When I was asked to run for First Selectman as the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party, I could not say “no”. I realized that if I said “no” that this would be a contradiction to approximately 250 articles and position statements that I had published at the Cafe…besides after escaping a twister in Pomfret in mid-May I was feeling rather invincible so I said “yes”. To say “no” would mean that I wasn’t going to back up my words with actions. This concern has been foremost in my mind for over a year. Some commentors at the Cafe have criticized other Caf’ers for not getting involved in Town matters beyond their anonymous statements at the Cafe. The fact of the matter is that a very high percentage of Cafe’ers are activists, or are becoming active, in Town for the benefit of the issues that they each feel most strongly about. Indeed, recently we have seen other issues surface at the Cafe such as promotion of clean energy and concern about the impact of cell towers in our environment.
My new found activism in recent months was not limited to local politics though. After I wrote the article about siRNA as a promising science that would revolutionize the drug industry and recommended purchasing stock in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, several of my colleagues purchased Alnylam’s stock. Then I realized that I needed to back up my words with action so I purchased this stock also … and fortunately Alnylam’s stock more than doubled since early July in the face of a troubled market. Finally I decided to enroll in clean energy for the sake of the globe (thanks to the advocacy of the Stratos’) even though it would increase my energy bill .
There could be no question that my positions on many key issues in Woodstock would be viewed as politically incorrect Read the rest of this entry »
