House Republican Press Release

November 13, 2007

Press Office: 860-240-8700

Don’t Forget, Elections have Consequences!

By State Representative John J. Ryan

We are heading towards Thanksgiving, and it will not be long before we will be turning to column topics of what might lay ahead in the upcoming General Assembly Session commencing next year. But let’s finish wrapping up some points from the last two columns before moving on:

Those recent local elections: As an attentive reader, you have probably observed by now that I am not exactly impressed with our local daily print media coverage of government, or elections for that matter. Some things you might have wanted to know, but had a hard time finding in the dailies:

- Disgraceful, appalling, embarrassing results!! And yes we are talking about voter turnout in our area on November 6. Look at these pitiful turnout results: Darien – 40.2%, New Canaan – 40.4 %, Stamford 26.7%, Norwalk - 30.2 %, Wilton – 20.5 %, Westport – 35.3 %....you get the idea; shameful ! (It is always rewarding to those volunteer folks who donate many hours to serving on this or that board or commission to know that more than half; often 2/3 of the “customers” can’t be bothered to take a few minutes to vote once a year.)

- Trends: this is neither a plaudit nor a knock on any candidate or any team, just an observation that the media should have pointed out to you……… did you notice any top-of-ticket incumbents losing? That’s right, in Norwalk, in Darien, in Fairfield, the Mayor/First Selectman incumbent won handily. And that is, of course, because the incumbent has a name recognition advantage. If you have the pleasure of watching lots of polling results, and observed many elections, you note that ‘name recognition factor’ is usually one of the most crucial issues. So, the Mayor’s office in Bridgeport was an “open race” and there was no incumbent by definition, but who was the winner? (State Senator Bill Finch, an incumbent in another job…..name recognition isn’t everything but it certainly is important).

- Campaign night coverage: we certainly can say good things about the media when warranted, and if you do not watch the election coverage on Cablevision News 12, you are not only missing quick results/numbers, they actually have insightful, experienced commentators; e.g. when asked, “experts” Joe McGee and Bob Frankel noted correctly that this year, as in most, there is no correlation observable between local (odd # year) races, and Federal/State (even # year) races! As Tip O’Neill famously opined, all politics is local!

Leadership/results: Are not something that happen once in a while, by accident, or only at campaign time. The greatest sluggers in baseball history make more outs, by far, than home runs. But I hope you might observe that effective leadership in sports (or business, or government) sees obstacles as things to be overcome, problems are for solving and not the reason for excuses, and opposition as something to be expected and dealt with. So note these recent entries on the State news front : Nov. 8 “Governor Rell encouraged by GAO review of FAA Airspace Redesign Project”, also Nov. 8 “Rell unveils $ 50 Million ‘CT Families’ refinancing Program to assist sub-prime borrowers”, and on Nov. 9 “Governor Rell announces $150,000 grant for ‘aggressive driving enforcement’ along I-95 “ ( I’m especially looking forward to that one !) or last week’s CBIA release “State hits new record high for jobs”. We try to say as often as possible that it’s your government. It’s amazing what you can learn if you actually pay attention. Enjoy raking those leaves!

As always please feel free to contact me with your concerns and issues. As your state representative, it is my job, and my priority to represent you and to make sure that your needs and concerns are addressed at the capitol.  You can write to me at Room 4200, Legislative Office Building, and Hartford, CT 06106-1591, send me e-mail at John.Ryan@housegop.ct.gov or call my office toll-free at 1-800-842-1423.