Greg Ehlers 2016

Final Letters to the Editor on Darien Elections

Letters on the Duff/Ehlers Race in the 25th Senate District

Commentary: Ehlers: ‘Bob Duff Doesn’t Stand Up for Education’

Commentary: Greg Ehlers on Why Voters Need to Throw Out Bob Duff and the Democrats

Ehlers, Candidate for State Senate, Qualifies for Public Financing

Letter: Ehlers Says Duff Helped Finance Study of Mileage Tax He Says He Doesn’t Want

State Senate Candidate Greg Ehlers: Darien, Norwalk Get Tiny Fraction Back of $ Sent to Hartford

Letter: Greg Ehlers Says Sen. Bob Duff Not Defending Darien, Norwalk from State Budget Cuts

Letters to the Editor

By David Gurliacci | November 8, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | October 26, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | October 6, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | October 3, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | August 19, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | July 29, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | June 24, 2016

Government & Politics

By David Gurliacci | June 18, 2016

Here are the final letters to the editor about candidates for election:

A note from the editor: Apologies for publishing these letters so late. I’ve been sick for weeks (but getting better, slowly) and didn’t have the energy to get them published earlier. — David Gurliacci

Klein’s Experience in Business Will Help in State Legislature

To the editor:

While serving as Darien’s First Selectwoman, Evonne Klein knew it wasn’t enough to just talk about a problem, you actually had to do something to fix it. She brought a non-partisan approach to getting things done, and today, our town is better off for it. As our next state representative, her husband, Randy Klein, will bring the same solutions-oriented approach to state government. Instead of talking about traffic congestion and blaming others for our budget deficits, Randy will bring his decades of experience as a business owner in the transportation field to the table to deliver results for Darien. His plan to consolidate government resources, cap the governor’s bonding authority and re-negotiate the State’s most costly pension obligations will go a long way to fixing our budget. Lets elect Randy Klein for State Representative on Nov.

Darienite.com accepts letters to the editor about candidates running for office in the Nov. 8 election, but only up through the end of the day on Halloween, Oct. 31. Email your letter to dave@darienite.com. Greg Ehlers, a Republican, is challenging Democratic state Sen. (and Majority Leader) Bob Duff in the 25th Senate District, covering Norwalk and part of Darien.

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.”
_____________

— 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.

By GREG EHLERS

Many believe the answer to better governance is to change Connecticut’s Constitution to implement term limits for members of the state Legislature — hoping it will end the sense of entitlement or tenure by the political class. It is a tempting idea but given the current leadership in the state Senate, unlikely. We have elections to end political careers fattened by the sense of entitlement and smug righteousness demonstrated all too often by lawmakers who have been around well past their expiration date. A pristine example of this arrogance and self-righteousness can be found in Sen. Bob Duff’s pompous claim in his Darien Times Q&A, that voters should choose him over me because he has earned tenure in the legislature. This is how he feels about his constituents! Bob the career politician thinks he essentially deserves your vote because he is “seasoned” and has been there the longest, so you are obligated to vote for him every two years. This year, though, voters in Norwalk and Darien are onto our state Senator, Bob Duff, who cannot hide anymore behind phony claims of blue skies and endless horizons; Bob sells it as our “new economic reality.” No amount of glad-handing, having cake at the senior center or glowing self-tributes can deceive families that are worried about their present and future.

In his quest to represent Darien and Norwalk in the State Senate and to help Connecticut regain jobs and a prosperous future, Greg Ehlers has qualified for public financing under the Citizens’ Election Program (C.E.P.) in his race for the Senate District 25 seat, according to a notification this week from the C.E.P.. ______________

— an announcement from Greg Ehlers’ campaign

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Ehlers, managing partner of a successful financial services company based in Darien, responded to the notification by thanking “the hundreds of citizens across Darien and Norwalk whose strong support made this possible.”

“Like me,” he continued, “they are deeply concerned about Connecticut’s steep economic decline under the badly mistaken policies of Gov. Dannel Malloy and his local helper with those policies, Bob Duff. This November, we can start turning things around.”

The Citizens’ Election Program was designed to encourage citizen participation in governance by limiting the role of private money in Connecticut’s political process. Participating candidates agree to abide by certain guidelines, including contribution and expenditure limits, as well as disclosure requirements. “Under Bob Duff and Governor Malloy’s leadership, we have experienced two of the largest tax increases in Connecticut’s history, and Duff was silent when Malloy proposed budget cuts to Darien’s public school system, effectively another tax hike on Darien’s residents and neighboring communities,” said Brent Hayes, chairman of the Darien Republican Town Committee.

To the editor:

Sen, Bob Duff has become a politician with many opinions on the key issues affecting the families he claims to represent in Hartford. Nowhere is that more evident than with a new proposal that would slam all Connecticut drivers with a mileage tax. Anyone who follows Connecticut politics has heard a lot about this new tax from their elected officials. Without the doublespeak from career politicians, the mileage tax is exactly what it sounds like — the state of Connecticut taxing you for every mile that you drive in your car, using your odometer and other information to track you. When I learned about this special Orwellian kind of desperate money-grub, I bet my reaction was similar to yours and other people who drive on Connecticut’s highways daily; with initial bewilderment, then shock, and outrage. We already have the highest gas tax per gallon in the country. More people leave Connecticut than any other state in the union and this is how the Democrats in Hartford respond?!

To the editor:

Does voting for an incumbent with seniority in the senate provide you and your family with better representation in Hartford? Over the past 14 years, Norwalkers seem to have wagered that because of the apparent power Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff has accumulated over the course of his political career, they will receive special benefits from the state as a result.

I am a business owner in a fast-paced global economy. I can’t rely on gut feelings when I make decisions about my business and my children’s’ futures. I have to take a look at the numbers to see if they support my initial hunches. That’s why I decided to test what Bob Duff’s “power of incumbency” means for parents, business owners, and all residents who pay taxes in Norwalk. Let’s take the ratio of taxes paid to the state versus state payments to municipalities, numbers that the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis and Department of Revenue Services compile. This is a pretty good indicator, since it measures how much funding your town gets in return for every dollar you and your neighbors pay to Hartford. The results are, to say the least, astonishing. Or, in the case of many Norwalk and Darien families who live paycheck to paycheck, these results are infuriating and wholly unacceptable.

« August 2022 »

To the editor:

As soon as I announced my candidacy against Bob Duff for the State Senate from the 25th District, I was repeatedly told what a “nice guy” Bob is. People pointed out how he attended every ribbon-cutting community event and school graduation in town. I have repeatedly maintained that my campaign will be about issues and a more sustainable plan for Connecticut’s future, not staged photo opportunities. But, my gosh, has Bob Duff let you down this week! I’m not just writing this as a political opponent of Duff’s but as a frustrated father of three in the district who cannot believe how Senator Duff has unapologetically thrown Norwalk and Darien under the bus while fighting for Gov. Dan Malloy in Hartford. For anyone unfamiliar with the proceedings, after the 2017 state budget passed the legislature last month, Gov. Malloy used the line-item veto to make $20 million in cuts to municipalities and deep cuts to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which provide healthcare in under-served areas.