Local GOP Senate Forum Packed

Them In Wednesday Evening

By John Voket

It was standing room only April 27 as interested residents and visitors turned out to hear all four GOP contenders for the US Senate seat being vacated by Christopher Dodd. The 90-minute forum included opening and closing remarks, along with impromptu questions tendered by attendees.

On hand were Vincent Forras, Linda McMahon, Peter Schiff, and Rob Simmons.

Mr Forras, a former firefighter and 9/11 survivor, resides in Ridgefield. He told the crowd that while he was enjoying cobbling together several jobs, including a martial arts instructor and lifeguard, upon his graduation from college with a teaching degree, he accepted his father’s request to take over a mom and pop manufacturing firm that supplied high tech military components.

He said he transformed that half-million-dollar business into three diverse businesses with combined annual sales of $10 million.

Mr Forras said his business involvement lasted through the 9/11 tragedy, where after responding as part of a Westchester County volunteer crew, he was buried amid the rubble during a rescue operation. After that near-death situation, he said he decided to dedicate his life to God and to helping others.

He founded Gear Up Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping families of those who perished at Ground Zero through charitable actions around the world and at home. He said donations included fire engines, equipment, training, and a school that continues to operate in Ecuador.

Mr Simmons used his opening comments to tout his vast military and government service record, as well as his heritage and family upbringing. He spent 19 months in active military service in Vietnam transitioning to a stint with the Central Intelligence Agency, working as an operations officer, including serving in East Asia where he participated in several “difficult and dangerous missions.”

Mr Simmons said when he left the CIA, he was honored to be asked to join the staff of Senator John H. Chafee of Rhode Island. In 1981, he was assigned as a staff member to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and soon thereafter was appointed by Chairman Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) to serve as staff director of the full committee.

Locally, his political service also transitioned from a police commission seat in Stonington to a statehouse seat as an elected Connecticut Legislator. He subsequently became first Republican in 50 years to win three terms in the Second US Congressional District.

After three terms in Congress, Mr Simmons said he was appointed by Governor M. Jodi Rell as Connecticut’s first Business Advocate. And during his two-year term, he visited more than 400 local small businesses to listen to employers and workers, and help them address the challenges facing small businesses in Connecticut.

Ms McMahon discussed her business background as a former principal and board member of World Wrestling Entertainment. She made a point of reminding the audience that she had stepped down as the chief executive officer of WWE, but for many years before her full-time commitment to the Senate race, she helped grow the company from a 13-person operation to a global enterprise with more than 500 employees.

She said her campaign was committed to not to accepting PAC or special interest money; that she limits contributions to her campaign to $100; and she plans to use her own resources to help finance the race and ensure she is competitive with he challenger, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Ms McMahon said she was hoping to capitalize on her broad business and public service background to address improving the business and jobs situation in Connecticut.

“Our government is taking our country in the wrong direction,” she said. “Getting people back to work is the only thing that is going to change this economy.”

She said congress needs to focus on reducing the national debt and out-of-control spending. She also talked about taking Iran to task, and suggested the United States could exact more control over that Mideast nation by stopping our nation’s dependence on Iran’s imported oil.

Ms McMahon said the country needs strong leaders in Washington who build coalitions, but who come to serve with no promises made, and no political baggage.

Mr Schiff reviewed his resume, which included a stint as a regular financial commentator on CNN, and an author of several books related to finance, and the government’s handling of national financial matters. He said he prided himself on forecasting the national economic crisis during the early years of the G.W. Bush Presidency.

In 2006, he said he sounded the alarm that the US economy was facing significant challenges as the credit and housing bubbles neared deflation. But his predictions were not widely or well-received. He told the audience at the local GOP forum that government intervention through regulation, stimulus programs, and corporate bailouts can only worsen the nation’s economic crisis.

He identified himself as a third generation Connecticut resident, whose grandfather settled here at the turn of the 20th Century, working as a skilled laborer on a number of local landmarks, including the Yale Bowl.

Mr Schiff said he embraces strong fiscally conservative principles, and believes that the nation’s economic recovery should be left to the free market through businesses and individuals — not the federal government. He said that “out of 100 members of the US Senate, at least one should have real world experience in finance and economics.”

(Listen to the full audio segment of the GOP’s Senate forum question and answer session and closing remarks by clicking on the story link at newtownbee.com)