Alford takes aim at Nicastro's 79th District

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Two-time Republican mayoral candidate Mary Alford, who nearly upsetMayor Art Ward last fall, is taking aim this year at the legislative seat heldby Democrat Frank Nicastro.
Alford, a 64-year bookkeeper, jumped into city politics in2009 when the GOP asked her to serve as its standard bearer in a three-waycontest that Ward ultimately won by a wide margin.But last year, in a rerun of the 2009 race, Alford camewithin a whisker of sending the longtime mayor packing as she led a Republicanroute that handed the GOP control of the City Council and Board of Education.Whether she can show similar strength against Nicastro, whohasn’t lost a political race since his first bid in the 1980s, is uncertain.Nicastro, 71, is in his third term representing the 79^thDistrict, which includes Forestville, Federal Hill and southern Bristol. Heserved as mayor from 1993 until he stepped down in 2003. He has also served ahandful of terms as a city councilor.As one of the most conservative Democrats in Hartford –where he voted against the budget, the repeal of the death penalty and last year’sstate tax hike – Nicastro has compiled a record that provides him withconsiderable political insulation. Click here for full story.
Here is a copy of Alford's speech to the city's GOP on Monday night:
Thank you, members of the 79^thfor this nomination and thanks to Gary and Henri for your kind words.
Common sense, fiscalresponsibility; do not spend what you don’t have, do not borrow what you cannotafford to pay back, live within your means, smaller, leaner government,personal freedom and responsibility……….
These are the things we, asRepublicans, believe in and will do but to do that we have to be there, innumbers large enough to get the job done. We aren’t right now but seat by seat,race by race, we can be. We have made an excellent beginning with Jason andWhit and, now, with a full slate for this cycle, we are poised to gain somemore of that ground in Hartford. Not our ground but the ground that has beenwrested from the hands of the taxpayers with the burden of taxation that hasruined lives and businesses across this state; regulations and unfundedmandates that squash business growth and wreck city budgets. Out of controlspending that will bankrupt CT with debt so huge that we will never be able topay it off.
Without meaning to, I’m sure,Mayor Ward assisted with this acceptance speech at last night’s joint boardmeeting when he said (and I’m paraphrasing a bit) “We have got to send peopleto Hartford who will DO something about the unfunded mandates that are a burdento taxpayers and return control to our cities. We have got to send differentpeople to Hartford.” Mr. Mayor, I agree but currently, except for Jason andWhit, we do not get that help for Bristol.
Frank voted no on the biggest taxincrease in the history of this state. However, he neither got on board withany of the amendments put forth by the Republicans nor did propose his own. And – Republicans are the party of “No”?
As Bill Hamzy often said, and itseems our Mayor would agree, “If you want your government to change, you haveto change your government”.
We are seeing the results of oneparty rule and they are not good. The largest tax increase in the history ofCT; repeal of the Death Penalty (against the will of the majority of thecitizens they are supposed to be serving); mandatory paid sick time; same dayvoter registration (another unfunded mandate for our cities); forcedunionization, threats included, of child care providers and personal careassistants; education “reform” that is no reform at all (just ask a teacher)but another unfunded “mandate” that municipalities will have to pay for without‘help” from the state; the Jackson Labs fiasco that will add hundreds of newjobs to the state payroll by virtue of its attachment to UCONN Health Center.There’s a reason why Florida, as a whole, and Sarasota in particular rejectedthem; the “Busway to Bankruptcy”, and, yes, I know Frank voted against it;medical marijuana – the list is endless and disturbing.
We cannot continue to send thesame people back to our state legislature and expect a different result. Thecitizens of Connecticut deserve more and better.
This year’s slate of candidatesis the change we need in Hartford and I am glad to be a part of it. With your helpand support we can continue to change the culture of “Spend and Tax” inHartford that Whit, Jason and others have so courageously and tirelessly foughtagainst for the past two years.
Let’s get them the help they needin both the House and the Senate; put the brakes on the rampant spending andoverregulation; promote sound fiscal policies that will welcome businesses, putour people back to work and put this state back on track to, once again, beingone of the most prosperous states in the union.
Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com