To the Editor:
I decided to run for office in Old Lyme in 2008 while sitting at a desk overlooking the Caspian Sea.
A plan nearly eleven years in the making hatched halfway across the world requires explanation. I’m a human rights lawyer, and in 2008 I was working in an oil-rich dictatorship. The country had elections, and I was excited to see how its unfamiliar system would work. To be blunt, it didn’t: stuffed ballot-boxes, university students forced to vote by armed soldiers, journalists arrested on false charges, and opposition parties silenced.
I vowed then never to take American democracy for granted.
For nearly twelve years I directed long-term international projects with multi-million dollar budgets. Through this process I not only learned how to be fiscally prudent, but also how important making thoughtful spending decisions can be to the success of a community. The Board of Finance, therefore, seemed a natural fit.
I have a law office in town and two young children in our superb schools. I moved to Old Lyme because it is a special place. I’m running for the Board of Finance because I want to be a part of keeping it that way.
Sincerely,
David Rubino,
Old Lyme.