It Takes a Village
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 09/14/2012 - 06:14Thursday night was busy in Woodbridge. I'm told there was a back to school event for some Amity parents. My daughter, Fiona is in fifth grade, so on the top of my list was the Beecher Road School Parent Teacher Organization. The meeting was well attended with many parents eager to make a difference in the lives of their children and their community. The great success of the Ice Cream Social was announced; it raised approximately $1,200 for the PTO. There were also discussions about various other fundraising opportunities, such as the program at Stop and Shop where the grocery store contributes some of its profits to local schools. Parents need to sign up each year to continue to participate, and the program isn't just limited to parents. Anyone can participate and, with no extra effort or cost, contribute to the PTO.
Also attending the PTO meeting was the new principal, Gina Prisco. She spoke about various improvements at the school, such as new signs and maps to make it easier for visitors to find their way around. She brought the sort of enthusiasm and vivacity to the meeting that we have come to expect from our superintendent, Dr. Guy Stella. Unfortunately, Dr. Stella couldn't make the meeting because of a conflict.
It was also announce that there would be a ribbon cutting for the new playground this morning. Unfortunately, I'll need to miss this due to work commitments.
From the PTO meeting, I rushed over to the Warm Hearts, Warm Homes fundraiser for the Woodbridge Town Food and Fuel program. The event took place in the new tent next to the pool at the Country Club of Woodbridge. The event was well attended and helped illustrate some of the vision for the town and the club that are leaders have been working on. This was the event that Dr. Stella was at and it was good to see him, along with First Selectman Ed Sheehy, and various members of different town boards and commissions.
On a personal note, my daughter Fiona had her appendix out a week ago, and I greatly appreciated the kind words so many friends shared at the event.
A great school, a great recreational facility being revitalized, and opportunities to help those less fortunate than ourselves; it was a wonderful, though hectic, evening to appreciate some of the best that Woodbridge has to offer, and I wish more people would take advantage of all the town has to offer.
Common Cause Connecticut Fair Campaign Pledge
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 09/12/2012 - 08:41It is always a difficult issue of whether to unilaterally disarm in a contest. What is more important, playing in the spirit of the contest, or winning? If, by winning, you may gain the ability to get the rules of the contest changed to make them more fair, should you play by the less fair goals for some great ultimate good?
These are the sort of questions people have long grappled with in terms of election law. Is it okay to accept PAC money? What should you do if someone is running a secretive campaign? I've thought about this as I've worked on my campaign. Fortunately, Connecticut has some of the best campaign finance laws in the nation, and I'm proudly participating in the Citizen's Election Program.
But, what about disclosure? Unfortunately, Gov. Malloy vetoed a bill that would have made Connecticut a leader in disclosure laws as well. Perhaps we can get this passed in the next session. However, until then, should I work towards disclosure in my campaign?
In my case, I don't believe that it would give my opponent any significant advantage if I agree to the terms of Common Cause's Fair Campaign Pledge.
So, I'm posting the pledge here, a pledge I intend to abide by, and one that I hope my opponent will also abide by.
I pledge to conduct my campaign and, to the extent reasonably possible, insist that my
supporters conduct themselves, in a manner consistent with the best Connecticut and
American traditions, discussing the issues and presenting my record and policies with sincerity
and candor.I pledge to ask all outside spenders to refrain from outside spending in my race, including all
independent expenditures and issue advocacy advertisements that attack my opponents or
party or support my candidacy or party;I pledge that neither my campaign nor my campaign staff will coordinate with any outside
groups who intend to engage in independent expenditures or electioneering communications;I pledge to promptly and publicly repudiate the support of any individual or group that resorts,
on behalf of my candidacy or in opposition to that of an opponent, to methods in violation of
the letter or spirit of this code.If elected, I pledge to work to pass strong disclosure reform that forces secret outside spenders
to disclose the true source of their funding so that such expenditures cannot be hidden behind
conduits, intermediaries, and shadowy front groups used to mask the true sources of funds. I
will also work to support strong coordination rules so that outside spending is not coordinated
with candidates or their operatives in any way.I, the undersigned, candidate for election to public office in the State of Connecticut, hereby
voluntarily endorse, subscribe to and solemnly pledge to conduct my campaign in accordance
with the above principles and practices.
Random Thoughts
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 09/08/2012 - 17:10I am sitting at Bradley International Airport, waiting for a flight to Florida where I will speak about social media and health care advocacy. I am exhausted. Last week has been a long hard week, and the week ahead looks just as challenging.
As I scanned through Facebook, I found an old college friend was talking about a prayer campaign for his church in contrast to a capital campaign. It made me think of the verse from the Psalms,
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat--for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Sleep has been fleeting this past week, as I tried to balance work with my campaign for State Representative and caring for my family. My daughter Fiona started the week throwing up and having abdominal pains. She ended up the week with an appendectomy. It has been particularly hard on my wife Kim, and it has certainly added to my own stress.
I posted about it online and spoke with various friends, and the outpouring of support has been great. It brought another quote from Scripture to mind,
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
It has been a great week to feel the support of that great cloud of witnesses, and for them to help me persevere. It seems hard to believe that just two weeks ago, we were relaxing on Cape Cod.
As I drove up to the airport, I listened to some radio show on NPR talking about how the environment that an animal lives in affects the brain of the animal. It made me stop and think about how my time on the Cape and my time at works affects my own brain functioning.
Right now, I'm mostly on overload. I'll rest on the flight, and sleep, as well as I can, at the hotel. It will be good to see friends at the conference, and hopefully, I'll find some time for more campaign writing.
Campaigning at the Greek Festival
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 09/03/2012 - 10:48
For the past few years, my wife and I have always looked forward to the Greek Festival at St. Barbara's Church. Over the years, my daughter has gone from looking forward to the loukamades to looking forward to saganaki. This year, she was all about the grape leaves.
She likes to pick up a stuffed animal or some other trinket at the treasures and trinkets, as well as see some of her friends dance.
This was my first year going to the festival as a candidate. It felt a little awkward, because St. Barbara's is the church my opponent goes to and many people there are good friends with her. Yet campaigns are about more than just good friendships and I wanted to talk with people about why they should consider me when they vote in November.
As I spoke with friends and neighbors, I ran into a new friend of mine, the campaign coordinator in the Third Congressional District for the Chris Murphy for Senate campaign. Chris was on his way.
When he arrived, he spoke with voters with an easy and confidence that was truly inspiring. As is often the case with candidates in state wide races, his staff let him know when it was time to head out to the next event. Labor day weekend is a very busy one for politicians. Chris took time for a few last quick conversations and headed off to the next event.
Events like the Greek Festival at St. Barbara's Church provide a great opportunity for people to come together as part of a community. It is a great time to speak with those who seek to represent us, either up in Hartford, or off in Washington. It was an honor to accompany Chris Murphy in Orange.
Labor Day Weekend
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 09/01/2012 - 08:58For my friends who are counting on consumers reviving the economy, it is a weekend to go shopping. To my friends in the labor movement, it is a time to remember struggles for better working conditions, the forty hour work week, and an end to child labor. For others, it is a time for festivals at church, picnics or barbecues with the family, and heading back to school.
For politicians, it is a time of campaigning. I'm working on events, contacting voters and honing my positions on various issues. It seems like every day, I get a half dozen new candidate questionnaires from various organizations. They are good in that they help me think about the issues. Unfortunately, too often, the responses do not become public. So, I'm trying to distill some of my responses into blog posts.
Since it is labor day weekend, it seems like a good time to talk about collective bargaining. The first question in Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association's questionnaire says, "In 2008, the General Assembly introduced legislation (SB 685 AN ACT CONCERNING THE CREATION OF A STATE MUNICIPAL FINANCE ASSISTANCE COMMISSION, 2008 Session) that would give extraordinary powers to Special Review Boards when impaneled to assist municipalities in distress. This bill legalized the abrogation of collective bargaining agreements and the curtailment of collective bargaining as possible remedies for these situations. Would you: SPONSOR - SUPPORT - OPPOSE legislation that permits this type of treatment of workers.
I also received a questionnaire from ConnCan. Their questions were less pointed, for example asking if I agreed with this statement: "School administrators and teachers should be held accountable for classroom performance and student achievement". Personally, I can't imagine people not agreeing with this statement. However, it says nothing about what should happen legislatively. How do we determine classroom performance and student achievement? Legislation that bases such a determination solely on standardized tests would be misguided. Legislation that doesn't consider how others, besides teachers and administrators, are accountable to a student's achievement would also be misguided, and legislation that would abrogate collective bargaining agreements or curtail collective bargaining would likewise be misguided.
You see,when we are dealing with key issues that affect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, we need people to work together. We need firefighters working together to save a structure. One firefighter, by himself, cannot put out a three alarm fire. We need teachers, administrators, parents and members of the community to work together so that our students can be as successful as possible.
Collective bargaining is one way in which firefighters, teachers, and others work together. Collective bargaining should be viewed as part of our first amendment right to peaceably assemble, and for those working in government jobs, it should be viewed as part of the first amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
Granted, there may be times when those bargaining, either for employees or for employers, are not doing so in good faith, yet that does not mean we should curtail collective bargaining.
So, this weekend, I'll do my campaigning, and I'll stay on message about the importance of all of us working together for the sake of all Americans.
Happy Labor Day.
