Leadership in action

The most important community emergency of our lifetime has been the emergence of COVID-19. Yet we haven’t heard a peep from mayoral candidates Bobby Valentine, Caroline Simmons or Joe Corsello regarding their plans for addressing the pandemic, which continues to threaten the health of Stamford citizens, young and old.

Perhaps their silence is tacit admission that the many policy and operational decisions Mayor David Martin has made, and continues to make, during this crisis are emblematic of what real leadership is all about. There is no question, in my mind, that is true.

Mayor Martin has often been ahead of the state and other cities in addressing the pandemic. And most importantly, he has made the tough choices that have helped keep Stamford safe. As a result, we now have the highest vaccination rate of any major city in Connecticut and that has helped save lives.

The three other candidates are making lots of vague promises about all sorts of things, but what they lack is the experience and tested leadership skills that are needed to run a large, diverse city like ours, or the knowledge to know what levers to pull to get things done.

Mayor Martin has demonstrated his leadership time and again. We need that in our mayor, especially now, which is why he has my vote. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, this is not the time to change horses in midstream. Stan Friedman

Stamford