Bringing Newtown Together

To the Editor:

As the campaign winds down, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to talk with me as I have walked the streets of Newtown, introducing myself, sharing my thoughts, and listening to yours. It has been an interesting couple of months and it should be an interesting election on Tuesday. I have worked hard and I want you to know that I will continue to work hard for the people of Newtown if elected. We need to come together as a town and work as a team to make it through these tough times. We need to listen more and argue less. I am uniquely qualified to help reunite Newtown: I have been involved in many capacities with both the school system and the municipal side. It has to stop being about us vs them and start being about “we.” It has to be about what we can do together as a town.

I also want to thank Gary for all of his hard work, Sarah and Maribeth for theirs, and I especially would like to take a minute to thank Gene Vetrano. Gene is an old and dear friend, who had pretty much gotten out of politics. He came out of retirement because I asked him to. I thought his managerial and organizational skills would make him an excellent campaign manager and I was right. Great job, Gene! Thanks again.

I also just want to take a minute to remind everyone how important it is to vote. The data shows that the turnout in municipal elections is much lower than national elections. I have never been able to figure that out because local elections actually have much more impact on your day-to-day life than national elections do, so please vote. The data also shows that there is a dropoff from first selectman to selectman ballots. Please remember to vote for selectman as well as first selectman on Tuesday!

Joe Hemingway

Democratic Candidate for Selectman

10 Overlook Knoll, Sandy Hook October 27, 2009