Now Is The Time For Change

To the Editor:

When we formed “We Care About Newtown” to promote solutions to address infrastructure problems at our schools and better long-range planning, we chose the name carefully. We wanted to create the acronym “We Can.” So much of what we heard from our elected leaders focused on what we could not do. We wanted to be an advocacy group that talked about what we could do as a community.

We wanted our elected leaders to have a long-term vision. What is it that we wanted for the future of our community, for town services that would keep us secure and safe, the education of our children, the care of our seniors? And how could we work together to get it done while keeping Newtown affordable and maximizing the investment of our tax dollars by local government?

We formed the Independent Party of Newtown in 2007, and campaigned on this agenda in running for Legislative Council. Our opponents scoffed, but our friends and neighbors elected us and defeated some longstanding public officials in the process. We had an ambitious agenda when we joined the Legislative Council. Initially, the Republicans and Democrats, speaking as if one party, blocked our every move.

However, we never gave up. Over time, our efforts on the Legislative Council began to spark change. The idea of better long-range planning became more acceptable. The thought of reevaluating the flawed master plan at Fairfield Hills had merit. A much greater effort was being made to communicate to the public. Our peers were now willing to entertain suggestions to improve our financial processes around capital and budget planning. Suddenly, people started to realize that maybe IPN wasn’t so wrong after all.

We have made great progress in moving our local government from a group of leaders who were too arrogant to listen, to a group of candidates competing for public office who are now compelled to fall in line with IPN positions on long-range planning, Fairfield Hills, accountability, and transparency. Now, here we stand, a few days away from Election Day, on the cusp of a significant sea change in the way our local government does business, thanks to IPN.

On November 3, you will determine the future direction of our local government. IPN needs your vote to finish the job we started. We need you to elect Bruce Walzcak as our first selectman and Bill Furrier as our selectman. We need you to elect an IPN majority on the Legislative Council. We need IPN candidates elected to the Board of Education, the Board of Finance, and the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers. And the wonderful Margaret Jepsen has proven through her service that she deserves your vote for Judge of Probate.

Please vote Independent, Row C, on Election Day. If you want change, now is the time.

Po Murray

Candidate, Legislative Council-District 2

Gary Davis

Candidate, Legislative Council-District 2

Charter Ridge Drive, Sandy Hook                           October 25, 2009