Politicizing Committees

To the Editor:

Pat Llodra’ decision to use her Legislative Council committee memberships for political purposes is disturbing to say the least.

Last week, not only did she take far too much credit for an initiative involving many others, but she also took the unprecedented and ethically questionable step of signing a campaign letter to The Newtown Bee using her title as chair of the subcommittee.

 Signing her campaign letter as chairman of this subcommittee and using her membership as a political campaign tool diminishes any positive work this committee is striving to achieve and makes it more difficult to implement any of their recommendations. The other members of this committee deserve to be respected and not used as unwilling political pawns in her efforts to seek an elected office.

 As co-chair of yet another committee on the council, she has allowed her group to set a goal of releasing recommendations just prior to the November election. The makeup of this committee excluded any IPN Legislative Council members even though membership was specifically requested. Will Rogers, Legislative Council chair, and Ms Llodra’s running mate, claimed there were too many people on the committee, but has allowed two private citizens to sit on the committee and a member of the Board of Finance. Why exclude IPN? Was he selecting and stacking the committee for political advantage? One has to wonder if the committee’s work is being used and rushed for political purposes and personal gain?

These committees have done and have the potential to do great work. Members are contributing valuable time to a worthy cause. It is a shame that Pat has diminished their effectiveness by turning them into political tools in her quest for an elected office. Newtown desires better leadership than this.

Donna Monteleone Randle

Erin Lane, Sandy Hook                                           September 2, 2009