To the Editor:
There are so many extraordinary aspects to Maria Horn’s career that everyone probably has a different ‘wow’ feature, depending on personal experience. For me, I’m perpetually struck by the fact that once she’s introduced to someone, she will always remember the name!
More importantly, I’m struck by how this attorney, who had such a significant New York City career, moved to Connecticut and became the representative for nine largely rural towns. What’s on her docket? Forests, mountains, various water features, Region One schools, health care facilities, villages, and farms.
My mind can hardly encompass the specialized knowledge needed to deal effectively with the broad range of issues produced by such a varied remit. Which leads me to that last item, surely the most remote from Ms. Horn’s previous New York experience, but historically significant in the 64th House District, is farming. Before the Eerie Canal transported easterners west, Connecticut was a farming state. Climb any of our scenic mountain trails, look out at the landscape spreading below you, and all you see is trees, as though there were no towns.
But though the northwest corner is now 80 percent forested, 20 percent developed, this is the exact reverse of a previous situation when the iron industry cleared the land of trees to make charcoal; the rocks that seemed to be a major product of the land became stone walls; and farming was the main activity.
What’s left of that history may be a minor aspect of present Conneticut, but historically the northwest corner likes to think of itself as a rural area. Witness the number of local farms that show up every summer at farmers markets, each town drawing from its locale, as though our small state was significantly larger.
After Horn decided to run for office the first thing she did was a lot of listening. When she was elected, one of her early efforts was SB1063, legislation to improve farmland availability for first-time farmers. Farming is dependent on weather and there have been destructive storms that our Representative followed up on to get relief for farmers. The Community Investment Act Fund was focused on assisting dairy farms. HB 5345 took aim at preserving valuable farmland.
And then there are the farm-adjacent issues, such as air quality and recycling that have drawn her attention. Once a subject is brought to her, the result is usually action. That means rounding up support for what is no longer the first issue on people’s minds in the state. Judging by the measures she has seen become law, she is skilled at negotiating to get that support. Let’s keep Maria where she can make a difference in such long range issues as keeping our land healthy, productive, and beautiful.
Betty Krasne
Kent
