BROOKFIELD-- If Billy Idol is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, then shouldn't the Showman Of His Generation be there?
Barry Manilow has sold more records than anyone in the history of the adult contemporary charts.
Shouldn't he be getting on a plane to Cleveland?
"On his success, yes," says former tock guitarist Aaron Zimmer of Brookfield.
"On his loose adjacency to rock & roll, maybe not," he adds.
What is this? Zimmer, who never was even an opening act at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, says, "Maybe not?"
Three years ago Manilow surpassed Elvis for the most appearances in the International Theater at the Westgate in Las Vegas!
Now you know why Belinda Carlisle won't answer Zimmer's phone calls about doing a Get Out The Vote concert for his campaign to be the first Democratic state senator to be elected in the 30th District since 1978.
That was the year that Manilow released Copacabana.
Zimmer explained, "I don't consider Barry Manilow to be rock & roll, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't belong."
Combined, New Milford and Brookfield represent about 40 percent of the voters in the 30th District.
"They're the battlegrounds and they typically lean Republican," said Zimmer, who owns a vinyl record business.
Over the recent elections the Democrats have dominated the Northwest Corner of Litchfield County, which appears to have more large tracts of open space than voters.
Thus, the more-populated southern tier of the district has become crucial.
Zimmer said he has spent months canvassing in New Milford – which at 61.6 square miles has more land than any of Connecticut's 169 municipalities. Some of the visits have come via motor scooter, the same mode that he used while running unsuccessfully in 2024 for the seat in the 107th state House District.
Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn, a Democrat, has said Zimmer is the most ambitious candidate he has seen.
Zimmer also has regularly delivered video news releases via Facebook.
"To reach eyeballs, you have to be on social media," he explained.
In New Milford, Harding has been praised by Mayor Pete Bass, a Republican, for trying to address the traffic hazards along Route 7, which was expanded about 20 years ago.
Harding recently said that he is hopeful that funds will be approved by the state in 2027 to add a traffic light near the Willow Springs condominiums. Residents there complain that it is dangerous taking a left-hand turn.
"I don't know a lot about the specific issue," said Zimmer in an interview with Patch.com
However, he commented that adding a traffic light to the heavily-traveled roadway "sounds reasonable."
In Brookfield, Zimmer, who formerly served as Democratic Town Committee chairman, said the grassroots opposition to the proposed $272 million expansion of the Iroquois natural gas compressor station near High Meadow Lane has been ":nothing short of amazing."
The compressor station was initially proposed in 2001 and went into operation about 2009.
Residents contend the expansion would pose health risks to neighbors and students at the nearby Whisconier Middle School.
Zimmer said that "people of all persuasions are on the same page and have made it a non-partisan issue."
He said he expects the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will schedule an additional formal public hearing before making a decision on Iroquois' application.
"The top issue in the campaign is affordability," said Zimmer.
Why is Connecticut unaffordable?
Its minimum wage of $16.94 an hour is one of the highest in the country. It is now indexed to inflation and will increase in 2027 to $17.48 per hour. It currently is $16.94 per hour.
Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) cut the income tax rates for the middle class and lower class in 2023. That was the first income tax reduction in Connecticut in 28 years.
Said Zimmer, ""The governor and the legislature deserve credit – the tax cut put real money back in people's pockets, but I don't think our work on affordability is remotely finished."
"Wages have not kept up with inflation over the last two decades," he asserted.
"The cost of housing is skyrocketing," Zimmer exclaimed. There is a lack of supply.
However, Zimmer acknowledged that there is a mortgage lock. People who got mortgages at a low rate du ring the pandemic are reluctant to put their houses on the market and buy a new home. Plus, Connecticut values open space.
He said supply has increased in Brookfield with the multi-family housing in Brookfield Town Center, near the Four Corners intersection of Federal Road.
Zimmer said health care is unaffordable.
However, less than 25 years ago you didn't have the prescription drug coverage for the non-hospitalized senior citizens that Republican former President George W. Bush signed in 2003 or the national health care program that Democrat former President Barack Obama approved in 2010.
Explained Zimmer, "We have premiums that people cannot afford. Health care companies are charging too much. They have record profits and people cannot afford to pay."
Zimmer said that two of the chief causes of the current inflation surge is Republican President Donald Trump's Liberation Day trade tariffs and the rise in gasoline costs since he began waging Operation Epic Fury in Iran in February.
Zimmer acknowledged that there isn't much the state government can do to counteract those policies.
He said when the General Assembly opens its regular session in January the legislators will have to continue to address shortfalls in funding for Medicaid and food assistance from the One Big Beautiful Bill that Trump singed in 2025.
Zimmer said he disagrees with state Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, that the state should eliminate the public benefits charge on electricity bills.
He said much of that funding is needed to keep the nuclear power operating at the Millstone Plan in Waterford to keep the grid running.
Zimmer said he supports the recent stance by the New England governors that nuclear will have to continue to be a major source of power generation.
He also criticized Fazio's call to cap municipal property taxes at two percent or at the rate of inflation, with the option that a supermajority of residents could override those provisions.
Zimmer said many municipalities would feel constricted with rising costs and negotiations with public employee collective bargaining units.
"It would make life worse for residents," he declared.
Fazio wants to accomplish his plan by slashing state mandates on municipalities.
Why not take that step and not proceed with the property tax cap?
Zimmer said he agrees with Fazio that towns and cities should not have to pay to have a newspaper or related web site to publish the proposed municipal budget. That can be done on a municipal web site.
However, he said he doesn't know how many others of the current state mandates could be eliminated.
Instead, Zimmer said he supports Lamont's call for having the state pick up a larger share of the special education costs, which would reduce some of the property tax burden.
On another topic, he said he is comfortable with Connecticut's minimum pricing for liquor
Former CT News Junkie columnist Terry Cowgill has called it anti-consumer, indicating that minimum pricing doesn't exist in other commercial industries.
However, said Zimmer, "You could have huge companies come in and undercut the local liquor vendors. I like the way it is now."
The late Paul Tsongas, the former Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts, who finished first ahead of Bill Clinton in the 1992 New Hampshire presidential primary, once said Democrats have been too focused on redistributing wealth and paid scant attention on helping businesses grow.
"You cannot redistribute wealth that has never been created," he wrote in a 1991 campaign booklet, "A Call To Economic Arms."
Zimmer takes a different stance, saying the state needs to tax its wealthiest residents more to help pay for social programs.
"Connecticut is one of the wealthiest states in the nation," he exclaimed. "We don't have a fair tax system. It is a core piece of our platform. The wealthiest residents should pay a fair share of their taxes. "We have a huge wealth gap."
Zimmer noted that state Rep. Josh Elliott (D-88) of Hamden campaigned in the recent Democratic gubernatorial primary on increasing taxes on the state's top 1 percent.
Zimmer said that message has resonated with voters since he began canvassing in May.
"It hadn't been normalized in May," he commented. "It now seems to be the moderate position."
He said the millionaires are not going to leave Connecticut if they have to pay more taxes.
Cristobal Young, a Cornell University Sociology professor, wrote in his 2017 book, "The Myth Of Millionaire Tax Flight," that, usually marriage, children and jobs anchor millionaires to their locations, and it is, instead, the highly-educated, low-income people who are most mobile.
In an e-mail interview, Harding wrote that he has voted to decrease taxes since initially being elected to the General Assembly as a state representative 11 years ago.
"I have a strong record of opposing tax increases and working to reduce taxes across the board, especially for those in the middle and working class," he stated. "My opponent's policies of increasing taxes and spending are exactly the reason Connecticut has the 3rd highest tax burden in the nation."
Zimmer said that he is disappointed that only 23 percent of the Democrats turned out for the August gubernatorial primary, which Lamont easily won.
That is six percent below the turnout for the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary, when early voting was not an option.
"That's strange," he commented.
Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas (D-Norwalk) has said that she supports mandatory voting. However, first, she believes that the United States should adopt a system similar to Australia, which not only has mandatory voting – which usually generates a 90 percent turnout in national elections – but also educations students' kindergarten through 12th grade on voting and the fines levied for not voting.
Zimmer said that he agrees with her position.
Virginia and Ohio are studying having their public colleges offer a three-year, 90-credit bachelor's degree. Should Connecticut take a similar step?
"I think so," said Zimmer. "We want our students to have the least amount of debt."
Zimmer is about to depart the Miracle Mile in Brookfield for the Goshen Fair.
A week later he'll be at will be the Bethlehem Fair.
Gary Puckett performed there in 2002.
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap sold more records than anybody in 1968. Nearing age 84, Gary is still touring regularly.
Minutes after Elvis finished his Vegas concerts the announcer would say that "Elvis has left the building" to signal that he wouldn't be doing an encore.
However, when Gary performed in Vegas, Elvis stayed in the building, since he was a fan.
Zimmer agreed that Gary is worthy of consideration for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
However, he added that his case isn't as strong as Barry Manilow's.
Resources:
Interview with Aaron Zimmer, Patch.com, on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
E-mail interview with Aaron Zimmer, Patch.com, Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
E-mail interview with Stephen Harding, Patch.com, on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/connecticut-s-wealthy-can-afford-pay-more-taxes
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2016/02/12/op-ed_minimum_pricing_deliver_us_from_the_scourge/
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/lamont-points-record-sound-fiscal-judgment
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/lamont-points-record-sound-fiscal-judgment#:~:text=https%3A//www.wsj.com/opinion/is%2Da%2Dfour%2Dyear%2Ddegree%2Dworth%2Dit%2D6af09e3b
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