Lyddy: State Military Has No Solid Plans For Proposed Horse Guard Merger

By John Voket

Newtown’s Representative Chris Lyddy told The Bee this week that after attending a hearing on the proposed state budget Wednesday evening, a proposal to merge Governor’s Horse Guard units into a single location had little definition. Currently the state maintains two horse guard facilities in Newtown and Avon.

And early the next morning, Rep Lyddy, Rep DebraLee Hovey, and First Selectman Pat Llodra met to discuss the ramifications to the proposal.

“You can tell the people of Newtown that we are all over this,” Rep Hovey said Thursday morning.

She said that the distaste for ongoing support of the horse guard as an entity has been regularly expressed by state military leadership, but she stands with Rep Lyddy, and constituents in Newtown.

“I would like to put an end to this annual, emotional turmoil these proposals cause,” Rep Hovey said. “Rep Lyddy and I agree that the horse guard’s benefit to the community and the state far outweighs its $70,000 line item in the overall state military budget.”

In jeopardy once again are the vistas of sprawling fields broken by split-rail fencing and spotted with grazing horses along Wasserman Way where the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard comprises primarily volunteers such as the major and one full-time and one part-time staff members.

According to Rep Lyddy, the Military Department was represented Wednesday by Military Finance Director Tom Thomas.

“I am really perplexed by the Military Department’s lack of attention and interest in the issues surrounding Governor’s Horse Guard. Regardless of where one stands on the state’s need or desire to fund this militia,” Rep Lyddy said in an e-mail response to requests for comment, “it’s clear the military department sees them as a disposable component to their operations.”

Rep Lyddy said he sat in the budget hearing February 23, and said the military department “lacked any information or a plan as to what this consolidation would look like for the Horse Guard, for the towns they are situated in, or for the people of the state.”

One way or another, Rep Lyddy said, an argument should have been made to defend or support this proposal, but there was nothing.

“There was no indication that there have been any formal discussions between the Horse Guard and the Military Department to talk about what this would look like and how they plan to proceed,” the lawmaker said, adding that he still has “many questions that were not answered and that were refused to be answered by the Military Department when asked.”

Rep Lyddy’s wanted to know where will the consolidated horse guard facility would go? Newtown, Avon, or another location? He is also concerned about what will be done with any abandoned property, land, and facilities.

He also asked if the proposed consolidation defies “cultural and historic preservation and if so, what is the department’s plan to ensure the 200-plus years of service are not forgotten?”

“Cultural and historic preservation provide many important functions in our state and community, ranging from a sense of place and identity to a sense of ownership and community,” Rep Lyddy said. “If this moves forward, there should be, at the very least, a plan to protect and preserve the history of this militia.”

The Second Company Horse Guard survived another budget-related threat to its existence when in January 2010 a proposed state budget package included $76,500 in funding cuts from the Governor’s Horse and Foot Guards.

At that time, the proposal to close the Newtown facility was one small item in a multibillion-dollar state budget plan tendered by the Democratic legislative majority.

That proposal was eventually passed, but subsequently vetoed by then-governor M. Jodi Rell. Rep Lyddy said at the time he struggled with supporting the overall measure since it included action that would affect the local Horse Guard unit.

Ahead of his vote on the 2010–11 state budget, Mr Lyddy said he was concerned that the state has enough funds to provide for Newtown’s families, child care, and other funding that supports Newtown as a community.

In 2010, the potential closure of the Newtown Horse Guard facility raised concerns and questions beyond the loss of the 200 years of tradition for the state equestrian units. Critics of that plan, including State Senator John McKinney and Rep Hovey, worried about, in Sen McKinney’s words, “the potential negative consequences if the state desired to use the land for other purposes, or to sell the land to the highest bidder for development purposes, neither of which would be a good result for the town.”