Voters Have Four Choices

For US Congress

By John Voket

This Election Day, Newtown voters will be asked to consider a freshmen incumbent and former state representative, a current state senator, and two minor party candidates from the region.

Republican David Cappiello is a lifelong resident of Danbury and is currently serving his fifth term in the State Senate representing Danbury, New Fairfield, Bethel, and Sherman. Prior to his election to the Senate, Sen Cappiello served two terms in the General Assembly.

According to his campaign bio, Sen Cappiello’s legislative service has been guided by the core principles of smaller, more efficient government; lower taxes and fiscal responsibility; protection of individual civil liberties; a cleaner environment; and a strong national defense.

 In the Senate, as the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, he played a key role in shaping this year’s budget that invested heavily in health care, education, and energy reform. He played a major part in the Senate Republican effort to expand ConnPACE, which provides prescription drugs for the elderly and disabled, and he successfully fought to obtain State approval for Danbury Hospital to provide expanded, direct access to cardiac care for the greater Danbury area. Sen Cappiello’s legislation that was signed into law provides all newborns in Connecticut with screening for serious metabolic disorders.

His education position promotes improving schools and providing students with access to affordable higher education, which he says is critical to America’s status as an economic leader in the world. Sen Cappiello opposes No Child Left Behind, saying government should not be placing unfunded, one-size-fits-all mandates on school systems. He says America needs an education policy in Washington that gets students out of failing schools by encouraging the development of magnet and charter schools.

Sen Cappiello’s energy policy includes lifting the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, encouraging the use of nuclear power, reforming the oil futures market, investing in cleaner technologies, and ending the costly ethanol mandate.

His position on immigration reform includes completing the border fence as set forth in the Secure Fence Act, deploying infrared and aerial surveillance to enhance border security, increasing Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, and stepping up deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants that have established criminal records — especially those who have committed violent crimes

According to his campaign, Sen Cappiello hopes to eliminate sanctuary cities by holding local governments that encourage illegal immigration accountable. And he believes Congress should also enact new measures that aid law enforcement and reduce the draw of illegal immigration.

He wants to ban the practice of giving drivers licenses, ID cards, or other legal documents to illegal aliens, implement a comprehensive entry and exit tracking program, establish a user-friendly, cost-effective, and reliable database to help employers verify the immigration status of employees, and reward those who come here legally with an easier immigration process

Sen Cappiello will support eliminating earmarks that not only cost the taxpayers money, but perpetuate the culture of waste and corruption in Washington. He wants to balance the federal budget, and supports making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent. To aid businesses, Sen Cappiello says he will encourage job creation by cutting taxes for small businesses, providing incentives for research and development, and rewarding businesses that expand to add Americans to their payrolls.

Democrat Chris Murphy

Democrat Chris Murphy is the incumbent Congressional candidate who is also endorsed by the Working Families Party.

Rep Murphy was first elected to Congress in 2006 by defeating 24-year-incumbent Nancy Johnson. He earned 56 percent of the vote. Since his election to Congress, Rep Murphy has served on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Financial Services Committee.

Before his election to Congress, he served in the Connecticut General Assembly from 1998 to 2006 first representing Southington in the Connecticut House of Representatives for four years, before his election to State Senator for Connecticut’s 16th District.

Rep Murphy grew up in Connecticut, and attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating with honors and a double major in history and political science. In 2002, he graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He currently resides in Cheshire with his wife Catherine Holahan, a New Britain-based legal aid attorney, and their young son Owen.

In January 2008, Rep Murphy supported a bipartisan House economic stimulus package that provided a tax rebate to 1.5 million working families in Connecticut. Separately, according to his campaign site, Rep Murphy’s proposals were incorporated in an end of the year tax bill that became law in late 2007, including a deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses, a credit to offset research and development expenses, a deduction for state and local sales tax, and a credit for businesses for brownfields remediation costs. He also helped to pass a $4.84 billion small business tax relief plan.

In terms of current military conflicts, Rep Murphy says that the only way to force Iraqis to make the political concessions necessary to achieve stability is to demonstrate the US commitment is not open-ended by establishing a timeline for ending our military presence. He has not supported any war funding bill without a clear timeline for the withdrawal of troops, and this will continue to be his position.

To assist returning veterans, Rep Murphy supported a $6.6 billion increase in veterans’ health care spending in the budget passed at the end of 2007.

He believes in universal health care, and one of the first votes Rep Murphy cast as a member of Congress was to require the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the costs of prescription drugs for Americans on Medicare. In April 2007, he introduced H.R. 2065, the Medicare Drug Savings Through Choice Act, which would establish a Medicare drug plan managed by the government as an alternative to the numerous private plans currently available to senior citizens.

On education Rep Murphy says his first priority is supporting a full-scale reform of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). He says Congress must fully fund NCLB, and change the ways progress is measured under NCLB. Rep Murphy wants to give more flexibility to states and school districts to determine Adequate Yearly Process (AYP), and believes high stakes testing fails to provide a broad assessment for evaluating educational improvement.

He would support renewing the federal commitment to early childhood education; fully funding the Head Start Program so that all eligible, low-income preschoolers in Connecticut have the opportunity to participate; fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); and make college affordable for all capable students.

Independent Party Choice

Thomas L. Winn, the Independent Party’s US Congressional candidate, has been a resident of Watertown for 17 years. He served in the Air Force from 1975 to 1979 and is a disabled veteran. He graduated from Alderson Broaddus College in West Virginia in 1986, gaining his bachelor’s degree in medical science and has worked as a physician’s assistant since then. For the past 11 years, the candidate has been working with the developmentally delayed for the State of Connecticut.

According to his campaign site, Mr Winn believes development of alternative power including wind, solar, nuclear, and biofuels is very important. He says increased use of these energy sources over time will reduce America’s dependence on heating oil and potentially free up oil to augment gasoline supplies. Mr Winn believes in addition to these energy sources, the United States needs to drill domestically, as well as develop more domestic refineries.

In regard to the economy, Mr Winn proposes a bill that would end unfair world trade practices and reform the free world trade market. He supports suspending US trade ties with countries that do not abide by the fair free trade laws.

Mr Winn believes Connecticut needs to provide a business-friendly environment, working with industry to strengthen the US economy. He cites tax credits and incentives given to the movie industry in Connecticut as an example of how government can work with business to increase economic growth. He says jobs created and increases in service related income benefit state taxpayers.

The Independent candidate believes the state needs to use this model in other industries to continue promoting job growth, increasing tax revenue, and promoting Connecticut as a friendly place to live and work.

He says health insurance should be calculated the same way as automobile, life, and homeowner insurance. With more individuals in the insurance pool, Mr Winn believes costs should be reduced significantly.

He says prescription-only insurance plans should be an option for those who are in general good health, and for those who make infrequent doctor visits but need medication on a more frequent basis.

For more on the Independent congressional candidate, visit www.winnforcongress.com/site/

Green Party Candidate

Thomas Burbank III is the Green Party’s congressional challenger. He is a human rights attorney who holds a degree in international relations and a law degree.

Mr Burbank was hired by former Connecticut Attorney General Joe Lieberman out of law school and served under him as an Assistant Attorney General for Public Utilities and Public Works. Subsequently, he has served as Penobscot Indian Nation Director of Human Services (Maine), and Maine Assistant Attorney General for Child Protection.

His professional public service work in Connecticut alone spans 20 years, including working in Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s Bridgeport-based Child Support Office.

Since 2003 Mr Burbank has had a private law practice in Canton, specializing in human rights law. His clients have ranged from Connecticut’s indigent parents who owe child support to Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada and other US service people seeking redress for Iraq war injustices.

He successfully defended Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader in a law suit by the Democratic National Committee aimed at keeping Nader off the ballot in Maine in 2004. Mr Burbanks’ main passion is his antiwar work.

He has been married to Winsted kindergarten teacher Marianne Burbank for 28 years, and currently lives in Canton with their two teenage children.

For details on the Green Party congressional candidate, click on www.newmenu.org/haroldburbank or call 860-693-2687.

All four of these individuals are eligible US congressional candidates in all Newtown voting districts.