Blog For Connecticut

The day before Thanksgiving is traditionally a transportation nightmare. Many people will spend a lot of time traveling today. Those of us in Connecticut know a lot about transportation nightmares.

According to a study by Texas A&M cited in a report by CCM and CCSU, “rush-hour delays in the Bridgeport-Stamford area cost each traveler $566 per year. In New Haven, the figure is $390. In Hartford it's $309â€.

Instead of wasting this time and money, we need a transportation plan that will lead to better roads, better jobs, and people with better dispositions by the time they get to grandmother’s house.

Governor Rell’s approach to this, and most issues is press releases and band-aids. Solving the transportation problems isn’t going to be easy. That is why we need a leader like John DeStefano who isn’t afraid to tackle difficult issues.

Yesterday’s Norwich Bulletin has an article talking about their interview with Mayor DeStefano. It focuses on the role of government being a positive force in people’s lives. Mayor DeStefano has helped New Haven have a positive effect on people’s lives, through improving the schools, lowering crime, and helping clean up the environment.

Unfortunately, our state government under the leadership of Rowland and Rell hasn’t been bringing about a positive effect. Transportation has gotten worse, and Connecticut is now last in job growth.

We can do better by working together. Let’s focus on the positive. Let’s get involved with local politics. Help with the special election next Tuesday to resolve the tie in Farmington. Contact Chrissy if you can help.

“We gather together…†Thus starts one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day hymns. Thanksgiving is about much more than some parades, food, and football games. It is about gathering with friends and family to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for. It is about recounting the stories of hard work and victories that have brought us to where we are and our dreams for where we can go from here.

So, this week on the DeStefano campaign, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. We have lots to be thankful for. As an example, last Thursday, former Secretary of State Candidate Audrey Blondin endorsed Mayor DeStefano. She has done an incredible job criss crossing the state trying to get more people involved in the democratic process. She and her husband Matt often head down to Nicaragua to provide eye care to impoverish people. On Saturday she helped gathered people in Northwestern Connecticut together to talk with the Mayor about how we can do better in Connecticut.

At one gathering, I met Fran Besmer, town chair of Kent. Fran has adopted eight children and we talked about how Saturday was National Adoption Day. I am sure she will have quite the gathering for Thanksgiving Day.

So, as we prepare for this Thanksgiving Day, we should spend time to express our thanks to people like Audrey, Matt and Fran. We should spend time expressing our thanks to people that bring others together in an effort to help make our state, our country and our world a better place. Please join with us in our efforts to help make Connecticut better.

Last night we saw the Republican response to leaders that challenge failed policies. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, a retired Marine Corp colonel and Vietnam Veteran called the war in Iraq “a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.†He pointed out that the current policy isn’t working and we need to find a new way of establishing peace in Iraq. He proposed a strategy to bring the troops home. It is a serious proposal that needs consideration and debate.

However, the Republican leadership presented an alternative resolution to grandstand and avoid serious dialog about crucial issues our country faces.

As I watched the maneuvering on C-SPAN, I thought about Rell’s approach to crucial issues that face us hear in Connecticut. As Mayor DeStefano often notes, Rell’s approach is to issue a press release and a band-aid and to avoid serious dialog the issues we face.

For example, Gov. Rell recently vetoed a clean contracts bill, a bill which Mayor DeStefano would have signed. Gov. Rell, like her Republican counterparts in Washington are all about grand standing as a means of avoiding the issues.

It is time that we support leaders like John DeStefano and John Murtha and stand up against Republican grandstanding.

Saturday, Mayor DeStefano will be at Meet and Greets in Kent and Winchester. Please stop by if you can. Saturday is also National Adoption Day. There will be a press conference and reception at New Haven City hall from ten until noon.

Sunday is the 7th annual Transgender day of remembrance. There will be events in Canton and Hartford.

So, get out to an event this weekend.

There was a brief interview with Mayor DeStefano on Channel 8 yesterday. If you missed it, you can read about it and view the video here.

This week is American Education Week. If you can read this, thank a teacher, and the political leaders that empower them.

Those of you who read this blog regularly will remember when Frank’s blog entry about the Anne E. Casey Foundation report about the status of kids in America. Under the Rowland and Rell administration, Connecticut has faltered. Less children are going to pre-school. Fewer kids are heading off to college. If we are going to turn around job growth in our state, we need to do better with our educational system.

Mayor DeStefano understands education better than most. His wife is a teacher. He has led New Haven in an ambitious program to rebuild its schools and the drop out rate has dropped 40%. Now, students from neighboring municipalities pour into New Haven each day to take advantage of its great school system. They are coming to schools like The Sound School, The Barnard School and the Betsy Ross School.

Today, the Hartford Courant has an article about a recent poll they did with University of Connecticut. They report “that 25 percent of residents view job creation as the most important issue, while 15 percent identified taxes as their greatest concern. Nothing else comes closeâ€.

These are related issues. If we grow more jobs, we will have more taxpayers, which will lower the burden on all of us. If we restructure the way we gather taxes we can create an environment which will grow jobs.

During the Rowland/Rell years, Connecticut has sunk to last in job growth. Rell has provided no vision for job growth and we all suffer because of it.

John DeStefano has a vision. He chaired the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Blue Ribbon Commission on Property Tax Burdens and Smart Growth Incentives. He understands how to promote growth by focusing on what we do best in our state. We have a highly trained workforce in Connecticut and one of the leading states in patents per capita. We need to be focusing on our strengths like financial services and innovation such as in the life sciences instead of convention centers or ballparks. We need to remove impediments to smart growth.

Today, I was a union member. I worked with my brothers and sisters in the SEIU, 32BJ, 1199, CSEA, the Bricklayers and others. No, blogging and information technology isn’t a highly unionized activity, but I was glad to join Purple Ocean, a membership organization of the SEIU when it started. Today, as a member of Purple Ocean I went door to door trying to pull the union vote for Ed Gomes.

Today, I was part of a rainbow coalition. New friends of mine, white, black and brown, worked side by side to help elect a great new State Senator from Bridgeport. I was part of a broadbased coalition as friends of mine who volunteer for the DeStefano campaign worked with friends of mine from groups like CCAG as we called voters until the last moments.

Today, I celebrated a great victory for Ed Gomes, for Bridgeport and for all of us. Ed built a community around his campaign and we are all better off for it. Ed illustrated the importance of us all working together.

I am especially proud to have been volunteering as a DeStefano supporter, and writing about it here. The DeStefano campaign is about teamwork. It is about all of us working together. Ed Gomes’ victory is a great precursor to the victories we can make happen next year. Please, join the team.

Every so often, voters get a chance to express their opinions at the polling places. Afterwards, pundits, campaign staffers and others try to make sense out of what has been said. Last week, voters expressed their opinions on various Mayors and First Selectmen, among other races, and we are very glad about what they said about Mayor DeStefano. Today, voters in Bridgeport will go to the polls to determine who their next State Senator will be.

Yet listening to voters isn’t something that should be done only on election day. Mayor DeStefano has a great record of listening to voters in New Haven. That is part of the reason he has such great support when election day comes.

Every month, he has a Mayor’s night in and a Mayor’s night out. On Wednesday, Mayor DeStefano will be at the Ross Woodward School. Citizens of New Haven can come and express there concerns with him.

As he runs for Governor, Mayor DeStefano is taking this same commitment to listen to voters to the state level. Tuesday evening, he will be in West Hartford. Thursday evening, he will be in Torrington and on Saturday he will be in Winchester and Kent.

These are all great opportunities to go out and express your opinions to the Mayor and hear his vision for how we can make Connecticut better. Please, come hear Mayor DeStefano and join our dialog on how we can all work together to make Connecticut better.