Editorial: Political Season In Full Bloom

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Spring has sprung! And, along with it, the political season is in full bloom. For this year’s state-wide elections, taking place on Tuesday, November 6th, Greenwich has become ground zero for a number of candidates from town. And that is not a bad thing.

By my most recent count –the political landscape is fluid, so it may have changed overnight – there are six Greenwich candidates running for state-wide office. On the Democratic side: Ned Lamont and Guy Smith are running for Governor, and Jon Blankley and Dita Bhargava are running for Treasurer. On the Republican side: David Stemerman is running for Governor and First-Selectman Peter Tesei is running for Lieutenant Governor.

For the most part, this will be sorted out later this month at the individual party’s nominating conventions. The Democrats seem to be clearing a path for Ned Lamont to be the party endorsee. There are 15 Republican candidates for Governor and, because of that, their nominee will not be decided until the August primary.   

The Greenwich candidates have a lot to offer our state. However, Connecticut has not been so receptive in recent memory. We encourage everyone running for office to be themselves. The voters and media can tell when that is not happening and respond accordingly.

In a slight leap ahead, our Greenwich pride would love to see a head-to-head contest between Ned Lamont and David Stemerman. Both are successful businessmen but with distinctly different approaches to putting our state’s financial house in order. However, there is much each candidate must do in order to secure his party’s nomination. We will be watching.

In fact, we will be watching all of the campaigns that affect Greenwich this year. Healthy competition is good for the exchange of ideas and solutions to the challenges facing our state. We hope that is what we will have this year. We have never condoned, or tolerated, the type of political vitriol that we see so often on the national political stage. We look forward to reporting on candidate’s records and ideas. Baseless, political attacks have no place in Greenwich.

On another note, the proposed legislation that many believed would lead to tolls on I95 and the Merritt Parkway will not be brought to vote. This is good news for Greenwich. Not only do we already pay the highest transportation-associated costs in the country, but, in addition, tolls would unduly affect our community as we are the gateway to the state and New England.

Even though provisions were made in the legislation to significantly discount Connecticut residents, the Democratic leadership in the House could not muster enough support to ensure passage. We can be thankful this is an election year, and many in Hartford have grown increasingly weary of new taxes.

The legislature is quickly winding down its current session. However, much work is still to be done. There is a growing deficit of $387 million that needs to be addressed. However, good news coincides with increased revenue from capital gains and dividends of $1.5 billion. After closing the budget shortfall, that leaves $1.1 billion in unexpected revenue. The question is what to do with it?

As part of the budget agreement reached last year, there is a “volatility cap,” which means these funds must be set aside. Tax revenues from investment earnings are the most volatile revenue stream the state has and can change dramatically year to year. Banking that revenue is a hedge against down years. Let’s make sure those in the legislature who believe in increased spending and taxation do not view this as license to fund new programs. We must continue to be diligent in order to get our state’s financial house in order.

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