Christina Tatta for Wallingford Town Council

Another one of my votes for Wallingford Town Council will be going to Republican Christina Tatta in November.  This is the first time she is running for Town Council however she has been very active in Wallingford.  I had the pleasure of serving with Christina on the Wallingford Charter Revision Commission in 2016-17.  She served as Vice Chairperson for that commission and I found her very articulate and prepared in those two years that we served.  She also was an Alternate and then became a Full Member of the Zoning Board of Appeals.  The ZBA can sometimes be a difficult commission to serve on due to the nature of the appeals.  In seeing Christina serve on this commission I found her to handle all issues with a great depth of research and without bias.  She has done an excellent job on each.
These commissions does give her great insight and vision in order to serve on our Town Council.  I can envision her being a well qualified and planned member looking at both sides of an issue as they come up onto the Council.
Some of her stances from her website: www.christinatatta.com
"As a steward of your money, I will work to maintain a low mill rate and to continue and improve upon town services."
"Wallingford has a strong school system. I am supportive of the school-business-government relationship that gives students "real world" experiences. I will work to keep our BOE budget affordable."
"I work at my family's business, so I understand local business' needs. I will work with our Economic Development Commission, and I will be an advocate of business."
I feel Christina Tatta would be an excellent addition to the Wallingford Town Council. We need more individuals who understand the struggles of those taxpayers who work in the real economic world as she does to represent them.  I urge my fellow Wallingford voters to cast one of their votes for her on Election Day.  

Chris Shortell For Wallingford Town Council

One of my votes for Wallingford Town Council will be going to Republican candidate Chris Shortell. He is a dynamic and well established candidate who offers a variety of useful ideas.  He has done  superb work in my opinion as a member of the Wallingford Town Council  He is a family man with two wonderful children.  

I recently got a chance to discuss some issues and ideas with Chris.
The first area we discussed were some of his accomplishments with the Town Council. He led the effort to get Community Pool open longer this season working with the Mayor and Councilor Cervoni and the rest of the Council to find the dollars to keep the pool open to Labor Day.  He was able to do it without raising taxes; repurpose some other funding, including the proposed TC raise.
In the area of Public safety we discussed two issues here:  His concern about the staffing of our police force for several years.  In 2017, Chief Wright admitted during the budget sessions that he wanted more officers, but was afraid to ask given the state’s economic climate.  That budget cycle, Shortell motioned (and Councilor Laffin seconded) to give him two more officers.  They couldn’t get the votes, but they are both convinced it helped him pave the way to get more the last two budget cycles. We’ve now added 4 officers and the Chief feels we are in a much better place.  The increased staff gives him flexibility with patrols, especially at night with the car break-ins.  The added cost to taxpayers is around $16 a month vs. two years ago.   We were both in agreement that it is worth it—public safety is our primary job.  Shortell also feels that Councilor Laffin deserves credit on this issue also.

The other public safety issue is the online transactions safe zone.  People use social media to buy/sell stuff…but then you may end up meeting complete strangers in parking lots or other obscure places.  He approached Chief Wright a few years ago and suggested that we use the Police station parking lot as a designated “safe zone” for online transactions.  West Hartford and other towns had done this, and he agreed. 

A big issue that I have been impressed with has been the modernizing of the town and BOE insurance plans. He has been a vocal advocate of the Town and Board shifting to H.S.A. plans.  He has been the most vocal on this one.  We are making progress—he believes all of the collective bargaining units now offer the HSA, at least as an option.  The bad news is that on the BOE side, the HSA plan is very, very rich and still needs some work.  And on the town side, while their version of the plan is more cost effective to tax payers, they don’t structure the payroll contribution to motivate people to choose it.  He has been beating the drum on this for four years (six, actually, counting the BOE), and will continue to do so in the future.

Some future issues include for example Public Safety:  He is concerned about the aging police station.  Nobody is talking about this (yet) but it’s an issue that’s coming.  He is against satellite police offices, as some members of the public and other candidates are advocating for. He does not see the economic value in those and I will agree with him on that issue.

He also favors a new pool and to continue the tradition of the Community Pool that the town has had for 50 years.

A centralized High School has caused great debate this year. Shortell will not support one high school at a cost of $120 million and the proposals are ridiculous.  The goal should be saving money—that’s the only way to make consolidating high schools work.  And unfortunately, that’s not what is being proposed, for the most part.

It was refreshing for me to speak with Chris and discuss his views.  

His website for more information is www.ckshortell.com

I feel Chris Shortell would be an excellent candidate for Town Council.  I urge fellow Wallingford voters to vote for him and re elect him in November.

Why Is Food Taxed At All In Connecticut?

Correct me if I am wrong but do we need food to live and survive?  Are we not supposed to eat protein, fruits and vegetables to provide nutrients to keep our bodies working?  Apparently food is a luxury now in Connecticut as we have seen with the latest tax scheme by the Connecticut Democrat Party in expanding the "food tax" to an enormous amount of items at a 7.35% rate.  Damage control has been in full gear by the Connecticut Democrat Party in its emails and public statements that it was not their intention to tax spinach in a bag along with other food items.  Tax and spend State Representative Mary Mushinsky 85th District (Wallingford) sent an email out on 9/19/19 stating "Grocery tax? That wasn’t the intent of our state budget!"  These reassuring words by her represent to me how incompetent the Connecticut Democrat Party is in governing.  Didn't the Connecticut Democrat Party vote on their new budget with all of their new taxes not knowing what was going to be taxed?  Are they that stupid?  And in damage control Governor Lamont by decree got the Department of Revenue Services to rescind some of the taxes on the newly taxed foods they deemed taxable.  The process of modifying this new food tax has to come from the state legislature through a vote to modify the tax bill not by the Governor stating to change it.  I suggest that the Connecticut Democrat Party along with its Governor read the State Constitution to see what the actual process is.  
While they are at it the Connecticut Democrat Party needs to explain to the remaining legal Connecticut Taxpayers why food is taxed at all if it is essential to our survival?  Or is food now a luxury according to the Connecticut Democrat Party and therefore must be taxed at one of the highest rates in the country at 7.35%?  State Representative Mary Mushinsky's email did little to clarify to me why food should be taxed at all in Connecticut.  
This new food tax and all of the other taxes Connecticut has on all aspects of our lives and doing business in the state have helped to create the economic downfall and chronic recession our state has been engulfed in for many years now.  It shows the impact and economic damage of years of Democrat Party rule that sadly Connecticut has had to endure.  
And I still do not have an answer to why is food taxed at all in Connecticut?  When will it be answered?  I am waiting and waiting and waiting.

Connecticut's New Secret Food Taxes

The Connecticut Democrat Party loves to tax its remaining legal citizens and businesses.  Striving to have the highest taxes in the country, the Connecticut Democrat Party was able to sneak into legislation a new 1% restaurant tax that increases the taxes you pay in the restaurant from 6.35% to 7.35%.  But this new "1% restaurant tax" is much more than that.
Beginning October 1 most items in the grocery store when you go shopping will be taxed at 7.35%.  Some of the items include the following: 5 or less donuts, muffins, pastries and rolls, ready cooked chicken or turkey, hot dogs in a bun, salad in a salad bar, bagels when individually prepared, warm popcorn or kettle corn and pizza whole or sliced just to name a few items.  In other words all prepared foods and most smaller quantities of food will be charged a sales tax.  Thus for example a senior citizen who may have difficulty in cooking will now be forced to pay a 7.35% sales tax on any ready to eat food they buy from their local grocery store.  Their cost of living will go up dramatically since they will be paying  an average of $30 to $40 a month more in food costs due to now having to pay a sales tax on the food they eat.  Being on a fixed income this will become a major issue for many senior citizens who will now be forced to cut back on food since it has just gone up 7.35% in cost.
The purpose of this new secret food tax is to raise revenue for our never ending Connecticut Democrat Party budget deficits and to increase state spending for political corruption and nepotism (as was seen this past week with the hiring of Ned Lamont's cousins son for a $52000 a year job).
The Connecticut Democrat Party apparently besides despising legal Connecticut citizens and legal taxpayers also want to make Connecticut's senior citizens suffer even more with taxing the food they eat.
This new food tax can only be viewed as a Socialist's dream tax that can cause economic pain on anyone who has to eat in our state.
The Connecticut Democrat Party continues its quest to rid the state of its remaining legal citizens and taxpayers along with now its senior citizens who will suffer the most with these new food taxes.
The solution to the Connecticut Democrat Party omnipotent and ruthless rule in our state is to either move out and or stop paying state taxes to have our state government go broke and then bankrupt.  But wait a minute isn't Connecticut bankrupt already with $100 billion dollars of short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities?
Not really since the lies the Connecticut Democrat Party has been force feeding its legal citizens is really the truth of the ruling political elite who have no shame, no morals and no ability to govern in our once great state.