Energy proposal

If our Legislature's Energy Committee, including my opponent, had been willing to take initiative on moving us toward increased use of alternative fuels, we would already be better off, in many ways. But the Legislature seems to show no real interest in taking action.

However, I have a proposal to move us toward alternative fuels.

A simple version of one option within the proposal is this:

1) grow more corn (ethanol) or soybeans (biodiesel) on Connecticut farms (keeping our farms, curbing sprawl);
2) use the corn to make ethanol in factories adjacent to the farms (creating jobs);
3) feed the corn byproduct to cows (again curbing sprawl);
4) use the cow manure to power a biomass facility and generate electricity (mitigating rising electric costs);
5) eliminate the “exclusivity clause” that prevents Connecticut’s small gas stations from selling alternative fuels. All these measures also reduce air pollution, protect the environment and improve public health.

But most importantly, we are involved in a mess in the Middle east, largely due to our dependence on Mideast oil. By moving toward alternative fuels, we’ll begin to reduce our dependence and disentangle ourselves from the mess over there.

Showing true leadership, Governor Rell has called for action on energy issues. But the "do-nothing" legislature has failed to act. We can do a lot more. (Of course, even before moving toward alternative fuels, we really need to conserve. That's one of the main reasons that I bought a hybrid this year. And by the way, I'm getting about 45mpg! And keep in mind that increased telecommuting would be a real home run... conserving oil and alleviating gridlock. The legislature ought to jumpstart a conversation with CT businesses on the possibility of increased telecommuting.)

For a more detailed analysis of my alternative fuels proposals, see:
1) The Outline
2) Consuming alt fuels
3) Manufacturing alt fuels
4) Oil by the numbers
5) Distributing alt fuels
Within these posts, I tried to include real-life examples of what other states, such as Indiana and New York, have done. We can do a lot better.

Tim White
State Representative candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Open forum: Debate

I'm going to refrain from offering much commentary here on the main post. But I still thought some of you may want to offer your comments on the "candidate's forum" tonight.

Personally, I tried to be as honest and forthright as I could be... while being respectful. But I absolutely wanted to draw distinctions between me and my opponent. As I said tonight, "Vickie has honorably served for 12 years. But it's time for a change."

Tim White
State Representative candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Endorsed by Gov. Jodi Rell

"I need Tim White in Hartford to help me push back taxes, wasteful spending, and energy costs, and to help us achieve a better quality of life for Connecticut. I urge the voters of Bethany, Cheshire and Prospect to elect Tim White to the General Assembly."
-Governor Jodi Rell

Zoni crossed line

I can't imagine what Dave Zoni was thinking when he approved the literature described in this article. (WRA, by Gennady Sheyner)

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect

Shays/Farrell 10/22

I'm not sure if he's going to win this time, but Chris Shays is still getting out there and I'm still rooting for him. (NH Register, by Chris Rhatigan)

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect

Campaign update 10/19

Again, it's not online, but the Waterbury Republican American (by Lauresha Xhihani) has another article on the race in the 89th. It's an article about last night's "debate."

If you missed last night, don't forget about next Tuesday's forum. All the Cheshire candidates should be in attendance.

And of course, don't forget about the fundraiser/reception tonight, hosted by Joan Nardello. (6-8pm, 121 Peck Lane, Cheshire)

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Campaign update 10/18

It's not online, but the Waterbury Republican American (by Lauresha Xhihani) has a "contrast" article (in the Greater Waterbury section) on the 89th State Rep race. I think it's a good article and worth reading.

I've been contacted by the NH Register and Meriden Record Journal as well. So I think they'll each be running pieces on the 89th race in the next week or so.

And don't forget... Prospect Parent Power is hosting an open forum in Prospect tonight at the Prospect Library @ 7:30pm.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Campaign update 10/17

Three weeks to go!!

Three upcoming events which may be of interest to you:

Wednesday, Oct 18 @ 7:30pm @ Prospect Library (on Center Street)

Both candidates vying for the 89th district will attend an open forum with Prospect Parent Power. I'm uncertain of the format, but told my contact (Mary Beth Knobel of Prospect) that I'm extremely flexible. After all, the point is to have a discussion on the issues. So I said I was not particularly concerned about things like "time limits" and "rebuttals." My preference is to have it free flowing and see where it goes. But that's me.

Thursday, Oct 19 from 6pm to 8pm @ 121 Peck Lane, Cheshire

Joan Nardello

will be hosting a reception in my honor
For more details, please call Barbara White @ 272-2151

Tuesday, Oct 24 @ 7:30pm @ Cheshire Town Hall

The Cheshire/Wallingford League of Women Voters is sponsoring a forum for all Cheshire candidates. I'm sure that most of the State Rep and State Senate candidates will be there. But others will also be invited for sure... Nancy Johnson & Chris Murphy, along with any other candidates, such as US Senate and Governor. Although I tend to doubt that any many of these candidates attend. They usually do not make it.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Recent inactivity

Sorry I haven't been very active with the blog recently... new posts and such. As you could probably guess, I've been a bit busy doing other campaign-related stuff. Nonetheless, please do feel free to post stuff... regardless of whether it's related to a particular topic. I do still look for comments/questions to which I should respond.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Council mtg 10/10

Wow. I had no idea that this meeting would last so long. I think we adjourned around 11:30pm. And I really thought that we would be done by 9pm.

Main discussion items:

1) Ballfields - CYB offered to develop town land, if they got exclusive rights for both the time (six mos) to develop the project and for the useful life of the fields. The request makes sense, but other groups are now interested. So there was a good discussion on the appropriateness of moving forward with this project without having explicitly asked others if they were interested in their own field development project.

2) West Main Street improvements - The discussion last night was for the formation of a committee to develop the project. What interested me the most was the continued promotion of the linear trail as "economic development." I didn't buy that argument last fall. And I still don't buy it. As well, people in town still don't buy that argument. I got an email today from a resident. He was irate over the mere discussion of extending the linear trail. Personally, I don't understand why some Council members insist on pushing forward with the linear trail. I believe the town has no appetite for recreation projects right now, hence... CYB offers to develop new ballfields.

3) Senior Tax Relief study committee - Tom Ruocco suggested the creation of this committee. I believe the idea was well received by the Council.

4) Union contracts - This ended up being a rather partisan issue. At least moreso than I had anticipated. It certainly looked to me like the blood was boiling on this one. And that mood went beyond members of the Council.

The vote fell along party lines, although everyone seemed to have different reasons for why they voted for/against. My reason for opposing the contracts was that I simply feel that we should be moving from "defined benefit" plans and to "defined contribution" plans for all new union employees. However, I was the only person who cast his/her vote for that reason.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th district
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Johnson/Murphy Oct 8th

Here's the Courant's latest article (by Rinker Buck) on the race for the 5th District between our Congresswoman Nancy Johnson and State Senator Chris Murphy.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect

Cheshire bank robbery

The Naugatuck Savings Bank branch in Cheshire was robbed yesterday.

Tim White
State Rep candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect

Bethany vs. Cheshire!

The Bethany / Cheshire Clean Energy Competition is officially underway (Cheshire Herald, by Leslie Hutchison). Competing for horseback riding (if Cheshire wins) or ten free one-day passes to the Cheshire Pool (if Bethany wins), both towns are energizing themselves for some action! haha....

Personally, I'm not too concerned who wins this competition. And I've been saying that to reporters. I've told them that the goal of the competition is not to win, but to increase public awareness... And it's definitely working.

I was recently knocking on doors in Prospect and had a young couple tell me that they recently signed up for 20% by 2010. The reason? They saw an article in the Waterbury Rep-Am. The article was about the competition between our two towns! So I know firsthand that the goal is being achieved. To me, it's proof positive that use of the "bully pulpit" can make a positive impact.

If you'd like to sign up for clean energy, click here.

Alternatively, if you'd just like to save money on your electric bill, click here. I used this company (Levco) for several years before I switched to clean energy in 2005.

And of course, I'd like to thank the townspeople who made this competition possible. Bethany's Clean Energy Task Force includes George Benedetti (Co-Chair), Mike Okrent (Co-Chair), Katie Shultz, Lee Grannis, Tom Poland and Isabel Kearns. And Cheshire's Energy Commission includes Rich Ogurick (Chair), Carol Wilson (Vice Chair), Bill Kunde, Ira Kushner, Dave Ljungquist, Marty Roach, George Neuwatne and Jerry Sitko. And last, but certainly not least, Ann Lehman of Bethany. She's the kind soul who graciously donated some horseback riding for the cause. Without the help of all of these volunteers, this wouldn't have happened. Thanks to all of you especially!

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

UPDATE: And here is an article that ran in today's (Oct 8) NH Register (by Chris Rhatigan) on the increased participation of Nutmeggers in the 20% by 2010 campaign.

Council agenda Oct 10

Last night, I got the agenda for next Tuesday's Council meeting (7:30pm in Town Hall). The agenda is fairly short. The more interesting items are:

1) Appointment of West Main St. Streetscape study group. With so many different aspects (the river, the businesses, the residents, the aesthetics, etc.), I think this is a good idea. Public involvement is always a good thing. Anyone interested?

2) Consideration of formation of Elderly Tax Freeze study group. I think this is a great idea. Again, public involvement is always a good thing. Anyone interested in this group?

3) Approval of union contracts. As I said in the past, my belief is that the town should begin offering "defined contribution" (as compared to "defined benefit") pension plans to new employees.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Prescription rollout

Walmart is beginning its nationwide rollout of its new $4 prescription drug offering (AP). It started in Florida and was intended to be a bit of a slow rollout, but imagine this, demand was high and the rollout has been expedited.

Considering how much I hear from people about the cost of prescription drugs, does anyone happen to know if the legislature's public health committee ever contacted Walmart officials and asked about a program like this? I find reaching out to people is the best approach, if you truly want to accomplish something.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Sr tax freeze 10/4

And here (WRA, by Paul Singley) is another town, Naugatuck, that's moving forward with a tax freeze (with both income & asset limits). I'm still not sure how one would measure assets, but I've asked town staff about it.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Prospect Machine Inc.

Mary Pavone of Prospect took me on a tour of her company, Prospect Machine, today. It was really interesting, getting a chance to talk with people about the business climate of Connecticut while walking around this machine shop of 22 employees. (I haven't walked around a machine shop since I left Kinamor Inc of Cheshire about ten years ago on my way to the hospital... I had a drill press dropped on my foot!)

The general theme was the same as what I've been hearing as I knock on doors: too many costly state mandates. From government to business, from education to healthcare, everyone says the same thing: the state mandates are too much. Connecticut's taxes and cost of living are simply too much for most people.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Sr tax freeze 10/03

The new senior tax freeze option for towns came into existence only two days ago. But the fastest acting towns are already revisiting their freeze. Or at least Torrington is making some changes. (WRA, by Chris Parker) They're adding "asset limits" to the state-imposed "income limits."

I read the article quickly, but didn't catch anything in there about the plan for measuring assets. I'm not certain that all (or any) tax forms require asset disclosure.

Tim White
State Rep candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

I-84 debacle

Highway construction in Connecticut continues to be a nightmare.

The Feds are investigating the I-84 construction between Cheshire & Waterbury because the storm drains don't work or are already (they're less than 1 yr old) causing problems.

Tim White
State Rep candidate
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Another healthcare improvement?

These CDHPs sound similar to HSAs.

The NH Register article (by Brenda Marks) is fairly long, but was quite interesting. These CDHPs, along with HSAs, do seem as though they could help Connecticut and America with our healthcare woes, but they're not a cure for all our ills.

A benefit given in the article:

Health care expenses for Webster (Bank of Waterbury) were flat in 2005 and so far in 2006, and Webster expects a decline in 2007 as more employees enroll in the HSA, Murphy said. Nationwide, health care costs rose almost 10 percent in 2005 and so far have risen 7.7 percent this year.

A drawback given in the article:

However, if a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in November and hadn't paid her first $1,000 deductible, she'd have to pay it as part of her treatment in the year she was diagnosed and then pay another $1,000 after the first of the
next year.

HSAs and CDHPs are by no means a quick fix for people who are living paycheck to paycheck. But we (the public and our elected officials) absolutely ought to be having a public dialog on these other remedies before we create a most likely, very expensive, universal healthcare system in Connecticut.

Tim White
State Rep candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

Free energy

When it comes to energy-efficiency, people are leaving the "lowest first cost" mindset and joining the "lowest lifecycle cost" mindset.

This New Hartford man (WRA, by Kari Banach) hasn't spent a dime on heating his home for two years. I'm sure he spent more money upfront, but he'll probably get the payback on his investment within ten years or so.

Tim White
State Rep candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com