Submitted by Brian Raabe, Greenwich
Candidate for Governor Ryan Fazio has engaged in a great hue and cry over utility bills.
His belief is that the charges on top of monthly utility bills, funding a variety of expenditures in the state of Connecticut to the tune of $1 billion, are some form of theft.
He believes those items should be done away with, nearly in their entirety.
Unless they have been published in some obscure journal, he offers no further detail on what might replace those programs, if anything, and what programs he would keep.
Which is consistent with his party as the purveyors of expenditure arson.
Burn it down, ask questions later.
Brought to you by DOGE.
What is the utility burden in proportion to overall living expenses?
Nationally, electricity is 2-4% of overall monthly expenses.
Connecticut is in that range.
These charges in Connecticut are regressive, and a legitimate issue for lower income households, but to watch his Instagram video / performance art (it was sent to me, not my thing) you would think lower electricity rates would solve all the world’s problems.
I also doubt the regressive nature of utility bills is what is motivating the candidate – reducing economic burdens on the poor is not big in his circles.
Regardless, what about the other 96% of monthly costs in Connecticut, what is candidate Fazio’s plan?
The national ruler of his party – among all sorts of things he said he would solve within the first 24 hours of taking office, Ukraine, Gaza, immigration, Iran, Denmark, the Fed, hot pizza burning the roof of your mouth – in addition to all those things, Mr. Fazio’s party ruler said he would fix the cost of living.
Yet inflation is still pervasive in Connecticut, and nationally.
What is candidate Fazio’s plan to address that?
Should we start with what Connecticut sends the Federal Government – https://usafacts.org/articles/
In 2024 Connecticut sent $3.0 billion to Washington.
Should we ask for a refund and hand out checks?
Many states that Ryan Fazio’s party decry as being in shambles are net contributors to the federal government.
First among them is California, which sent $275 billion to the federal government in 2024.
That’s a lot of ballrooms.
Minnesota, a state Mr. Fazio’s ruler says is run by a moron and rife with fraud, sent $50 billion dollars to the Federal Government.
What did they get in return?
An occupation.
A military action led by DHS Head Kristi Noem whose State of South Dakota TOOK $1.0 Billion in government handouts in 2024.
Hard to reconcile that with her role as a front person for the abolish government party, but this is no longer a movement that labors under the yoke of logic.
What would candidate Fazio’s relationship be with the federal government on behalf of the State of Connecticut?
We are in an era of States, versus the United States.
Or at least an era of the Federal government versus states led by Democrats.
(Almost forgot, Illinois – home to Chicago recently under siege – sent $63 billion to the Feds).
The President has talked about nationalizing elections. What is candidate Fazio’s position on that?
What is his position generally on the rights of states?
The bedrock of conversation in the 1770s.
And again, what of the meaty issues Connecticut residents face in their daily lives?
Nationally, layoffs in January of this year reached 2009 recession levels.
That takes some effort, and true mismanagement by the party in power.
What is the candidate’s position on the national trade policies impacting Connecticut, designed by Ryan Fazio’s party ruler?
How would candidate Fazio advocate – specifically, not the substance lacking meringue cookies on his website now, how would he advocate on behalf of Connecticut industry.
Where are the thoughtful, in-depth policy papers?
Maybe they just haven’t been posted yet.
Connecticut is – in part – an advanced manufacturing state. The largest trading partners for Connecticut are Canada and Europe.
We aren’t exactly welcoming relationships with either.
That hurts Connecticut.
That is Mr. Fazio’s party.
And we should elect you because… my electricity bill will be lower? Right on! – but trade and the Connecticut export economy will tank?
Not a great set of choices from Mr. Fazio.
Lastly, would candidate Fazio be waving in large scale ICE operations like he waived in Project Veritas as they went after Greenwich Schools?
He was literally at the podium for their rally against Greenwich.
Would he wear the same ear to ear grin he had for James’ O’Keefe when Tom Homan of ICE comes trundling into Connecticut?
George H.W. Bush (a local, as First Selectman Fred Camillo’s ham-fisted statue imbroglio has made known), President Bush canceled his NRA membership in May of 1995.
The NRA sent a fund-raising letter saying, “the semiauto-auto ban gives jack-booted government thugs more power to take away our constitutional rights, break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and even injure or kill us.”
This after the Oklahoma City Bombing by anti-government lunatics.
President Bush replied in a letter to the NRA, with his immediate resignation saying in part, “To attack Secret Service agents or ATF people or any government law enforcement people as, “wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms,” wanting to, “attack law abiding citizens” is a vicious slander on good people.”
Read that exchange in the current context, masked agents kitted out for Desert Storm absent badge numbers and identification, charging into cities as agents of ICE, kicking in doors, discharging weapons. No longer encumbered by the need for a warrant.
Killing Americans.
Ask candidate Fazio which of the two statements above he agrees with in the here and now – President Bush’s support or Wayne Lapierre’s warning.
Would candidate Fazio turn Connecticut cities into Minneapolis?
And before you start shaking your Great Replacement Theory tambourine and wailing incantations suggesting we were being overrun by illegal aliens, all want a reasonable – predictable and humane immigration system and decry open borders.
The fact is the path to that goal does not follow from what we have seen from this agency.
ICE makes disgraced NRA Head Wayne Lapierre – of all people – look like a prophet in his foretelling of the “jack booted thug.”
Something that would be absolutely impossible to believe or subscribe to just a year ago as a Bush supporter and a believer in the vital role the central government as a sober actor plays in our prosperity, quality of life, and protection.
We are not seeing that from DHS and ICE.
So, what’s your ICE stance Ryan? That’s a big question for a state like Connecticut.
You can make it clear on your website. You have a duty. There’s space if you remove the multiple electricity cost entries.
These are the issues this young man should state his position on.
While worthy of debate – electricity is not the core challenge when bullets are flying and the constitutional order, which includes state sovereignty, is under threat.
This is a Connecticut issue as much as it is a Los Angeles, Minneapolis or Chicago issue.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Are you in or out on the 10th Amendment to the Constitution for the Constitution State Mr. Fazio?
What about the second amendment?
You guys seem squishy on that one too lately.
There is speculation that with Camillo’s ultimate departure, Ryan’s Plan B is Greenwich First Selectman.
For someone who has spent his young professional life nearly entirely on the public payroll, turning his Quixotic quest for Governor into name recognition that can be parlayed into a cushy Field Point Road office job would be consistent.
And consistent with the current occupant of the office.
Make it a few terms in Greenwich as Parade Grand Marshal, set up a series of task forces to study rinks and teen centers many times over, get the pension, all possible before 45?
Leaning into Candidate Fazio is relevant now, despite not seeing him remotely qualified for, nor having a chance at governor.
But if he wants to play “Campaign for Governor,” he should answer the questions above and post his positions on his website.
Tell us who you are when it comes to leading the State.
A head bowed kneeler to your party’s ruler – or a steward of Connecticut’s interests.
Conduct thus far suggests door number one.
The platform of the Republican Party of today, bearing no resemblance to the party of even 5 years ago, is damaging to Connecticut.
If Ryan wants to use campaign airtime to make himself a more robust candidate for First Selectman of Greenwich, that’s an investment in himself, not the electorate.
Brian Raabe