Submitted by Gayle P. De Poli, Riverside
To the Editor:
I am a longtime Greenwich resident, and I have made many important and special friendships in this wonderful town.
Everyone I know wants government to work effectively. We all want safe roads, reliable trains, sewers and drains that handle heavy rainfall, lower utility bills and a state budget that spends our tax dollars wisely and efficiently. Yet even though we share the same general goals, we have different priorities and approaches to addressing them.
I am supporting Jill Oberlander for State Senate specifically because of her ability to address the different needs of constituents. She knows representing a district means representing everyone in it. Throughout her years of public service, Jill has found common ground without abandoning common goals.
As the first Democratic chair of the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), she worked with Republicans and Democrats alike on budgets, municipal priorities and long-term investments.
And again, as Greenwich Selectperson during Covid, alongside her Republican colleagues, she helped create and execute the town’s response to this national health emergency.
The key to Jill’s success is her understanding that progress frequently requires persuasion and compromise without surrendering one’s principles.
There will be times when Jill agrees with Democratic leadership and times when she does not. What matters is the question she will ask first: What is best for the people I represent?
This is the test every elected official should apply, and the test Jill has passed time and again.
I do not expect my state senator to agree with me nor I with her on every issue. But I expect my senator to listen, think independently, explain her decisions and work diligently on behalf of our district.
Jill has demonstrated this kind of discipline throughout her public service.
On Election Day, she will have my vote. I hope she will have your vote, too.
Yours truly,
Gayle P. De Poli, Riverside