Letter to the editor submitted by Frank Salomone, Greenwich
Dear Editor,
Many letters to the editor in support of Democrats have focused on how much they dislike our current Greenwich Republican Congressional Delegation, Donald Trump, and any Republican running for office.
To assess views, it’s important to examine three areas: 1) what has the Greenwich Republican Congressional delegation accomplished, 2) how has the State of Connecticut fared over the recent history under overall Democratic Party leadership, and 3) what is the plan for the future.
In regards to the first point, the Greenwich Republican Congressional delegation has a long list of accomplishments, but I’ll have to focus on a few for the sake of brevity.
Included among these are caps on spending, volatility, and bonding. They reinstated Medicare savings for Connecticut Senior Citizens. They raised the level of the Estate Tax exemption to the Federal Level. They returned ESC funding to Greenwich. They ended income tax on pensions and social security for senior citizens. They also secured millions of dollars in reimbursements for educational projects. The commonality among these accomplishments are fiscal responsibility and compassion.
Turning to the second point, the State of Connecticut has not fared well in the most recent history under Democratic leadership.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Connecticut had the highest GDP growth in the country from 1976 to 1991, right up until the enactment of a State income tax. This led to more and more taxes in years to come, which as we know is a major detractor to economic growth. It’s quite amazing how many people don’t understand that taking more and more from people will either make people work less or want to leave. Even more recently, since 2007 the State of Connecticut has economically contracted 9.3%. The Wall Street Journal also points out that had Connecticut grown at the same rate as the USA as a whole, we’d be “Nearly $50 Billion larger and annual revenues would be $3.9 Billion higher”. That is not a trivial amount by any stretch. Countless articles have been written about how Connecticut is losing its wealthy because people don’t want to be taxed, or die here. Companies don’t want to stay here due to regulation.
Donald Trump has shown how we can achieve unbelievable growth in the USA by adopting conservative principles, but all Democrats want to do is focus on fake points.
As we lose wealthy individuals and companies, we lose our ability to grow as a State. It’s all entirely preventable, and it causes terrible consequences for the people left behind who have reduced economic opportunity, towns with no money for schools, drug problems, etc. It’s a real way for society to start to collapse. We can spend a whole separate article on social abuses the Democrats have engaged in.
As we can see, Democrats do not have a good record to hang their hats on. It’s amazing when I hear a first time Democratic candidate for State Senator Alex Bergstein say she is going to be able to convince her own multi-term senate colleagues to adopt different positions, such as on pensions, when she must know that it will be in diametric opposition to their core constituents and has no chance in passing. More likely, she and rest who may get elected will simply say, “We Tried!”, and then vote status quo.
For the third point, the entire Republican slate has a solid plan for the future.
Candidate for Governor Bob Stefanowski has an economic rescue plan which also includes wanting to eliminate the State Income tax, as opposed to Ned Lamont who just wants more taxes and bad social programs.
Candidate for U.S. Senate Matt Corey has many plans in the areas of the Economy (technology and apprentice programs), Defense, and Immigration enforcement, as opposed to Chris Murphy who wants to just keep on “Resisting”.
Candidate for U.S. House Harry Arora also has many plans regarding economic growth, healthcare affordability, and a strong foreign policy, as opposed to Jim Himes, who like Chris Murphy has just been “Resisting”.
In the 36th State Senate district Scott Frantz has been working tirelessly for years to restore fiscal responsibility to Connecticut, a record of bipartisanship, and is continuing on all those fronts to deliver results.
In the 151st district in the State House Fred Camillo continues to spearhead a wide variety of fiscal, environmental, and citizen-brought issues, and also has a long history of accomplishments.
In the 150th district in the State House Mike Bocchino is also leading the charge on a variety of economic initiatives for our state including the pension crisis.
In the 149th district in the State House, Livvy Floren is pushing ahead with bipartisan initiatives related to the environment and economic development in our region.
In conclusion, and addressing the three points mentioned above, the existing Greenwich Republican delegation for the State Senate and State House has a long list of accomplishments.
The State of Connecticut has not fared well under Democratic Party leadership. The existing Republican Greenwich Congressional delegation, along with Republican candidates for Governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives all offer a very different plan from the Democratic Party, and I believe it is one that will be very successful if they are elected.
The alternative is to continue the downhill course we’ve been on, and it can surely get a lot worse. The Democrats plans to continue to Tax, Borrow, Spend, and encroach on our Civil Liberties must come to an end. Vote Republican and let’s “Make Connecticut Great Again”!
– Frank Salomone
Note: The deadline for letters in support of candidates in the November 6, 2018 election is Monday, October 29, 2018.
Not all letters will be published. Instead we will select a sampling of letters.