The lawn sign wars have begun. It appears Harkins is going with “If you tell a lie often enough…”
But we get ahead of ourselves. Let’s review a few things first. If we remember, Harkins tried to slide this deal passed the WPCA Board/Town Council (they are the same thing) with as little public view as possible. There was one (Count ’em, 1!) public hearing on the sale of the WPCA and it was conducted by Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (GNHWPCA). Hardly a disinterested 3rd party. Three days later, the weak and stupid RTC Council passed it.
After the weak and stupid Council passed this horrible deal real citizens said, “Hold on there a minute, Buckaroo. We think we should all vote on this.” Astoundingly, within a mere two and a half weeks, citizens organized and collected 7,000+ signatures of registered voters. This was an amazing accomplishment. Any sane person would have understood the voter sentiment against this sale. But Harkins then ordered his Town Attorney to stop any referendum by claiming that voters did not have the right to petition the government. No big deal. Just take away Stratford citizens’ First Amendment rights.
Luckily for us, Marianne Antezzo, Matthew Catalano, Lisa Donnelly, Tina Marie Manus, Philip Young and Benjamin Proto all stepped up to defend our right to vote. Not once, but four times! Harkins would not go down to defeat without spending more of our tax money on attorneys and appeals. Nevertheless, he lost and a referendum was scheduled.
Now we have the Lawn Sign Wars to be followed by the Mailing Wars.
And what slogan is Harkins using? “Vote Yes, Pay Less” Pay less what? GNHWPCA current rates are $435/year for a residential account. . All of this so we can “save” $15 per year? (Well, that is IF GNHWPCA keeps their rates the same next year which is something they’ve never done.)
Harkins, and whoever is financially backing him, are counting on the voters to not believe their own common sense. Vote Yes Pay Less is wrong. No one knows that anyone would pay less. Whether or not you support or are against this sale you cannot say that rates will go down because WE WON’T OWN IT ANYMORE.
