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

Extraordinary Leadership

Amidst a national pandemic, State Representative Christine Palm (D-36), candidate for re-election, stands out for her initiative, intelligence, and integrity. With her strong leadership and legislative accomplishments, we’ve never had a more competent person for the job.

Palm introduced or co-sponsored bills to protect Connecticut’s coastline from seismic surveying and drilling, to ensure paid family leave, and to include pioneering climate change education in school curricula. She created the Young Earners Prosperity Roundtable so Millennials and GenZ-ers could share their economic concerns with lawmakers. During the 2020 shuttered legislative session, with COVID surging, Palm organized phone banks in her district towns to call vulnerable community members to offer healthcare assistance. Through her office, she helped laid-off workers with unemployment claims.

Palm also worked to extend telehealth provisions during the pandemic, and pushed for social work services in homecare coverage. She led the timely effort for absentee ballot access to ensure safe voting for all registered voters during COVID—a victory for democracy and public health. On the Police Accountability Act she worked successfully to include mental health resources for law enforcement. As a strong consumer advocate, Palm helped pass Take Back Our Grid Act, which holds utility companies accountable and provides compensation for damages from prolonged outages.

“Bring Bob Back” is the slogan of her opponent Bob Siegrist, whom she defeated in 2018. His record was unremarkable and at odds with many voters. During his tenure, he took a vote that set the stage for this summer’s Eversource rate hikes, voted against a pay increase for some homecare workers, and voted against the National Popular Vote, an initiative that had widespread constituent support.

Christine Palm has demonstrated extraordinary leadership during her term and can be counted on to make a difference for all of us.

Marta Daniels

Chester