By Laura Kapp
John Blankley, a Democrat running as a petition candidate for the 36th district state Senate race, is a unique figure in the Greenwich political arena with decades of both political and business experience and generally liked by Democrats and Republicans.
Blankley does not represent either of the two major political parties in this special election. He only recently jumped into the race as a petition candidate after an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for the seat.
He noted that even though he no longer is running as a Democrat, he has “not altered my long-held opinions for any political purpose.”
In order to earn a spot on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate, Blankley needed 568 petition signatures, which he far surpassed, with a final tally of 693 signatures. He received signatures and support from Republican, Democrat, Independent, and unaffiliated voters.
Blankley’s focus as a candidate is using his 40 years as a resident of the 36th district and his non-affiliation with any major political party to provide the most true and accurate representation of his constituents. He is “guided solely for what is right, not what is political or convenient.” He continued, “I will go to Hartford with only the voters in mind, not the special interests or political trends.”
He sees his lack of party affiliation as appealing to voters, noting that the local unaffiliated bloc has expanded dramatically over the last several years while ideology on the left and right has polarized. Ultimately, Blankley believes people are focused on good governance over identity politics.
Blankley believes that what sets him apart from his opponents is his extensive experience in business, politics, and within the Greenwich sphere itself. He has been in private business for fifty years and town government for twelve, explaining that he has lived in Greenwich for longer than other candidates have even been alive.
Blankley’s public service includes serving on the Representative Town Meeting and its Finance Board, the
Board of Estimate and Taxation, the Democratic Town Committee as an Executive Committee member. Blankley has made successful efforts in crossing the aisle and has experience with the State government in Hartford from having both run and served on the transition team for State Treasurer in 2018.
A priority for Blankley is the fiscal health of the State of Connecticut. He has served on the board of directors and as Chief Financial Officer of several companies and is the CEO of his own company, Flagship Networks, a computer consulting and systems integration firm. He hopes to take his knowledge of the private financial sector to Hartford in order to defend the financial security of Connecticut residents. He has stated that it is a priority of his to “promote business” in Connecticut.
In an interview with the Sentinel, Blankley highlighted his knowledge of both large and small business operations. He has learned from decades of employment at large organizations and from founding his own smaller company, which, as he noted, employs dozens of Connecticut residents. Government, he observed, is in itself just a large organization, like the ones he’s spent a lifetime working with.
An issue that Blankley is eager to take to Hartford is infrastructure and congestion issues across the state. Traffic congestion in Connecticut costs four to five billion dollars each year, and Blankley has a plan to fight congestion that centers around port development, specifically in Bridgeport, New London, and Connecticut’s nearest neighbors Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He proposes the increased use of Roll-on-roll-off ships (also called RO-RO ships) to facilitate the travel of large shipping trucks and ease traffic on Connecticut highways. In an interview with the Sentinel, Mr. Blankley pointed out a fascinating statistic: Of all of the bulk goods transported in the U.S., only two percent are carried over water, while in Europe, forty percent of bulk goods are transported via rivers and seas. He believes that increasing water travel for goods is a viable solution to Connecticut’s infrastructure issues.
Blankley is also passionate about using his seat in the State Senate to advocate for legislation that combats climate change. He is a proponent of the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI), which includes state governments across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions and works toward a healthier climate, including reducing carbon emissions.
A particularly personal goal for Blankley is successful advocacy against gun violence. The Dunblane shooting in Scotland in 1996, which precipitated a massive upheaval in gun control legislation in the United Kingdom, took place very close to his mother’s hometown. He said that while laws in the UK made it “practically impossible” for another such tragedy to occur, in the U.S., “the most we can hope for is sensible gun control”. Blankley is in favor heightening state government’s attention to the cause by establishing a Gun Violence Prevention Office, which could receive up to 3 million dollars of federal funding.
Blankley is also passionate about preserving the rights of Connecticut residents to “safe and secure lives free from needless government intervention”, according to his website. He advocates for legal abortion and is eager to use a seat in the State Senate to defend Connecticut residents against racism and discrimination.
Blankley urges residents to “Make a Statement” with their votes. He hopes that voters see his unaffiliated candidacy as an opportunity to “Make a Statement that Greenwich, Stamford and New Canaan want qualified leadership in Hartford, responsive to the needs of the vast majority of the district, and not candidates picked in unrepresentative conventions chosen more for their ideology than for their knowledge of what our residents need and want”. Blankley promises to put his constituents and their rights and safety first, well before “pointless politics”.
You can visit Mr. Blankley’s campaign website at blankley36.com .
