Radiofree West Hartford -- The Crow's Nest by Tom Evers

THE CROW'S NEST

Today West Hartford residents can reverse a terrible mistake

By Tom Evers

November 04, 2003

Once in a while in the magical political realm an underdog candidate pops out of nowhere and surprises everyone. Two years ago all the stars were aligned and after a tough local election - a young, eager, barely employed, non-property owner emerged as Mayor of the City of West Hartford. It was shocking to most homeowners that upstart Jonathan Harris was about to be elected their leader. And a dark cloud loomed over West Hartford as taxpayers feared the worst.

Upstarts are entertaining characters. Everything Jonathan Harris learned and believed in politically probably came from hours of watching crossfire and reading left-leaning magazines like the Nation. Harris has proven himself to be a strong advocate for left-wing causes. Repeatedly standing up for higher taxes as astronomical as an 11% increase and going to bat for family passes for homosexuals at the pool are only a few of his staple causes.

Despite Harris' victory (the town is overwhelmingly democrat), the highest number of votes went to then-Mayor Rob Bouvier. Unfortunately (or fortunately - depending on your viewpoint), the Democratic candidates in totality received a higher number of votes and the second-place Harris wound up in the Mayor's office.

Today the citizens of West Hartford have an opportunity to correct the mistake made two years ago. They have the opportunity to reverse the trend of run-away spending and huge tax hikes. They have an opportunity to put competent officials back in charge of West Hartford.

West Hartford residents have the opportunity to put the Democratic tax and spend machine out of business so that middle class families can keep some of the income that they work so hard to earn.

In addition to Rob Bouvier - West Hartford residents should seek to elect: Carl Donatelli, Joe Verrengia, Kevin Connors, Barbara Carpenter, Al Turco, Noagan Ma and Tom Florentino. If residents don't support the Republican slate, we could end up in the same situation we were in two years ago - or worse: Harris and his gang might view a victory as a mandate in increase taxes two-fold.

Think about it. Let's put Rob Bouvier back in the Mayor's office; and return West Hartford back to the people.