Rep. Steve Meskers secures funding for fire station in Rep. Kimberly Fiorello's district

It took Democratic State Representative Steve Meskers from neighboring district 150 to secure $500,000 in state bonding for an extensive top-to-bottom modernization of Round Hill Firehouse, the first in 40 years.

      The firehouse is located in district 149, which is represented by Republican Kimberly Fiorello, and serves the back country of Greenwich. The Round Hill Firehouse is the only all-volunteer fire company in Greenwich and has responded to more than 10,000 incidents over 75 years. This is not the first time that Rep. Fiorello was AWOL while other legislators secured funding for her district. 

     Rachel Khanna, candidate for the 149th district, said, “These much-needed funds will go a long way to improving fire coverage in the Northwest section of Greenwich. It’s unfortunate that Rep. Fiorello was not involved in discussions to help secure these monies when we know how important the Round Hill Fire Station volunteers are in protecting our community.” Rep. Meskers is running for a third term to represent the 150th district.

Greenwich Free Press

Democrats push for key benefits

for veterans, seniors, and workers

Democrats working to expand seniors'

Medicare benefits

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which also addresses climate change, U.S. Senate Democrats are working to allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of certain medications. The Act would also cap out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 for Medicare recipients and lower ACA premiums for millions of Americans. Although all Senate Republicans are expected to oppose it, the bill has a route to passage if all Democrats are on board.

Shutterstock

In June, CT U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris

Murphy urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

to use their statutory authority to expand dental care coverage under Medicare.

        Nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries—24 million people—

do not have dental coverage. “Oral health is a critical, often overlooked factor, in ensuring a healthy life, yet is an unaffordable and inaccessible benefit for far too many of the over 64 million Americans enrolled in Medicare,” they wrote.

Paid family medical leave kicks off in CT

The United States is virtually alone in the world among countries that do not guarantee paid family medical leave. But Connecticut

is changing  that.

         In 2019, CT passed the Family and Medical Leave Act, which went into effect January of this year. The law provides benefits allowing CT workers to take time off work to care for their own health, a newborn child, or a sick family member.

        The program provided more than $81 million in paid leave benefits to more than 16,300 workers in the first six months, including 145 Greenwich claims. Click here to learn more and apply.

Democratic primaries

Democratic primaries are taking place on Tuesday August 9. Candidates for Connecticut's Secretary of State and Treasurer are on the ballot. Learn about the candidates here. To register to vote, please follow this link.

Editorials that caught our eye

Reichstag, Berlin, early 1900s

Several editorials this week spotlighted the hard right turn taken by the Greenwich Republican party and the G.O.P.

Weimar Republic parallels

European History Professor Troy Paddock finds similarities  between the collapse of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and America today. “Factors that contributed to the collapse of the German Republic should seem familiar to contemporary Americans: a big lie, political violence and political parties that were not committed to democratic governance. This combination was lethal enough to destroy a shaky German Republic and has the potential to undo the American republic.”

Greenwich a 3-party Town?

Greenwich Time editor John Breunig writes that Greenwich has changed from a 1-party Town to a 3-party Town of Democrats, Republicans, and “Trumplicans.” As an example, Breunig points out Harry Fisher, who was appointed last month to Greenwich’s Board of Estimate and Taxation. In recent days, Fisher’s Facebook posts promoted a documentary from the Epoch Times, the far-right international newspaper of the Falun Gong, claiming to reveal “the other side of the story that the January 6 Committee refuses to investigate and the drive-by media does not want you to see.”

RTC takeover from within

In Taking over the Republican Party from within, Jon Cooper, a Greenwich resident of 54 years and a former GOP member writes, “...the local Republican moderate has been silenced, or has chosen to go silent. ... In Greenwich, Republicans have been the party in power forever. I wonder if they realize they are about to be taken down from within.” 

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Paid for by the GDTC, Robert Brady,Treasurer