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His Courtney experience was all positive

Stephen Brunetti East Lyme

Publication: The Day

Published 07/18/2012 12:00 AM

Updated 07/17/2012 05:39 PM

Recently, a writer, "Time for Congressman Joe Courtney to go," (July 7), expressed displeasure with Joe Courtney's lack of response to his Medicare issue; he inferred that Congressman Courtney demonstrated a lack of interest in helping to support local manufacturing. I cannot comment on the writer's situation, but my experience with Congressman Courtney and his staff was the total opposite in terms of their interest and hard work on behalf of my company and its employees.
Frustrated by foreign competition that was putting jobs (people and their families) at my company in peril, I made a cold call to the congressman's Norwich office to vent and request help. I had no pre-existing relationship with Mr. Courtney, no lobbyists, no special interest group to introduce or weave me through some government maze. I was simply asking my elected official for help.
The congressman and his staff responded quickly and intelligently as they vetted my circumstances, worked closely to develop a strategy that ultimately resulted in our inclusion in and the passage by Congress of the United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act, which turned out to have had broad bipartisan support. From my perspective, Mr. Courtney is an incredibly able and effective congressman working hard for manufacturing in Connecticut.