On a sweltering day during my tour of small businesses in Southington, I stopped in Anthony Jacks Wood Fired Grill and spoke with three women having a late lunch. They all pledged their support for my campaign, including the Democrat among them, who said she was fed up with the party’s direction.

I don’t blame her. Washington spending is out of control, and with the bills coming due on programs like the failed $862 billion “stimulus,” Congress is threatening tax hikes on small businesses and middle class families. Tax hikes are the last thing our economy needs right now.

Pamela Depaolo, owner of Depaolo’s Furniture on Center Street, said taxes keep creeping up, making it difficult to make a living as the owner of a small business. She’s concerned for employees, as well, who have to provide for their families.

Pamela is the third generation to own the store her grandparents founded in 1946 with Maytag appliances. The store sells American-made furniture, she said.

As I visited businesses, I found signs of growth in Southington. Coil Pro Machinery, Inc., an 18,000-square-foot factory that designs equipment to cut steel, is slowly expanding. They just bought new machinery.

And I found a brand new business on Center Street – Vanity Rites Tattoo and Body Art. The shop has been open for less than a month. Owner Steve Molnar said we need growth across a broad spectrum of businesses.

Steve is right. We must act quickly to encourage growth of small businesses, which have historically created 70% of new jobs. My economic plan is built on four key principles:

• Reduce tax rates across the board.
• Reduce regulations and mandates on businesses.
• Sound government finances. Don’t spend more than you can pay for.
• Sound money. Keep inflation low; keep the dollar strong.

This framework will give a boost to small businesses like those I visited in Southington, and it will jumpstart the job creation we so desperately need.

Register Citizen Endorsement: The Case For Linda McMahon

Torrington Register Citizen
Editorial
Friday, July 30, 2010

We are proud to endorse Linda McMahon in Connecticut’s Aug. 10 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, and here’s why:

Chris Dodd represented us in this seat for decades. Sucked in by the increasing power of his position over the years, he alternately looked out for those who helped him hold onto that power (the interests that funded his campaigns and helped him with his mortgage) and sharply partisan interests.

Despite the populist milieu he likes to conjure with press conferences about the latest consumer issue in his role as attorney general, Richard Blumenthal is an intensely partisan animal. He is the Democratic establishment’s establishment candidate. And he will proudly take up the Dodd mantle.

Linda McMahon is best positioned to stop Blumenthal from winning an election that he and the establishment act as though they are entitled to.

Her Republican opponent, Peter Schiff, is as disengaged as one can get from the real world that most Connecticut voters face. We keep hearing how brilliant he is, and OK, great, we’re sure that he is, and that his message about economic policy needs to be heard in Washington. But if he’s so smart, how come he can’t learn some interpersonal skills, or that to represent Connecticut voters, you have to actually meet some of them and get to know what their day-to-day problems are?

The other Republican on the ballot Aug. 10 is former Congressman Rob Simmons, who was endorsed on Thursday by the Hartford Courant despite having “suspended” his campaign just after the Republican convention without taking his name off the ballot, and then quietly, sort of, announcing that he was back in the race.

We like Rob Simmons, too. He’d make a good senator, or a good governor. But his behavior in this campaign has been bizarre and a disservice to the supporters and voters who were counting on him for leadership in accepting the challenge to run for U.S. Senate.

Remove three irrelevant factors — Linda McMahon’s gender, her personal wealth, and the nature of the business that she built from scratch — and the sneering doubts that party insiders and the press raise about her would go away.

Peter Schiff’s comment about McMahon being “off washing her hair” at a debate the other night was despicably sexist.

We should all be so lucky as to have fulfilled the American dream the way McMahon has in terms of earning what she has from nothing.

And let’s face it, World Wrestling Entertainment, whether we like it or watch it or not, is every bit a piece of modern Americana as NASCAR or American Idol.

Linda McMahon has real-world business experience, and knows what the government needs to do and not do to help create jobs for Connecticut residents.

We can easily picture Linda McMahon standing up to the power brokers in the Senate, in either party, and to the special interests, because she doesn’t need them to get into office or stay there.

Linda McMahon is a refreshing entry into the world of Connecticut politics.

We are glad she stepped up to the plate to run for the U.S. Senate, and we would urge voters in the Aug. 10 Republican primary to support her.

LINK

Play Kevin Rennie’s Interview On WTIC’s Ray Dunaway Show

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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.

Daily Ructions

Bundling Blumenthal

Daily Ructions Blog
By Kevin Rennie
Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, says he went to Vancouver this month to talk to some lawyers about the problems of ordinary people.  He could have done that in Connecticut.  Gathered in Canada, however, was a remarkable collection of political donors and bundlers working under the auspices of a new fundraising committee, Committee for a Better Future, a political action committee formed in May to raise money for Blumenthal and others.  Since the past has been dogging Blumenthal, the five term attorney general would probably travel far for a chance to look ahead.

What a lot of got-rocks Democratic contributors Blumenthal crossed the continent to hob-nob with.  Blumenthal loses his way trying to explain the event in this interview with WTNH’s Mark Davis.  He says the gathering wasn’t a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  But it was–and for Blumenthal, too.  How could he not have known that?  The invitation to a July 11th fundraising event at the Vancouver Convention Centre reveals its a festival of big-money donors gathered to benefit Blumenthal and 11 other Democrats running for the Senate. Blumenthal had to have known that the Committee for a Better Future was formed specifically to raise money for him and those other Democrats.  It says so in the documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission in May.

The top ticket price was, brace yourself, $43,200.00 to attend the 90 minute event.  Here’s pdf of the invitation from Committee for a Better Future. What problems of “ordinary people” do you think they discussed?  Blumenthal’s share of the loot was precisely 7.07%.  Reid receives 20%.

Among the other recipients bundled with Blumenthal is Illinois Democrat Alexi Giannoulias.  He’s the sort of dodgy figure Blumenthal usually condemns not conspires with.  Giannoulias is a financial pirate who worked for his family’s bank when it made millions in bad loans to disreputable figures.  The FDIC took over the mismanaged bank in April.  Total cost to taxpayers is not yet known.  Blumenthal is keeping some very bad company by divvying up dough with Giannoulias.  Perhaps he asked the grasping young millionaire what he knows of  the concerns of “ordinary people.”  That could have made the 3000 mile sociological jaunt worthwhile for Blumenthal.

What Blumenthal went very far out of his way to avoid revealing was that he embarked on a long fundraising trip to participate in a short event that put him and other candidates in the same room with big donors writing enormous checks.  Why can’t Blumenthal be honest about it?

LINK

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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.

Americans by a large majority believe President Barack Obama has not focused enough on job creation, as economic fears threaten Democrats ahead of November 2 congressional elections, a Reuters-Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.

Reuters
By Steve Holland
Tuesday, July 27, 2010

In a sign of trouble ahead for the Democrats, the poll found evidence of a sizable enthusiasm gap with Republicans more energized about voting in the elections.

Americans expressed deep unhappiness with the direction of the economy, which in the poll they identified overwhelmingly as the country’s top problem.

The U.S. unemployment rate is at a stubbornly high 9.5 percent and Obama has spent much of the year on issues like Wall Street reform and healthcare in addition to jobs.

People were more negative about Obama’s performance on the economy than on any other question surveyed. Satisfaction was dropping more sharply on the issue than on any other question.

Only 34 percent approved of Obama’s handling of the economy and jobs compared to 46 percent who deemed it unsatisfactory. This is a sharp decline from early 2009, shortly after he took office, when more than half of those surveyed approved of Obama’s handling of the worst financial crisis in decades.

Overall, the July 22-25 national poll of 1,075 adults gave Obama an approval rating of 48 percent, a small decline from a June survey that had him at 50 percent approval.

This is in line with other polls showing his approval rating under 50 percent and evidence that for all the country’s problems, Obama remains generally well-liked.

“People still feel insecure about their future,” said Ipsos pollster Cliff Young. “They are spending less and saving more. They’re not buying a larger house or car or other luxuries because they’re worried — and that worry also manifests itself on the political side.”

U.S. presidents often lose support in midterm elections.

The Republicans are hoping to win control of the House of Representatives in November and pick up seats in the Senate. That could prevent Obama from winning any more major successes in Congress in the second half of this term.

‘COMMON GROUND’

Obama pushed the Senate on Tuesday to pass legislation intended to benefit small businesses and generate jobs.

“I hope that in the coming days, we’ll once again find common ground and get this legislation passed. We shouldn’t let America’s small businesses be held hostage to partisan politics and certainly not at this critical time,” Obama said.

The poll provided evidence that Americans are unhappy that Obama and the Democrats chose to devote their energies to overhauling the U.S. healthcare system and financial regulations instead of dwelling exclusively on job creation.

It found that 67 percent of poll respondents said Obama has not focused enough on job creation compared to healthcare and regulation of banks. Obama has argued that those reforms are vital building blocks to a strong economic recovery.

“They think he should’ve focused much more on the economy rather than healthcare and financial regulation,” said pollster Young. “From a voter perspective, they don’t see the economy improving. They don’t think the administration has given due attention to that problem.”

The Reuters-Ipsos poll was dismal news for Democrats as they seek to hold off Republicans in November elections in which Americans will elect 435 members of the House of Representatives and 37 of the 100-seat U.S. Senate.

Republicans hold a 46-44 percent lead over Democrats when participants were asked which party they planned to support in November. And 72 percent of Republicans said they are certain to vote on November 2, compared to 49 percent of Democrats.

“Republicans are charged up because they think they have a chance,” Young said.

The economy is still recovering too slowly to improve Obama’s political fortunes. U.S. consumer confidence sank in July to its lowest since February.

Figures to be released on Friday are likely to show that growth in the U.S. economy slowed in the second quarter amid a cooling in consumer spending and a wider trade deficit — but they will mark four straight quarters of expansion.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Not all was dire for Obama as 52 percent of independent voters approved of his job performance. Independents are closely watched because they often make the difference in close elections.

Obama, when accused by Republicans of driving up government spending and debt with an $862 billion stimulus plan, has made the point that he inherited a $1.3 trillion U.S. budget deficit from his unpopular predecessor, Republican George W. Bush.

But the poll suggested there are limits to this argument. It said 70 percent of Americans think the deficit has increased under Obama, and 75 percent said it grew under Bush.

Although U.S. troops are on their way out of Iraq, only 34 percent approved of Obama’s handling of the Iraq war, down from 51 percent early in his term.

With casualties rising in Afghanistan, 33 percent approved of Obama’s handling of the Afghan war, down from 47 percent shortly after he took office.

More Americans approved than disapproved of Obama’s efforts toward energy independence, 39 percent to 32 percent. But, again, the approval rating is down from the 56 percent approval he received on this subject in February 2009.

This comes as Obama grapples with BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill and pushes the need for more clean-energy jobs.

The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and the data weighted to ensure that the sample’s composition reflected that of the actual U.S. population according to U.S. Census figures.

LINK

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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.

On my tour of Main Street Middletown, I visited Amato’s Toy and Hobby Store during its 70^th anniversary celebration. I was fortunate to be there when the owner had set up his antique model-train collection.

Diane Gervais, daughter of Amato’s 85-year-old owner, and I couldn’t help but smile as we watched the 1920s-era cars roll along thousands of feet of track.

Diane said her father started the business with the $100 he had in his pocket. The family-owned business caters to customer’s individual needs, she said. That’s what has kept them in business so long.

Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, who joined me on the tour, said people have been flocking to Main Street Middletown. New restaurants have opened up, making the city a destination offering a variety of dining options.

The mayor joined me on tour the same day he announced his endorsement of me for U.S. Senate, citing my commitment to fiscal responsibility and that I am a fresh face to politics.

“Budgets are to be followed. Linda and I agree on that,” the mayor said.

The citizens of Connecticut “get it,” I told Mayor Giuliano. They understand what Washington politicians don’t—we can’t spend our way out of this recession.

I popped into Central News, another Middletown landmark, where politicians can be found any given day having breakfast, coffee and discussing the latest news. Owner Bill Sbona told me he’s frustrated with government telling people how to live.

“All this is getting rammed down our throats,” he said of federal healthcare reform, among other bills passed by Congress.

At Middlesex Fruitery, founded in 1923, second-generation owners Mary and Ted Xenelis said they’ve seen a decline in business.

“If the economy would get going we’d be better,” Ted said. “People spend very little and bring in a list. They are hurting and it shows.”

John Charles Bagley, owner of Forrest City Wine and Spirits, a business he built with his family, said he has nearly tripled the size of his shop and sales have been steady. He told me he supports my candidacy because my husband and I worked our way back from bankruptcy.

“We know what it’s like to get knocked around a bit,” I said.

West Hartford, Conn. – Linda McMahon for Senate 2010 today announced that House Republican Leader Larry Cafero has given his support to Republican Senate Nominee Linda McMahon.

“As a proud Connecticut Republican, I believe with all my heart that our state and our country are better served with a Republican representing Connecticut in our U.S. Senate,” said House Republican Leader Larry Cafero. “I am proud to have been one of Rob Simmons’ earliest supporters in his campaign for Senate.  Rob has a long, distinguished record of public service, and I believe he will continue serving this state and our country for years to come.”

“If our Republican party hopes to beat the well financed Democratic front runner, Richard Blumenthal, we need a candidate who is positioned on August 11^th to take this campaign to the November 2^nd, Election Day finish line,” continued Cafero. “I now believe Linda McMahon is that candidate. Throughout this campaign, Linda has demonstrated the grit to take the fight to a man who thinks he can win a U.S. Senate seat by hiding from the public and the press. Linda has the message, resources and the team to win in November. I am not casting my vote against Rob Simmons, I’m voting for Linda McMahon, as I believe she is the Republican Party’s best hope for victory.”

State Rep. Larry Cafero was first elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1992 and was reelected eight times. Rep. Cafero served as Deputy Republican Leader for six terms, and in 2007, was chosen by his colleagues to serve as House Republican Leader.

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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.

On the two key pieces of legislation passed this year, the health care bill and financial reform bill, top Democrats have admitted they had no idea what’s in these complex, economy-altering bills.

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: “[W]e have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it…” (“Pelosi Remarks at the 2010 Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi Press Release, 3/9/10)

SEN. CHRIS DODD: “No one will know until [financial reform] is actually in place how it works .” (David Cho, Jia Lynn Yang and Brady Dennis, “Lawmakers guide Dodd-Frank bill for Wall Street reform into homestretch,” Washington Post, 6/26/10)

To allow Congress, the public, and government watchdogs more time to analyze legislation, a leading suggestion is to require that all non-emergency bills be posted online for at least 72 hours before a final vote can be scheduled. Last week, however, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer ridiculed the idea:

“House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) ridiculed on Thursday an effort pushed by Republicans to allow lawmakers more time to read legislation. Hoyer dismissed a proposal by House GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio) and other Republicans to require 72 hours to read legislation before a final vote on it is scheduled.” (Michael O’Brien, “Hoyer Ridicules Bohener’s ‘read the bill’ initiative” The Hill, 7/22/10)

Does Richard Blumenthal believe Congress and the public should have a chance to read bills before they’re passed?

Linda McMahon’s position on the Read the Bill reform has been a matter of public record for months. The Hartford Courant reported on Linda’s position in October. As Linda explains: “Businesses don’t sign contracts without knowing what they’re signing, and lawmakers shouldn’t vote on bills without knowing what they’re passing. It’s time for something different.” On Linda’s campaign website, she says: “I would support a common sense measure that would require all non-emergency bills be subject to a mandatory three-day period during which bills would be posted on the Internet prior to a vote so that Members of Congress, the press and the public can review them.”

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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.

Daily Ructions
 
McMahon, Foley Score Big Wins In Middletown Straw Poll. Result A Disappointment For Simmons.
 
Daily Ructions Blog
By Kevin Rennie
Friday, July 23, 2010
 
The Middlletown Republican Town Committee held an Iowa-like cattle call and straw poll tonight.  The 186 Republicans who paid $10 each to participate dealt a blow to the Rob Simmons campaign a couple of days after the former congressman revived his suspended campaign.  Simmons represented Middletown during his first term in Congress.
 
The three Senate candidates spoke to the crowd. Tom Foley and Oz Griebel did too, Michael Fedele was represented by running mate Mark Boughton.
 
The results:
 
For U.S. Senate:
Linda McMahon: 106
Peter Schiff: 46
Rob Simmons: 34
 
For Governor:
Michael Fedele: 18
Tom Foley: 138
Oz Griebel: 35

LINK

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For more information, contact the Linda McMahon for Senate Press Office, 860-244-2010.

Claudia Syx, a receptionist at a property-management firm in Bethel, can point to a number of friends who have left Connecticut for the South, where she says jobs are more plentiful and the cost of living not as high.

“We’re going to end up pricing everybody out of this state and you can’t blame them,” Claudia said. “The whole state is so overwhelmingly expensive, unless you have two salaries.”

While I toured Bethel businesses, I stopped by an office building on Stony Hill Road that houses three companies owned by the Scalzo family: a real estate agency, law firm and the property-management outfit where Claudia works.

Home prices are too high and “affordable” rentals are not that affordable, Claudia said. “Connecticut is bad but the whole country needs a big shakeup.”

Claudia said she likes my business background, which she deems a necessary asset for a U.S. Senator these days. As a former CEO, I understand that to create jobs we must eliminate the bureaucratic red tape and government regulations that harm our businesses and ship our jobs overseas.

The Scalzo family said they were thankful that their three businesses are still viable, despite declining building and home sales. But the news was not as good when I visited English Drug, a family-owned pharmacy for 105 years, which is closing this month.

Business has been cut in half because insurance companies are requiring patients to fill their prescriptions at a major chain, said pharmacist Dan Boulanger. As a result, the drug store is in foreclosure.

“The bank is deciding when we close,” he told me. “I can’t keep up with my bills.” I empathized with Dan. My husband, Vince, and I suffered the pain of bankruptcy 30 years ago.

Next door at Jacqueline’s Restaurant & Bakery, owner Arelis Fernandez said she was hanging in there.“We are holding our own,” she said.

Arelis said she appreciated that I have experience building and running my own business. I added that I also have experience “going under,” referring to our bankruptcy, coming back, and raising a family through it all.

On the way out of Jacqueline’s, I shook hands with families and couples sitting at the bakery’s cafe tables. “Please don’t forget us when you get down there,” several customers said.