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http://www.garylebeau2010.com

Thanks!

While disappointed that my gubernatorial campaign has ended, I feel stronger and more energized by the strong support that you and hundreds of others have given to me. I hope to continue to work with you on issues that concern you. Please stay in contact with me.

You know, last year I started this campaign with the idea that jobs and Connecticut’s economic future are the most important challenges facing our state. At that time, I, –drawing on my many years of experience chairing the legislative Commerce Committee — was virtually the only one saying this. Now, every candidate has recognized the importance of this issue. I will continue to fight for a more competitive and prosperous Connecticut, most likely by seeking reelection as state senator.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement.

His advocacy for local concerns and commitment to doing what is right will be missed.   Chris Dodd is a fighter for Connecticut’s working families, leading the fight for workers to take leave of their jobs to tend to a family member’s illness and providing available and affordable health insurance for all families.   As Commerce Committee co-chair, I have supported and help supplement his efforts in particular to save high paying, high quality jobs at Pratt and Whitney and other Connecticut employers.  

Connecticut will lose a great leader and a great friend in the United States Senate.

From my family to yours, we wish you all peace, love and happiness in 2010!

Sincerely,
 
Gary, Joanne, Kara, Matthew, Chris and Hershey

Click above for entire article.

The ones like Gary LeBeau, Mickey and Tom, all of whom had long lists of extracurricular activities next to their names. Gary grew up to be a very successful educator and politician. Mickey, the same Mickey who won that television for selling the most magazines, has had a rock-solid career in the business world. He’s a marketing guy. Still selling things. And Tom Lux is a poetry man.

Thanks for the kind words and mention Terry!

Jeff,

I want to tell you how proud the entire State of Connecticut is regarding our football team. You should be particularly proud. Yesterday was YOUR  and Randy’s dream come. The whole thing was especially poignant given the horrific bad breaks that the team has endured this year-and during yesterday’s game also ( Not one, but two winning touchdowns called back).

Yesterday I was up in Mass to visit my Mom ( in a nursing home ) and my sister and her family.  I tried to catch as much of the game as I could on the radio. Eventually, I saw the last 8 minutes of regulation playing time and the OT’s on my sister’s TV.

Thrilling, absolutely thrilling. 

When the game was over I found myself moved to tears as it hit me what had just occurred. My family, who have no connections to UConn except for me was also going nuts. I called my former boss (a former Notre Dame fan) thinking he was home, but he was up in a bar in northern New Hampshire and they were all going nuts too. 

Something happened yesterday. I believe that UConn became New England’s team. The courage (heart) that the team exhibited, its perseverence and its conditioning won over anyone who was watching. 

Congratulations again. Please share my comments with Randy. I am so proud to own a small piece of the history that led to this and to be the Senator who represents the home turf where UConn plays and was one of many who helped to build that stadium. 

Sincerely,

Gary LeBeau

The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters

State Sen. Gary D. LeBeau, D-East Hartford, co-chairman of the Commerce Committee, voted perfectly in 2009 on environmental legislation, the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters has announced.

The organization specifically recognized LeBeau for his pro-environment votes regarding pesticides at daycare facilities, smart growth, green cleaning products in public schools, and ‘green-building’ LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) incentives, among other legislation.

“We publish an Annual Environmental Scorecard to let Connecticut voters who care about the environment know if their legislators are voting the right way,” Lori Brown, executive director of the CTLCV, said.

“Connecticut has the good fortune to have a number of legislators who consistently go to bat for the environment. They earn our deep appreciation for standing firm for clean air, clean water and clean energy and for giving our irreplaceable beaches, parks, forests, farmland and other open space the protection they deserve,” she said.

“I’ve always been a strong supporter of Connecticut’s environment,” said LeBeau, who has formed an exploratory campaign for a possible run for governor in 2010.

“I believe the environment is one of the main reasons we have such a high quality of life here in Connecticut and all of New England,” Sen. LeBeau said. “I also believe it is not only possible, but essential, to balance environmental protection with business growth and regulation. That’s evident in the explosion of green jobs and green industries that we’ve seen in the past decade, such as fuel cells and energy-efficient appliances and buildings. Protecting and maintaining our environment is one thing that industry and consumers certainly agree on.” 

LeBeau’s average pro-environment legislative score over the past decade – from 2000 to 2009 – is 90.1, including five perfect scores of 100,  the group said.

In its annual report, the organization cited several legislative successes this year:

•   An updated bottle deposit bill. For a number of years, recycling advocates tried to expand the state’s redemption and recycling program to require five-cent deposits on water containers. This year they finally succeeded in passing an updated bottle deposit bill.

•   An expanded Community Investment Act. The act was expanded to provide more money for dairy farms in addition to preservation of farmland, open space and historic urban centers.

•   Smart Growth legislation. New laws were passed to protect open space, redevelop brownfields and provide more environmentally friendly transportation.

•   Passage of other important legislation. Several bills passed that increased environmental protections for children. These bills required that schools use environment-friendly cleaning products and limit the use of pesticides in day-care facilities and elementary schools.

Front row: Representative Joe Serra, Senator Gary LeBeau, Robert P. Dutcher, Gregory M. Harris, Jennifer C. Zettergren, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano. Back row: Senator Paul Doyle, Lawrence Lafferty, Alex Motoc, Jeanne Messick. Click photo for slideshow

Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, State Representative Joe Serra (D-Middletown) and Senator Paul Doyle (D-Cromwell) all were present as the partners in the law firm of Dzialo, Pickett, & Allen, P.C. were celebrated with a Patriot Award. The Patriot Award is given out by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, (ESGR) a Department of Defense agency, in recognition of employers who have supported Guard and Reserve members during their training and deployments.

Alex Motoc, who works at that firm and volunteers for Senator LeBeau was the armed forces member who the firm has been most supportive.  Senator LeBeau took the opportunity to say kind words of encouragement to service members generally, who give so much to our country.  Click here for WFSB Channel 3 coverage of this event. 

Special thanks to reporter/photographer Matt Kabel of The Middletown Press  who covered the event and was kind enough to share his pictures, linked here.

Make your voice heard with Hartford Courant online poll

Last week we had great success asking supporters like you to vote in a WTIC poll, helping me pull ahead of both Dan Malloy and Susan Bysiewicz!  Thank you for your support!
 
Today, the Hartford Courant is offering an online poll with the following question: 
 
Who’s likely to be the next governor?
 
The poll is on the Hartford Courant site (linked above) about half way down the page.  As you can see, this online poll includes potential republican opponents now that Governor Rell is not in the race.
 
If you agree it is time to begin Rebuilding Connecticut, please take a moment to click on the link above and vote for me.
 
After you vote, send me an email to lebeauct@gmail.com to let me know, because together, we can begin Rebuilding Connecticut!
 
Thanks!

When I was growing up in Easthampton, Massachusetts – this would have been about 250 years ago, George Washington was actually my neighbor… I’M JOKING! – when I was growing up in Easthampton, Mass., I honestly cannot remember attending a single Veterans Day event.

I think that as a 13 year-old boy in 1960 – this was about five years before we sent combat troops into Vietnam – I didn’t have a very strong connection to Veterans Day, even though my father was a World War II veteran, a fact of which I am very proud of to this day.

Veterans Day just didn’t seem very relevant to me. In my mind it was a day reserved for very old people of another generation to march in uniforms wearing  insignias.

It was for people like my father who had served in World War II, or maybe in the Korean War, and maybe even World War I – which at that point had only been over for about 40 years (almost the same time difference as between today and the end of the Vietnam War.)

It was a generational thing. Veterans Day was about “them,” not about “me.”  There was no connection to my life. Going to a parade, I may as well have been watching The History Channel or a PBS documentary.

Now, if I were in high school today celebrating Veteran’s Day it would be a completely different story.

What makes it different?  Two words:  Afghanistan, and Iraq.

I am willing to bet that each of you here today knows somebody – personally knows somebody – who is serving or has recently served overseas. Maybe it’s a brother or a sister, an aunt or an uncle, your mother or your father.  It could be a neighbor or a family friend.  A classmate.  A boyfriend or girlfriend.

Maybe you’ve had to help out watching their kids or working around their house or having them over for dinner because they can’t get by with just one parent in the house, or they can’t get by on one paycheck.  Or they lost an arm or an eye or have a traumatic brain injury.

Or maybe you went to a send-off party and then, months later, attended a funeral.  Like maybe the friends of Philip Johnson did in Enfield.

Philip Johnson was just 19 – about your age — when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Ramadi in September 2006.  That was three years ago.

Stephen Bixler of Suffield was just 20 years old when he was killed on a foot patrol near Fallujah in May of 2006.

Richard Ford – from my hometown of East Hartford – was 40 when he was killed by small arms fire near Baghdad in February 2007.  Less than three years ago.

Nicholas Madaras was 19.  Christian Cotner and Anthony D’Agostino were 20.  Jordan Pierson and Christopher Hoskins were 21.

That’s a little too close to home, age-wise.  And East Hartford and Suffield and Enfield are just down the street.

That, my friends, is called relevance.  And that’s what makes Veterans Day 2009 so different.

And who’s next?  We don’t know.  The military is asking President Obama to commit another 40,000 troops to Afghanistan in the next year.  That’s 40,000 people who could very likely include your classmates and neighbors and relatives.  Only time will tell.

Before I end, I want to mention a quick historical note that I’m sure you’re already aware of.

Veterans Day was not always called “Veterans Day,” and its original focus was quite different.

It started after World War I – which was of course supposed to be ‘the war to end all wars’ – it started out after World War I as “Armistice Day,” and the point of that day, according to President Woodrow Wilson, was to be commemorated “with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations…’’

But then, in 1954 the original concept changed from a desire to perpetuate ‘peace through good will and mutual understanding’ to honoring America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and their willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

So what started out as a focus on achieving lasting peace has become a simpler celebration of patriotism and country.

And I don’t have a problem with that.

You know, there’s a poem by Carl Sandburg – he won three Pulitzer Prizes, by the way – called “The People, Yes.”  It’s an epic poem, written in 1936, at the same time Italy was invading Ethiopia and Hitler was defying the Treaty of Versailles.  This was all in the lead-up to World War II.

And there’s a line in the poem when Sandburg says, “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.”

I remember that became a very popular phrase in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War – “What if they gave a war, and nobody came?” 

And that’s one way to think about Veterans Day.

And another way is the way that Mark Durfee thinks.  Mark Durfee is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and he was the head elder at the church that Philip Johnson attended.

When Johnson died Durfee told a newspaper that it’s important to remember the sacrifice so many young people make.

He said, “I thank God that there are still young people out there willing to do what they do.  We would not be where we are today as a free country without many Phil Johnsons.”

And that’s as true a statement, and as sad a statement, as you’re ever likely to hear.  And that applies to World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq, and everything in-between and yet to come.

“Thank God that there are still young people out there willing to do what they do.”

I hope you remember that as you celebrate Veterans Day 2009.

I want to thank all the veterans if all services who are here today.  Clearly your service kept our freedoms, our way of life, and our opportunities alive. 

Thank you for all you have done.