118Th Seat Challenged By Independent Party

Independent Party Town Committee Chairman Rocco Frank announced recently that he will run for the 118th District House seat this fall on a platform of protecting the Bill of Rights and increasing state funding for schools.

Rep. Barbara Lambert, D-Milford, is not running for re-election in the district. Frank ran against her and Republican Nanci Seltzer in 2008 for the seat after former House Speaker James A. Amann opted not to run again.

Frank said recently that his previous campaign experience showed him that voters wanted an alternative to Democrats and Republicans.

CONTINUE READING AT CHRIS RHATIGANS STORY AT THE REGISTER

Rocco Frank For 118Th District State Representative

Rocco J. Frank, Jr., CEO of ComputerFox Stores, a local computer repair chain, will announce his candidacy for State Representative for the 118th District of Connecticut, on Wednesday May 19th, during a Milford Independent Party Town Committee.

Frank is a registered Independent, and in 2010 will run for a second time. Frank says, “He is frustrated by the lack of state funds to our schools, their associated unfunded mandates, and the sustained loss of individual rights as justified by our corrupt Federal Government.” Frank pledges that he “will introduce and support 9th and 10th amendment legislation if the Federal government continues to federally tax Milford’s citizens and then give no services in return.”

Frank, who is no stranger to politics, wants to eliminate political corruption and start a truth movement. He aims to make the Milford community passionate about important issues again, and to increase voter turnout. He is also a strong Constitutionalist, believing whole-heartedly in protecting our nation’s most valued document and upholding the Bill of Rights to ensure the freedoms of all Americans.

Frank’s large Milford ComputerFox location will also serve as his political headquarters. The facility is located at 374 New Haven Ave. in Milford. All are welcome to stop in to meet with the candidate and to learn more about what he stands for. All are encouraged to visit the official website at www.roccofrank.com to check out his Biography, Political Agenda, see a schedule of events, to read or post blogs, watch important political videos, to obtain Contact Information and learn how to help with the Frank campaign.

The Frank campaign will begin with his speech at the start of the evening ITC meeting, which will run from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM on Wednesday May 19.

The Meeting is located at Citrus 56 Broad Street in Milford. Frank will be addressing the public on the viability of merging of the two High Schools and methods of procuring school construction dollars from the State of Connecticut. The meeting is free to attend.

Lambasting Milford's Barbara Lambert

It has been nearly a year since our Freshman Representative has taken office in Hartford at the state capitol. Many folks have been asking me what she has been up to because there is nothing in the papers about her positions, no mention of how she is implementing her "plan" or how she is challenging "utilities" "taxes" and all the buzz she put in her mass mailed sales brochure. To be quite honest I personally have not seen or heard a thing about how she is serving Milford, not in the papers or in the news.

Today I googled her name, and I even visited her legislative website. It mentions she is on a labor committee, and some other trivial "hoopla" and the Google results just come up with a bunch of other self promoting party propaganda probably written by herself, kids, friends, and party bosses.

While she is off in space somewhere, Milford is in the process of having its school funding cut from the state, and yet I have not heard a mention that she somehow is for or against this. I and other parents, would like to know what Ms. Lambert (and our other representatives are doing)to save our school funding from the cutting board? Now that I am personally running for the board of ed I am going to voice my complaint here since she is basically MIA on all issues. Most people I speak with, especially those who voted for her along with Obama, do not even remember her or know who she is, but when I asked them how they voted they said all Democrat.

To cut to the chase on this one, I am personally very disappointed that Ms. Lambert does not seem to stand for anything, that she is making no effort to take a public stance in the papers to defend the things that are being taken from our town. The Courthouse Annex, green energy, the Boardwalk and now our schools are about to be shortchanged further. I think we need to ask Ms. Lambert "what exactly are you doing and why are you not standing up for our town?"

I am personally really disappointed that she is not fighting hard for us. Milford deserves better.

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SUMMARY OF MILFORD EDUCATIONAL CUTS
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Governor Rell's budget cuts would:

* Reduce many state education grants by 10% from their current funding level.

* Reduce special education service grants by 10% in all municipalities.

* Eliminate state funding for internet access, and filtering of "adult" content in all public libraries and K-12 schools in Connecticut.

* Eliminate or reduce by 40% the amount of state funding given to local health departments and health districts.

These cuts would come on top of other cuts in municipal aid or flat-funding of programs that our cities and towns rely on. The Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) grant, which is the largest portion of state aid for local education in Connecticut, would be flat-funded for the two year budget. In addition, other programs such as the PILOT (Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes) Grant, which helps cities and towns make up for tax losses for tax exempt properties such as state property, hospitals and universities, have been reduced as well. These cuts, along with elimination of funding for our libraries, will put a strain on our municipalities.

State Rep Cafero "Legislature Unfriendly To Small Business."

Larry Cafero, Norwalk state Representative in a recent meeting with republican candidates has called the state legislature "unfriendly to small business."

In a partisan and divisive attack, Rep. Cafero blamed the house Democrats as the culprits behind the economic turmoil in our state. Cafero has claimed that our state legislature was rated "50Th out of 50" as the least friendly legislature to small business in America.

As a small business owner myself, I can certainly agree that there are challenges, but placing blame one single party is a stretch unless we exclude the Rowland era corruption and the accusations of bid rigging and beyond all over the state.

From my vantage point, and as a small business owner myself, I can personally attest that the problems I face are more to do with my customers struggling to make ends meet. While I, like most businesses do no not have a Beverly Hills elite clientele but rather the everyday middle class family people as my customers, charging a profit in the wake of fierce competition can hardly be blamed on any one single party let alone the Democrats.

What challenges small business in Connecticut is as simple as the cost of living, Food and Energy inflation and the availability of living wage jobs. Our state legislature certainly can make things easier by lowering the price of gas, but I assure you that if the energy price drops to that of New Jersey we will need tolls. Even in NJ where gas is cheap in the long run you pay more just through the aggregate taxation of tolls added to the cost of getting around.

With our legislative record now marred as the worst in America perhaps it is time to get serious about providing solutions and not blaming Democrats for political gain. When Cafero indicated in his July stump speech that he let the National Republicans define the scope and purpose of our state leaders, he admitted that their complacency and trust for their national party has become a problem.

The Republicans now are composed of less than 400,000 to the overwhelming 700,00 democrats in this state. Nothing however compares to the largest group of registered voters the "Unaffiliated" (Or as I believe the Independents) now registered to the tune of 800,000.

These numbers speak clearly to me about how the public feels toward the policies of the Republicans and the national agenda that Cafero wants to step away from. Cafero has good reason to try and reinvent the Republican Party in this state, he needs to take it back from the national leaders who have let the Bush Cheney legacy erode at the core of its scope and purpose.

The Republican party, as I remembered it was one that marked the progress and protections of the Constitution and kept the Republic of America strong. The Republicans were the precursor to the agenda of the upper class in America. Today we are struggling to maintain the integrity of the U.S. Constitution, we are debating things like freedom of speech as basic civil rights again. These were all policies imposed after 9/11 by the Republican administration.

In 2005 Bush called the constitution a "Goddamn piece of paper" and followed up with the Patriot act 1 & 2, started multiple wars with botched CIA intelligence and promoted the Anti-American agenda of the PNAC (Project for a new American Century). These are not to include the colossal bipartisan blunder of NAFTA, GAFTA and every other policy that allows for foreign invasion and export of jobs. Also, Illegal migrant workers were permitted leniency by both parties and are now the subject of angry debate not only in Connecticut but all over America.

How do we restore a sound macro-economy in connecticut when our biggest industry is weapons? Connectut makes Submarines, Helicopters, Satellites, Armaments, Radar, and yes of course gambling. Tradgically war is good for the state economy, however sad and frustrating this is to me Connecticut spoke again when our favorite war hawk Joe Lieberman was ousted from his own party. Our state is craving a peace industry, we do not desire to be a global supplyer of death merchandise and gambling.

Personally I respect Rep. Cafero, however I do not agree with his rhetoric that divides the parties rather than unites them. The problems we all face are not Republican or Democrat problems, they are Federal problems, they are global competition problems, energy problems, inflation problems and deficit in leadership problems. I know Mr. Cafero knows this, that is why I wrote this article today to take issue with his polarizing blame of something he clearly knows better on.

The answers to small business in Connecticut, is good Jobs, not just any job but good paying living wage jobs. Tax cuts for unemployed people do not help small business, nor does a little cheaper gas. What helps small business is for our kids and grand kids to have a future in which they can afford a home, a car, an education, and to go shopping. I cannot emphasize enough that jobs and living wage incomes is what this state needs and Connecticut should be focused on that, not blaming opponents for Connecticut's horrible record. Show me real solutions not blame!