Redistricting for the 64th District should be done with Kent in mind

A t a recent meeting of concerned residents of Kent, including myself, the upcoming state assembly redistricting hearings were seen as an opportunity to align Kent with its logical neighbors.Currently Kent is a small part of the 108th district dominated by the town of New Fairfield. The other towns in this district (New Milford and Sherman) share few commonalities with Kent in terms of geography, economy, cultural and historical heritage, educational issues or innate sense of regional identity. While the other towns seem to be regional satellites of Danbury, Kent looks to the north as a logical extension of the community.Kent is deeply invested in a number of organizations north of town. Starting with the obvious, Kent is part of the Region One School District along with its neighbors to the north. Other organized groups include the Northwest Council of Governments, the Northwest Regional Planning Collaborative and the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. Even the federal government recognizes Kent to be the southern border of the National Heritage District. None of the other towns in the 108th has any involvement with these organizations.In every logical way, Kent identifies itself with its northern neighbors of Sharon, Salisbury, Cornwall and Goshen as to size and community character.The small group of Kent residents that convened were all Democrats, a fact which immediately pushed the discussion into the political arena. In spite of the obvious rationale for joining its neighbors to the north, political implications became the focus. While state statutes call for an equal number of people in each state assembly district, there is nothing that speaks to how many Republicans or Democrats should be included. The intent of redistricting should be to bring neighborhoods together and not to be a political tool.Yet, unfortunately, this is not true. Here are some examples of the politically colored reactions to our proposal to move Kent out of the 108th and into the 64th. First, the current representative of the 64th district, Roberta Willis, stated in an interview with The Litchfield County Times that she is against adding Kent to her district. While she admits “there is a common thread that weaves through all the towns,” she is concerned that adding Kent would mean giving up part of Torrington, thus weakening her power base. Does Torrington share the characteristics of the other towns in her district? Obviously not. Next, the chairman of the Kent Republican Town Committee, Paul Cortese (who recently joined the Kent Board of Education) was quoted in the Waterbury Republican-American as saying at a Board of Education meeting that he is against the change because he doesn’t want to move under the banner of the Democrat Willis. Is this best for the town of Kent or just for Republicans? At a recent Board of Education meeting during which the proposal was discussed, Mr. Cortese seemed to look at the move through the eyes of a politician rather than as a resident of Kent and argued against the move. Does it make sense for Kent to join its sister schools in Region One? Mr. Cortese says not. It seems to me we have become a country where blind allegiance to political parties becomes more important than common sense or what’s in the best interest of its citizens. Are we neighbors and residents of Kent or are we primarily members of political parties?To add fuel to the fire, even newspaper headlines screamed “Dems versus Republicans” instead of seeing this as an honest attempt to right a wrong and give Kent a chance to have someone in Hartford who represents the town’s historic constituency and not the political party.Redistricting along political lines distorts the very diversity of our citizens. It was not the intent of our country’s founders. We have lost our way. It is time to stop the political fight. We must join together as residents of Kent, which logically leads to the conclusion that we should act in the best interests of our citizenry. Rick Levy is a resident of Kent who is a former Kent selectman and a retired TV executive.