By Themis Klarides
State Rep., R-114
Themis Klarides
The Capitol has been an unusually busy place for so early in the legislative session.
During a span of just a few days in late February thousands of Connecticut residents on two separate occasions stormed the Capitol complex to let their feelings be known about legislation requiring all school children to be vaccinated.
Regardless of how you view this proposal – one version of the legislation would have removed nearly 8,000 students from public and private schools beginning this September – it was an impressive show of strength initiated at the most basic grassroots level. Who knows how this controversy will play out over the coming months, but it was also a stark civics lesson.
The lesson is: if you want to have your voice heard on this or any other issue you deem important, speak up and let your elected officials know.
In between the two shows of public strength something else occurred. While the record-setting 22-hour public hearing on the vaccination issue was taking place, Gov. Ned Lamont had a hastily called press conference to announce that after months of public debate and controversy, the toll plan for Connecticut was dead for this legislative session. It was a stunning and remarkable turn of events in what has been a torturous adventure for proponents of tolls.
The governor concluded that despite large numerical Democratic advantages in both the House and Senate, Republican and public opposition to tolls carried the day. While the Democrats tried to sell the public and legislative opponents on tolling only trucks for now, a lack of trust of public officials who shape the agenda in Hartford was critical to their defeat.
For months Republicans conducted public events and forums on the matter all over Connecticut in opposition, not for political purposes but because we believed there were alternatives to tolls that could fix and maintain our roads and bridges. By making government smaller and more efficient and therefore less costly we believed Connecticut can address our overall transportation issues without foisting another tax on taxpayers.
We still firmly believe that.