When did we stop checking in on our neighbors? A few weeks ago, I was out knocking doors in Somers when I came across the home of a 95-year-old gentleman– let’s call him Mike. For his age, he was in remarkable shape: tall, sturdy, maybe a bit slower on his feet, but as sharp a fellow as you’ll ever meet. Once I had assured him I wasn’t there to sell him solar panels, I gave Mike my pitch for why I should be his State Representative and asked him the same question I’ve asked everyone whose door I’ve knocked: “What are you looking for in your Representative, and what issues really matter to you?”
Without missing a beat, he looked me in the eye and said: “I’ve got just one. It’s kind of small, but it’s the one I care about.” Mike told me about how he’s gone hunting with his family for the last 70 years—it’s a tradition he shared with his own parents and grandparents, and one they shared with theirs. But these days, his aching joints make it harder for him to get around the way he used to. All he wants is to keep hunting in his own backyard with his grandkids. But there’s a problem: he needs a special permit to drive his four-wheeler out into the woods, and thanks to bureaucratic red tape, qualifying for that permit feels impossible. The system is complicated, he says. He can’t navigate the paperwork, let alone the confusing online process. His frustration was simple and honest: “I just want government to get out of my way so I can live how I’ve always lived.”
Mike’s request wasn’t for sweeping change, big promises, or partisan posturing—he just wanted the freedom to live without bureaucrats in a city miles away creating roadblocks to a tradition that brings him peace and connects him to his roots. And Mike isn’t alone. Over the course of my campaign to represent Connecticut’s 52nd House district, I’ve spoken with thousands of people and knocked on over 5,500 doors in Stafford, Somers, Union and Woodstock– and while Mike’s request is his own, it’s one of dozens of similarly “small” problems that deserve to be addressed, but somehow haven’t. We’ve had the same elected officials represent us in Hartford for years, but they haven’t come to our doors. They haven’t asked us what we need, haven’t fought to make sure government serves our communities. In short, that representation seems to have forgotten that being an elected representative means being a good neighbor.
I was born and raised in Woodstock, in a house my dad and grandfather built together, just down the street from my grandparents. My family has lived in Connecticut for nine generations, and for me, home has always been northern Connecticut– it’s where I went to school, where I found my friends, and where I hope to live for the rest of my life. Because whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat– or tired of politics altogether– in our corner of Connecticut, we share a certain set of values, and those are values I want to pass down to my kids. We don’t live for glitz and glamor. We aren’t chasing big-city wealth or corporate titles. We live here because we love the land—our forests, lakes, the clear skies, and the people who share in our simple, honest way of life. Like Mike, we don’t ask for much beyond the freedom to live and work in peace. And most importantly, we look out for one another. We check in. We help our neighbors.
These are the values I was taught as a kid growing up in Woodstock. So is it too much to ask of our representation? Working at the state legislature, I have seen first-hand, and far too often, how the representatives we keep reelecting have failed to chase down our priorities and left our towns to be forgotten by the state. They’ve grown too comfortable pinning their lack of results on partisan politics, all while groceries get more expensive, our roads continue to crumble, and year after year, the dollars we pay in taxes don’t make their way back to our corner of the state.
We’ve worked hard to build our community into something to be proud of, and we deserve to have representation that’s willing and able to finally put our towns and families first. We need representation who will fix our roads and bridges, who will reach across the aisle to secure funding for our schools and our retirees– someone who remembers what it means to check in, to listen, and to fight for the needs that matter—big or small. It’s time we stop accepting the status quo and start working together for the change our district deserves. It’s time we expect more.
To earn the privilege of representing you and our district would be my distinct honor and pride. You will find no prouder son, no stouter defender, and no fiercer advocate of, and for, this community. And that’s why I am running to be an independent voice and the neighbor my community taught me to be: to work with political parties, not for one; to fight for a trimmer, sleeker government; to bring back state resources to the district that raised me; and to use whatever influence I can garner working through the majority party to ensure that issues like Mike’s and so many others are finally heard in Hartford.
I’m ready to get to work for our district, but first I need your help from now until November 5th to get us across the finish line. This fall, your vote will make the ultimate difference in this race. I hope I can count on your support, and I promise to check in.
Sincerely,
Ethan Werstler
Democratic Candidate for State Representative, CT 52nd district
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