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Personal and Professional Qualifications

I write in support of Ms. Moira Rader’s candidacy in the August primary for state representative in the 98th District. As her colleague on the Guilford Board of Education for the past three years, I have worked closely with Moira and can attest to her exceptional personal and professional qualifications that we value in our state representative.

At a time when our democratic norms are in a precarious state, we need people of high character, informed conviction, and selfless commitment to the larger community. This requires the ability to discern fact from fiction; a willingness and grit to engage in wide-ranging, honest dialogue; the capacity to earn trust from one’s community and legislative colleagues; and the courage to lead in face of opposition. As idealistic as these characteristics sound in our increasingly cynical times, we in Guilford and Branford are fortunate indeed to have U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D), State Senator Christine Cohen (D-12), and state representatives Sean Scanlon (D-98) and Vincent Candelora (R-86) who exemplify these qualities. Moira as well meets the high standards of integrity and competence that we in Guilford and Branford should not take for granted.

Moira is a leader on the Guilford Board of Education, having served on its policy, operations, and curriculum committees and currently serves as vice-chair of the board. In these roles she has brought a fierce desire to be well informed taking extraordinary time and energy to listen to community members, teachers, professional staff, and board colleagues while consistently demonstrating the compassion, empathy, inner strength, and Energizer Bunny stamina that we have a right to expect of our legislative representatives. Moira Rader will represent us fearlessly with humility and thus I heartily recommend her to my fellow citizens.

Richard Hersh

Guilford

Democrat Richard Hersh serves on the Board of Education.