Submitted by Katherine Vance Hynes
Elections are coming up, and Greenwich residents have a lot to think about. A year ago, our community went through a campaign where the Republican candidate for First Selectman (Fred Camillo) wanted to talk about local issues that affect our community. However, the campaign against him, by Democrats, tried unsuccessfully to use national politics as their basis for validation, including an absurd incident where an individual tried unsuccessfully to tie Mr. Camillo’s campaign to that of the President via ridiculous campaign signs.
Thankfully, Greenwich residents voted by a large majority to reject that notion and we are fortunate to have Fred at the helm during this crisis. Now, we are in the midst of a more complex campaign. Four state offices are up for grabs, concurrent to the Presidential election. Our local candidates are running for state office and dealing with local issues. Yet once again, local Democrats are relying on the same, flawed theme – that the rationale for voting for them should be based on the thesis that they don’t like the President. The Democrats are expecting the public to ignore the fact that they have singlehandedly ruined our state’s economy. Let’s examine their record.
- Personal income growth in CT is one quarter of the national average (preCovid)
- CT has experienced net flat job growth over a thirty year period
- Democrats have raised income taxes three times during the last decade. During that same span, CT lost a net 163,000 residents to other states
- CT has the second highest percentage of taxes paid as a percent of income in the nation
- 12.6%. – CT has the highest income tax collections per capita ($2,279), the third highest property tax collections per capita ($2,774) and the eight highest general sales tax collections per capita ($1,137)
- Unfunded pension liabilities continue to be ignored and continue to grow. These are some of the issues that residents of Greenwich should be focused on as they make their decisions. This is the result of continuous Democrat policymaking over many years in our state. The numbers are clear. If you care about the future direction of Connecticut, and thereby Greenwich, you should vote for a new direction in Hartford. Vote for Ryan Fazio (36th), Harry Arora (151st), Kimberly Fiorello (149th) and Joe Kelly (150th) as your State Senator and Representatives.
Editor’s note: Letters to the Editor in support of local candidates in the Nov 3, 2020 election may be submitted to [email protected] for consideration beginning July 15 and with a hard deadline of Oct 26, 2020 at noon.