In many families, women are the primary breadwinners or contribute to a two-income household, and they need leaders who will make the right choices to grow the economy with high-paying jobs open to everyone.

Congressman Himes Fights for Women

Jim Himes has stood as a proud advocate for women in the nation’s Capitol, ensuring better access to quality health care coverage for women, fighting encroachment on women’s reproductive rights, advocating for improved childcare options and more flexibility in the workplace, and standing for the principle of equal pay for equal work with his support of the Lily Ledbetter Act.

As a supportive husband and proud father of two young girls, Jim will always work toward progress for all women.

Help Re-elect Congressman Himes

We need Jim to keep fighting for us! Add your voice to support and endorse Jim Himes, our strong voice for women in Washington. Sign-up today to join Women for Himes.

In a result that augurs well for November, Coach David Borglum’s team prevailed over the Wilton Republicans at the 2010 Frivolity Bowl by a resounding 23-0.

A town tradition that began in the 1960s, the Frivolity Bowl is annual softball game held between the Wilton Democrats and Republicans every July 4. With the 2010 win, the Wilton Democrats narrowly lead the almost 50-year series.

Budget, 2012

FY2011 Budget passed as proposed: Mill Rate up 2.9%, Grand List up .7%, BOS Budget up .28%, BOE Budget up 1.17%, Senior Tax Relief up 6.2%, and Wilton still holds a AAA Moody’s rating. Unions have come to the table for pay freezes; we are still waiting for the teacher’s union. The Town Meeting was packed–standing room only. Budget passed with a comfortable margin. We are already preparing for Budget 2012.

My Take: This has been a tough budget year; at the same time, I left the Town Meeting feeling quite uplifted! The turnout was wonderful, and people spoke passionately, yet respectfully, in expressing their thoughts, concerns, and hopes. I applaud all of the Town Boards along with our First Selectman for working through tough issues. While I believe the economy, and the overall state of the nation is improving overall, this will still be a very, very tough upcoming budget year locally. There is a lot of hard work and sacrifice yet to come, but there is hope at the end of the tunnel!

Re-usable Bag Ordinance

Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled

My Take: I am very hopeful that over time, this initiative will be passed in a form that best suits Wilton. While China and most of Europe have long decided that retail checkout bags–plastic or otherwise–are a detriment to the environment and a waste of resources, old habits die hard! Businesses can be proud that they have plastic bag return bins, but the unfortunate reality is that the recovery rate is hovering at 2% in the United States. You can bet that the lobbyists will be sending their minions to upcoming BOS meetings; your public support in the form of letters to the editor and comments at our meetings will be most helpful in furthering this crucial grass roots environmental effort! That being said, I did have a sit down with Peter Keating (owner, Village Mkt), and Mark Carluzzi (Carluzzi’s) about how the ban would affect them specifically. We will crunch some numbers. My first real job was at the Village Market; Peter was the Manager at the time. I want to make sure that our local markets can survive any action we take. I believe they can, but we still have work to do. Whether or not this effort moves forward depends on your support. No public support, no movement. So, if you believe this is worthwhile, we need those letters…

Dog Ordinance/Town Playing Fields

Parks and Rec. still wants a stronger ordinance concerning dogs near playing fields. They have adjusted their fifty feet ban of dogs near playing fields to twenty five feet – with exceptions for paths that cross near a field, such as with Merwin. The driver is that there has been too much dog excrement on fields, some altercations between dogs, and the concern that players may crash into dogs. Another version is on the way, clarifying specific fields.

My Take: The concern is, again, and again, legitimate. Unfortunately, the current ordinance is not effectively enforced; dogs are already prohibited from fields. While I agree dogs should not be on fields, I still feel that even twenty five feet is too harsh for all fields. The stadium and Lilly Field may be legitimate, but I do not want to burden good owners with good dogs from attending all sporting events. We are still working on this, and want to get it right. There is new language on the way this summer, that could help clarify things.

Troop Boxes

Trackside is now also helping with the troop box drive. They were featured recently on News 12 for their efforts!

My Take: This is great, because the drive needs help! Our troops are working hard for us, far away from home. Please grab a flat rate box that I have put at the entrance of town hall, along with a list of items needed. Boxes can be filled and returned to Town Hall – just let us know what you put in them! We can also accept donations for shipping (checks can be made payable to the Wilton Town Hall Troop Box Drive). FYI, at present we do have money to ship, but no boxes to ship, so please, take a box!

Contact Selectman Ted Hoffstatter any time with comments or questions via email or phone at (203) 451-5049.

Let’s take a quick look around the country at the primary races, and the choices made by the GOP. This is no longer a party that recognizes or makes room for the values of New England moderates.

I understand that proud traditions fade slowly, but I also think there comes a point where folks ought to recognize the writing on the wall. Consider these notes from campaigns now underway:

Kentucky:

Republican primary voters in Kentucky ignored the GOP establishment and overwhelmingly selected Rand Paul to run for the US Senate. He promptly drew enormous scrutiny and criticism for… saying what he really believes. He is certain that the federal government should stand by and allow businesses to deny black people a seat at a restaurant table or a night in a hotel. Sure, he backpedaled his response and endorsed the Civil Rights Act (I’m sure his Profile in Courage award will be forthcoming).

But the fact is: he espoused a view of government that probably doesn’t comport with that of the New England branch of the Republican party. In fact, it was the New England Republicans (and others outside the South) of 1964 who gave the Civil Rights Act the margins needed to overcome near-uniform resistance from Southern Democrats — the same folks who are now overwhelmingly Republican. But the Civil Rights Act controversy wasn’t the strangest thing Rand Paul had to say in the weeks following his primary victory. He is iffy on the 14th Amendment. That is truly amazing. Children born in the US to immigrant parents, regardless of whether they are here legally or not, are US citizens. This is nothing novel. The Supreme Court settled that question, oh, 100 years ago. Yet Rand Paul – and the state senator from Arizona who wrote the controversial, recently-enacted immigration legislation – think there’s something wrong with a fundamental element of our Constitution that has long defined who an American is.

So in Kentucky, you have a GOP electorate endorsing a candidate for US Senate, who is skeptical of parts of the Civil Rights Act and the 14th Amendment. If your party is leaving you…

Maine:

At state conventions, delegates endorse candidates. But they also draft and endorse a state party platform. Up in Maine, the Republican delegates adopted a platform that is shocking. It’s only four pages. I urge you to go read it. If you think the Tea Party types are some isolated fringe group that has nothing to do with the traditions of New England Republicans, consider that in a New England state, the Republican party now espouses these views:

• Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government.
• Reject the UN Treaty on Rights of the Child.
• Investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth
• Pass and implement Fed bill #1207 (Introduced by Ron Paul), to Audit the Federal Reserve, as the first step in Ending the Fed
• Return to the principles of Austrian Economics

Bonus points if you know what Austrian Economics is all about (here’s a hint: Ron Paul has written six books on the subject). There’s more: Tenther stuff, specific targeting of ACORN, and “Reject[ing] any effort to give foreign citizens the right to vote” (What? Huh? Did I miss something in the news lately?). And I love the bit where they specify that “Congress can no longer vote themselves a pay raise.” That is specifically addressed in the 27th Amendment. Sure, it took 202 years to ratify, but it’s there. For all the professed reverence for the Constitution, they sure are quick to toss aside the parts that conflict with policy they want to impose while taking the country back (how far back always remains unclear).

This is in New England. Do you think Olympia Snowe is grateful that her term isn’t up in 2010? If your party is leaving you…

Nevada:

Chickens. A serious Republican Senate candidate wants you to pay for your health care with chickens. OK, I admit I’m over-simplifying. But it’s funny stuff. The candidate for US Senate who was most likely to end up challenging Harry Reid in November made a pretty colossal error and suggested that barter was a way to help keep health care costs down. She went on to say that decades ago, a farmer might offer to pay a doctor with a chicken, and that’s something we should look at now. Now, instead of saying “Look, I was merely saying people do all sorts of things to pay for the sky-high health care costs that we need to address, but I was not suggesting that actual barter is a real solution to this problem,” she dug in deeper. Her lead in the GOP field evaporated, opening the door to the Tea Party-endorsed Sharron Angle.

Again, in a race for the US Senate, the party seems like it’s going to nominate the candidate with the views that have nothing to do with reasonable, centrist, moderate governance. According to Angle, Social Security is “a broken system without much to recommend it.” She favors phasing it out. Good luck with that. She also wants to repeal the 16th Amendment (boy these Constitution-lovers sure do hate those pesky Amendments!). That’s the income tax. And while a state senator in Nevada, “she wanted female inmates to enter a drug rehabilitation program devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.”

So in Nevada, you have the chicken-barter slip-up leading to the political ascendancy of a candidate who wants to literally eliminate the tax code and social security. That is not someone serious about governing in the 21st century. If your party is leaving you…

Oregon:

This one is a little off the beaten path, but, the race for the House seat in Oregon’s Fourth Congressional district is instructive. One of my basic arguments is: you can’t identify a serious Democratic contender for a House seat that is this far outside the mainstream. Yet, you can find lots of candidates like Oregon’s Arthur Robinson on the GOP side. Mr. Robinson is nominated to challenge Democratic incumbent Peter DeFazio. Mr. Robinson will lose. DeFazio had no challenger in 2008, and has won with 20- or 30-point margins in previous contests. So perhaps the local GOP is just giving the nod to the only guy who wanted to take on the task. But, do you think a modern political party should put forth a nominee who says:

Home schooling is no more than a tool that can be used to keep a child out of the World.

If a young person is kept out of the World, the Lord will raise him (or her). Little else is necessary. The links to the Lord are already built into the child. He will follow those links and will directly help the child. All children receive this help. Parents really need do very little in addition.

He’s also an avid climate-change denier, and doesn’t think schools (or homeschoolers) should use any books published after 1950.

Can you find me ANY nominated Democratic candidate in any of the 435 districts in the US whose views on ANY aspect or function of the government are similarly extreme? I doubt it. Please try. If your party is leaving you…

Alabama:

This ad says everything you need to know about the heart of the modern Republican party. Now, this guy did lose in his primary, so his own party’s voters rejected this pitch. Thank heaven. But I think the ad demonstrates where the the base of the Republican party has shifted to in the last few decades. Sorry, folks. The center of the GOP is in the culturally distinct South.

Again, show me the ad from a statewide Democratic campaign (or federal campaign) ANYWHERE in the nation that is so out-of-step with the political norms and values of Connecticut voters. You just don’t see this sort of thing in Democratic campaigns, because Democrats are now the centrist, moderate party in this country. We have a left-wing and a conservative wing (and folks all along the spectrum in between). But the GOP is now reduced to a right-wing and a ultra-right-wing. If your party is leaving you…

And, of course, Connecticut:

The Republicans in Connecticut threw moderate Rob Simmons under the bus. A primary between him and Linda McMahon would have been beneficial, I think. But the Republican establishment in this state took a look at a moderate with a career in public service, including experience in the Congress and a woman with a career in (you can’t make this stuff up) TV wrestling whose only work experiences are promoting violence, sexism, and stereotypes to young people, and chose the latter. If you haven’t seen the WWE videos of simulated rape and necrophilia, or the depiction of a mentally disabled “character,” you haven’t yet seen the work of Linda McMahon.

There is no room in Connecticut’s Republican party for moderates, it seems. Even here in New Canaan – at the Memorial Day parade (which is supposed to be respected as a non-partisan event recognizing the solemn nature of the observance) – at least one member of the RTC was out there circulating petitions for Rob Merkle in the race for Congress. Apparently, Dan Debicella isn’t ultra-right-wing enough for some on the RTC.

To the other, moderate New Canaan Republicans, I continue to make the case: if your party is leaving you, it’s time to leave your party.

State Rep. Peggy Reeves and award-recipient Bruce Hampson

“This award is an honor that is shared with the members of the Wilton Energy Commission and with the members of the High School Renovation Building Committee,” said Hampson who received the award in part because of his work overseeing the state of the art energy conserving features at Wilton High School.

Hampson added, “The bottom line is that although we have added 200 tons of classroom air-conditioning and provide four times the fresh air than when the high school was built, we are using less energy and consequently emitting less greenhouse gases than before the renovation.”

Hampson was also honored for implementing an EPA Energy Star benchmarking of all municipal and school buildings, which led to a combined electrical use reduction of 12.2% from 2007 through 2009, for a cost savings to the Town of Wilton of approximately $150,000. He was also recognized for his work promoting clean energy, including creative campaigns to increase signups for the CT Clean Energy Options program that earned Wilton a free solar photovoltaic system under the Clean Energy Communities program.

State Representative Peggy Reeves, who represents Norwalk and Wilton in the Connecticut General Assembly, accompanied Hampson to yesterday’s ceremony along with members of the Wilton Energy Commission, the Superintendant of Schools, Dr. Gary Richards, and the former Chair of the Wilton Board of Education, Karen Birck.

“I am so proud of what Bruce has accomplished and am honored to be with him here today,” said Reeves. “The Town of Wilton has actually reduced its carbon footprint as a direct result of Bruce and the Wilton Energy Commission’s work”

The Climate Change Leadership Awards Program is an annual program developed by the Governor’s Steering Committee on Climate Change to recognize individuals and organizations that have taken exemplary action in the past year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. The Governor’s Steering Committee, established in 2003, is charged with leading a collaborative effort to develop and implement the Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan and the Connecticut Global Warming Solutions Act.

Representative Peggy Reeves is serving her first term representing most of Wilton and part of Norwalk in the 143rd Assembly District. Representative Reeves sits on the legislature’s Government Administration and Elections, Judiciary and Transportation Committees.

The nine-member Wilton delegation to the 2010 Democratic State Convention (held May 21 and 22 in Hartford) included Walter Briggs, Wilton Town Committee Chair John Kalamarides, Charlie Lewis, State Representative Peggy Reeves, Selectman Ted Hoffstatter, platform chair Ernie Riccio, Sharon Lewis Grace, Thomas Dec and Vice Chair Deb McFadden.

Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” played as Senate-nominee Dick Blumenthal ascended the podium.

And the Nominees are…

• U.S.Senate: Richard Blumenthal
• Governor: Dan Malloy
• Lt. Governor: Nancy Wyman
• Secretary of State: Denise Merrill
• Attorney General: George Jepsen
• State Treasurer: Denise Nappier
• State Comptroller: Kevin Lembo

Wilton Dems Convention Tweetcast Makes Splash

Delegate Thomas Dec live-tweeted the convention on behalf of the WDTC. Tom posted 60 tweets and photos documenting the activities on the floor as events unfolded. This “tweetcast” was picked up and “re-tweeted” by the New Canaan Democrats, as well as two aggregators of political tweets (USDemocrats and CanadaDems) and several progressives from around the state. Leveraging this network, Tom’s live convention coverage reached over 4,000 twitter users!

• Read Tom’s WDTC State Convention tweetcast
• View Tom’s photos from the floor

Convention Slideshow

Delegate Sharon Lewis Grace, past Wilton DTC Chair and Secretary, is also a darn good photographer! She captured the highlights of the convention, as seen from the floor.

• View as slideshow »

Town Meeting

First, the numbers, as proposed: Mill Rate up 2.9%, Grand List up .7%, BOS Budget up .28%, BOE Budget up 1.17%, Senior Tax Relief up 6.2%, and Wilton still holds a AAA Moody’s rating. Unions have come to the table for pay freezes; we are still waiting for the teacher’s union. The Town Meeting was packed–standing room only.

My Take: This has been a tough budget year; at the same time, I left the Town Meeting feeling quite uplifted! The turnout was wonderful, and people spoke passionately, yet respectfully, in expressing their thoughts, concerns, and hopes. I applaud all of the Town Boards along with our First Selectman in working hard to balance the interests and concerns of all of this Town’s citizens. Many townspeople spoke out in favor of the budget; many regretted it was too low, and some regretted it was too high. And some spoke out against the proposed budget for those same reasons. While young families and seniors may at times seem at odds in a budget, I believe their interests are very much tied together. The Wilton I grew up in was all about family–not a boarding school for families, who left as soon as their kids graduated our great schools, and not a retirement community. Wilton, as I have seen it, and still see it, should continue to be a community for all–a Town that balances everyone’s interests. This is NOT a perfect or easy model, but a challenging one. That being said, this is one windmill well worth tilting at!

Re-usable Bag Ordinance

Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled

My Take: I am very hopeful that over time, this initiative will be passed in a form that best suits Wilton. While China and most of Europe have long decided that retail checkout bags–plastic or otherwise–are a detriment to the environment and a waste of resources, old habits die hard! Businesses can be proud that they have plastic bag return bins, but the unfortunate reality is that the recovery rate is hovering at 2% in the United States. You can bet that the lobbyists will be sending their minions to upcoming BOS meetings; your public support in the form of letters to the editor and comments at our meetings will be most helpful in furthering this crucial grass roots environmental effort! That being said, I did have a sit down with Peter Keating (owner, Village Mkt), and Mark Carluzzi (Carluzzi’s) about how the ban would affect them specifically. We will crunch some numbers. My first real job was at the Village Market; Peter was the Manager at the time. I want to make sure that our local markets can survive any action we take. We will know more next month.

Dog Ordinance/Town Playing Fields

Parks and Rec. still wants a stronger ordinance concerning dogs near playing fields. They have adjusted their fifty feet ban of dogs near playing fields to twenty five feet – with exceptions for paths that cross near a field, such as with Merwin. The driver is that there has been too much dog excrement on fields, some altercations between dogs, and the concern that players may crash into dogs.

My Take: The concern is, again, and again, legitimate. Unfortunately, the current ordinance is not effectively enforced; dogs are already prohibited from fields. While I agree dogs should not be on fields, I still feel that even twenty five feet is too harsh for all fields. The stadium and Lilly Field may be legitimate, but I do not want to burden good owners with good dogs from attending all sporting events. We are still working on this, and want to get it right.

Troop Boxes

Trackside is now also helping with the troop box drive. They were featured recently on News 12 for their efforts!

My Take: This is great, because the drive needs help! Our troops are working hard for us, far away from home. Please grab a flat rate box that I have put at the entrance of town hall, along with a list of items needed. Boxes can be filled and returned to Town Hall – just let us know what you put in them! We can also accept donations for shipping (checks can be made payable to the Wilton Town Hall Troop Box Drive). FYI, at present we do have money to ship, but no boxes to ship, so please, take a box!

Contact Selectman Ted Hoffstatter any time with comments or questions via email or phone at (203) 451-5049.

State Representative Peggy Reeves, who represents Norwalk and Wilton in the Connecticut General Assembly, voted against the 2011 state budget supported by Governor Rell and a majority of state lawmakers.

“Although today’s legislation balances the state budget through fiscal year 2011 with no tax increases, and no cuts in municipal aid, it still relies too heavily on borrowing,” said Reeves. “With the issuance of $956 million in bonds, we are using an energy efficiency program paid for by all electric ratepayers and we will be authorizing the continuance of another surcharge on consumers’ electric bills that would have expired. In addition we are making a third deferral of contributions–this time $100 million–to the state employee pension fund, growing an unfunded pension liability that is among the worst in the nation.”

Reeves added, “This budget protects funding for municipalities and implements cuts across a host of state agencies–measures I supported. But, at the same time, this budget takes millions from funds designed specifically for open space, farmland preservation and renewable energy. We cannot continue to tell Connecticut’s residents that we are going to spend money for one thing and then just use it whenever the state coffers run low.”

The budget moves $5 million from the Community Investment Act (CIA) fund–designed to support open space and farmland preservation–to the general fund. It also takes 35% of the CT Energy Efficiency Fund for the next eight years.

Reeves also voted a few days ago against raising the state income tax on certain Wall Street bonuses of $500,000 or more. Although this measure passed both the House and State Senate, Governor Rell is expected to veto the legislation. The bill does not have enough votes to override her veto.

Reeves added, “I understand that there is much frustration about the TARP money, but penalizing Connecticut employees of selected firms just does not make sense and will most likely be ruled unconstitutional.”

Representative Peggy Reeves is serving her first term representing most of Wilton and part of Norwalk in the 143rd Assembly District. Rep Reeves sits on the legislature’s Government Administration and Elections, Judiciary and Transportation Committees.

Rep. Reeves explained that the bill (HB 5442) gives members of the armed services the ability to receive absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots from municipal clerks electronically, by fax, or email.

State Representative John Hetherington (R-New Canaan/Wilton), the ranking Republican on the legislature’s Government Administration and Elections’ Committee, also rose in strong support of the legislation noting that, since the Civil War, our state has consistently supported the right of those serving in the military to cast absentee ballots.

“Ensuring that troops posted so far from home are able to cast a ballot in a timely manner is the very least we can do,” said Rep. Reeves, who served for many years as the Registrar of Voters in Wilton. “The brave men and women who are serving us so proudly should not be disfranchised because of sporadic mail service in combat zones.”

In addition, the bill allows U. S. citizens age 18 and older, born outside the U. S. but whose parent or guardian was a Connecticut resident immediately prior to leaving the country, to register and vote in a federal election using a presidential or overseas absentee ballot. Current law does not allow them to do so.

“Many Wilton residents move overseas for a job assignment, to serve in the military, or other reasons only to discover that their children born overseas are not permitted to vote. I am pleased that we were able to resolve this oversight in the law.”

The bill next moves to the State Senate for their consideration. It must then receive the signature of the governor to become law.

Representative Peggy Reeves is serving her first term representing most of Wilton and part of Norwalk in the 143rd Assembly District. Rep Reeves sits on the legislature’s Government Administration and Elections, Judiciary and Transportation Committees.

Budget FY2011

The BOS just passed the FY2011 Budget. While departments came in flat or below, the budget will increase by a little over 2% due to contractual obligations, retirements, etc. If BOS and BOE go unchanged, the mill rate will increase upwards of five percent. We still have more work to do with BOF and BOE.

[Editor's note – the Board of Finance subsequently finalized a 2.94% mill rate increase.]

My Take: Mill rate = Unacceptable to me –and the BOS! I voted for the budget, as proposed. I believe it is especially prudent to be fiscally conservative at a municipal level as it affects our capital bond rating. We have just been approved again, by Moody’s, as a AAA rated town. Once a town loses this ability to borrow for capital projects at a low rate, it almost never gets it back. At the same time, we will not compromise on public safety. I will reiterate that any overall increase is due to contractual obligations and retirements, not for increases in other areas –in a holding pattern since March… that being said, certain boards need to find somewhere to cut

Plastic Bag Ordinance

Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled

My Take: I am very hopeful that over time, this initiative will be passed in a form that best suits Wilton. While China and most of Europe have long decided that retail checkout bags–plastic or otherwise–are a detriment to the environment and a waste of resources, old habits die hard! Businesses can be proud that they have plastic bag return bins, but the unfortunate reality is that the recovery rate is hovering at 2% in the United States. You can bet that the lobbyists will be sending their minions to upcoming BOS meetings; your public support in the form of letters to the editor and comments at our meetings will be most helpful in furthering this crucial grass roots environmental effort! That being said, I did have a sit down with Peter Keating (owner, Village Mkt), and Mark Carluzzi (Carluzzi’s) about how the ban would affect them specifically. We will crunch some numbers. My first real job was at the Village Market; Peter was the Manager at the time. I want to make sure that our local markets can survive any action we take.

Dog Ordinance/Town Playing Fields

Parks and Rec. still wants a stronger ordinance concerning dogs near playing fields. They have adjusted their fifty feet ban of dogs near playing fields to twenty five feet – with exceptions for paths that cross near a field, such as with Merwin. The driver is that there has been too much dog excrement on fields, some altercations between dogs, and the concern that players may crash into dogs.

My Take: The concern is, again, legitimate. Unfortunately, the current ordinance is not effectively enforced; dogs are already prohibited from fields. While I agree dogs should not be on fields, I still feel that even twenty five feet is too harsh for all fields. The stadium and Lilly Field may be legitimate, but I do not want to burden good owners with good dogs from attending all sporting events. We met with Parks & Rec again, and are still working on this.

Troop Boxes

Trackside is now also helping with the troop box drive. They were featured recently on News 12 for their efforts!

My Take: This is great, because the drive needs help! Our troops are working hard for us, far away from home. Please grab a flat rate box that I have put at the entrance of town hall, along with a list of items needed. Boxes can be filled and returned to Town Hall – just let us know what you put in them! We can also accept donations for shipping (checks can be made payable to the Wilton Town Hall Troop Box Drive). FYI, at present we do have money to ship, but no boxes to ship, so please, take a box!

Contact Selectman Ted Hoffstatter any time with comments or questions via email or phone at (203) 451-5049.