By Jordan Fenster
Register Staff

Elizabeth Esty responded Tuesday to an old clip of her speaking at a Cheshire Town Council meeting in which she says that if residents who did not have students enrolled in the town’s public schools did not like the results of the recent town revaluation, they “are always welcome to move to one of our neighboring towns.”

“Yes, 10 years ago I was a mom fighting to protect funding for our public schools and ensure a quality education for our students,” Esty said in a response to an emailed request for comment. “A few years later, when I decided to run for the town council, I heard from our seniors on fixed incomes how the rise in property taxes was making it increasingly difficult for them to stay in their homes. That’s why I fought so hard on the Town Council to ensure that our schools had the funding they needed AND our seniors got the property tax credit that enabled them to stay in their homes. Make no mistake about it, I’m not afraid to ruffle feathers when the education of our students or the quality of life for our seniors is on the line.”

Those comments were made Tuesday, the same day Esty’s campaign released a television advertisement attacking Andrew Roraback for his positions on senior citizens.

“Trying to balance our budget on the backs of the elderly is wrong,” Esty says in the ad. A voice over then announces how damaging Roraback’s policies would be for seniors.

“Andrew Roraback puts your retirement at risk,” the ad says. “He’d raise the Social Security retirement age and cut the Social Security benefits you’ve earned.”

Roraback’s campaign spokesman, in response, said that the advertisement was a scare tactic and that Esty was “lying.”

“There’s an old saying that ‘if you are going to lie about me, I’m going to tell the truth about you,’” Chris Cooper said in an email. “The truth is that Elizabeth Esty is using her campaign ads to scare senior citizens to further her political ambitions.”

Cooper when asked to respond to the clip of Esty in Cheshire, said “It is particularly ironic and shameless that she would mislead seniors in an ad claiming that she cares about them.This is a person who told senior citizens at a town budget hearing in Cheshire that if they couldn’t afford tax increases, they ‘were welcome to move to a neighboring town.’

Esty is proving that not only won’t she won’t tell the truth about her own record, she is very comfortable lying about Andrew’s.”

Esty’s campaign manager, Julie Sweet, responded in an emailed statement:

“Rather than attacking a mom for standing up for public education, Andrew Roraback should explain to seniors why he would cut their Social Security.”