This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Seeks Out, Listens, and Acts

I am writing to the shoreline community to show my support for the re-election of State Senator Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D-12).

Knowing Ted, I was thrilled when he decided initially to run for office. At his core, Ted is a family- and community-oriented neighbor trying to make a difference. He has natural leadership skills, and can coalesce a diverse group of people and opinions to get things done for the common good.

In my role as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur starting new biotechnology companies, I see that Ted’s passion to create a state policy that fosters and supports innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of small business and start-ups is the leadership we need. Ted listens. With the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce, he brought together a summit of nearly 200 local business leaders to hear their concerns and ideas for things the government could do to help small businesses succeed.

Ted acts. During his term in office, he has taken strong positions to support legislation to strengthen programs like the Small Business Express Program and the Invest.CT program that add and maintain jobs in the Connecticut. He also took a leadership role in passing new legislation like SB 1, which will create innovation districts to start and grow small businesses as well as SB 2 which provides direct support for veteran-owned small businesses.

The importance of small business and start-ups to our local economy is clear to Ted. He seeks out, listens to, and acts on feedback he gets from the community on how to further support these economic imperatives. I am confident Ted will achieve even more if re-elected as state senator and feel we couldn’t have a better leader representing our community.

Timothy Shannon

Branford