By GREG EHLERS
Throughout my campaign for state senate, I have shared with Norwalk families the story of the two Senator Bob Duff’s when it comes to education.
First, there is the “good old boy” Bob Duff that has allowed him to win state senate elections with overwhelming margins thanks to his being involved with Norwalk politics for almost his entire life. This Bob Duff claps for your kids at school graduations, poses for pictures with your children’s teachers, and tells Norwalkers every two years that he “stand up” for Norwalk schools. In recent years, families have started to learn about a second Bob Duff that lives in Hartford. This Bob Duff votes as a rank-and-file supporter of Gov. Dan Malloy’s and rose to become Senate Majority Leader of the state that is routinely ranked among the worst fiscally-managed states in the country. This Bob Duff raises your taxes, does Governor Malloy’s bidding, and calls the countless jobs, capital, and people that leave Connecticut every year our “new economic reality.”
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— Greg Ehlers’ campaign website
— State Rep. Bob Duff’s official Web page
— Bob Duff’s campaign website
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Teachers, parents, and students in Norwalk and Darien were outraged to have also found out that this Bob Duff stood up for Governor Malloy and his quest to slash tens of millions of dollars of local education aid in the 2017 budget. Senator Duff made a real and serious choice to sign off on these cuts in order to cover other Malloy spending priorities. He was hoping voters in Norwalk would either not hear about it or not care about it, but Norwalkers have a right to know how poorly their representation has served them. First, the budget includes a $32.2 million cut to the Education Cost Sharing grant. This means that if your son or daughter attends a public school in either Norwalk or Darien, their school will have significantly less funding than last year. I’m willing to bet that if you are a parent, then your child has been directly and negatively affected by these cuts. And keep in mind, this is our tax money that we’re talking about, you send this money to the state of Connecticut every year with the expectation that some of it will be spent on your children’s educations. Senator Duff must answer to parents and teachers in the 25th district why he was on Governor Malloy’s side and not theirs. In addition to the massive cuts to Education Cost Sharing, the budget also slashes $23.3 million to transportation for school children. Another notable and especially unfortunate Malloy/Duff cut is the elimination $4.3 million from Special Education programs. This is particularly sad because these children are the most in need of professionals who can give them extra attention and help make their school experience as positive as possible. Folks, Senator Duff had every opportunity to stand up to Governor Malloy and say “enough is enough.” He could have put politics aside and defiantly teamed up with Republican senators from neighboring towns like Sen. Toni Boucher or Sen. Tony Hwang in an effort to save Fairfield County from these draconian cuts to schools and special ed programs. Unfortunately for Norwalk, the power-hungry, Malloy-supporting Duff was there and threw his district under the bus in order to help the Governor.
