Mar 28, 2008
Redding
Democrats: Himes, Hartwell visit Left of Center Ladies
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by Janis Gibson
Two Democratic candidates — Jim Himes, who is challenging Chris Shays for his seat in the 4th Congressional District, and John Hartwell, who is running for the 26th District State Senate seat currently held by Judith Freedman — were in Redding earlier this month, meeting with the Left of Center Ladies in the Sanfordtown Road home of Jill Callaway.The informative evening was a combination of mingling informally with the guests, making a formal presentation and answering questions from the listeners.
Mr. Himes, who on March 12 was named to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program, confirming his position as one of the top Democratic House challengers in the country, spoke first. In explaining why he is running, Mr. Himes stated, “The last seven years have been an utter disaster for the country; we’ve moved away from the values that made us great. I want to help shift the nation back to such things as valuing the rule of law, re-establishing the balance of powers and engaging responsibly internationally. We also need to get back to our fundamental values that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed.”
Talking about his background, Mr. Himes noted he “worked every job there was in a small town, went to good public schools, and that got me into Harvard,” where he won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford. He feels these types of opportunities are fading for many. “We are slipping away from something that is critical, cultural and sacred; this is more than politics,” he said.
9/11
He reflected on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and their aftermath. At the time, he worked at Goldman Sachs, a block away from the World Trade Center in New York City, which was one of the targets. Trained as an emergency medical technician, he made his way to the site and worked with the first responders.
“Remember how we felt in the days after the attack?” he said. “The incredible feeling of coming together... doctors and food appeared; people lined up to give blood; in that moment we knew we shared a common bond. We are at our best when we have this commonality. That is what we lost.
“I think about what might have been if we’d channeled that emotion into solving some of our nation’s problems. Instead,” he continued with a shake of his head, “we were told to ‘go shopping,’ that our noblest purpose is to be consumers.”
Mr. Himes was born in Peru and spent the first decade of his life in Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish. He has worked in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Today he is a board member of the Fairfield County Community Foundation and an elected member of the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation. He is also chairman of the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. As a result of his experiences, he believes, “We have an obligation and responsibility to each other. It is unacceptable that 47 million are uninsured, that American corporations are uncompetitive internationally and our education systems are faltering,” he said.
Issues
There are three issues that “excite” Mr. Himes — education, environment and immigration.
He thinks priorities have been skewed. “Our educational system fails to educate half of our kids. Many are victims of violence or turn to criminal activity. We spend millions on incarcerating people at $35,000 per year that could be much better spent on education. This is a national emergency. We need some federal leadership. The only enduring source of our national wealth is innovation. We need to educate our people. We cannot allow our education system to erode any further.”
When it comes to the environment, Mr. Himes declared: “I am a zealot on the issue of building green. There are simple things that can be done; others are more complex.
“People often say we will be challenged by how hard and expensive changes can be,” he continued. “I see mismanagement. Americans have proven that they can do great and improbable things. We do the hard and difficult things, we’re ambitious. It is part of being American.”
On immigration, Mr. Himes said, “We must secure our borders. To do so, we must tamp down demand, crack down on employers who offer jobs to illegal immigrants. There are things we can do to reverse the inflow. The challenging question, however, is what do we do with the 12 million illegal immigrants who are already here? We need to document them, get rid of the bad apples and over time create an earned path to citizenship, but they have to go to the back of the line. We have no business creating a permanent underclass.”
Asked about Christopher Shays and some of his good rankings by some more liberal groups, Mr. Himes replied, “He votes well on issues that don’t matter much to the Republican Party. While he is good on reproductive rights, for example, he is supporting a candidate who wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. There is a sense people are aware of Shays’ record, but the downside of being all over the place is that he doesn’t say, ‘Here is where I stand.’”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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