Dear Hastings friends and community, As someone who faithfully served twelve years as a local elected official here in Hastings, I want to share a non-partisan view of how our state government has been operating. Many of you know that the state legislature finally passed a bonding bill this year – this is the bill that pays for key infrastructure improvements that a biennial budget can’t carry on its own.

It took five, count ‘em FIVE special sessions to get here. This hurts towns like Hastings, and the people who live here. It costs money, time, wasted opportunity. I’m not here to advocate for a particular party. I’m here to suggest you do your duty as voters and research. Skip the negative flyers and ads. Look at voting records. Look at patterns of putting party in front of people. Ask yourself how many special sessions you want next year, two years from now, on and on.

The hyper-partisan atmosphere this year is a smokescreen, to keep fooling you into making emotional decisions instead of smart ones. Look for the state House candidate who has already demonstrated how to put constituents over partisans. Then vote for her.

Anthony Alongi