I decided to run for office in Old Lyme in 2008 while sitting at a desk overlooking the Caspian Sea. A plan, 11 years in the making and 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, college 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. When you see what I have seen, watching from the sidelines is not an option. 

For nearly 12 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 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 help keep it that way. 

David Rubino

Old Lyme