Letter To The Editor: Leeper For The 132nd

To the editor,

I have known Jennifer Leeper for almost four years — she first reached out to me early in 2017 because I was a Fairfield Board of Education member. She was interested in running for one of the BOE seats that was open in November of that year, and wanted to talk to someone on the board, to get a sense of what running and serving entailed. I set up a meeting with her although I was a little wary that someone I’d never heard of, who didn’t even have children in the school district yet, would be willing to step up for what can be at times an arduous job. By the time our meeting ended I was a Jennifer Leeper convert. She was smart, thoughtful, interested, open-minded and energetic. She was very aware that, as an unknown to town politics, she had a long and difficult road ahead to getting on the board, but she felt she had the experience, drive and determination to make it happen. Ten months later she won a seat, and was the second-highest vote-getter of all of the town-wide candidates that year.

Since then, Jennifer has proven herself to be a valuable BOE member. She does her homework, asks insightful questions, and passionately advocates for our schools. She stepped up to serve on the newly formed BOE Finance Committee and was voted chair. While I will miss her presence on the board if she wins the 132nd state representative seat this November, I believe that this is an important way for her to use her many talents and abilities to help the people of Fairfield in a new capacity. Her formal training in public policy at the University of Chicago and her past work on policy and data analysis for the state Department of Education in Hartford, as well as her willingness to find bipartisan consensus, make her stand out as a candidate.

Unfortunately, I cannot vote for Jennifer Leeper myself because I live in a different district, but I am enthusiastically asking all voters in the 132nd District to please come out and vote for her on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and there are absentee ballots available at Town Hall now if you are not going to be in town on Nov. 3 or are concerned about COVID.

We will have an intelligent, motivated voice in Hartford with Jennifer Leeper — please cast a vote for her on Election Day! To learn more, check out Jennifer’s website: www.leeperforfairfield.com.

Jessica Gerber

Fairfield