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State Rep. Candidate Gail Lavielle thanks her Party
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Written by State Rep. Candidate Gail Lavielle
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E-Posted
© Copyright 2010 Gail Lavielle All Rights Reserved.
Published On May 13, 2010
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Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, I had the honor of being nominated unanimously by the delegates to the Republican convention for the 143rd Assembly District as its candidate for the office of State Representative. I'd like to share with you my remarks from the convention.
I am honored and deeply moved by your nomination, and I thank you for your encouragement and support.
Let me cut right to the chase. I will put every ounce of energy I have into this race, because we have to do something about what has happened to the state of Connecticut, and the 143rd district must help lead the charge.
Since 2008, we have known that our state was facing the worst financial crisis in its history. We have enormous unfunded liabilities, huge annual deficits for years to come, and a bond rating in jeopardy. We have the second highest tax burden in the country, runaway unemployment, a record number of business closings, an exodus of talented people, and a climate of terrible uncertainty that has lasted way too long.
We also have a Democratic supermajority in our General Assembly that can essentially do whatever it wants but has taken no action to get this situation under control. Last year, it passed a biennial budget that just kicked the can down the road by raising taxes, borrowing, draining reserves, relying heavily on one-time revenues, and even increasing spending. When that budget went into deficit, they simply passed more stopgap measures and left the problems for the next administration to solve.
I spent hours in the Capitol during the last two weeks of the legislative session watching the supermajority stifle every proposal made by Republicans to bring common sense to the budget process. Perhaps the most chilling thing I heard was the statement by one Democratic senator on the session's last day that their principal rationale for not addressing the state's long-term financial problems was "hope for an immediate and abrupt turnaround in the economy." I don't know about you, but hope as a financial strategy doesn't work for me.
We can probably best describe the Democrats' style of budget management as putting buckets under a leak without ever fixing the roof. They deny that the state has a spending problem, and a borrowing problem. Instead, they think all of us are keeping too much money in our pockets, and they want to make us spend more.
I visited 1,200 homes last fall, and I've talked to hundreds more people in our district since. This recession has been tough on everyone, and we all know that there just isn't any more to spend. You can't tax what isn't there. People have had enough. Our state government can't make any more demands on our residents, our businesses, or our municipal governments.
The next budget must be different. We will have to cut spending and streamline our state government to make it no more costly than what we can afford. This means agency consolidations, moving state functions to the private sector, and, yes, massively reducing state employee costs. During the past two sessions, Senate and House Republicans have submitted many commonsense proposals for doing all these things. But they were systematically voted down by the Democrats. This has got to stop, and we have to be on the floor of the House and the Senate to stop it.
Your representative must be your standard-bearer. Your representative owes it to you to push hard to change the status quo, to produce and support ideas for making state government less costly and more efficient, and to fight to take the pressure off our people, our businesses, and our towns and cities. Your representative must be your voice, advocating vigorously for measures that will create opportunities and restart Connecticut's economic engine.
There is no time to waste. Fixing the situation Connecticut is in is going to take courage, and it's going to take leadership. And the 143rd must show leadership in that fight from now on.
I am ready to provide that leadership and fight that fight on behalf of Norwalk and Wilton. I am ready to stand with my Republican colleagues to offer concrete solutions and make them work. I am ready to push hard for these solutions, and to marshal support from all quarters. I am ready to stand up for our district, both on the floor of the House, and here at home, and to defend its interests. I am ready to make sure my constituents know what I'm doing and how I'm voting on their behalf, without waiting for them to ask. And above all, I am ready, always, to listen and to make sure the concerns of Norwalk and Wilton stay front and center in Hartford.
I am grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support I've received from the Wilton and Norwalk communities. Our early fundraising efforts exceeded our goals very quickly, in terms of both funds raised and timelines. More than anything, the confidence of so many people in our district makes me feel a sense of responsibility for others unlike any I have ever experienced. I went into this determined to fight for you, but this demonstration of your trust has strengthened my commitment even more.
Your nomination is a very great honor. You have my sincerest thanks.
Gail Lavielle is the Republican endorsed candidate for the 143rd State Representative seat (R-143) representing the communities of Wilton and parts of Norwalk.
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