If you live north of the George Washington Highway, you may be surprised to discover that your neighborhood is no longer represented in the CT State Legislature with the rest of Ridgefield (111th district). Approximately 1000 Ridgefield residents are now joined with parts of Danbury and all of New Fairfield in the 138th State Legislative district as a result of re-districting after the 2010 census. What?
Historically this section of Ridgefield was part of not only New York, but also Danbury. Today, the 138th district embraces Danbury’s corporate resources, Danbury Hospital, Western Connecticut University, rich cultural resources and a mix of urban/suburban neighborhoods as well as New Fairfield’s small rural/”exurban” resources including Candlewood Lake.
What does this mean for Ridgefield? It is time to become informed and active in our representation, not only in our “larger” district, the 111th, but also in our second district, the 138th. Incumbent Janice Giegler, the current Assistant Republican leader, has taken positions that may surprise voters. Among her many “knee jerk” partisan votes was a “NO” vote to increase the minimum wage in CT (May 2013) — a vote disproportionately hostile to women and children due to the high percentage of women in lower-paying jobs. Other votes reflect values that Ridgefield residents have repeatedly rejected at the ballot box, in community meetings and in sentiment, including Giegler’s “NO” vote on an anti-discrimination bill covering gender identity (2011), Giegler’s “NO” vote for UConn construction (2011), and Giegler’s “NO” on Connecticut Bio-Science Collaboration (2011: key to economic and job growth).
Giegler’s votes also demonstrate a powerful zeal for making it more difficult to register to vote, or to vote by absentee ballot, which large numbers of Ridgefield residents, many of whom travel for business or whose long commutes prohibit in-person voting, do EVERY election. Her “NO” votes on allowing election-day registration and absentee ballots for any reason requested by the voter (2012) thankfully did not prevail. Evidence to support accusations and thinly veiled fears about “illegal” voting has never materialized. Thankfully, the voters’ ability to exercise their rights without unnecessary obstruction was preserved, despite Representative Giegler’s efforts to the contrary.
Most troubling, for which no valid reason or rationale has been provided other than word-parsing and platitudes about “flaws” in the law, was Representative Giegler’s vote AGAINST the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (April 2013), just 4 months after the Newtown massacre. She did NOT vote against“take my gun” or “restrict my ability to own or bear arms”, she voted AGAINST “secure ammunition and firearms enforcement”. Communities in our area are intimately sensitive to the dangers of unsecured firearms, and we need our elected representatives to share that sensitivity.
Representative Giegler has some explaining to do not only to the residents residing in the 138th district, but to all Ridgefielders who understand that although we live in two districts, we are one town.
Susan D. Cocco is Chair of the Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee, which supplies this column.