Correcting inaccuracies stated by Jeff Falk!

I have been trying to run a fair and accurate campaign. I have tried to show the people of Cheshire why I would be the better candidate than Jeff Falk, and I believe I have. I have not attacked my opponent verbally with any inaccurate statements by taking things out of context. Unfortunately, he chose to go down that road against me.

Perhaps Mr. Falk is panicking, but there is no excuse to take statements out of context and claim that I am “fiscally irresponsible.”I run a major charity in this town. Maybe you should ask those who benefit from the funds I raise how “fiscally irresponsible” I am.

The statement I made came 2 days after a special Town Council meeting was held by our Town Manager where he stated that Cheshire had the potential to lose over $13 million million in state funding this year, which would have devastated our town. Mr Milone said all cards are on the table, including our fund balance.  I sat in on that meeting and was quite concerned about what could happen. In my statement concerning I was stating that if this happened, we may need to look into using the reserves, which would be dangerous.

My background is in Business Economics, perhaps Mr. Falk did not realize this. I know full well that depleting these funds would hurt our Bond Rating. But, when you have no other options, you need to look everywhere. I never stated that we should use these funds to balance our budget, that would be foolish.

I also found it interesting that Mr. Falk went on a diatribe about what losing our bond rating would mean. I know fully well what it would mean. I didn’t hear what his solution would have been if we lost that funding. I would only assume it would be the democratic way of raising taxes and putting the burden on all of us. I would love to hear how he would have made up a loss of over $13  million in a year where the town already passed a budget.

Luckily, we were not faced with this dilemma this year.

He states that he has been “in contact” with our state delegation. We know that our own representative, a former member of our Town Council, turned her back on this town when she voted against the first republican budget that would have fully funded Cheshire and decided to go with one that loses us nearly $1 million. If she is telling him we will lose more funding, we know how hard she will be working for us as well.

I will agree that we need to plan for drops in state funding going forward. That is why you need people who understand how to increase revenue while keeping costs low. That is what I do for a living and that is why I am the better choice.

Mr. Falk also didn’t like that I brought up that our Town Charter states that town paid employees should not serve on the Town Council. This is something that has been and will remain in our Charter. Unfortunately, the state overruled on this. Our past town attorney even said it can be “very dangerous”.  You can read more in my previous post.

I will take the high road on attacking my opponent by taking statements out of context, but I will defend myself when he tries to spew inaccuracies. I would rather run on what I have done and what I am capable of doing.

I urge you to support me on November 7. I will be as fair and honest as I have always been in everything I do.