The following Op-Ed was submitted as sponsored (paid for) content, paid by the Wilton RTC, Carol Lenihan, Treasurer.
Your Friends. Your Neighbors. Reliably Local. We have focused a lot on the first two pieces. Across Row B our candidates have concentrated on meeting residents face-to-face and hearing about their concerns and ideas, and have refrained from any personal attacks (which are quite unneighborly). They yearn to represent all Wiltonians, regardless of political affiliation, and to put the town’s interests above their own.
Our focus here, today, is “Reliably Local.” Our candidates across all boards are Wilton unaffiliateds and Wilton Republicans, not Texas Republicans or Louisiana Republicans or Tennessee unaffiliateds. They are concerned only with local issues affecting Wiltonians, not national or global issues over which they have no control. And to a “t,” all of them have stated publicly that they strongly support local control — Wiltonians governing Wiltonians — in all shapes and forms that we have today.
The threats of regionalization of education and state control of local zoning are not a myth, as you may have read a few days ago on these pages. These threats did not die in 2019 as one Board of Education candidate claims. They are real, they are persistent, and they are facts. Hartford came for our schools two years ago, and that failure was not the end, but the beginning:
- At least two school regionalization bills were proposed in Connecticut during the 2021 legislative session (SB 253 and HB 6655, both sponsored by Democratic legislators).
- In July, Wilton’s Democratic Town Committee adopted its state party’s platform, aligning itself with Hartford’s goals, not Wilton’s.
- On Oct. 22 — only 10 days ago — our First Selectman Lynne Vanderslice called attention to three zoning proposals that would erode local control, writing, “New Zoning Proposals from Hartford look a lot like last year’s defeated zoning proposals. Time to start paying attention again.”
Anyone who thinks that regionalization is dead needs only to look at our neighbors next door: New Canaan’s Democratic candidates are actually posting lawn signs that read, “Stop School Regionalization.” Why would they be posting these signs if the threat of regionalization were not real?
“Reliably Local” means Row B candidates will be on your side. “Reliably Local” means they will fight for Wilton, not their state or national party — they couldn’t care less about the platforms or views of each. “Reliably Local” means they will be transparent, put Wilton’s interests first, and listen first and foremost to all of you when making decisions.
We respectfully ask that you take this into consideration tomorrow, and that you vote for candidates who are Reliably Local — the candidates of Row B.
The Wilton RTC & Row B Candidates
Cool, so the white power thing must have come from one of your “reliably local” “friends” and “neighbors” then?