Independent Candidate?

I received an email last night from a politician (whom I have tremendous respect for, by the way) who stated that since Enfield went to a council/manager form of government in the early 1960′s, no independent candidate has ever won elective office. I’m thinking this was sort of a way to let me down gently, reminding me that my pending candidacy for a town council seat might be an exercise in futility. My answer to him was, “No guts, no glory.”

The political system as it is currently configured is rigged against independent candidates. Without the backing of a political party, it is necessary to get a petition through the Secretary of State’s office and petition to get on the ballot. Fortunately, since I am planning on running in District 1, as opposed to at-large, the numbers are not that great; although even an at-large candidacy would not have required a large number of signatures. I could probably get the necessary number on my own street.

The issue is the psyche of the voter. We have had it drilled into our heads for so long that there are only “two parties” that we believe that our choices are limited to either Republican or Democrat. For some reason independent candidates are dismissed, whether or not they actually have good ideas or not. This is really too bad because in the arena of ideas, independent candidates have a lot to offer. Many people feel that part of the reason for the current financial mess we find ourselves in is because both parties on a national level have become so corrupted with power that they forget why they are there. Principles have given way to special interests. The two major parties have grown government to a size that is simply unmanageable. The State of Connecticut is not that far behind. Unfortunately, municipalities are left to bear the brunt of this irresponsibility.

 If I am able to get myself on the ballot, I promise the voters of District 1 that I will listen to you, I will hear our concerns and I will not take you for granted. When I get enough signatures to get on the ballot, I will be soliciting input from all residents of District 1 to find out what your concerns are both in the District and town-wide.

Thompsonville Fire Department

Voters in the Thompsonville Fire District will have the opportunity to vote tonight on the proposal for a new fire station for the district. I am hoping that the voters see their way to vote in favor of this proposal.

While the economic times would seem to dictate that such a vote is probably not good timing-wise, there are many reasons for approving the proposal. First of all, the current station is extremely out-dated. The quarters are cramped, environmentally it is a nightmare, and there is no way to improve upon the current situation.

I know many of the firefighters in Thompsonville and have seen first hand the terrible conditions that these guys have to endure. As the only full-time fire department in town, it is a shame that these guys have to live in such conditions and be expected to do their job in a professional manner.

I believe that the proposal as shown is modest, as opposed to a “Taj Mahal.” It provides adequate office space, training facilities, bunk space, and ample room for fire apparatus. I believe that this facility is long overdue and I hope that the voters see it the way I do.

As a follow up to this post, the vote to build a new fire station was overwhelmingly defeated. This was probably not unexpected given the economic malaise we now find ourselves in. As the highest taxed (and only full-time) fire district in town, the voters simply were fearful that they would face a substantial tax increase.

Unfortunately this does not solve the problem. The current headquarters is in terrible shape and it is only a matter of time before it requires substantial repairs. I am hopeful that some type of compromise agreement can be reached in order to get this project moving forward.

Thrown Under the Bus

I had quite an interesting candidate “interview” a couple of weeks ago by the Candidate Review Committee for the Republican Town Committee. I pretty much knew when I walked through the door that my chances of receiving the committees recommendation to run on the Republican ticket were two…slim and none.

First of all, there were two spouses of sitting town council members on the panel, Mike Dumont and Jo Marie Nelson. I will be honest that I didn’t have as much of a problem with Mike being there, since his wife is running for a district seat across town. However, Jo Marie was another story. Her husband is also seeking an at-large seat on the council. One would think that under these circumstances she would have recused herself from the process for town council, but she did not. I don’t mean to insinuate anything sinister here, but just the appearance of impropriety should have caused her to recuse herself from at least this part of the process. Likewise, Mike Dumont should have also probably recused himself.

The other issue was the presence of Scott Hozempa on the panel. While I was not seeking a school board seat, his wife was. I certainly hope that he recused himself from those interviews, but I understand he did not. Further, his presence on my panel was also probably not proper. His wife and I have had some philosophical disagreements while sitting on the school board together, including a rather public one last year when I went unaffiliated for a period of time.

Not surprisingly, I did not receive the endorsement of the Candidate Review Committee. So, that leaves me in a quandary. Do I pack it in and fight another day? Do I run as an independent, a rather large hill to climb? Do I try and get votes at the caucus on July 27 and try to get the endorsement that way?

I’m not sure. I will take the next couple of weeks to decide my future course of action. Of course, it is interesting that the two leading vote getters from the past election, both Republicans were both kicked to the curb by the Republican party. In a town where the Republicans are a significant minority to both the Democrats and Independents, I find this very interesting indeed.

Why Town Council?

I have been asked by many people why I would want to run for town council, especially after the somewhat contentious 20 months that I have spent on the Board of Education. I will try to answer that.

I moved to Enfield when I was three years old, and have lived here a majority of my life, leaving to live in Springfield for a short time after I got married. I decided to move back to Enfield in 1998 and have never looked back.

As most of you know, I was a 28 year member of the Enfield Police Department and retired last September at the rank of lieutenant. As someone who was intimately involved with the town of Enfield, I believe that I would bring a unique perspective to the town council, based not only on my experiences as a police officer, but also my experiences as an employee of the Town of Enfield.

 Enfield is currently in a state of flux, driven in no small part by the nationwide recession that has stymied economic growth. The current town council has done a good job on holding the line on taxes, although I will say that this has caused some difficulty in trying to continue to provide a quality education for our children. Two years of level funding (virtually) in the Board of Education’s budgets have taken the district down to it’s bare bones. Future budgets promise to be extremely difficult to put forth without some type of increase in funding. It is a quandary that both the future Board of Education and Town Council will have to deal with.

If one looks around town, there are numerous vacant storefronts and industrial buildings. If the town is indeed to get out of the current economic maladies, encouraging businesses to locate in town is paramount. Simply put, the tax burden on residents cannot be permitted to increase. It is vital therefore that the town become proactive in trying to locate businesses to relocate in town, as well as encouraging start up of small businesses in town. As in past recessions, small businesses are generally the ones that will lead us back to economic recovery. Of course, much is dependent on what happens in Washington and Hartford, and we have all seen that there may not be much help coming our way from these sources.

The restoration of our two “villages”, Hazardville and Thompsonville is also extremely important. While Thompsonville seems to get all of the attention, the Hazardville area is also an important component to the east end of town. Any potential recovery to the town could be centered in either of these two areas.

Thompsonville is a unique situation, which has deteriorated to a degree for many years, despite heroic efforts to save it. Voices for Thompsonville is doing a phenomenal job of trying to find real solutions to the problems facing this part of town, but with a plethora of absentee landlords and a glut of Section 8 housing in this section, recovery is going to be slow. The development of business in this area, legitimate businesses such as the Thompsonville Creamery and the Pearl St. Barber Shop is extremely important and this type of investment in Thompsonville should be encouraged.

It is also well-known that crime is a problem in Thompsonville. The police department has done an excellent job, within the parameters it has been allowed, in trying to get a handle on the criminal element in Thompsonville. However the department has had it’s hands tied due to budgetary constraints and the fact that the community police officers in that area have been forced to wear multiple hats. Community policing is not merely placing officers on the street; it is supposed to be a collaborative partnership between the police, citizens, business owners and other stakeholders in solving the root causes of crime, which are very often environmental and quality of life issues. Due to manpower constraints, this is not able to be done. While this was done when the community policing program started up some years ago, it is not the case now. You cannot expect a police officer to be wear multiple hats, especially where community policing is involved. A decision needs to be made whether this is truly a community policing operation or merely a walking or bike “patrol.” There is a huge difference.

Lastly, we need to treat our town employees as partners, not merely employees. Under former town manager Lou Hayward, the town began a “Customer Care” program where town employees were treated as internal “customers”, not employees. During the past 10 years or so, this has changed, although I will say that since Matt Coppler became town manager it has improved. The departure of the Human Resources Director might also assist in this area, since he tended to operate in a rather abrasive manner. There are untold stories of town employees who were run over roughshod by the Town of Enfield. This needs to stop. How can we expect our town employees to provide quality customer care to town residents if the town doesn’t provide quality “customer care” to our own employees? It can’t be done.

I want to run for town council because I care about the town and our residents. I want to secure the future for our children and ensure that our seniors have a community where they can stay. I want a safe town where residents and visitors can feel comfortable and secure. I want to see Enfield thrive and grow. I have nothing to gain from doing this except to make sure that we have a great community in which to live, work, and play. I want to restore Enfield to that “All America City” feel that we enjoyed back in the 1970′s. Together we can do it.