Here Come The Promises

To the Editor:

Beware of election promises. It’s funny how an impending election all of a sudden brings out politicians making promises. Usually these promises are the things that they should have been doing the two previous years or things that their party should have been encouraging but somehow forgot or overlooked.

The last few weeks there have been letters to The Bee from candidates for the Board of Selectman. I hope you will read each carefully and ask yourself where they and their party have been the last two years. These same people tolerated Mr Rosenthal, their party figurehead, hijacking the Board of Selectman. They allowed Mr Mangiafico to block the first selectman’s promise and the voters wish that the Fairfield Hill progress be reviewed. They voted not to listen to the people by deciding not to review the Fairfield Hills ordinance. These politicians decided they didn’t want the peoples’ opinion on the recent budget referendum and disallowed any question on the ballot asking voters to indicate if the budget was too high or too low. In fact these politicians have consistently voted to keep the status quo.

One candidate for the Board of Selectman was quoted in The Bee as saying, “We believe it is important to listen and understand the needs of the residents.” Well maybe he really meant just some of the residents because these candidates have done exactly the opposite the last two years. They have consistently thumbed their nose at the voters’ wishes.

In fact you have to search far and wide to find anyone except members of their own parties getting appointed to boards. Unaffiliated voter make up over 50 percent of the registered voters in Newtown yet they hold no more than seven percent of the appointments to boards. Almost 70 percent of the appointed boards have no unaffiliated appointed members at all.

One of these politicians was quoted as saying, “Please consider whether this will be the election that you will take a stand against business as usual.” I agree whole-heartedly. They went on to say, “Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.” Again I could not agree more.

As we go through the summer months pay attention to what these politicians, who have recently become believers in listening to the people, have to say. Then take a look at what they and their parties have done during last two years. Is this a case of asking you to listen to what they’re saying verses watching what they have been doing?

 The one thing I do agree with is that Newtown does need a real change in how government works for the people; I’m just not sure returning the same people and parties back to power will be anything except insanity, as these politicians have so aptly told us.

Bruce Walczak

12 Glover Avenue, Newtown                                            June 17, 2009

(Editor’s note: Mr Walczak is chairman of the Independent Party of Newtown.)