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Are Politics 'All Local'?

CL&P is restoring power after the hurricane that was Irene. It hit town downgraded to a tropical storm but the results were very devastating.

As I am writing this I am one of the remaining 43% of unfortunate residents of Newtown with a power outage due to Hurricane Irene.  It could be worse - I have a generator, our road is passable and the weather has been beautiful.

What frustrates me most is the lack of presence of utility workers from our power company.  I am aware that Newtown and the greater Danbury Area are not the only towns without electrical power.  We, generally speaking, cannot select our utilities companies.  Sure, we have telephone options now, whether it be cell phone or landline.  We can select the least important: television utilities between the antenna, cable, satellite, internet or fiber optic.  We, unfortunately, are at the mercy of a virtual monopoly for our electricity supplier. 

I know many good people are diligently doing their best to restore services as soon as possible.  I thank them and especially the lineman and workers from around the country that came to Connecticut to help.

When I checked Facebook and Twitter and confirmed the shocking update this past Tuesday that our power would not be restored until the estimate of midnight “September 8” I went through a whole range of emotions.  I resolved to write about it.  What else could I really do?  I can’t say I am switching to another supplier.

What I can do and I remind all of you that we can hold our politicians accountable because in our Republic we elect people to represent us.  We can hold the politicians accountable.  It is analogous to high paid professional athletes underperforming individually or collectively as a team and the manager or coach ultimately getting fired.  The players aren’t held accountable for their lack of production. 

Remember on Election Day, November 8 if you were pleased on how CL&P performed.

Susan J. Hansen September 3, 2011 at 12:43 am
Good stuff, Fish....I feel for you and your family.
John B September 3, 2011 at 12:57 am
We do have a choice of our electricity supplier, it's the distributor that we have no choice over. I don't want a choice of distributor, but demand a competent one, which I believe CL&P is. We were hit with a hurricane, and not just us, but the entire East Coast. Would I like my power on sooner than Wednesday? Yes. Do I think CL&P is doing what they can with what they have? Yes. Do I think we as a society have become spoiled brats? Yes.
Joe P. September 3, 2011 at 07:28 pm
Wow, have we become that ungrateful as a nation? Shame on you Fisher!!!! Get out of your home and drive around!!! There are hundreds of trees down everywhere and many workers out there trying to fix the situation. What have you done to help the situation?
Eric Paradis September 4, 2011 at 12:17 pm
CL&P has increased their customer base by 41% and decreased their linemen by 21%. They waited until after the storm to call in help. Now the parent company, NU want to merge with another company to become even bigger and control more of the grid. It will be Mass. regulators and politicians who get to decide this. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/business/stormy-weather-for-a-utility-merger.html?

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