated employees for any accrued vacation and sick time, savings generally occur only in the second year.”
Wright said that new programs the state needs – which are often shoved aside as too costly during hard times - may take priority over older ones that are already in place.
“It is not always true that new programs are not as important as programs which already exist,” he said.
“As the needs of society change, so must the services which the state does and does not provide,” Wright said.
Fitzgerald said that she stands with the state House Republicans in their call for the Democratic-controlled legislature “to rescind a request for a nearly 8 percent spending increase over the next two fiscal years.”
She said that state agencies need to tighten their belts and that there should be “no budget increases.”
“Just like families are being forced to prioritize and cut spending,” Fitzgerald said, “I am a proponent of this in the state. I don’t believe that tax increase should be imposed in the midst of an economic downturn.”
She said improvements can wait “until better times” return.
Fitzgerald said an early retirement program would save the taxpayers $163 million and shifting to a paperless bureaucracy would save more than $10 million annually.
“In this day and age when almost every document is reproduced online, we need to consider a policy to get as close to a paperless state government as possible,” Fitzgerald said, adding “this is a great environmental choice as well.”
Dumping the beepers and pagers, Fitzgerald said, would eliminate “a glaring example of wasting taxpayers’ money.”
State lawmakers serve two-year terms and earn $28,000 for their part-time positions.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 26, 2008
Most influential Connecticut blog?
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
October 25, 2008
More than 13,000 new ballots needed in the 79th District
Some people have likely already cast a vote that won’t be counted.
The apparent suicide of Republican state House candidate Derek Jerome in the 79th District forced election officials to reprint13,300 ballots for voters in his district to use at the polls on Nov. 4.
But it was too late for those who have already voted by absentee ballot.
Republican Registrar Ellie Klapatch said that absentee votes for Jerome, whose name appears on the first run of ballots, won’t be counted.
Election officials also had to send the counting machine memory cards to a Massachusetts company to have them reprogrammed to take into account the change in the 79th District’s Republican candidate.
The GOP’s decision to name a successor candidate for the position, David L. Norton, had no impact on the necessity to reprint ballots, officials said.
“They were going to have to reprint all the ballots anyway,” said city Republican Chairman T.J. Barnes.
Barnes and Klapatch said that if the party hadn’t named Norton to take Jerome’s place, the new ballots would simply have had an empty slot for the Republicans in the race against incumbent state Rep. Frank Nicastro, a Democrat.
It isn’t clear how much the scramble to fix the ballots and reprogram memory cards is costing taxpayers, though it certainly reaches into the thousands of dollars.
Klapatch said that the federal government is picking up the tab for ballots this year – part of a national effort to modernize voting – so city taxpayers don’t have to cover the expense, as they normally would.
She said she has “no ideas” how much the reprinting will cost.
It’s not clear yet whether the absentee ballots that include Jerome’s name can be counted by machines or if they’ll have to be counted by hand, Klapatch said. The city clerk and the secretary of state are looking into it.
Klapatch said that the changes required “a lot of extra work” by many officials, including her office and the city clerk’s office.
But, she said, she appreciates “the team effort” by everyone involved to speed the work along so that it would be done in plenty of time for Election Day.
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Hate speech
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com