I hope Farmington Republicans will join me in voting for the responsible choice in the September 12th primary, because we cannot afford the status quo. The simple truth is that Farmington has had ten straight years of tax increases, and, but for our town's overwhelming rejection of the ill-conceived, overpriced high school proposal in June, our tax situation would be even worse. In the lead up to the June referendum, we watched in disbelief as Republican party leadership, locked arm-in-arm with the Democrats and out-of-touch with the voters, cheerfully supported the FHS proposal.
The aftermath of the referendum vote was an embarrassment to Republicans in Farmington: powerful party members tried to remove Justin Bernier from the Building Committee and denied Jon Landry endorsement for re-election. The motivation for these political attacks is as obvious as it is disappointing: party insiders will not tolerate Justin and Jon's public opposition to the high school project. This is small town power politics at its worst and it is time for a change.
If Farmington does not make a change, we will continue to have leadership that, with perhaps the best of intentions, continues to empty our wallets. Some might think we can blithely carry on with the thought that “Farmington is doing okay as long as our tax rate is the lowest in the area.” But the measure of a common-sense tax policy to taxpayers is not how we stack up against our neighboring towns, but how much more is demanded of us each year when the “tax man calleth.”
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There is one local municipality we must not, however, ignore: Hartford, now on the threshold of bankruptcy after decades of chronic mismanagement, casts a ravenous eye to surrounding towns as the drumbeat grows louder for regionalization. This will be an issue that our leaders must be prepared to address in a principled, effective manner. Tough leadership, unafraid to stand up to powerful interests, has never been needed more in Farmington than now. To that end, I urge my fellow Farmington Republicans to vote for Jon Landry and Justin Bernier in the 1st district and Jeff Apuzzo and Paul Cianci in the 2nd in the primary on September 12. These candidates have already proven that they are both fiscally responsible and accountable to the voters.
