Nicholas is running for State Representative in Assembly District 67 (eastern and southern New Milford) in 2012Follow Nicholas's blog, "New Milford is Green"! Nicholas ran in 2010 and won 20.3% of the vote. |
|||||||||
Why I Am RunningAs some may know, the initial impetus was the murder of our daughter Rebecca, an '04 graduate of New Milford High School who went to Northeastern University and was shot dead in her apartment in Mission Hill, Boston, May 20th, 2008. As the police investigation progressed, it became apparent that she was not the intended target but was mistaken for someone else, and she was not involved in any way in any illegal activity. People being sent to kill people they do not know is a feature of the illegal drugs business, and if her killing was not directly related to that business, the illegal guns used almost certainly were. I have always been skeptical as to whether simply prohibiting drugs, while perhaps a laudable aim, is actually effective policy. But it had always appeared it was the sort of thing that governments do and there was not a lot that could be done about it. Now I have researched extensively on the subject and asked people what they thought about the War on Drugs and discovered two things. One is that academics and others who study it conclude that it is a waste of time and money, and almost everyone I talk to agrees, too. New Milford is largely spared the violence connected with the War on Drugs, but we certainly pay for it. We pay for it three times. We pay for investigating crimes and locking up offenders. We pay for the social dysfunction and poverty caused by all the violence and we in effect make a down payment to make sure that we continue to pay for all these things well into the future, by creating the next generation of drug dealers. Now in 2010 we are in the middle of a recession and money is tight. This is the time to stop wasting money on things that don't work and start doing things that work. There are a lot of things that need doing in Connecticut in order to move forward with a vibrant economy, and there is much more in the Green Party platform than ending the War on Drugs, but ending the War will give us the money to pay for all the good things we need. This is why I am running. I ask for your vote in November 2012Download Nicholas's flyer!Voter Registration Form Application for Absentee Ballot to this page since 4/15/11 Approved by Nicholas Payne |
|
||||||||