It's About Success

The Courant has an article today profiling the encumbents running for reelection on November 6. In essence, the article notes each candidate's reason(s) for running, their proudest accomlishments and their priorities over the next two years. Most of the article can be found below (emphasis added).

Democrats Dave Sheridan, 52, a civil trial lawyer, and Kevin Zingler, 30, director of marketing at MARC Inc., have each served six years on the board.

"I am proud of my record of achievement over the last six years, but there are still things I want to accomplish," Sheridan said. "I think we need a strategy at tackling the construction at the eight elementary schools. ...We need another strategy for how we're going to address the inadequacies at the current Mary Cheney Library. Does that involve expanding the library, or moving it?"

Sheridan said he believes the Democratic slate is a group of talented people with valuable backgrounds and life experiences.

...

Zingler said that he and the other Democrats helped to renovate the schools, reduced crime and improved efficiency in government.

"We really hit challenges head on," he said.

In the next two years, he said, he would like to increase staffing inthe police department, fix the library's problems and finish the school projects by creating a subcommittee to review the eight elementary schools that are left in the renovation process.

"That's really the missing piece in our education," Zingler said. "That's really a high priority on my list."

Democrats Lisa Paggioli O'Neill and John Topping ... were elected to the board for the first time two years ago.

O'Neill, 43, a mechanical engineer at Pratt & Whitney, said she would like to spend the next two years on the board helping to plan for the rest of the school renovations, addressing the library's space needs, creating the proposed Spruce Street Youth Center and finding uses for historical or abandoned buildings in town.

"My biggest accomplishment is seeing these [school] renovations through. These are items I advocated for when I was on the board of education and really stood alone when I was advocating for these projects," O'Neill said.

She said she is running for a second term "to get everything done that we've already started, to continue on the good progress that we're making on working on our infrastructure."

...

Topping, 44, is a retired Hartford police officer and a former volunteer firefighter, and he owns a landscaping business.

"When I started running two years ago, there was a youth violence outbreak and people didn't feel as safe in town," Topping said. "I promised to make public safety my No. 1 priority, and I have, and it's showing. The results speak for themselves."

He said that he has differentiated himself from the rest of the board because, since he works for himself, he can take the time to meet residents in town.

"I don't just do this during the campaign season. I do it all year round. And I'm able to reflect the concerns of the citizens to the other board members, and I think that's very effective," Topping said.

Jason Doucette, a 30-year-old commercial real estate lawyer who was born and raised in Manchester, is the newest addition to the Democratic incumbents.

He was appointed to the board last year after a longtime Democratic director retired.

Doucette said he has spent his year on the board advocating for youth initiatives, such as working to bring a youth center to Spruce Street that would serve kids aged 9 to 13.

Doucette said he expects federal funding for seed money for the proposed youth center to come in the next year.

He also said he advocated for open space acquisitions, a program that helps low-income families repaint the exteriors of their homes and an initiative to extend after-school programming.

"I think I've got a pretty strong record. I'm proud of it, and it speaks for itself," Doucette said.