DEMOCRATS RESPOND TO REPUBLICAN LEADERS
There they go again – the Republican Town Committee leaders
are on the blog with negative attacks on our Democratic elected officials and
candidates. What would be more
beneficial to the readers and to the voters are actual ideas and plans. Answers that include: what would you do, and
how would you accomplish your goals.
Voters on all levels, local, state and federal are tired of
partisan politics. Stop the bickering and
the negative campaigning and put a plan into action.
If the Republican leaders are not able to put forth their plans
for the City, then, at the very least, they have an obligation to write with
some semblance of a factual basis.
First, as to Rob Michalik – let’s look at the facts:
From 1999 to 2009, Plainville had the 11th lowest
annualized effective tax increase in the state (out of 169 towns). Rob was on the council for six of those
years. Also, while on the town council,
Rob spearheaded various efforts to save the town money. For instance, Rob pushed the town to purchase
its streetlights from CL&P, thereby saving the town approximately $50,000 per
year in maintenance costs. He advocated
that an Ebay-like auction procedure be implemented for the sale of bonds, which
saved thousands of dollars in interest costs.
In addition, Rob championed an aggressive delinquent tax program, which
has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes being collected and
reduced the tax burden on those who pay their taxes on time. At DEDC, Rob worked primarily on efforts to
help small businesses. He worked on the
Small Business Express program, which assisted more than 1,000 small businesses
in Connecticut (including several in Bristol) and created or retained thousands
of jobs across the state. Rob proudly
worked extensively in helping to establish a new Manufacturing Innovation Fund
in the state, which will assist small manufacturers in making the investments
in equipment, technology and job training to remain competitive, win new
businesses and grow jobs.
Rather than focus on the upcoming election of our state
candidates, the Republican leaders attack our three Democratic Council members
who all have taken a stand on some very difficult issues; slinging mud and
calling them hypocrites. In particular,
they politicize the downtown/
Renaissance issue.
Ellen Zoppo-Sassu has offered a compromise agreement that
does not involve handing over city money to a private entity, but still gives
the City a stakeholder position in the development. Council member Zoppo-Sassu has moved a
substantial amount of business forward for the City in her eleven months back
on the City Council.
They twist Mary Fortier’s statement about Renaissance being
the preferred developer and point out that there is now new proposals at Ten
Main Street and other sites. These
proposals are not on the seventeen acres and Renaissance is not the preferred
developer of those new projects, yet it proves Council member Fortier’s point
that private development may stimulate what is being proposed on the seventeen
acres.
Lastly they criticize Calvin Brown for describing this as an
emotional issue for the City and characterize his stance as absurd. Calvin is 22 years old. He was the highest vote getter in Council
District 1 and city-wide. Voters
identified with his idealism. It is
Calvin’s generation that we need to retain and attract in order to maintain our
middle class with young families choosing to live here, buy homes here, and put
their children in our schools.
The Republican leaders conclude by stating that we cannot
afford more of this “leadership.” That
is the key word – leadership. Our
elected officials and candidates take a stand on the issues. They make their positions known. We welcome and encourage public participation
and input. We are willing to engage in
meaningful debate. There is too much at
stake for negative politics and sitting idle.
It’s time to put words into action!
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