{news} Nancy Burton in Easton Courier

[David Bedell]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13193699

Burton sets Green Party goals

Deanna Holgerson, Editor October 21, 2004

Nancy Burton said her campaign to gain the 135th District seat represents a 
"strategic race" for the Green Party.

A Redding resident, Burton is running against state Rep. John Stripp, the 
incumbent Republican. Stripp has represented the Redding, Easton and Weston 
135 District for six terms. There is no Democratic candidate in this race.

Burton, an attorney with 20 years experience, has focused mainly on 
environmental law and public interest cases.

Her campaign slogan is "Clean Air, Clean Water and Clean Government," 
because her key issues are closing down nuclear power plants and enacting 
stronger laws against public corruption.

"I believe that I have a great deal of insight into what the public wants, 
and I believe that I can better the state government if elected to office," 
Burton said.

Burton, who was at one time a Democrat, switched to the Green Party because 
of her values.

"I'm an independent person, and the Green party's platform is very similar 
to my values," Burton said. "I believe in preserving open space, public 
health standards and keeping the quality of a community.

"I don't want to see development sprawling out of control. I do know that we 
can't stop development completely, so I support the concept of smart 
growth," she said.

According to Burton, the 135th District is truly a "green" district. 
Redding, Weston and Easton together have more land dedicated as permanent 
open space per capita than any other cluster of three towns in the state. 
Easton has 7,200 acres of protected open space with Redding and Weston not 
far behind.

Burton said the three towns are working hard to acquire and dedicate as much 
of the remaining undeveloped lands as possible to permanent open space. Open 
space protects the air and water as well as the rural character of the 
towns. She plans to work hard in Hartford to help fund this goal and help 
preserve land across the state.

Burton is also concerned about preserving farms and maintaining Redding's, 
Weston's and Easton's agricultural heritage. Between 1997 and 2002, the 
state lost more than 700 farms of all types, something that concerns her.

Losing Connecticut's agricultural heritage is a mistake, Burton said. The 
more reliance residents have on out-of-state food production means more 
pesticides and preservatives in food, unnecessary congestion on roads and 
highways and pollution of the air and water.

If she becomes the state representative, Burton said she would support 
business incentives that will keep farmers farming and encourage organic 
farming.

The affordable housing law is high on Burton's list of priorities. "The 
affordable housing law needs to be addressed," Burton said. "It doesn't help 
the people it was intended to help but instead feeds the greed of 
irresponsible developers.

"I think that when communities and the state can acquire and protect open 
space, it should. This district has a certain quality about it, and if 
development keeps occurring on every little space available, then eventually 
we will lose the identity and characteristics of our towns forever. We have 
to honor the past," she said.

Burton believes that developers should follow community standards of 
planning and zoning.

"I want to help the three towns in this district to maintain their 
character," Burton said. "We have a certain quality of life here and 
beautiful open space. We have to preserve it."

As an attorney, Burton has fought against what she considers unsafe 
conditions at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Connecticut. 
She was even able to close the plant for one week, but the plant continues 
to operate. Along with the goal of closing Millstone, Burton also wants to 
close the nuclear power plant at Indian Point in New York.

"Not only are these plants polluting our air and water, but they are targets 
for terrorist attacks," Burton said. "Imagine if a plane crashed into one of 
those plants, this entire area would be devastated worse than Chernobyl. 
This state and the entire Northeast corridor of our nation would be 
contaminated beyond belief and uninhabitable for the foreseeable future."

Burton is not the kind of person to back down when she believes in something 
or to buckle under pressure. She is disgusted by Connecticut's reputation as 
"a state of corruption," and plans to do something about it, if elected.

"People say all the time that 'you can't fight city hall,'" Burton said. 
"But I don't believe in that. I fought against the New Hampshire Department 
of Transportation and saved my grandmother's house from being destroyed by a 
new highway.

"I was able to close a nuclear power plant for a week in 1999, so a native 
species of tiny fish could swim through the area. Corruption in this state 
has gone on long enough, and now it's time to do everything possible to make 
sure nothing like what Gov. [John] Rowland did happens again," she said.

Burton said Connecticut's traditional way of "checks and balances" in 
government has not worked in a long time. She said no one is paying 
attention to it, and that the three levels of state government are hurt by 
corruption.

"I want to do everything possible to end the culture of corruption that is 
in our state capital," Burton said. "I wouldn't waste a moment on that."

Her background of public interest law, much of it pro bono, helped her gain 
insight into how Connecticut's level of government operate. She has taken on 
cases of race and gender discrimination, big business, polluters and the 
nuclear industry. She won monetary damages for Brookfield neighbors who were 
breathing carcinogenic silica dust created by the uncontrolled blasts of a 
local rock quarry.

Burton said that when she reported judicial misconduct to the proper 
authorities, she paid the ultimate professional price: she alleged that it 
led to a five-year disbarment.

"Locally, I pledge to fight for clean air and clear water as well as 
excellent schools," said Burton. She describes herself as a social 
progressive but a fiscal conservative. "We have outstanding schools in this 
part of Connecticut, and I want to see that those high standards of 
excellence continue."

©Easton Courier 2004

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