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A political neophyte takes on State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff

Martin Tagliaferro and Fred Wils
July 23, 2024
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Nancy Guenther Chapman
Martin Tagliaferro runs against Bob Duff
Martin Taliaferro (Contributed photo)

Norwalk Republicans have endorsed Martin Tagliaferro as their candidate for the District 25 State Senate seat.

Tagliaferro seeks to unseat State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25), a formidable opponent who has held the seat for nearly 20 years, half of them in the power position as Democratic leader. 

Why does Tagliaferro, a political neophyte, think it’s time for the electorate to dump Duff?

“I believe Mr. Duff lost his focus – which is to represent the voters in Norwalk and Darien.  I believe his priorities and loyalties are completely with Hartford and not his constituents,” Tagliaferro wrote.

Tagliaferro has lived in Norwalk for 12 years, according to his bio on the Republican Town Committee’s website. He was born in western Massachusetts. He graduated as a civil engineer from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.

“My background is construction, not political,” according to his bio. “I’ve been a project manager, program manager, project director and construction manager for close to $8 billion worth of construction projects. I’ve worked on contract development, contract negotiation, claims and changes, project scheduling, dispute resolution, risk analysis, unforeseen conditions, budgetary constraints, personnel disputes, coordination with public utilities and railroads…and every other issue that arises in large-scale construction contracts.”

Tagliaferro began his career in New York City “as a bridge designer and inspector and then moved to the construction management side of the business when working for the NY/NJ Port Authority from the 69th floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center,” the RTC states. He’s now “a Program and Project Manager overseeing numerous, high-profile, federally funded, mega-projects in Boston, Massachusetts, Toledo, Ohio, and New York City totaling over $8 billion of construction. “He is well known and well respected in his industry.”

Tagliaferro listed a belief in free market capitalism, the Constitution and small, limited government with enumerated powers. He said, “For much of my life, my views and beliefs were pretty commonplace, generally accepted and rooted in common sense.” 

He lives by the motto, “Reasonable people can find a reasonable solution to any problem,” but added, “The trick is finding ‘reasonable people.’ Unfortunately, in the politics of today, the term ‘reasonable people’ sounds like an oxymoron.”

Politicians mostly “using power without our consent” shut down the country for Covid-19, declaring some people as essential workers and deciding which businesses could stay open, he said.

“It was our politicians who ordered schools and places of worship to be shut down. If you owned a liquor store or sold lottery tickets, there was a good probability your business could remain open – but lacking those credentials – you had a good chance of being deemed ‘nonessential.’ And too many of us accepted it.”

Republicans endorsed Tagliaferro in May. He will have more to say as time marches along, he said. “As a first-time candidate with a full-time job, I’m still in the early stages of a campaign.”  

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Comments

7 responses to “A political neophyte takes on State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff”

  1. David Muccigrosso

    I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the Norwalk Non-Liberals’ Emotional Support Club’s newest Washington General to be offered up in sacrifice to the Norwalk Globetrotters/Democratic Machine.

    He’ll lose, he and his friends will spend a lot of money doing it, they’ll laugh, they’ll cry, and maybe they’ll all grow just a little bit together.

    Does this whole system not strike anyone else as patently absurd? Our outdated and obsolete systems of voting and representation — first-past-the-post (as opposed to Ranked Choice) and single-member districts (as opposed to multi-member proportional) — are what create this absurdity of one-party domination with no real choices. It’s barely better than tyranny; in MY mind, it qualifies as its OWN form of tyranny, a tyranny of a national two-party duopoly on power.

    It’s ridiculous that a few % points swing can be the difference between either party having 14 of 15 seats on our council. That’s not democracy or compromise, it’s just occasionally swapping out different sets of tyrants.

    We can do better, and that needs to start here at home. Norwalk’s charter revision should switch us to 3 districts of 5 members each, with the seats doled out proportionally to each party’s vote share in that district. It will allow space for smaller parties to gain seats, and give fair representation to the largest minority party (the GOP).

    1. Richard Gayton

      oh, then the brother of the profiled candidate? you tell me. i didn’t see the disclosure.

      irony.

  2. Priscilla Feral

    Without political know-how or experience, there’s much for Martin Tagliaferro to learn, but do know that this Norwalk resident assures Martin Tagliaferro that Senator Bob Duff is entirely focused on Norwalk, Darien — his district. The efforts he makes all year long have boosted his district, Connecticut, and the environment we share. In my mind, there is no legislator more gifted or driven in his dedication to residents and legislative tasks. He makes political sense of complications and finds solutions.

    The Democratic Party recognizes strength, and the choices ahead on Election Day that shape our quality of life and whether we’re living in a livable region and country.

  3. Richard Gayton

    many are my frustrations with Norwalk and Fairfield County, but the political process is rock solid.

    good luck, to Mr. Tagliaferro. will he disavow his national party? is he willing to do the work that Mr. Duff has done for the city?

    the reason Fairfield County is solid Democrat is self-evident.

    1. Bryan Meek

      I agree with the rock solid political process assessment…..that is if you like incumbents who rarely lose despite the state’s rankings and wealth gap circling the drain. The system is perfect for them. Taxpayer funded advertising to the tune of $100s of millions a year in print and postage for their “legislative updates” in high gloss multi fold paper products because they care so much about the environment they can’t possibly communicate their blather on social media. Run on sentence for sure, but please let it sink in. This is not a fair and balanced machine we have here. It’s even worse than most know. CEP funding and illegal PACs a plenty are a total shaft to taxpayers. This is Duff’s system by design.

  4. Martin Tagliaferro

    I thank you all for your interest. 4 comments in one day. Very impressive.
    All I can offer is a choice between someone who believes they have the right to declare your livelihood to be non-essential (Sen Duff) and one who doesn’t believe the government should have such power (me).
    Between some who supports the police and Backs the Blue (me) and someone who handcuffs them from doing their job (Sen Duff).
    Between someone who believes cleaning up Norwalk Harbor should be a priority (me) and someone who has had years to do something about it and failed (Sen Duff).
    Between someone who believes giving away other people’s money makes him charitable (Sen Duff) and one who believes you spend your money more efficiently than the government – so you should get to keep more of it (me)

    I look forward to meeting all and discussing further differences at events over the summer. Thank you.
    Tag4Senate

  5. Bryan Meek

    When Duff first took office, the state funded portion of the city budget was 10%. It’s down to 5% and in that time Norwalk residents have paid well north of $10 billion in taxes to Hartford while getting back pennies on those dollars in many projects that don’t even serve Norwalk’s interests. For all that 7 is still not connected 15. Route 1 is 2 lanes through Norwalk for a good mile. The guardrail replacement project on the Merrit is almost 15 years old starting as a shovel ready job and still years away from completion. The $200 million or so for Norwalk High reimbursement, is really only $5 million a year out of the $800 million a year we are sending Hartford, not even a percent. We have bone crushing traffic and taxmageddon on the horizon thanks to our local leaders kicking the can down the road while putting credit ratings at risk. I could go on for pages, but the bottom line is Duff sold us out for his political aspirations and it’s time to change horses. Martin would be new to Hartford, but would be hard to fool on overpriced, unneeded project that never finish, unlike Duff who continues to explode our debt and taxes.

    Still as one above observes, Fairfield County is solid Democrat. Who knows? Norwalk for sure has seen its homeowner base decline and with it the balanced representation of taxpayers that has seen the destruction of other cities in the state. Could it happen here? Who knows, but Detroit used to be the wealthiest city in the world with Bridgeport not far behind it. Those who say it can’t happen here might want to read up on some history.

    For those dealing defeated by recent elections, don’t forget to vote. If you are a Democrat, please urge Senator Murphy to go for VP. If we can get Himes to US Senate and Duff to US Congress we can stop a lot of damage being done here locally by Duff’s sellout policies.

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