Milford's Lambert Speechless on Losses

Jim Amann touted in his 2007 legislative update the great progress he made in Hartford. One of those accomplishments was the court house annex, and another was the boardwalk connecting the beaches together in Milford.

These are all eerie reminders of the past, and a true testament that our new State Representative Barbara Lambert is holding true to her word. This is something she said to to the Milford paper a few months ago. Lambert was quoted and used the word "intimidating" when referring to the atmosphere at the state capitol.

Should we be surprised that she has not spoken out against the very things that her predecessor Amann touted as his successes? For one I am personally thrilled that the courthouse suffered a defeat, as I see the downtown courthouse project as being minimally beneficial to local business. The downtown courthouse is little more than a hang out for angry, depressed miserable people. This is something I would love to see replaced with a Maritime Museum or something more happy. Perhaps the courthouse can move to an industrial area where misery will not negatively impact our community.

That digression aside the defeat of the courthouse and the boardwalk was certainly to be expected in these financially troubled times. What was not expected is Lambert's Silence on this issue. Her silence suggests to me that she is making a defacto statement that she, is either asleep, or does not see this loss as worth commenting over. Whatever the case I believe she needs to make a statement about her position and what she intends to do about it.

These Amann achievements now undone or "shelved" for a while what next for the future development of Milford? What legacy, or accomplishments will she bring in these lean times? and What should we expect her to deliver to Milford?

Certainly more than the undoing of what previous Democrats have touted as accomplishments for our town. This blog is a reminder that a hypocritical silence exists at the state level in Milford, a silence that is "intimidated" and remains silent as her parties accomplishments are being all snatched away.

While I say "good riddance" to the "court house annex" and the "Boardwalk" what say those who must feel betrayed by the ease of which they were reneged from our community? Do Democrats even bother to criticize or fight to hold on to that which they deem a success? Apparently not because Lambert appears to too scared to fight for her constituents!

Some Milford Homes Fall Into Disrepair as Residents Struggle to Pay Bills

Over the last several months I have been walking around the district, the lower end of Milford, and while many of the high end, high value homes located along the waterfront are in great shape and in some cases being built to palatial status others are not so fortunate.

These homes are the inland homes, those located within the city and away from the waterfront. There were scores of homes that I personally visited in disrepair, these included broken steps, peeling paint, moss covered roofs, overgrown grass and trees and in many cases water damage from leaks inside the homes. The underlying cause of this problem stems from the occupants financial abilities and their priorities.

Some residents cited the disrepair issues as a result of the passing of a handy husband, while most others simply could not afford to complete something as basic as a paint job. With the average painter charging between $5,000 and $10,000 many town residents have not had incomes that are able to keep up with the surging cost of property taxes, energy, home maintenance, and food.

One such local man who I met on the trail had the (all to common story), that he just lost his job at a plumbing company citing that hard economic times have now impacted even the once reliable service sector. In my neighborhood alone almost all my neighbors save money by cutting their own grass and do their own landscaping.

Some locals blame this change on the local government and inattentive leaders. Our current representative Jim Amann is one person that I have learned yields either praise or utter contempt, one person in particular "said he lost track of his roots.. I remember when my son leader of the Young Democrats helped him get elected, today he has to call his secretary to make an appointment.". This alludes to the frustration, political disconnect, and confusion about why so many people in town have fallen behind due to their un-manageble economic difficulties.

My own personal opinion is that all the reasons cited by individuals on the trail may be correct, I agree that energy and taxes are among the main culprits, but none have hurt America more than our leaders in in Washington D.C. One item of particular concern has been the Feds abondoning states creating a financial hardship that force cities into the mistake of "locally taxing our way out of our problems." This works in the short term as we have seen this year but over time if the local, state, federal job situation does not improve, and incomes fail to keep up with the cost of living, than the old Chinese proverb that "water seeks its own level" may soon be a bitter reality.

This has been seen time and again and the best example of it is in economically challenged cities like Bridgeport and Waterbury. These homeowners have seen their mill rates rise as their home values plummeted. This happens because when homes are sold what is most important to a homeowner is whether or not they can afford to make that monthly payment. If they cannot they move on to a home that is priced less pushing down the value of the entire real estate market.

When houses sell for less the cities and state collect less taxes. The state collects less conveyance tax, and the city whose tax is based on a mill rate recieves less as it calculates out to a smaller payment. This is the dangerous "cat and mouse" game that municipalities play to keep their services "afloat." The balance and needs of public services Vs. taxpayers and their ability to pay is now with us long into the future. When this becomes imperiled the city will begin to gradually withdraw services from the community fueling increases in protests and political dissent in virtually all areas of government. The time to act is now, continuing to wait on these issues will result in further loss of hope of our towns people who are already very upset and disenfranchised.

July 6, 1999 Devon's Revitalization Committe Has Its First Meeting

This was the first recorded meeting that I could locate regarding the Devon Revitalization Committee. During that meeting the committee interviewed three firms; TPA, Westcott & Mapes, and Stephen Wing.

Nearly Nine years later Devon is still struggling to change its overall appearance, secure developers, face off to local opposition, and plead with the state for continued funding.

When one visits Devon, they are greeted with a very large and official sign from the state of CT. The sign is located at the corner of Bridgeport Ave. and Naugatuck Ave. Locals have been calling for changes to the look and feel of the facade's on the Bridgeport Ave. Corridor through Devon into Milford.

Robert Russ, a blogger for the Village of Devon Blog has indicated that in addition to these challenges there have been some successes as well but all of it not as great as one would hope. Robert Russ a Devon Resident said in 7/07 "Why if we are doing so much work to Devon does it look so half incomplete. It was a nice start at the bridge. Liberty Rock is a nice addition. Please not another useless expensive clock. All the power lines should have been put underground the streets just don't look right. "

Another un-named resident said: "I think my main concern at this point is the traffic. There are a few traffic lights that could/should be rethought. On Naugatuck Ave, the delayed light by the tile store should have an arrow. All of us who live in the area know the light timing, but what about those that are all moving into the area now? Also, at the light at Naugatuck and Spring Street, that light should NOT turn green at the same time as the light next to Al Dente. They are not even facing each other. I was almost hit by a bus the other day because we both had a green light and we unaware the other had one. VERY dangerous! "

While I have personally visited the Devon area my opinion is that the corridor needs to be redeveloped, and planning and zoning needs to implement new zoning rules for signage, and new construction improvements in those areas. Grants from the state should be given to the business owners of those buildings who agree to have the facades of their stores rebuilt to a standard that preserves the character and charm of Milford. These should include the formation of a business redevelopment group and involve participation and support from local business owners who desire to improve the pedestrian traffic and parking within the vicinity of their businesses. Hopefully this can still be accomplished in light of the state of Connecticuts new financial problems.

For a complete list of minutes regarding the progress of the Devon Revitalization Committee click on the link at the bottom of this page.

Hollywood East? or Hollywood Feast?

Recently it has been brought to my attention that the New Haven independent confirmed firm interest in developing Hollywood East in the grounds near the Sikorski airport. Not being privy to all the details and meetings that my opponent is privy to I did receive an e-mailed request to read the article and I agreed to share my thoughts and to keep things in the open I will share them here with you as well.

To begin, this project has always brought up mixed feelings in me, as I believe Hollywood East could be a great thing for our state. I was a bit surprised by the mostly negative comments, but was not surprised by the cynicism. One of my concerns about this project is its state leadership, one in particular is a college drop out. If I had to make a bet on who was going to get a better deal the PHD's in business that work for Hollywood or our feeble minded state leaders... well its a "no brainer" no pun intended.

I will be praying that the elements behind this deal are honest, that Blumenthal is reading and advising on the contracts and the CT taxpayers are not left with chronic traffic congestion and no funds for schools or road repairs. I believe that botched or improperly structured tax credits can hurt a city more than help it. When the casino deals were negotiated those deals were good for the state (in terms of business and returns in tax revenue) as far as its moral implications I still take issue with the induced negative social impact and mental health problems associated with gambling addiction. I mention casino's because our initial reticence to have them is what led to that "kind of a sweet deal". Someone in Hartford needs to remember that and look out for the environment, our cities, and the needed revenue derived to support local municipal demands. This type of a large scale project will undoubtedly bring a new need for sewer construction, grid work, emergency personnel and the local schools who may get new out of state students but not enough tax revenue.

My initial thought is that the expert negotiators in Hollywood have done an extensive profit & loss analysis on the scope and nature of this project, while one un-named leader is just about ready to believe every promise made and sign anything he must without thinking beyond the information he is fed. We already know he "butted heads" with Blumenthal over the high cost of energy when he refused to support his advice regarding a "windfall profits tax." Should Blumenthal, who reads and understands contracts as he is an Attorney, it is entirely possible that quality advice may get ignored CT yet again!

To sum this up I will say that it is my opinion that Hollywood East is very exciting, but only if the deal takes care of the surrounding community and keeps its promises. The only thing I would change about this deal is its CT leadership and its uncanny ability to divide argue and upset people with ignorance of simple contract negotiations.
What are your thoughts?

Can A School Drop Out Become Governor?

Our Speaker of the House, and my opponent has got to have the biggest "pair" in town. His academic achievement is absolutely baffling and sub-par. Jim Amann also known by many "old timers" in town as the Johnathan Law High School troublemaker created a name for himself the day he set the school on fire.

People who know Jim have characterized him as being a sub par student who had difficulty attaining even the most basic of academic standards. Against the odds, he did graduate from High School even with all the controversy and mischief he was known for there.

He did attend University for a very short time, but for numerous unknown reasons he eventually concluded that college was not "his thing" and decided to quit.

This academic failure on his part raises a very important question on many peoples minds. How can a person who has such a poor educational level, be expected to comprehend in-depth legislation, complex accounting spreadsheets, and even be expected to know how to manage thousands of employees, negotiate contracts based on sound macro-economic principles and be trusted not enslave the population of our state with his mistakes?

Perhaps times were different then, but today most parents (who love their children) would cringe should they discover that their child was a juvenile delinquent whose sole ambition was to quit school. What is more enlightening about our Speaker is that he has a crass, crude vocabulary to match his "sub-par" education.

Amann, as part of his vocabulary, routinely engages others with unprofessional language. These choice words include "Idiot," "HeartOn", "Crush", "Brain-Dead", and many others too inappropriate to mention. Certainly we would not call this progressive under any circumstance. If anything these inappropriate words are an admission of our Speaker's disappointing and unprofessional image as a state legislator.

As if that was not shocking enough, Jim is now getting even more arrogant and grandiose than ever before. Jim, after enraging the the Democrats by ignoring party primary results in the last U.S. Senate race, is demanding that the Democratic Party, the very people he betrayed, support his bid for Governor. Quite sadly, and absent any real choices come 2010, it is entirely possible that CT could have this under educated, insulting, and un-professional man become our next governor.

It is my belief, that should Amann actually win the gubernatorial bid, our state will see his lack of education result in some of the greatest political and economic mistakes ever made in CT. Anyone supporting Amann's bid must be prepared to pay with their own jobs, lives, health and family finances.

Personally I know this to be true based on the fact that his record speaks to his character. We can expect more of the same frustrating, costly trial and error with Amann. We could expect increased potential for corruption, more wasted tax dollars on lavish parties, more opposition and issues with ethics committees, more rude insulting divisive crass language, the introduction and passing of bills that he does not read on fully understand and of gravest concern the constant battle to misappropriate state funds on mundane projects that in debt our state and benefit no one.

Every person in lower Milford needs to band together and send a message this Nov. 2008 that we demand higher standards of both professionalism and academia of our leaders in Hartford. We must speak out with our voice and with a vote for Change. This November vote for Independent leadership not in the clutches of a bickering deceptive party system.

As of today nearly 30% of our state, frustrated with parties, have become registered independents, and yet not one Independent representative exists in Hartford. Voting for me Rocco J. Frank Jr. this Nov. will bring the long overdue Independent voice desperately needed Hartford.

My promise is to never be compromised by energy interests, lobbyists, or any tyrants who come bearing gifts in exchange for favorable policy. Having a great family and loving children, there is nothing more that I desire than to return to you all that you lost. All our children deserve better from our leaders who often are lost to the subversive nature and prevalent corruption that will remain ever present in the annals of government.

UI Profits Soar 288%...And Accordingly So Does Milford's Forclosures!

UI had its annual conference call last week February 2008. To sum things up they whined that the economy was slow, you could not pay your bill and their losses on bogus xcelecom were disappointing.

On the party side their profit jumped 288% from 9 cents a share to 35 Cents a share! This profit was achieved by those of you who are paying your bills. They are anxiously waiting to fire up their pollution factories formerly known as the "filthy Five" and the "Sooty Seven" to increase their profits even more perversely.

As they increase their mega profits, the Connecticut Post today noted that Milford's pre-forclosures are up from 50 last month to 166 this month. The front page of the finance section bears concern of stagflation. But don't worry UI's Executives are also concerned about the economy, it has held their profits back to only 288% when they should have been more than that. The awful truth, if I may add a little sarcasm, is that purchasing candles has become a much cheaper lighting source than electric. This may now become even more relevant as the 2009 future prediction by UI's executives greedily boast double digit profit projections. I predict more people will be "breaking a sweat" flipping a light switch and/or acting out against family members who do not shut off lights.

I am absolutely baffled by the quote of Rich who said "Continuing operations for the fourth quarter are up nicely 35 Cents a share compared to 9 cents a share in 2006." I am absolutely speechless that this company was allowed to conduct itself in the economically oppressive manner that it has. This is an outrage and I am appalled that the DPUC has no control over the menacing profit of a public utility company.

Amazingly, they even succeeded in bilking the IRS out of 21 Million Dollars! Listen to the entire conference call because I am disappointed that in spite of the fact that this company has been given a new power grid, overcharged us with fraudulent meters, was given a 90% increase in just 7 years, killed parakeets, razed the landscape, devalued homes, and is now planning to poison our air in Milford come 2009, that DPUC continues to ignore the fact that people are losing their homes and need a break!

The conference call speaks for itself! Also the beginning of the broadcast is blank air time scroll to the middle of the feed for the conference call to begin.

Listen by clicking here.

Milford's Sea Rising And Razing

Complaints have been coming in from residents living on the waterfront in Milford. The section in question is the area in the vicinity of Silver Sands State Park. The complaints we have received are what to do about shoreline erosion, invasive plant life intrusion, and flooding.

These problems, may be natural, or consequential to Solar and or Global warming. The erosion and coastal problems plaguing New England are well documented. The root cause of these issues are expected to occur in the near future. "Al Gore" has said that as "Glaciers continue to melt sea levels will rise." We, living on the Long Island Sound are no exception to this inconvenient fact.

How long, or to what extent the damage of arctic ice caps melting will have here in CT is unknown. Scientists can say with absolute certainty however, that the sea levels are higher today than they were just 30 years ago. Those living along the water should be aware that the thousands of square miles of water from melted ice has to go somewhere. It just may be your back yard if you live at or below sea level.

The only practical defence to the swell of the sound is eventually going to be what was done in New Orleans. Once the problem becomes so evident that it can no longer be ignored, FEMA, CT or some Federal agency will commission and or fund the Army Corp of Engineers to build Levy's, sea barriers and/or construct higher ground. Some cases may be so difficult that the property may not be salvageable at all.

Flood gates may have to be considered in places, along with pumping stations to rapidly remove water concentrations. System failures should be taken into consideration and back up systems need to be built. Should the problem of flooding be left completely unchecked, the eventual course of nature in its natural meandering of rivers will result in damage caused by natural water erosion. This will be most serious after our first hurricane or basic weather anomaly.

Erosion and water damage cannot be taken lightly and must swiftly be dealt with. Not doing so can have drastic and catastrophic consequences to people and real estate. It is my understanding that a committee has been formed to address these problems. I wish this committee much success in building the required infrastructure to control water damage that may be imminent. Please consider the urgency of this matter with an increased risk of imminent natural disasters.

Above photo of storm surge in East Lyme Connecticut.

A Message From Me (Rocco J. Frank Jr.)

This is my first webcast this year and contains my rebuttal to Speaker Jim Amann's 2007 Legislative Update that was mailed to everyone in the 118th district. Feel free to link to, and share, my video with whomever you wish. This video is not yet posted to Youtube and may not be because of file size limitations.

Enjoy the video, and feel free to share your comments.

Taxing Citizens on Their Ability to Pay

This is a novel idea that I have, and yet one I believe in strongly, why not tax citizens on their ability to pay rather than confiscate their very land, home, and belongings for the sole purpose of collecting taxes?

To me the most tyrannical laws on the books are those laws that allow for our government to confiscate and tax property. Taxes in America began as "voluntary Compliance" a term that still exists to this day in our IRS tax code. However "Voluntary" is not all that you would expect it to mean.

"Voluntary Compliance" is merely a misuse of the English language as there is nothing voluntary about having the FED's padlock your business, confiscate your home, and peruse through your personal belongings. "Voluntary Compliance" means nothing when local town's place liens against your home, and eventually end up owning it or force you off your land because you are choosing food and medicine ahead of your taxes.

In a great democratic republic no one should be afraid of their government, let alone have that fear cause you stress and harm as you lay in the cold, hungry, and sick. The very thought of of a person having to chose paying the government ahead of their own pursuit of happiness, once an inalienable right written in the constitution, is unjust un-American and inhumane.

There is no greater conviction of mine that our labor is ours, and our land should remain ours and the only true way to maintain our own personal property ahead of the illusion of ownership, is to assign tax debt as exactly that debt. Debt to be paid not out of confiscation, intimidation, or fear tactics, but rather sound collection practices, based on our individual ability to pay such a debt without harm to ourselves.

Today's post is a reminder of the position I stated in my agenda, as to why I oppose any practice that renders or inhibits individual property rights. Quite simply American's should have the most basic rights of food, shelter, and medicine protected without fear of any loss thereof due to tax debt and or poverty.

The only good news for now is that Americans are so poor the FEDS are getting "FED" up with the amount of loot so many battered broke American's have. Read the latest link.

http://www.etaxes.com/seizures.html

Amann's 2007 Legislative Update

Today, in my mailbox arrived the Jim Amann 2007 legislative update. This was a very exciting document to read because for certain I expected to read about all the wonderful things that Jim had in store for us here in Milford.

Eagerly I read the entire document from cover to cover and at first glance I saw all these wonderful things that Jim touted about. They all sounded absolutely wonderful until I came to think how much of Jim's hard work in 2007 has made my life and the life of the CT people I know any better. But the bigger question remains how well has Jim addressed the issues of Milford's residents, the issues that were so passionately debated in the last election for mayor?

If we are to use that standard than absolutely nothing in his 2007 legislative update has any bearing on your life. He has not addressed the state law resulting in unfair property assessments, he has not touched the issue pertaining to your outrageous electric bill, he has not mentioned a word about Broadwater, a massive Liquefied natural gas facility underway off our coast. Jim did not address the 14.5 billion state debt crisis, nor did he touch on crime and early parole of violent felons due to prison construction and overcrowding. Jim has not addressed state tax burdens, or our state energy conservation in lieu of the "peak Oil" crisis, and most disconcerting he has not mentioned a word about why a massive carcinogenic mercury polluting power plant is reopening in the heart of our district. A plant that is using a brand new power grid the taxpayers built with no remittance of a savings to us.

So how did Jim represent us? To begin lets address each point in his legislative update and see how any of this helps you or your family.

Point 1: Keeping Our Kids Safe, Megan's Law, Jessica's Law. I would of voted in favor of these laws but certainly I would not tout it as an accomplishment to my district. These laws are aimed at so few predators that it is of little concern to the main issues mentioned above in our district. Most everyone in Milford is a law abiding citizen, and I pray we never have the problems of Bridgeport, New Haven or Big cities in America.

Point 2: Improvements to Husky Health care. Point one is pay more money out to Dr.'s and hospitals. (I suppose Jim feels they charge too little.) Point 2 is newborn enrollment for the first 4 months of life. Point 3 is an outreach program to find more qualified residents. (How is this is going to be funded is my main question.)

But to recap the challenges facing Husky, Jim failed to address the big issues, first the Federal Wellcare raid in Fla. has put a major portion of the Husky program at risk, and sent Gov. Rell scrambling for solutions, but more importantly the Bush administration has been cutting money to the SCHIP program that includes Husky. Looks like Jim did manage to expand a financially troubled program without being able to first procure the lost federal funds, let alone the additional funds his touted expansion will require. As the funds dry up faster, expect Dr's. to avoid Husky a like a "midnight drunk" making any SCHIP card holders have a more unpleasant experience than they already know.

Point 3: Teachers Retirement: Bonds were used to honor a contract that was due the teachers in the first place. (I assume that this problem resulted from financially misplaced Lottery proceeds that he has not mentioned.) Quite sadly this mistake now marks 25 years of your children's future debt, but Amann touts a savings of 2.8 Billion! Make no mistake here, this is not an achievement but rather a case of "pay up" or "get sued."

More curious, what is the actual amount due if this 2.6 billion is just the savings? To begin on this point I will say again that absolutely CT needs to honor its contracts to teachers, but a 2.8 Billion dollar savings just sounds like "Voodoo Economics to me." That translates to $100,000 per each retired teacher. That is just the underfunded savings part for 28,040 retired teachers in this state. This does not add up, unless the cost of retiring a teacher in CT is upward of $1,000,000.00 per teacher. In that case the underfunded pension and mismanaged lottery money should be the least of Amann's concerns.

Point 4: Investments for Milford: This part is just aggregate to what I said earlier about Jim and his less than sincere use of appropriations. My previous post (highlighted) deals with this issue very eloquently, and to see yet another person brandishing a giant state welfare check just proves the Robin Hood mentality of our Speaker who buys your vote with other peoples tax money. See my previous post: Amann and Welfare Bonding One other point not mentioned in Jim's Money for Milford section is his $140,000.00 check to St. Mary's Catholic School. I guess churches being exempt from property taxes is not enough, Jim has to give our state tax dollars to fund controversy engaging those who believe in a separation of Church and State. Meanwhile CT, cannot meet its own legal obligations ordered by a Supreme Court judge in the Sheff v. Oneill legal loss.

Point 5: Devon Revitalization: This project has been a long ongoing project, it has the potential of being really good if handled properly, however the Devon revitalization committee is comprised of religious clergy and politicos, not a single architect, designer or engineer yet this panel continues to tout "smart growth." "Smart Growth" is an idea originated by architect "Peter Caltrope" in the 1970's that has become quite controversial. Some communities have rejected "Smart Growth" with the opinion that it has turned into an ideological cult movement aimed at circumventing the zoning and planning laws. Laws we are all forced to follow while municipalities enjoy more freedom and in some cases broadened powers of eminent domain.

I believe that Amann or any politician for that matter is not qualified or educated enough to be on a panel that is responsible for urban planning and design. He is neither an Architect nor an engineer but rather an ideological politician who endorsed a candidate Kerry Rowland who called the Devon revitalization a "Waste," further demonstrating his marred judgement. The 7 plus million in my view is mis-prioritized. One point in particular is $3,000,000.00 to expand our local government complex of which I respectfully object to, as I believe in shrinking government and keeping it out of our lives, not making it bigger.

Point 6: Money for Milford Projects: All the same points apply here as in Point 4. This is just more State Welfare at the expense of bonding debt. Essentially it represents your children's future being mortgaged for special interests many of which do not even pay tax. This model is identical to the Federal Debt model of spending without regard to consequence of debt. The USA is 9.5 Trillion in debt and CT 14.5 Billion in debt. This failed at the federal level and will fail even worse at the state level.

Point 7: Hollywood East, this about the only other thing we can agree on, besides honoring a state teachers contract. Hollywood east brings money to local businesses, and develops community pride. This is a small step in the right direction, however, it was not a principal focal point of Milford's Residents during the last Mayoral election. Although, I agree having big screen actors run around our city is exciting, in other ways it can be challenging, as these film crews create traffic jams, close down our streets and offer a modicum of financial relief to local businesses. This will become even more exciting, should Hollywood East actually invest commercially in Devon, of which, to my knowledge, they have not.

In conclusion what is important to note here is that the brochure that has been sent out to you, has missed all of the vital issues that we in town raised during the Kerri, Richetelli mayoral race. His legislative report is more indicative of Mr. Amann's disconnect from the voice of the people he claims to represent. One last major point in particular is the high Cost of energy and his poor choices. To explain, Jim opposed the State's Attorney's advice regarding the "Windfall Profits Tax." Instead he Introduced H.B. 7432 returning UI lost profits, and stopped the Gas tax plan making our gasoline even more expensive.

Jim has sent us all a brochure reminding us of how disconnected he is from our true social needs. While I personally enjoyed all the photos of Jim with our children, I will not be so naive as to think that is somehow representation. Our children deserve more than a proponent of industrial mercury polluters, like UI, who have put us all at risk for grave diseases, more especially children.

Amann Wants to "Buy Your Vote!"

This is a quote taken from the movie Brewster's Millions, the movie is very apropos in lieu of the billions in bonding. There is one exception however, that the Millions Brewster was squandering was his inheritance, this made the movie rather funny. Amann on the other hand is squandering millions of your and my money, not even money that we have but rather money he has charged to our tax payer "credit cards."


Amann has yet to miss a photo opportunity to hand out a fat check. Just today in the CT Post he is brandishing a big fat check for a catholic school, last month he was charging up the largest boardwalk in CT, and the limelight surrounding his spending spree continues.

Meanwhile he swears on his latest Youtube video that all this money secured through bonding was because of Jody Rell that he has no control over the money issued, and yet he is going from charity to charity handing out money like a "drunken sailor."

Just yesterday, an old timer, and Korean War Veteran from Devon came in to my headquarters and said that there was a time when Milford really benefited from Amann's "liberal" spending approach to government. He, like many others in his circle of friends believe that such an approach is no longer good for Milford or CT.

The true issues of bonding are being neglected, and to take today's CT Post article to heart one must read on about the crisis in our prisons, a crisis that can only be resolved by more bonding debt. This debt however, is already critical due to special pet projects that Amann has so deliberately mis-prioritized to buy your vote. Continued spending leaves CT Citizens at risk for a repeat of horrible crimes commited in Cheshire by early parolees.

Additionally, an increasingly desperate situation is culminating in the next few years because of "Peak Oil," already now being debated by legislators in Hartford and presented on CT T.V. This coming energy crisis is serious, and addressing the problem is urgent. Unattainably high energy prices, are expectet to leave our schools hotter in the summer, colder in the winter, and stress out every tax payer with unconscionably high property taxes in a time of high forclosures. Mr. Amann's "Robin Hood" era will soon come to an end.

Once this occurs, the truth shall prevail about his true popularity when he is unable to use the state credit card to "Buy Your Votes."

Village of Devon Residents work Together.

For about a couple of months now I found, and have been visiting, a little website called www.villageofdevon.com. The site expressed community pride and organization of which I found to be impressive. There is nothing more admirable than people working to make a difference in Milford and the recent movie production really brought people out on the street with their cameras.

The Blog board featured pictures of Al Pachino, and other famous actors, Like Robert Dinaro. The Star Cafe will be featured on the big screen sometime soon. Hollywood in CT has been somewhat of a phenomenon, one I experienced personally when my store in Southport was leased for a day by the Leonardo Dicaprio cast to film Revolutionary Road.

This visit has really helped bring a spark back in the hearts and minds of Devon's citizens who have been writing a firestorm of blogs including suggestions to improve our towns overall appeal. I must confess that I have visited their blog board and have become an active supporter of it, especially after they honored me by placing my press release under their political agenda of which I hope will give the "Truth Movement" in Milford greater exposure.

The overall effect of the board was several phone calls to my office; We exchanged ideas and discussed the power of people to not be afraid to knock on a neighbor’s door or volunteer to work on public property. I even suggested the formation of a volunteer improvement committee to see donations from local charities like the Rotary Club or Kiwanis to assist in helping elderly or poor people who have homes in disrepair and are unable to afford the improvements.

Overall Devon has been gradually improving and its citizens should be commended for their efforts in taking pride in our town. When we care we get rewarded with safer neighborhoods improved commerce and appreciating real estate values.

My most sincere thank you to everyone who is working hard to make the improvements that are so clearly visible.