Submitted by Ana Kostovic
A letter to the Greenwich Free Press editor on September 14, 2022 written by Stella Hawkins (LETTER: Fiorello and Sherr are Too Far Right for Greenwich) was inaccurate and misleading regarding State Representative Kimberly Fiorello and nominee for State Representative Peter Sherr. The Left is so overcome by fear with the prospect of Republicans winning control of Congress that their tactic is to call out all Republicans as “extremists,” as if all conservatives are a threat to American democracy. Democrats believe that focusing on demonizing Republicans is their best shot to not get shellacked in the November midterm elections.
All this divisive rhetoric will not hide the Democrat’s massive policy failures (inflation, defunding police/rising crime, gas/energy prices, failing Biden economic program, seemingly endless tax increases from Hartford, failing and politicized public schools, and Democratic leadership’s attempts to dictate large-scale development throughout Greenwich banning all local input and control personal attacks facing our community). You don’t have to look much further than Democrat groups with misleading names like Indivisible Greenwich and Greenwich Voices for Democracy to realize the politics of personalized armageddon have arrived at our doorstep.
Restoring Parental Rights after two years of government overreach is not “far-right”. Fighting exploding crime through local zoning control is not “far-right”. Valuing individual freedom over mandates is not “far-right”. Kim Fiorello and Peter Sherr are both loving parents, who have
fought hard for all of our children, and I wholeheartedly thank them for their passionate efforts.
These common sense values are not radical. Fiorello and Sherr stand for the principles and issues that are relevant to voters and have demonstrated the strength of character to fight for them.
Peter Sherr has been a fearless advocate for Greenwich parents, kids and families during his 12 years on the Board of Education. He does his homework, is always engaged, and asks the questions for the parents who are not allowed to speak. He worked tirelessly to get our kids back into school in September 2020 when the Superintendent was trying to push the start of school later. He has stood up repeatedly against the political indoctrination of our children in Greenwich Public Schools.
Kimberly Fiorello’s rational and moving testimony to have the school mask mandate removed in February 2021, showed she was willing to do whatever it took to get our children back to normalcy. Kim Fiorello has been on the forefront of protecting parental rights when she filed a bill for it in January 2022. In March, she let us all know about something called double-funding that’s happening in Connecticut’s education funding.
https://www.greenwichsentinel.com/2022/04/15/column-stop-the-double-pay-play-in-education/
Kimberly reads the bills, she’s not afraid to tackle tough topics, and she’s transparent about all
the work she’s doing for us as our eyes and ears in Hartford.
So here we are: Democrats, their aligned political action committees and surrogates importing the nastiest of political tactics that are destroying our national discourse to the place we all call
home.
Beyond the name calling, they are telling untruths and hoping Greenwich voters won’t notice. They are hoping we won’t notice that under their leadership Connecticut is the second highest taxed state in the Union. That we won’t notice that Connecticut has the highest per capita unfunded pension liabilities in the country. That the State is increasingly unaffordable for families, particularly the young and elderly. That Democrats are pushing to remove all local control of zoning and development. That +50% of Connecticut school children are not at grade level expectations in English and Math. That Democrats are pushing to defund and remove police security from schools. And finally denying that politics have infected our children’s classrooms as exposed last week in Greenwich Public Schools. I’m confident that Greenwich voters are smarter than that and will reject these tactics.
As a first generation American, I was given opportunities that my parents were not having lived in a Communist Country. The state controlled all aspects of their lives and critical thinking and freedom of speech did not exist. They sacrificed everything so that my brothers and I could grow up in the greatest country in the world. A country where individual freedom and Capitalism thrive. Seeing the current Democratic tendencies towards Socialist values here in the US is absolutely frightening to me.
Parents with moderate, common-sense values, will be voting for Peter Sherr and Kim Fiorello who have proven that they will stand firm against government overreach. I have had numerous conversations with both of these hard-working individuals, and I put my trust in them to stand up to the state representatives who are trying to continue controlling our lives, our businesses, and our children. It’s time for major change.