To The Editor:

I am proud to endorse Arnie Berman for Newtown’s Legislative Council.

I know Arnie both as a friend and as a fellow member of the Newtown Lions Club. After spending much of his adult life in Stamford, Darien, Westport, and Fairfield, Arnie and his wife Nancy chose to move to Newtown nearly five years ago because they believed it was the single best place to live in Connecticut. Since then, Arnie has proven their belief was correct by making Newtown even better.

As Second Vice President of the Lions Club, Arnie has worked closely with Bruce Walczak to launch and grow our “Stuff-a-Truck” events. Thanks to their creativity and hands-on leadership, these drives have seen record participation — resulting in generous donations of food and diapers to local pantries.

I’ve chaired the Annual Great Pootatuck Duck Race since 2008. In 2023, I invited Arnie to co-chair the event with me. His energy, fresh ideas, and tireless work helped make the race more fun and more successful than ever — raising critical funds for vision and blindness charities.

In 2024, Arnie began serving on Newtown’s Economic Development Commission, where he’s focused on smart, selective expansion of our commercial tax base — so that municipal taxes fall less heavily on residential homeowners.

Arnie brings exceptional people skills and contagious energy to every group he joins. He listens, he leads, and he lifts others up. That’s the kind of person we need on Newtown’s Legislative Council. Arnie Berman will do for Newtown what he has done for the Lions Club — make it even better.

Please join me in voting for Arnie Berman on November 4. Newtown will be better for it.

Bob Schmidt

Sandy Hook