Letter to the editor submitted by Monica Prihoda, Old Greenwich
I attended an informal, open-air Town Hall style meeting on the environment at Greenwich Point with candidates for First Selectman BET Chairwoman Jill Oberlander and Representative Fred Camillo last week.
Where do these candidates stand on President Trump’s announcement today of a roll back on states’ authority on auto emissions, specifically California?
Representative Camillo said at the beach he is pro-environment. Does he support the President here? Should Greenwich and Connecticut roll back standards to arrest air and water pollution? I know where Ms. Oberlander stands: not with this policy that further harms our local and national and global environment. You see – it’s all connected.
The local Republicans consistently and loudly proclaim that local issues are not national issues.
I respectfully disagree:
Let’s talk records. Specifically, let’s talk the voting record of First Selectman candidate Fred Camillo when it comes to people who are struggling and other issues affecting Greenwich residents.
Representative Camillo voted to:
• to gut the state’s earned income tax credit, which helps more than 1,300 hard-working, low-income families in Greenwich make ends meet;
• against giving low-income workers a desperately needed raise in the minimum wage (HB 5004);
• against giving new mothers paid leave to care for their infants (SB 1);
• in 2011, against creating Connecticut’s health insurance exchange Access HealthCT (SB 921) that today provides health insurance to over 100,000 Connecticut residents;
• for the 2017 Republican budget (HB 7501) which would have eliminated the Citizens Election Fund, and public funding for Connecticut elections;
• for slamming Connecticut teachers with a $100 million Teacher Tax, vehemently opposed by the Connecticut Education Association;
• for draconian cuts to higher education that then-Conn president Herbst claimed would “would sink us for decades”;
• for closing the $35 million Roberta B. Willis Scholarship that helps 15,000 poor and minority Connecticut students earn a college education to new students, eventually eliminating the scholarship program; and
• While voting for measures that would punish the working poor, Camillo has repeatedly stated his support for repealing the state income tax, 35% of which is paid by the top 1% of the state’s earners.
I urge readers to know who they are really voting for and to register and vote.
Respectfully yours,
Monica Prihoda
Old Greenwich