THE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER

In these difficult and uncertain economic times, Governor Rell has proposed a state budget that is both courageous and forward-thinking. It is courageous because it takes on issues that people have been afraid to face in the past and is forward-thinking because it reigns in long-term spending, future tax increases and the size of government. This budget promotes growth and preserves Connecticut’s prosperity for future generations.

In her budget, the Governor asks us all to get our government back to basics and return it to its core missions: educating our children, protecting our people and helping those truly in need. In short, she is asking the politicians in Hartford to do exactly what every Connecticut family is doing during these difficult times: cut back, do more with less and only do those things as a community that the people cannot do for themselves individually.

From the Town of West Hartford’s perspective, the centerpieces of Governor Rell’s budget are the suspension of binding arbitration for two years and the prohibition on new state mandates without a 2/3 vote of the General Assembly. These common sense approaches to state mandate reform will reduce the burden on our schools and allow more of our resources to go to the classroom, rather than to costly labor fights. Even our own Democratic Mayor has supported this type of mandate reform. In his November 23, 2008 opinion piece in the Courant, the Mayor demanded that the state “suspend the 1,203 unfunded mandates on the books.”

On Tuesday, February 24, the West Hartford Town Council will take up a resolution supporting these mandate reforms. Please contact the Mayor (860-561-7445; ScottSlifka@yahoo.com) and ask him to support them. This issue is not about partisan politics, but rather common sense governance in a time of economic difficulty and putting more of our scarce resources into the classroom.

Thank you,

Justin R. Clark
Chairman

Peter J. Martin
Vice Chairman

VOTE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS. VOTE LOW TAXES. VOTE REPUBLICAN.