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Democrats Toss Mud, Norwalk Official Says

This letter is a response to one written by Democrats David Jaeger, Bruce Kimmel and Nora King that posted on Monday. Its author, Pete Torrano, serves on the Police Commission. He was appointed by Mayor Richard Moccia. Jaeger and King serve on the Common Council.

NORWALK, Conn. -- David Jaeger, Bruce Kimmel and Nora King have proven the old saying about ?lies, damn lies and statistics by throwing up a bunch of numbers to try to ?"clear" Alex Knopp of the charge of reckless spending. Their first and most? obvious error is to use the total tax levy as a measure of anything. By ?their own admission this exercise is difficult, but it is even more? difficult when you are trying to prove a political point rather than looking? at what the average family has experienced.

In Norwalk, the average homeowner is considered to be someone living in my? neighborhood--in the 4th Taxing District. These homeowners do not face an? added tax like the amounts layered on in some other taxing districts. The ?real exercise is to take the average home price and walk through what my? neighbors would have paid each year and compare those numbers. Any other? way you slice it will not be apples to apples.

Additionally, Alex Knopp was mayor before the recession. The proof of a ?leader is what they do in a storm. The last three years have had the lowest? compounded growth rate of the previous decade. This year's tax increase was ?less than 1 percent. That was done by a hard-working Board of Estimate and Taxation, council and mayor, in ?spite of Ms. King's efforts to raise the cap placed on the budget increase by ?more than 50 percent.

Bottom line, from a baseline in 2001 through 2005 under Mayor Knopp, the? average homeowner's taxes increased more than 24 percent (7.26, 2.81, 5.5, 9.2). ?The same measure of Mayor Moccia gets us to 10.9 percent in the last 4 years (4.53, 1.75, 3.63, 0.98). (I use four years for both to keep things even.)

All this is meaningless. Hindsight and silly comparisons don't measure the ?man. The priorities of the city have changed, as have the world's. It would ?be far better for the city and for their constituents if these three would ?present us with a positive view of what they would do if elected rather than ?trying to confuse the electorate with their negative view of everything.

By politicizing every single issue, the two incumbents, especially Nora King, have done themselves and their party no favors. They have stalled a ?significant number of projects across the city, largely for no reason other ?than to throw mud, but unfortunately in some cases seemingly for their own ?personal benefit.

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