Connecticut’s 128th State House District covers the East Side and Hollow. Republican Ethan Book, who’s at odds with party leadership, is challenging GOP-endorsed Luis Colon for the party nomination August 14 to face incumbent Democrat Chris Rosario in the general election. Book shares this piece on his perspective and background.
You may remember that Ethan was the Republican endorsed candidate for State Representative in 2014 and 2016. He did a good job getting out to meet the voters, to develop good issues and point out the weaknesses of our incumbent Democrat State Representative. Wanting to see the best from the Bridgeport Republican Town Committee, in 2017 he began a productive process of house cleaning of our local party. That process, which is not yet complete, sparked the ire of several of our local party insiders. They saw to it that, at the Town Committee meeting of May 23rd, another person was endorsed by the party for that position. Ethan clearly is the best Republican candidate for a solid challenge of our incumbent Christopher Rosario. He cares about public interests. So, he went out and got the signatures necessary to qualify for the Primary Election in challenging the currently endorsed candidate, Luis Colon.
Mr. Colon has been largely inactive in party political matters for six years. He hasn’t complied with local party rules by regularly attending Town Committee meetings except recently for certain votes. He is a demonstrated insider. He just recently said that the local Republican Party is insufficiently developed to win elections and won’t be for many years. Wrong! That attitude is precisely one reason that the local party hasn’t been winning elections. He is also intimidated by Christopher Rosario’s resume. Ethan knows of Mr. Rosario’s weaknesses such as of his record. In addition, contrary to local party rules, Mr. Colon was endorsed on May 23rd in a closed-door session.
Ethan has two advanced degrees, both with honors, including a masters degree in international management from the world-renowned Thunderbird School of Global Management (Glendale, AZ).
He served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a business adviser in Bucaramanga, Colombia. He worked with Bank of America in Guatemala City, Guatemala and in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Habla espanol con facilidad!
He also worked with Bank of America in New York City where he was active in arranging the documentation for a $55 million financing for the Vermont portion of the electrical transmission interconnection between Hydro-Quebec Power Company and the New England Power Pool, a project which over several decades has saved the region billions of dollars in energy costs.
He additionally worked as Vice President for Connecticut Bank & Trust where he observed and exposed issues of the Conn. Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA).
He has been active in investigating and correcting abusive collection and foreclosure practices of the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) and of the city attorneys’ handling of tax liens.
He has consistently supported and will continue to fight that Bridgeport gets its fair share of state funding for education.
He promotes judicial reform. Our state and federal laws are pretty good. Not perfect, but good. The problem is that, in the administration of our laws, there are clear preferences for corporations, governments and professional attorneys. This needs drastic change!
Ethan knows how to challenge the incumbent Christopher Rosario who, in 2015, voted in favor of one of the largest state tax increases in state history and who, in 2017, voted in favor of extending the contract for state employee unions all before the total budget was even introduced to the legislature. Such actions have resulted in a further weakening of our state economy with resulting high employment and large numbers of both workers and businesses moving out of the state. Mr. Rosario is a master of style and weak on substance. He does not demonstrate leadership in serving public interests!
If you are a Republican, please come out and vote for Ethan in the primary election on August 14th. Depending on where you live in the District, your voting location would be Luis Muñoz Marin School or Geraldine Johnson School. If you need an absentee ballot or transportation to the voting location, please contact me.
If you are not a registered Republican, are an American citizen and you would like to register and vote, please call Ethan at 203.943.0045. He will assist you in this process!
Please call him also if you have comments or questions!
For more information about Ethan and his positions, or to arrange a meeting with your community friends, you may go to the website of my 2016 campaign, WWW.EthanForBot.com,join Ethan’s Facebook page, send him an email at newenalimo@aol.com or call him at 203.943.0045.
This ought to be colorful.
TBK, good issues, good timing, good for the party and good for the public!
You keep telling yourself that, over and over. After several hundred repetitions the words will have no meaning.