{news} In Today's Courant

[Tom Sevigny]

You are not going to believe this one:

Hartford Courant
Editorial

Switch To Mr. Sevigny
October 5, 2004


8th SENATE -- Towns in the 8th Senatorial District, which includes Avon,
Barkhamsted, Simsbury, Canton, Colebrook, Hartland, New Hartford, Norfolk
and parts of Granby, Harwinton and Torrington, have a difficult time
controlling sprawl and property tax increases.

Residents would be best served by electing Green Party candidate Thomas J.
Sevigny of Canton to replace Republican incumbent Thomas J. Herlihy of
Simsbury. Mr. Sevigny, a 38-year-old police dispatcher in Farmington and a
Trinity College graduate, has a good grasp of key issues and realistic
solutions for the district's problems.

A member of Canton Advocates for Responsible Expansion, he understands that
towns are trapped in a vicious cycle. They allow large retail complexes to
offset property tax increases and are then beset with more residential
development that eats up the revenue from the malls.

Mr. Sevigny has ideas to counter sprawl such as allowing towns to limit
residential development and a smart-growth plan that would impose more
regional cooperation and cost sharing among towns. He also favors increased
support for mass transit.

Mr. Herlihy, a 47-year-old insurance executive with three terms in the
Senate and one in the House, has been responsive to narrow local needs.

However, other than giving state arbiters more latitude in settling
municipal labor contracts, his solution to rising property taxes is to
reduce state spending and limit debt so that more money is available for aid
to municipalities. Mr. Herlihy's allegiance to home rule appears to limit
his willingness to consider development sprawl as a regional concern.

Two other candidates in the race are Democrat Israel I. Gordon, 59, an
accountant from Simsbury who wants to modernize the tax system, and Working
Families Party nominee Caitlin Reid Sullivan of Barkhamsted.


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