By Jude Toohey
Orange Republican Town Committee
Jude Toohey
As the last long days of summer give way to cooler mornings and earlier evenings, Orange feels the familiar shift. The playgrounds are quiet, school buses reappear and the quiet energy of fall settles in. It’s a season of harvest and preparation of looking back at what the warmer months brought, as well as looking forward to what’s next.
In Orange, we can look forward to our wonderful Country Fair. It’s just a couple of weeks away. Hope to see you on Sept. 19 and 20.
This fall offers more than foliage and football. It marks the start of the election process that will shape our town and our state for years to come. Residents will soon be evaluating candidates, attending forums and ultimately casting votes that decide who sets policy in Hartford and who stewards Orange’s future. It is our chance to demand better than the status quo.
The status quo in Connecticut has been failing too many of us – and those failures ripple directly into towns like Orange. High energy costs, persistent regulatory burdens and policies that prioritize bureaucracy over results have strained household budgets, complicated local decision-making and limited opportunity.
When state-level choices drive up the cost of living, slow economic growth or impose one-size-fits-all mandates, Orange residents feel it in their property taxes, their daily expenses and the quality of services we work hard to maintain.
The same pattern appears across the state: in Hartford the one-party supermajority too often produce outcomes that leave local communities shouldering the consequences. Orange has worked diligently to manage its own affairs responsibly, yet we cannot escape what is set at the state level. The coming elections are our opportunity to change that trajectory, to choose leaders who understand that strong towns depend on a state government that enables, rather than hinders, local success.
As I write these words, the state has pushed many towns across Connecticut to install excessive Flock cameras. These license plate readers capture data, store such data and can form patterns of individual drivers. Law enforcement agencies can plug in any number of search criteria and pull vehicles that match.
While there is an argument for continued use of these readers, many have equally expressed concern over the misuse or overuse of them as well. I was happy when our Board of Selectmen voted to pause the installation of additional cameras and discuss it further.
As we move into the heart of the election season, these issues – cost of living, effective local governance and the balance between security tools and constitutional rights – will be on the ballot in practical form. Candidates should be asked hard questions: How will you reverse the policies that have made Connecticut more expensive and less competitive? How will you protect towns like Orange from the downstream effects of state failures? And how will you ensure that tools like automated cameras serve legitimate law enforcement needs without destroying the privacy protections that define a free society?
Fall is a season of preparation and clarity. Orange’s strength has always come from engaged residents who insist on better. This September, that work begins in earnest. Attend the forums, examine the records and make your voice heard. The future of our town – and the state that surrounds it – depends on each of us.
Turning the page and the status quo. Looking ahead to fall, and to real accountability. Interested in volunteering your time or joining the Republican party? Please email our secretary at ortc.secretary@gmail.com or our chairman at ortc.chairman@gmail.com.
Jude Toohey is the vice chair of the Orange Republican Town Committee.