Date: Fri 30-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-endorsement-Maloney

Full Text:

ED INK: For Fifth District Congressman

The race in the 5th Congressional District is important to both political

parties this year. Republicans desperately want to reclaim the 5th to bolster

their majority in Congress in a year when they sense Democrats are vulnerable.

Democrats would love to consolidate their hold on the district, knowing that

after a first-term congressman is reelected, it is hard to dislodge him

thereafter. We could care less about either party's grand political designs on

the district. What we want is good hard-working representation in Washington,

and Democrat James Maloney has demonstrated in the past two years that he can

do that for us.

Following Republican Gary Franks' tenure in the 5th District, in which

constituents rarely saw or heard from their congressman, Mr Maloney's first

term has been marked by impeccable constituent service. He has kept a high

profile in our towns and cities, even in the off year when he wasn't up for

reelection.

In addition, in a bipartisan effort with Republican Rep Christopher Shays, of

Connecticut's Fourth District, Rep Maloney won congressional approval of

"brownfields" legislation that provides tax incentives to clean up

contaminated sites and make them suitable for industrial development. This

legislation may provide the long-sought solution for cleaning up the

contaminated Batchelder plant site in Botsford so that it can be returned to

some productive use. Danbury, Meriden, Derby, Seymour and Waterbury already

have benefited from the legislation.

James Maloney has been a conscientious, attentive, and effective congressman

in his first two years. Voters should return him to office to continue his

work.