11/17/11 Greenwich Resident Linda McMahon Wants To Know,"Where's the leadership?"

Dear friend, Real leadership means having the foresight to understand how actions in Washington will impact people here at home. Three and a half weeks ago, I wrote an op-ed warning about the devastating impact cuts to the Pentagon’s budget would have on military contractors in Connecticut and the thousands of people they employ. The pain of arbitrary defense reductions could be devastating for Connecticut, putting potentially 40,000 people out of work. Jobs at stake include those at East Hartford’s Pratt & Whitney building engines for the Joint Strike Fighter; Stratford’s Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. manufacturing military helicopters; and Groton’s Electric Boat. Given the potential of failure on the part of the Super Committee, Connecticut stands to pay a heavier price than most other states. -- Linda McMahon op-ed, “Super Committee Consequences: Our Nation’s Security and 40,000 Connecticut Jobs,” CT News Junkie, October 23. This week, the Hartford Courant picked up on that issue. It reported that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said if the 12 members on the bipartisan federal deficit Super Committee cannot agree to cuts, it would force the Pentagon to end the Joint Strike Fighter program. Its F135 engines are made by Pratt and Whitney and assembled in Middletown. The Pentagon would end the Joint Strike Fighter program, imperiling thousands of Connecticut jobs, if the "automatic trigger" of $600 billion in defense cuts kicked in following a breakdown of the bipartisan federal deficit supercommittee, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told two key U.S. Senators. – “Panetta: Pentagon Could Cancel F-35; Thousands of CT Jobs at Stake,” Hartford Courant, November 16. Sen. Richard Blumenthal downplayed Panetta’s concerns, telling the Courant, "His job is to raise worst case scenarios and sound an alarm, which he is clearly doing here. But I believe this warning will not be the last word." Right now, the Super Committee is at a stalemate, and there is a very real chance that the worst-case scenario could actually happen. Yesterday, professional politicians' failure to do their jobs was even more evident when our national debt reached a staggering $15 trillion. Where is the leadership? Where is there courage to act on the behalf of the American people? In the business world, I couldn’t ignore the tough decisions, but instead had to focus on real solutions that were in the best interests of my business and my employees. I hope you will agree that Congress needs more job creators with a business perspective who will focus on solutions over stalemates. We’ve got just 356 days until the next election and I hope you’ll join Team Linda. Together, we can bring to Washington the kind of common sense leadership that Connecticut families and small business owners deserve. Sincerely, Linda