Woodstock CT Café

Sherri Vogt is the Democratic candidate for State Representative opposing Republican Mike Alberts

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you today when asked by my fellow Woodstock Democrats and the people at the Cafe to speak about what I can offer my neighbors in Woodstock in my campaign for the 50th State Representative chair. After all, politics are local and the issues that occur in the region may not be what everyone believes needs to be addressed in Woodstock.

I love Woodstock. It is a beautiful community with generous and hard working people as its residents. It is a statewide treasure that needs to be preserved and maintained throughout the progress that our region is experiencing and long into the future. That being said, however, I understand and realize your frustration with the current property tax system. It is an unfair choice residents must make – to sacrifice beauty for needed tax dollars more and more every year – and I for one, want to see a change in this system.

Our schools deserve more than they currently receive. Woodstock is not alone when every year we fight one another for scarce revenues to pay for pencils and valuable field trips against another resident who has rightly paid their due and feels they can pay no more. It’s not fair that we should pit neighbor against neighbor year after year in an effort just to keep the light bill going in town hall. There has to be a better way and there is.

Economic Development is not the wooing of large industry and commercial development that most people think it is – it is taking responsibility for your economic destiny. It can be whatever you want it to be: agri-tourism, light industry, power cell and alternative fuels development or just local, eclectic retail stores. When towns start being true to their nature and realize their strengths over their weaknesses, then true Economic Development can occur. We need to work together with Hartford and give Woodstock it’s economic destiny back so it is no longer at the mercy of the whims of people who live over an hour away.

There is a lot more that we can discuss in person that I feel my campaign can bring to Woodstock. I believe that we have been almost ignored these past two years by Hartford and now our area is suffering for it. If it wasn’t for Don Williams and Shawn Johnston, there would almost nothing left of the Quiet Corner as a whole. Please let me help you and allow me to join them in Hartford, we want to make the Quiet Corner the best it can be and with you help. I know we can do it – together.

Thank you

Sherri Vogt,
Democratic Candidate for the 50th District
www.sherrivogt.com Read the rest of this entry »

Hawking’s question: “In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?” from USA Today, 7/8/06

“Soon the southern half of Iraq will be called ‘Iranq’�

I watched the debate between Ned Lamont and Senator Joe Lieberman last night. I was not surprised to see Ned Lamont struggle with his stage presence which got decidedly stronger as the hour rolled on. I was surprised at the puffy appearance and ‘performance’ of Joe Lieberman. It was though he had too much Botox injected into his checks and lips just prior to the debate. But the puffiness did not end there. He was quite puffed up about his seniority on several important congressional committees as a “Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and a member of the Armed Services Committee where he is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on ‘Airland Forces and Sites’ on the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities� (what a mouthful).

In the quiet corner Senator Lieberman apparently ‘fought’ or helped to arrange services from the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine for local farmers with an appropriation of $480,000. I have used this service for my horse as well. He also appropriated $600,000 in 2003 for Day Kimball Hospital to implement Rural Geriatric Services from which my parents have benefited. He has also laid claim to the “Quiebaug-Shetaucket Heritage Corridot� (see www.joe2006.com) project with an appropriation of $800,000 but his spelling suggests to me that he may not even know where ‘Quinebaug-Shetaucket’ is. Is this a good track record for the Quiet Corner after 18 years (first elected in 1988) as a Connecticut Senator? He and a raft of other Connecticut politicians have claimed success in preserving the Groton submarine base from extinction.

None of this has any bearing on my decision not to support Senator Lieberman. I am opposed to his re-nomination and re-election because he has been an ardent supporter of President Bush’s and Vice President Cheney’s War in Iraq. I have been against this War since it became clear that this was the mission of Bush and Cheney and the War’s inception on March 20, 2003, e.g. “Operation Iraqi Liberation�.

First and foremost, the cost in innocent human lives has been estimated at more than 40,000. Furthermore, 2542 US soldiers have lost their lives to date and over 18,000 have been wounded. The monetary cost of this War has now reached just under $300 billion and will ultimately be over a trillion before the dust settles. We and our children will be billed for this War for generations to come. But more tragically, this policy has undermined our ability to deal more effectively with the greater emerging military threats of Iran and Korea, address important national needs, and form international alliances to effectively address more global issues.

Historically our track record in the Middle East, outside of our alliance with Israel, has been a dismal failure. Read the rest of this entry »