Wright: Many issues worth fighting for

To contact us Click HERE
This is the acceptance speech that 77th District state Rep. Chris Wright of Bristol delivered to the city's Democratic Town Committee on Tuesday night:


Friends,fellow Democrats and fellow citizens of Bristol, it is with great honor that Iaccept your nomination to be the Representative from the 77^thdistrict.  Over the past four years Ihave worked hard to represent the people of Bristol and can count manysuccesses during this time.  Working withFrank Nicastro, we were successful in stopping Governor Rell’s attempt to closeBristol Tech and in restoring over $2 million in state funding for Bristol tocover the cost of property tax breaks given to the manufacturing companies herein Bristol.  Among other issues, I havesupported increases in Connecticut’s minimum wage, a Silver Alert system tolocate missing seniors, the Learn Here, Live Here program which helps studentsof Connecticut colleges and universities save for down payments of homes herein Connecticut and low interest loans to developers who agree to clean up andbuild on brownfields instead of developing on greenfields.
I have donethis with consideration to state spending and taxes.  I have been a strong voice in Hartford forbalancing the need for programs which improve the quality of life in our statewith the ability of our residents to pay for those programs.  This is why I have supported making ourincome tax more progressive and will continue my call for reducing the statesales tax, which is a burden on the middle income residents who are thebackbone of our economy.In thiselection, the people of Bristol have a clear choice.  The Republicans continue to argue for policiesthat provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest1% while denying help to working Americans. The distinction between Democrats and Republicans can be seen in ourapproaches to the auto industry.  WhileDemocrats fought for modest tax breaks for the purchase of new cars,Republicans still criticize this program, which has been credited by economistswith saving upwards of one million jobs in the American auto industry.  I don’t know about you, but if the governmentis going to do $100,000 in tax breaks, I would rather see five people buy a$20, 000 Chevy than one person buy a $100,000 Mercedes.  Anotherchoice before the people this year is between a philosophy that is continuallylooking to the past and one that is looking to the future.  Throughout this campaign, we have heardRepublican candidates arguing about which one of them is the mostconservative.  Mitt Romney at one pointeven called himself severely conservative, whatever that means.  When I hear this, I am reminded of FranklinRoosevelt who said that a conservative is a man who is born with two good legs butwho never learned to walk forward.  Weare constantly urged by Republican candidate to return to the past: to supportthe Bush tax cuts which are bankrupting our country, to return to the policiesof the Reagan 80’s, to bring back the society of the 1950’s.  In that last call, the republicans should becareful what they ask for.  After all,the 1950’s was the period in American history with the smallest income gapbetween corporate CEOs and workers, and also with the highest percentage ofunion membership.Let memention one more difference in the approach to taxes between Democrats andRepublicans.  When President Obamaproposed a temporary 2% reduction in the payroll tax paid by working Americans,the Republicans fought tooth and nail to prevent it from happening.  Instead, they are insisting on makingpermanent the massive tax cut given to 1% ten years ago.  Their argument is that the 1% are the jobcreators, but after ten years they still haven’t used this money to create anyjobs.  Instead, they, like Mitt Romney,simply deposited this money into their Cayman Island and Swiss bankaccounts.  In addition, the CitizensUnited ruling has given the mega rich another place to put their money, SuperPACs.  It is estimated that these superPACs will raise and spend literally billions of dollars during this campaign toentrench the status quo and ensure that political influence will remain withthe 1% and is kept from the 99%.  TheBush tax breaks were perhaps the largest government enacted re-distribution ofwealth in the nation’s history.  Theproblem is that the wealth was taken out of your pockets and placed into thebank accounts of the 1%, and our economy has been paying the price ever since.Bristol iswonderful city with a strong history both of blue collar manufacturing andwhite collar professionals.  We needlegislators who believe that the actions we take should not be meant simply toget us through the next election cycle but will have consequences for decadesto come.  In order to be competitive, weneed to ensure that our children receive the education necessary for the worldthat they will live in, so I will advocate for a strong education system.  In order grow our manufacturing sector; weneed a transportation infrastructure capable of moving goods in and out of ourstate.  In order to attract employers toConnecticut we need a stable economic footing and a competitive taxstructure.  In order to have a healthypopulation that requires less medical care, we need a clean environment.  These are the things that I believe in and ifre-elected these are the things that I will continue to fight for.

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com