Recently, I have received two very misleading recorded messages from U.S. Rep. Chris Shays' campaign. The messages said that his opponent in the race for Congress in the 4th Congressional District, Diane Farrell, can't be trusted to handle the federal budget because "non-education spending" in Westport went up by 40 percent during the eight years that Farrell was first selectman.
With compounding, that is an average of less than 5 percent per year. During every one of those years, Farrell balanced the budget. The town never spent more than they collected in revenue. Chris Shays, Nancy Johnson and their Republican colleagues in Congress, on the other hand, have never managed to balance a single federal budget since Clinton left the White House.
Moreover, according to Republican commentator Joe Scarborough, federal spending growth during that time has averaged 10.4 percent per year. That's more than twice the rate of spending growth that Farrell achieved. During that same period, when Republicans controlled both Congress and the White House, spending in the Justice Department shot up 131 percent, while spending in four departments that Republicans once proposed to eliminate (Commerce, Energy, Education and Housing and Urban Development) rose by an average of 85 percent overall.
The facts show that Republicans like Shays and Johnson are really the ones who cannot be trusted to manage the federal budget and keep spending under control.
On Nov. 7, vote to bring back fiscal responsibility. Vote for Democrats Diane Farrell in the 4th Congressional District and Chris Murphy in the 5th Congressional District.
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