Jon Pulino's Four-Part Treasurer's Platform

To the Editor:

“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Abraham Lincoln said in an address on June 16, 1858, in Springfield, Ill. Lincoln's quote, although made more than a decade ago, seems very relevant today when applied to Middletown politics and policies. 

The bottom line is that people need to work together and put their egos and political prejudices aside for the betterment of the people. Lincoln continued his egoless policies when he appointed William Seward and Edward Stanton to his cabinet, two men who were very critical of Lincoln during the campaign and could have potentially caused him a lot of damage with more power.

Fortunately, this was not the case and Lincoln reached across the aisle and communicated with those that had better ideas in order to advance the country. If elected to the office of Middletown City Treasurer, I propose the following four-part platform that will cost taxpayers nothing but time and no money except for some stamps. 

The ideas may seem simplistic and a tad mundane and not as glitzy as a promise to get on a jet plane to encourage CEO's to bring their companies to Middletown, but they are realistic and cost little to no money.

Treasurer's Cabinet: In order to work together, the treasurer must put together an informal cabinet of volunteers from the outside that are willing to look at the budget and essentially follow the money. An outside look into any situation is always helpful and will allow fluidity and could possibly enhance creative ideas as to the money flow of the town's budget. Since this is a strictly volunteer position, the cost of this venture would be NOTHING!

Transparency: In order for any agency, either public or private, to do a credible job, the concept of transparency needs to be placed into law on all levels of government especially with issues regarding Board of Education funds. Local Boards of Education need to disclose every dime and offer the public an electronic format or hard copy of their current budget at all times rather than hide behind a statute. 

As treasurer, one must lobby the state legislation to make this possible and as treasurer I plan to do that.  The cost of this proposal would be NOTHING! * (*Maybe some stamps)

NEASC: I currently sit on the New England Association of School and Colleges visiting committee for North Brandford High School located in North Branford, Connecticut. Part of our mission is to study, analyze and research the positive and negative aspects of the school we are visiting — more importantly we provide accreditation recommendations to the state with regard to our assigned school. 

Our report is extremely transparent and allows the administrators to go through their budgets and scrutinize every dime that is being spent and more importantly how and why it is being used.

A simple example of this procedure usually happens as follows: The curriculum guide for a particular school may indicate that the institute offers an Automotive Course. After our investigation is complete, and we as a group access the facts and come to the conclusion that the school currently does not offer such a course, it our duty to investigate as to why the oversight appeared. 

What does have to do with being city treasurer, one may ask? It's an idea that I proposed in 1999 when I ran for mayor as a petitioning candidate. Can't we create an outside group like NEASC that is willing to analyze our books and money transactions? Similar to NEASC, committees would be formed around the state with members performing very similar tasks that NEASC members are asked to do at schools. City Cost: nothing!

Community Meetings with Treasurer: As a member of the Middletown Board of Assessment Appeals from 2007-2009, I realized that real life communication with citizens could provide a service for both elected official and voter. It is very important for the elected official to engage with the public and listen to all that is being said. 

If elected treasurer, I propose to set up a schedule where members of the public can meet informally and talk about budgetary issues and, who knows, perhaps a solution or two will be hatched from these meetings. It's worth a shot. City cost: nothing!

Jon Pulino, candidate, Middletown City Treasurer