Democratic Town Committee of New Canaan, CT

New Hampshire Fact: @BarackObama has more campaign offices in NH than all the #GOP field combined! #firedupreadytogo

— Richard A. Fowler (@Richardafowler) January 10, 2012

Some details from this week’s jobs report:

Manufacturing: UP
Retail: UP
Transportation: UP
Construction: UP
Health Care: UP
Leisure and Hospitality: UP
Government employment: DOWN

This report is no outlier.  Overall in 2011, the private sector has added 1.6 million jobs while government employment has fallen by about 280,000.  Much of that is at the local and state level (and too many of them are teachers).  But federal employment alone was down over 2011 as well.

I never really know what right-wingers are specifically referring to when they rail against “big” government (Can you put it on a scale? Can you measure its height?) But if the measure of “Bigness” is “Number of government employees,” that figure is way down under President Obama.  In Reagan’s first three years government employment fell 2.2%.  In Obama’s first three years: down 2.6%.  You tell me who should get credit for shrinking the “size” of government more.  By the way, if the measure of “Bigness” is “proportion of GDP paid in taxes,” well, that’s at an historic low, too.

Democrats are fixing a giant mess left behind by Republican Presidency and Congress that ran up huge unpaid bills, added tons of government jobs and shifted the tax burden onto the middle class from 2001 to 2009.  And they’re doing it with a decidedly smaller government.

Interesting…

I just learned that tonight’s GOP Iowa caucus voting will be done by secret ballot. Iowa Democrats vote publicly; particpants move to a corner or area of the room designated for a given candidate’s supporters. Everyone knows where the Democrats stand (literally).

As an interesting parallel, Connecticut Democratic Party rules stipulate that voting at party events is to be done publicly. When we elect delegates to a convention, or when those delegates select a candidate to endorse, it’s by show of hands (or some other method that lets everyone know who voted for whom). The Republicans have no such rule.

I suppose Iowa Republicans might be a little ashamed of their choices. That’s understandable. If I had to choose between the phony, the homophobes, the conspiracy theorist, Captain Oops and the serial ethics violator, I might want to hide, too.

About this series: Each month, three New Canaan Democrats choose a topic and each write an essay.  This month the topic is: “What should New Canaan be thankful for?“

Essay 1

In the spirit of the season we decided that, this month, we would forgo our traditional advocacy approach and instead talk about what makes this town such a treasure – the town’s gifts to us – if you will.

It’s a long list. We have wonderful parks like Mead, Kiwanis, Waveny and Irwin; a great cultural institution in our Library; scores of community activity and educational programs in The Nature Center, Lapham Center, and The Historical Society; important town-wide traditions such as The Family Fourth, caroling on God’s Acre, the Memorial Day parade and service, the May Fair at St. Mark’s, the ice cream social at the Historical Society; amateur theater at the Power House, artists in residence at Silvermine; and myriad town resources such as Vine Cottage, Waveny Care Center, and the New Canaan Inn. We have more youth sports teams, scouting programs, and Indian Princesses than you can shake a stick, bat, merit badge, soccer ball, or teepee at. Our schools (and students) continue to make us proud and our police, fire, EMT’s, and CERT first responders continue to earn our admiration and thanks. We have our own Post Office, movie house, train station and broad ranging culinary opportunities and a downtown that, after a snow fall, looks like something straight from Currier and Ives. Town employees are, overwhelmingly, competent and professional with a sincere desire to serve our citizens while our merchants and store owners are welcoming and obviously committed to our town’s well being. Town Government is certainly vibrant as it wrestles with all the competing (and sometimes conflicting) demands and challenges we citizens place before it, but all-in-all, it does so with a sense of openness and dedication that does each of us proud.

Looking at this list I am sure that you could add literally scores of other important and noteworthy organizations, associations, clubs, facilities, and groups that each in their own way contribute to the special and remarkable place we call home. But, in my view, by far the most important gift that New Canaan gives to us is actually something that New Canaan itself has received from past and current generations of residents – the civic spirit of volunteerism. The idea that individual citizens working together can “get something done”, and contribute to the town in ways larger than themselves.

That list I gave you of all the things that help make our town so special exists only because of the thousands and thousands of hours of hard work that the town’s hundreds and hundreds of volunteers contribute – from serving on boards, commissions, and committees all the way to working on the annual “Clean Your Mile” day, from going to the Board of Education meetings after you get off Metro North to cooking hot dogs at the May Fair, from taking CERT training to delivering Meals-on-Wheels and on and on.

In the end perhaps that IS the best gift that New Canaan can give us – the chance to make a difference and be part of our community.

Happy Holidays

Essay 2

For me, this is the season of Giving. Christians celebrate the birth of Christ with reflection, joy and the sharing of that joy in prayer and song. Jews celebrate a miracle at the end of a historic battle with games, songs and sharing a symbolic meal. Over time, and it doesn’t really matter when, a tradition of gift giving has developed around these holidays. Since we live in a capitalist society where we are taught to look for market opportunities, is it any wonder that businesses have exploited our desire to share with opportunities to buy, buy, and buy. So, perhaps the first thing we should be grateful for (those of us who still have some purchasing power), as we lament the loss of meaning in the season and lambast the rampant commercialism, is that we are able to put food on our tables, purchase a tree or candles for a Menorah, provide tokens for our families and support the retail economy.

Then, and quickly, we need to step back, to open our eyes and look beyond ourselves to those in our midst who need us and to reach out to those around us whose lives have become clouded by circumstances or whose means despite all their hard work is still not enough to provide them with the basic necessities or perhaps leaves them in a perpetual state of emergency. And, most importantly, we need to remind others, to do the same. Let us become proselytizers of the adage, “Be kind for everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden.”

At this time of year in particular, we are being beseeched to extend a gift whether monetarily, materially or personally by a variety of well deserving charitable organizations. Perhaps you are overwhelmed by so many demands. Over fifty years ago, Eleanor Roosevelt reminded us in her essay on “Learning to be Useful,” that there are others whose needs may be less dramatic but no less real who are within our reach – people whom we see every day but may not know intimately to whom a word of encouragement or understanding or helping hand is a beacon of hope. This is not a random act of kindness – it is instead a more deliberate and thought out extension of generosity derived from empathy. Remember the stranger in your midst.

As Democrats, we need to remind those who have forgotten, that despite our grievances with our government it still serves a legitimate purpose in safeguarding the public and providing us with needed services, which is why we pay taxes. Our free market economy has enabled many in our community to accumulate wealth beyond their wildest dreams and it is only fair that those who have benefited the most should contribute more in taxes than those whose incomes are far less. Tax reform is needed but what is drastically needed is a sense of shared sacrifice. Let us remind each other that we are stronger when we pull together.

Isn’t it time we engage in meaningful, constructive and civil discussions with one another about our future as a family, community and nation? Let us remember to be grateful for the First Amendment and to remind others to be vigilant in its protection for without it we wouldn’t be able to share our differences of opinion with our political leaders, between ourselves and within our political parties. Let us give each other this season, a gift of active listening that endures throughout the coming year and years ahead.

On Christmas Day, I will be at Waveny Care Center serving breakfast and dinner. Throughout the season, I will be engaging my family and friends in discussions on how they lead useful purposeful lives. I will be working with my friends on the DTC to ensure our town remains open and responsive to everyone in the community. And I will continue to advocate for tolerance, compromise, shared sacrifice and respect within our government and among its leaders so we can move forward as a country.

What are you giving your family, neighbor, community, country this year?

Wishing you a joyful season of giving,
A Democrat in New Canaan

Essay 3

Residents of New Canaan should be thankful for the Village. We are not a City, we are not a Metropolis – we are a Village. A Village is a family. Like any family we fight, disagree and mind one another’s business too much. Like a family we have a few “Uncle Ned” who are nettlesome, disagreeable and sometimes glass-half-empty kind of kin. But most of the family are wholesome, generous and sound of heart. We have a Village where we can walk through town and wave to folks we know, greet our Selectman by first name and celebrate one another’s good fortune.

Much of today’s world, courtesy of Twitter, Facebook and email, is void of personal interaction, plain-spoken promises and personal responsibility. Alternatively, the Village is full of face-to-face communications, forced interaction and (sometimes) respectful disagreements. The Village invites us to good behavior (i.e.: getting involved) and avoiding bad behavior (I admit reading the police blotter in the New Canaan Advertiser).

We should celebrate the goodness of our Village where children feel safe from school-yard bullies & reckless drivers and commuters walk home following late night arrivals at the train station.

We should be thankful to our town merchants including Rick Franco holding court at the Wine Merchant, Wendy serving our lunch at Cherry Street East and Matt –our town’s finest mechanic- at the New Canaan Gulf Station.

Lastly, we should be thankful to our committed group of volunteers across dozens of functions including our Library, Park and Recreation, Historical Society and the Ambulance Corp.

I lived in the City for years. I never met my neighbors – never felt like a stakeholder in the community. To this day, while I love commuting to the City for all of the energy, passion and competitiveness, I am thankful to come back to our Village for the community and friendship.

About this series: Each month, three New Canaan Democrats (3NCD) offer their thoughts on a matter in the news locally, at the state level or nationally.

Essay 1:

First, congratulations to all the newly elected (and re-elected) New Canaanites who will now administer the Town’s affairs. Thanks and appreciation as well to both Sally Hines and Jeb Walker for their service and many contributions over the years. Finally, kudos and respect to Kathleen Corbet who ran a classy (and VERY close) issue-oriented campaign for Town Treasurer. New Canaan is fortunate to have such public spirited citizens willing to serve in these increasingly complex and economically challenging times. Indeed the commitment to public service that the candidates (both  parties) demonstrate puts to shame the fact that less than one-fourth of their fellow town electors bothered to show up on election day – but that’s a topic for some other time. Today’s topic is to offer one Democrat’s unrequested but nonetheless sincere advice on how to move New Canaan forward.

Now that they’ve been elected, the hard part starts – they have to govern – which means they have to decide. In turn, that means that on one issue or another some of us will be happy, some won’t, and everyone will probably complain about something. No one ever said public service was easy. But, while trying to decide what government ought to do is never easy, it ought to always be done (by both elect-ors and elect-ed) with civility and transparency. That’s my first suggestion.

My second suggestion is: “If it isn’t broken; don’t fix it.”  I think there are many things that work quite well in out town. Our Schools, Police, Fire, and Emergency services are in my opinion simply first rate. Town employees, almost without exception, are helpful and competent. The various Boards, Committees, and Commissions work hard and overall, do a good job of discharging their responsibilities.

What other suggestion do I have?

Financial:  We need to do a better job of managing our financial affairs. I think the town does a pretty good job during the budgeting PROCESS in deciding what needs to be spent and by whom. I think we can do a much better job in the down-stream MANAGEMENT of those approved expenditures. All of us who come from the corporate world know how much time is spent on budget reviews, year-to-date-performance tracking, variance-from–plan discussions, annualized-run-rate analysis and better/worse than forecast reviews. We need to transfer more of those disciplines into our management of both our town departments and, most critically I think, in our oversight of third party contracts. Related to this is the need to have improved clarity and accountability regarding who can approve /authorize /disburse town funds under either already approved budgets or supplemental funding authorizations.

Downtown:  We need to stay focused on preserving/improving its vibrancy. It is one of the charms of New Canaan that helps sell the town to newcomers and thus helps preserve real estate values and the Grand List. Given the impact of the national recession and the reality of lower Fairfield County’s commercial rents this is not an easy problem. While I don’t pretend to have any brilliant solutions I do have two suggestions: explore  some form of limited tax abatement to landlords who agree to pass those savings on to merchants or service providers in the form of reduced rents upon locating in New Canaan or renewing existing leases and revisit (what I believe was looked at a few years ago) the idea of providing downtown employers some form of parking voucher that their employees can use at one or two of the town’s parking lots in order to free up parking spaces on Main and Elm Street for actual customers.

Seniors:  Finally – and here I confess I am at a loss – what, if any, accommodations should we make to the town’s aging demographic profile while simultaneously preserving those things which make New Canaan such an attractive place to come and raise a family?

I am sure I could fill up another umpteen pages with suggestions, ideas, comments, thoughts, insights, and ramblings but maybe I ought to let the new administration have a few days of well deserved peace and quite first!

We wish them (and us) a successful and productive term in office.

Essay 2:

I am impossibly challenged to imagine all of the issues that will arise in the coming years, and sufficiently humble not to prescript an opinion of possible answers. The only advice I would offer however, is to avoid the disease of DC gridlock.

I fear, in the immediate years ahead, NC government is at risk of gridlock arising from multiple divisions.  My advice? : listen with two ears; embrace differences of opinion; remain committed to finding a solution rather than being attached to the problem.

NC gridlock example #1

There are two kinds of mistakes:  “mistakes by action and mistakes by non-action”.  The worst kinds of mistakes are the latter: those by non-action. A mistake of non-action is like getting hit by a locomotive you see long in advance but are so gripped with fear, debate and polarization that you cannot make a simple decision to get out of harm’s way.  (i.e.: Repairing the leaky roof in Town Hall?)

NC gridlock example #2

Sometimes we resist change because we hate change.  We miss the benefit of new thinking and evolutionary change because of some tortured fear of where it might lead. (i.e.: Review / edit the NC Town Charter around the roles and responsibilities of the Treasurer?)

NC gridlock example #3

The art of leadership is avoiding corner-options.  If I enter the discussion room and immediately move to an intractable corner then there is no point in being in the room at all.  Everyone going away a little bit disappointed is often a hallmark of leadership success. (i.e.: Sidewalks? Long Range Planning Committee?)

Essay 3:

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush.  It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.  ~Robert M. Hutchins, Great Books, 1954

What constitutes a mandate for governance when only a small percentage of the population votes?  In New Canaan, only 23% of the electorate voted. The Republican Party, in a contentious primary, only obtained the participation of 30% of their voting members. Who then do the elected actually represent?

We are living in strange and difficult times.  The disdain for government is real.  Congress has only a 9% approval rating.  Unemployment remains fixed at 9% and we all seem to be getting used to it though I don’t think that is true for those who are part of that 9% which National Public Radio, thankfully, continues to make three dimensional in their profiles of the unemployed.  Fortunately, there is a social safety net and the breadlines of history remain a historical footnote.  Instead, we witness an increase in demand at the local food banks (there are six high school clubs collecting Thanksgiving donations) from populations who used to supply them – food stamps are for the destitute, not those struggling. Perhaps you know someone who has been looking for gainful employment for over 12 months and has taken a 70% pay cut?  Or empty nesters whose sons or daughters graduated and now are reconverting the sitting room back into a bedroom or apartment?  I do. There is nothing wrong with living at home while you are beginning your career or for that matter with half a dozen room-mates in a pre-war apartment in NYC. The problem is it is symptomatic of stalled careers due to stagnant growth. The economic news is not terribly encouraging, with projections of another two to four more difficult years, whatever this means or equates to.  No one knows what will happen if the Euro is disbanded but neither does anyone want to find out – fiscal control seems like a good idea but how to implement a return to national currencies without creating havoc? – the consensus seems to be that conditions could turn catastrophic, so why risk it?  Others disagree. The jury is still out, or is it hung?

Across the country, the Occupy Wall Streeters have galvanized a motley crew of young, old and in-between to protest the status quo and focus attention on the economy and the growing disparity in wealth which has not existed since before the depression.  Greed is no longer a capitalist virtue, as manifested by inflated compensation, excessive materialism and ostentatiousness.  Will we finally embrace a New England sensibility of frugality?

But I digress… What is my advice for the incoming administration representative of less than 25% of the voting population?  Granted, with the exception of the race for treasurer, this was a fait accomplie for the candidates and the rationale for the low turnout.  I suppose one could argue that New Canaanites are passive aggressive voters and endorse the new government. This would be an ill-advised conclusion. Instead, our newly elected town officials should re-read the letters to the editor on the town’s mismanagement of the Lakeview bridge, review the minutes of the public discussions of the Long Term planning committee, and pay heed to the larger socio-political trends that reveal a growing distrust of government (regardless of Party affiliation) in general in the country, of which New Canaan is a part.

If they pay attention, they will understand that the public wants them to

1. Be skeptical of studies and data as the means to establish public trust and justify policy choices.
2. Establish an ethical culture from the top down that is not contingent only on rule-making by administrations.
3. Be truthful, not just transparent, with the public – what do you mean to do with the information obtained?
4. Be directly accessible, not just through polls or surveys.
5. Engage the public meaningfully in the decision-making process so it can assume a shared responsibility in the choices that affect the town.

The above advice parallels the surprising conclusions of the The Public Agenda and Kettering Foundation’s recent research on how the public judges its leadership and holds its government accountable.   In five areas the study finds differing perspectives of the meaning of accountability between the public and leadership.  Contrary to a popular consensus within governing circles, more information gathering does not equate to greater public confidence and may indeed have the opposite effect.  People are skeptical of statistics, motivations behind data gathering and the manipulation of complex information to justify decisions.  Similarly, benchmarks or tests, while important management tools, do not provide any assurances of good governance if the culture does not value ethical behavior or other intangibles- How do we protect against grade inflation, cheating, or test manipulation?  “The public believes that accountability will fail unless institutions have an ethical culture to support them,” said Jean Johnson, Executive Vice President of Public Agenda.  Thirdly, transparency does not signify an automatic high public approval rating.

We, the public, are tired of automated customer service and anonymous surveys.  We want our government to be available and be responsive in a timely and honest manner.  And, finally, the public wants to participate in the solution — this seems to contradict the trend in what has been a usually accurate barometer of civic engagement and voter turnout.

And herein lies the dilemma for our democracy — we want our representatives to include us in the decision making process concerning the policy choices that directly impact our lives and yet we do not participate in their election.  We cannot expect our leaders to listen to us if we do not go to the polls and if their re-election is not contingent upon our participation.  For our local leaders, the problem becomes one of both governance and eventually town survival.  A town that does not listen to those who live in it will lose its residents, or become reliant for its sustainability on small ruling elites. Why should this be of concern to the new administration in New Canaan?  If the public does not participate and is not engaged, the town could eventually lose its economic base as people become more alienated and disenfranchised by the decisions made.  We could even see a local version of Occupy Wall Street.

N.B. The report, “Don’t Count Us Out: How an Overreliance on Accountability Could Undermine the Public’s Confidence in Schools, Business, Government and More,” is based on interviews and focus group in five cities and can be found on the website, http://www.publicagenda.org/dont-count-us-out

Everyone talks about how partisan the United States is becoming: divided in politics, divided between haves and have-nots, divided between Yankee fans and Met fans. I would like to extend an olive branch to my Republican friends by offering them a killer of an investment idea.

First, some background. All of us in New Canaan know what hedge funds do. Heck, many of us probably have friends and neighbors who make their living working for hedge funds. For the few of you who don’t know, let me give you some examples:

From the website for JC Clark, a hedge fund based in Toronto:

This comes from a company called “Barclay Hedge” (not the Barclays from the UK, but apparently a pretender trying to exploit the brand equity of the bigger bank):

This one comes from the prospectus for the Glencore fund

So, to sum it up – hedge funds look for people making bad bets, and they bet against them, and as a result, they make gobs of money exploiting people who aren’t quite as smart as they are. (Moreover, any good hedgie has found the way to make sure that those gobs of money are taxed like capital gains, at a much lower rate than the rest of us pay – but that’s the topic of another article.)

You may ask yourself, where am I going here?  I think I found a really big hole for the hedgies to exploit:  global warming.

The Republicans are pretty clear on this issue.  Rick Perry has called it all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight.”  Ron Paul calls it an “elaborate hoax.”  Michele Bachmann has used the same word: hoax.

At the same time, even though the business-friendly Republicans have dismissed global warming as a hoax, some of the businesses that could be most impacted by global warming are following a different path.  A recent article in Business Week explained the view of Munich Re, one of the largest reinsurance companies in the world.  Munich Re sees things a different way: they think climate change is real, they expect it to create major impact on our environment and they’re already taking actions to  protect themselves from the expected financial impact of global warming.

And here lies the opportunity; Munich Re is actually creating the exact type of market inefficiency that every good Republican trader dreams of!  They’re clearly being swayed by the liberal junk-science (and not for nothing, but they’re Europeans to boot!)

Republican friends, this is your chance – if you really believe that global warming is a myth, if you really think that it’s all junk science, if you really think this is just a myth that Al Gore made up back when he was inventing the internet, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is.  Take the opposite sides of these trades!  Show the liberals how dumb they are.

I dare you.

On November 8, 2011, New Canaan held its municipal elections.

You can find our candidate profiles here.
You can find the results here.

We’d like to thank the many volunteers who came out to support our ticket, everyone who stopped in at our headquarters at 99 Main St., and all those who voted for the Democrats in 2011.

We’ll take a breather, then launch into Campaign 2012 in a few weeks.  This is gonna be fun…

We recently learned that Nanacy Barton, who ran for state Senate in the 36th district in 2010, died last weekend.  It was a terrible shock and very sad news. 

I was at the train station in New Canaan campaigning with Nancy.  She had a great sense of humor which she needed in her campaign.  She was a well regarded corporate attorney and dedicated town official in Greenwich.  Like everyone on the New Canaan DTC, I really liked her and was hoping she would run again. 

I was also at the Greenwich DTC meeting the night she declared her candidacy and told that wonderful story of her grandfather being the last Democrat to have won the seat that she was now campaigning to reclaim.  It made the news. 

A reminder to us all of how life is so fleeting … she left us with a wonderful memory of strength, courage, spirit and love of life.

Essay 1

Partisanship in New Canaan ELECTIONS is, of course, not only appropriate it’s essential. It is the most direct way to ensure town government remains accountable to the voters. Partisan behavior by both parties is a good way to help that happen. For us Democrats, partisanship in terms of acting as “the loyal opposition” throughout the year also aids in fostering good government and in trying to ensure that town business is conducted in an open and transparent manner and in accordance with state statutes and the Town Charter. Of course, in situations such as this year’s Town Treasurer contest where the respective party nominees provide such a clear choice between moving forward (Democrat Kathleen Corbet) or business as usual (Republican V. Donald Hersam, Jr.) then partisan support and enthusiasm actually equates to improved government.

However – when it comes to how the various elected and appointed bodies in New Canaan go about the MANAGEMENT of their responsibilities – then political partisanship is not good for the town, and, as the minority party, not particularly good for the Democrats.

Surely, if there is one thing that our national and state political discourses already have more than enough of, it is political partisanship. In many instances, partisan posturing seems to have replaced common sense or even civility as the lingua franca of our elected officials. Don’t misunderstand me – I like a good political donnybrook as much as the next person (probably more so) but the very nature of local governance –especially in a town such as ours – tends to blunt the effectiveness of political partisanship as a way to define government actions. The issues we face locally aren’t easily shoehorned into Democrat versus Republican perspectives, unless of course you belong to one of the fringe weirdo groups such as the “birthers”, “truthers” or “health care reform death panel-ers” who from time to time grace the entrance to our local post office. However it’s unclear if those people are even from planet earth let alone New Canaan, so I don’t think we have to count them.

Is there really a Democrat/Republican divide on main street sidewalks, the mill rate, the Downtown Market Study, and the umpteen other issues the town faces? If there is then it has certainly escaped my notice. We don’t really want political partisanship to inform the conduct of our local government (we see enough of that from Hartford and Washington) what we really want is competence, cooperation, and effectiveness. Overt partisan behavior by either party aimed at making the “other guys” look bad or “our guys” look good just gets in the way.

The best “partisan” contribution we Democrats can make to the management of New Canaan’s government affairs is to continue our long tradition of nominating, supporting, and electing thoughtful, responsible and qualified candidates – just like the ones running this year on the Democratic ticket!

Essay 2

The phrase, “all politics is local” is a phrase coined by the former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. In short — politicians, including New Canaan politicians, must appeal to the simple, mundane and everyday concerns of those who elect them into office. At the level of New Canaan politics we only have simple and mundane issues; inserting Republican / Democrat partisanship into the equation is unwarranted and disruptive.

New Canaan has 25 to 30 unsung heroes. These are the elected, but mostly unpaid government officials. ALL are well meaning: but all, in a good way, have differences of opinion around the running of a community that has one source of income (property taxes), one large-bloc source of expenditure (schools) and a collection of shared assets/services. We are not debating civil rights, abortion or Medicaid entitlement programs. We are debating Maslowian basic needs like sidewalks, bus routes and zoning laws. I believe it is very disruptive to be looking for conspiracies around partisan power-grabbing or political class-warfare. Let’s get real: building partisanship into the issues that affect everyday governance of New Canaan is simply not constructive – we need to stamp it out wherever it arises.

Let me give you an example

Several years ago the town Board of Finance (BOF) was presented by a request from several senior citizens who had insufficient cash-flow to pay their property tax. The three choices of the BOF were fairly straightforward:

• Foreclose
• Forgive
• Accommodate

Rather than take a partisan approach with hardliners voting for foreclosure and softies voting for forgiveness, the BOF looked into the details of these households to discover that they were mostly asset-rich but cash-flow poor. After round and round of discussion and multiple meetings of disagreement, they initiated a simple yet effective needs-based program where income-stretched households can defer taxes –with interest compounding at the town’s municipal bond borrowing rate- secured by a first lien on the house. The beautiful thing is that there was no need to go into partisan corner-options. These are not issues that move upward into the Maslow hierarchy of “safety, self-actualization and morality”. These are simple and mundane issues where reasonable people can find reasonable agreement.

Let’s not get infected by the partisan grid-lock of Washington. Let’s be reasonable people who all agree that New Canaan is great place and can be improved if we can speak from the heart of good intentions: not Republican / Democrat Partisanship.

Essay 3

Does it really matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican when it comes to town politics or issues? This town is made up of mostly Republicans. We Democrats are in the minority and usually only win the minority seats mandated by legislation on the Board of Education, Town Council and Board of Selectmen. For this reason, we Dems rarely put up two candidates for the same position- we do not want to split our minority electorate and risk losing a stake in our local government or on our various town governing boards to an Independent /Republican. Within our own party there are divergent views on this question and there are solid arguments supporting both viewpoints. I discovered this when I applied as a candidate for the Board of Education against the sitting incumbent. In the end, I decided it was in the Party’s best interest to run only one candidate and I removed my candidacy from consideration.

For a Democrat to win a contested seat, some Republicans would have to cross over and vote Democrat. There are plenty of Independents in town who can be influential but you will still need that crossover to win. Should Democrats and Republicans throw party loyalties aside and vote for the best woman or man running?

Yes, you say; “Of course you should only vote for the best person running. Forget about which party you belong to! Party politics does not come into question when we are thinking about our town! We all want the best for our town and who cares what your Party affiliation is!”

Well, if you look at this year’s town elections, you could come to this conclusion. There is only one candidate up for First Selectman, Rob Mallozzi III, a Republican. The Democrats decided not to put up a candidate or rather could not find a candidate willing to run for First Selectman against a popular local business owner who won a hotly contested primary race in his own majority party. However, the Democratic Party has not officially endorsed Mr. Mallozzi as their choice for First Selectman. Is that important? In my opinion, it is. Why should Democrats come out to vote when the most important office in town is uncontested and a Republican shoe-in? I suppose you could argue that there are other Democratic candidates who need their support but these seats are secure so long as some loyal Democrats show up at the polls.

By endorsing Rob Mallozzi III as First Selectman, the Democratic Party would demonstrate that it can put party politics aside and support the best person for the job. This would show remarkable town unity and perhaps contribute to greater collaboration and goodwill in town between residents of the two opposing parties. By not endorsing Rob Mallozzi, and not stating why it does not support him, the Democratic Party is demonstrating a partisanship based solely on party loyalty and taking what I would call a passive aggressive approach. Alternatively, the Democratic Party could choose not to endorse him and state why, so that residents would have a better understanding of party differences from a local perspective.

I believe we need to support a bi-partisan approach to local politics in New Canaan if we want to win contested seats where we believe our candidate is the better choice for our town, party politics aside. This year, we have put up for the office of Town Treasurer, Kathleen Corbet, a highly qualified and well known, dedicated town resident who has served on the Board of Finance and other town committees. Her Republican opponent is a well-known and highly regarded “father” of our town whose family owns the New Canaan Advertiser and who has in all likelihood supported many a Republican candidate over his 46 year career as Treasurer. The trouble is that he has occupied this position “as a signatory” only (his words) and one can conclude after the Lakeview bridge debacle to the town’s detriment. Privately, some Republicans have indicated a willingness to support Ms. Corbet as they recognize her fiduciary talents and civic mindedness but her winning this race will require more than just a few supporters- she will need bi-partisan support.

We owe it to her and to the town to support the crossing over of Party lines when a candidate presents itself who is clearly the best person for the job. I will vote for Rob Mallozzi III this November and I hope there are Republicans who will vote for Kathleen Corbet for Town Treasurer.