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

No Life Experience

Last week I attended a debate highlighting local candidates for state senate and representative. I was a bit shocked to hear 33rd District Senate Green Party candidate Colin Bennett declare he wanted to eliminate property taxes (fire departments, police departments, schools take note). This magical thinking wasn’t an exception, but seemed to be the rule.

There was an alarming display of candidates who lacked life experience, experience in public service (had they sat on local boards?), lacked investment in our community (did they own homes, pay taxes, or understand why you’d do either?), and lacked the wisdom of having built a career and/or business. These guys seemed to think, despite this lack of experience, they had something to give back. Somehow attending Westbrook Public Schools gave [State Senator Art Linares, Jr. (R-33) and Bennett] all the expertise required to represent a complex district, with grown up problems and challenges, a district that needs solid representation in Hartford. As State Representative Devin Carney (R-33), unchallenged for re-election in Old Saybrook, stated, we send a lot to Hartford and get nothing back—the irony. Is that a surprise? We have three kids representing our region, boys who have no life experience, no record of public service, and walked into these jobs with no sense of responsibility.

Would you hire a bus driver who never drove a bus? Or never even owned a car? Would a restaurant want a cook who only has ideas about how to cook? That’s what we did in the 35th State Representative District [represented by Jesse MacLachlan (R)] and the 33rd State Senate District. No wonder young men with no real-world experience and no investment in our community, but who have many hair-brained ideas, think they can represent us in Hartford; that’s what we have now.

Kathleen Skoczen

Clinton