2008 22^nd Senatorial District Convention Speech

[downloadable version available here]

Thank you all very much.  I appreciate your continued faith in my candidacy and your willingness to believe in me. I especially want to thank the three people who just nominated and seconded me: TR Rowe, Judy Stripay and Suzanne Testani.  I greatly value your support, and your counsel.  I would also like to take a moment to thank my family, my father and step-mother who are here, for all of their support now and throughout my last two campaigns.  From the start, let me be very clear:  I'm running for state senate to help Governor Rell make Connecticut more affordable... more affordable for the people of Trumbull, Monroe and Bridgeport

As I prepared for tonight’s convention, I thought back to my first campaign in 2004, and particularly to the volunteers who helped me run that campaign.  It was a group of some of the best and brightest college students and young people you’ll ever meet.  I’ve stayed in touch with most of them, but with few exceptions, they won’t be here to help with this year’s campaign.

It’s not that they don’t want to help…  they do.  It’s just that none of them live in Connecticut anymore.  They grew up here; they went to school here; they lived here through college; their parents still live here today.  But they don’t.  They’ve gone on to become tomorrow’s leaders somewhere else.

Some are lawyers; some are teachers; some aspire to public office.  But Connecticut will never benefit from their talents.  Like so many residents of Connecticut, they cannot afford to follow their dreams here.  Our taxes are too high, our cost of living too expensive and too many good jobs are fleeing the state.  So they left as well.

This is happening in our region and all across our state.  And not just to our young people.  Connecticut is an expensive place to grow old as well.  Retirees in the state are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with higher property taxes.  Never mind the insult of knowing the state will continue taxing you even after you’re gone taking assets away from your family through the estate tax.

Connecticut is having trouble retaining its students, its workers, and its employers.  We have a crisis on our hands.  We need to take action immediately to make this state more affordable, and ultimately, more livable.  Unfortunately, the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly doesn’t seem to get this.  While we all struggle to get by in one of the highest taxed states in the nation and try and prepare ourselves as the national economic outlook appears to dim, the Democrats in Hartford are busy trying to figure out how to tax us more and bond us into more debt.  They tell us we need to tighten our belts while they gorge on our tax dollars.

If it hadn’t been for Governor Rell over the past few years, we’d be in more trouble than we’re already in.  The Governor has worked tirelessly since 2004 to get the state debt under control even canceling meetings of the bonding commission to avoid putting us further into debt.  We have the third highest state debt per capita in the nation.  How has the Democratic leadership in the General Assembly responded to the Governor’s prudence? They’ve threatened to use their supermajority to take away her bonding authority.

When we win, that threat dies.  See, this election is about more than just who represents the 22^nd district.  It’s about whether or not we in Connecticut continue our fiscally reckless ways or we follow the Governor’s lead in the direction of financial stability.  Let’s give the Governor a Senator she can work with and end the Democrats’ vise grip on our wallets.

I’m a Republican.  I believe that if the State has a surplus, it means it overtaxed its citizens.  We’ve had many surpluses over the past few years but our taxes still haven’t gone down. As your State Senator, I will fight to eliminate taxes that are inherently unfair.  These include the business entity tax, the gross receipts taxes on home heating and electric bills and the estate tax.  I will also fight to make sure Trumbull, Bridgeport & Monroe get their fair share from the State, which will hopefully lead to lower property taxes for all of you.  Someone needs to remind our legislature that raising taxes isn’t the only way to increase state revenues. There are better ways.  We can look for efficiencies in state government and ways to control spending.  And imagine a Connecticut where business is encouraged to thrive and create jobs, instead of being smothered by high taxes and overbearing regulation.

Above all, I ask you to send me to Hartford understanding that we are all in this together and the sooner we all realize this the better off Connecticut, and Bridgeport, Trumbull and Monroe are all going to be.  The partisan failures and turf wars in Hartford are costing us money.  You see it in your income taxes, your property tax bills and your utility bills.  You see it as the next generation abandons Connecticut to find their dreams in another state.  We simply cannot afford to let ego and gamesmanship get in the way of real solutions anymore.

It is also time to tell the politicians to stop playing the suburbs and the cities off of each other.  Monroe, Trumbull and Bridgeport are also, all in this together.  We can continue to pretend, as some politicians do, that the city can only thrive on the backs of the suburbs.  But this is a lazy political statement meant to divide us.  No town will see prosperity unless it includes the other two.  Trumbull, Bridgeport and Monroe are stuck with each other and we need to work together and with the surrounding towns.  I say we can and we will prosper together.  This district needs a leader who cares about all three towns.  As State Senator, I will be that leader.

This is an important time in the state of Connecticut and we need to change our attitude or fear the consequences.  As Senator you can count on me to support Governor Rell in her fight to rein in our spending, while at the same time looking out for the best interests of Trumbull, Monroe and Bridgeport.

Between now and March 11^th, I will be working over time to bring my message of change and fiscal responsibility to the people of the 22^nd District.  It’s time we gave Governor Rell the help in Hartford she needs, and this district the representation it deserves.  That’s why I’m running, to help Governor Rell make Connecticut more affordable...more affordable for the people of Trumbull, Monroe and Bridgeport.  I need your support and I need your help.  After all, we’re all in this together.