WRA Council endorsement
Since the Democrats won control of the Town Council in 2005, they have exhibited erratic leadership. Though they have supported development near Interstate 691 and imposed reasonable (by Democratic standards) tax increases, they pushed through a tax break for senior citizens that unjustifiably punishes all other property owners. Republicans offer a better option, though they give voters reason for concern by insisting public safety — a big issue these days in Cheshire — could be improved simply by paying police officers more.
Tim White
29 comments:
This does not sound like an a thumbs up. Am I wrong but it sounds like they are saying that the 691 project is a good thing and that the taxes were kept low and that the Rep idea of offering more money for police is not one they agree with. That is how I read it-am I wrong/
Wow, that's quite a spin.
Bottom line: they endorsed the Republican candidates as best for the town.
How did the Cheshire Herald endorsements go, by the people who know you best?
Whats up?
Papers don't vote but hopefully the electorate will respond as they should and vote for the candidates they think will do the best job for the town.
The Herald's endorsements, if applied by the electorate, results in Town Council 7 D's and 2 R's...the minority minimum required by the charter.
BOE remains in a Dem majority at 5D to 3 R.
Interestingly they suggest Planning and Zoning shift to the Republicans where the majoity shifts to 6 R vs 3 D's. Now why would they want that to happen?...Blame the Northend on the Republicans 5 years from now???
I made a mistake in my previous post. The BOE has 7 members. Following the Heralds reccommendations the majority still stays Dem at 4 D to 3 R.
The Herald talks vaguely of how Tim White doesn't "listen to constituents or advocate for what is important for them," but gives not one example.
We in the 4th district know that Tim White is always attentive and responsive to us, plus he's always looking out for the taxpayer.
The only reason I can see why the Herald endorsed his opponent is because they want the Democratic majority to keep control the Council, as the last poster points out.
This morning I got an email from a resident. He was thanking me for following up on the Brentwood repaving.
A week ago, a resident emailed me with thanks for having pushed for drainage improvements on Route 42.
A few days ago, I gave a resident some information about how to get our school buses running on biodiesel.
These were all questions/concerns brought to me by residents of the fourth district.
And as a CPA, I will continue requesting for non-partisan, non-ideological, taxpayer-first information, such as a cost/benefit analysis of our rainy day fund.
As for the endorsements... unlike the WRA, the Herald never puts editorials online... so nothing to link to.
11:19... who knows me best?
I'd offer that due to my blog, my record is an open book for all to see... not just the local paper.
Heck... I've received compliments from people across the state (and as far away as the west coast) about my openness and willingness to share my views on the issues.
The hoped for landslide by the Herald just won't materialize.
Remember this is the paper that convicted Republicans of watergate like tactics with the Carolyn Soltis, was proved wrong beyond any doubt, Hall and Esty publically apologized so what else can the Herald do? ....say they were duped by the dems? The Herald is no different than most newspapers today.
To their credit the election coverage has been fine and some of their new reporters are doing very fine work with balanced reporting.
Let me get this straight. When the WRA (the only paper in the area to endorse Giordano in his bid for state senate – prior to being arrested and convicted on federal charges) endorses the republicans it is seen as a good thing and not at all biased. When the Herald endorses the dems it is biased? Now that is a spin. Kinda like the conservatives yelling about the liberal media unless of course the media supports their position.
I was pleased that the Herald went to such lengths to go candidate by candidate and explain their reasoning for each endorsement. Unfortunately the WRA did not have the time or space for that! One is left guessing on what some of their views might be
I was frankly disappointed in the CH. They advocated that two council incumbents and a P&Z incumbent be replaced with zero mention what they deemed deficient in the incumbent's performance
Also, notice the words "North End" failed to appear at all in their editorial. Both the liberal and conservative press are good at trying to pretend issues that don't work for them aren;t importnat
The Herald can't give any examples of how Tim supposedly ignores constituents and pushes a personal agenda because there are no such examples.
When we called Tim about sewage problems, he came right over (at night) and got on it the next day. Many neighbors have similar stories about Tim helping them solve problems with town and state agencies.
The Herald has done a great disservice to the voters by making broad and unsubstantiated charges. The editor might have her own personal agenda.
Which of these is an example of Tim White not advocating for the district and pushing a personal agenda?
Is it his proposing a cost-benefit study of the rainy day fund? This might have saved us $2 million in taxes had the town simply purchased $5,500 of additional bond insurance.
Is it his pushing for alternative energy use in town buildings and vehicles? This may be visionary, but it can also save the town millions of dollars over time.
Is it his calling for performance contracting for the pool? This arrangement is widely used by the federal and private sectors to provide major cost savings.
Or is it Tim’s reputation of tirelessly going to bat for individuals with road repair, zoning, sewage, tax abatement, and other problems?
Tim is pushing a personal agenda? I don’t know what the Herald is talking about, and neither do they.
Tim will win, but the new Town Council will have five Democrats and four Republicans.
To Friday, November 02, 2007 3:05:00 PM:
“…the new Town Council will have five Democrats and four Republicans.”
And who will be the winners?
The Herald continues to support and endorse all the Town Council Democrats who vigorously supported and voted for the W/S mall.
The mall will be very beneficial to the Herald's bottom line, to the developers, but not to the taxpayers who will have to foot the bill. These Council people thought more about the interests of W/S and the local developers than they did of their fellow citizens and like them and P&Z, the Herald never asked W/S any hard questions. They just accepted the spoon feeding by W/S, accepted their money for their glossy media campaign, and waged a written attack on all opposition to the mall.
The Herald suported the following Mall supporters on the Council, they are:
Hall
Estey
Altieri
Ecke
Also, three new Democrats
Bob Behrer
Laura Decaprio No experience
Kathriyn Fabiani No Experience
Rejected by them are two excellent incumbent Council men, Tom Ruocco and Tim White, who's reputations and dedication to service to all the taxpayers are well recognized, and who have widespread name recognition. This is just the Herald's attempt to get an even larger majority of Dems to support the special realestate interests and the special people.
Why doesn't the Herald just shut up. Let the people of Cheshire decide for themselves, instead of misusing their power to constantly push their biased, self interested opinions on their readers and stop interfering with the democratic process.
Herald! Shut up!!!!
The WRA is right Dems on the Council supporting the W/S 691 developments, but they didn't mention any of the negative effects it will have on Cheshire.
They are wrong about the Republicans thinking they can improve safety be raising police salaries. They just don't think like that and it's not in their pledge. I know they want to increase the safety wherever they can and will do so after thoughtful study and open discussion.
I am a Democrat and I think we do need a change in leadership that is more aligned with the taxpayers of Cheshire. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, you have to pick the best candidates for the town, and not just pull the party lever.
We need candidates who are not afraid to stand up and speak their piece and not just support a party position.
What I found interesting...
Altieri, though quite headstrong, has... voted his own mind and not down party lines.
Perhaps I'm missing something, but I recall only one vote (teacher's contract - January 06) on which he did not vote with the rest of his party.
Though not running for reelection, Diane V is the Council majority member of whom I believe the above statement is true (sans the "headstrong.")
Does anyone recall the votes? I may simply have forgotten.
Don't bother the Herald with facts. Their mind is made up.
Spiro Agnew was at least right about one thing: "Some newspapers aren't fit to line the bottom of a bird cage."
And what happened to the great Spiro Agnew?
He was a liar and a crook!
Absolutely, but I just couldn't resist using the quote.
The Cheshire Herald does what the Dems want and they want their candidates to control all 4 districts. It's then easier for new incumbents to win the next election and to feed their constituents the coolaid. That's why they want Ruocco and White out.
They endorsed Sima and Klien, both great knowledgeable candidates, but they only did so to be able to say what they did was non-partisant. Don't fall for their tricks. Being in favor of 7 Dems and 2 Reps is far from impartial.
The Dems, developers and Herald are working together to maintain the special interests that really run this town. It's all for the mutual benefit of the developers, the realty lawyers, advertisers, engineering companies and others who thrive on the realestate market.
Remember Watkins? Then the Rs were in the majority and the Ds were alleging that the developers were in charge of the town...maybe things aren't so simple...
special interest money does not care about party
special interest money cares about power (and who has it)
"Remember Watkins?"
Wasn't Watkins turned down? So what's the point?
In this case, one does not have to allege. All the TC Dems came out cheering for W/S and now they don't want to claim credit for their pet project. Estey and Hall deserve the most credit for facilitating and clearing the obstacles for W/S and the local developers. They ran many executive emergency meetings to make sure the owners got $286,000 of taxpayer money to remediate the tunnel problems and never asked the owners to contribute a dime. Then to make sure W/S didn't have a problem with sewer connections they got rid of highly experienced Chairman of the WPCA, Pelton. The vicious dategate attack on the town clerk and others was nothing more than a scheme to support their replacement of Pelton, and to do this just while the largest application ever on the table was a big help for W/S. The result of their charges ended up as nothing, but half hearted apologies from these two. What has driven them to take the actions they did to support W/S and local developers? It has to be more than the desire to go to a nearby restaurant chain.
Isn;t Justin Adinolfi on W/S's payroll? Maybe this was all done for his benefit?
It's a strange story. Justin Adinolfi at one time was on the Town Council. After he left, the town council hired him to work on the Town's Strategic plan; cozy arangement! It didn't take him long to to see that the Interchange zoning should be changed to allow a mall and housing. He brought this idea to the Economic Developer who thought it was a great idea. The TM also thought it was great. Shortly after that, the TM hired Voelker, who likes malls with housing. Along comes W/S with a plan for a sprawling mall and housing for a part of the IC that's owned by Paul Bowman and Doug Calcagni. W/S presents this plan to the TC and the TC Demcrats go wild with excitment and support. Justin Adinolfi seems to be all over the place pumping the mall, getting signatures on petitions of support, testifying how great everything is going to be, passing out "Yes" buttons to be worn by all the realtors at the P&Z meetings. And, he is still pushing petitions to get a few signatures that he can then say shows overwhelming support, and still showing up at meetings to pump the mall and still wearing his "Yes" button.
Now how can anyone think that he is not working for W/S.
Post a Comment