Newsletter Volume 3 • Number 35
For William Tong, the fight to save CT research funding, protect your data privacy and preserve birthright citizenship is personal
As the Trump/Musk agenda has rolled out, CT Attorney General William Tong is not taking its excesses lying down. He’s taking it to court. “This is a full assault on Connecticut families,” Tong said, “an unprecedented and blatantly lawless and unconstitutional attack on every corner and level of our government and economy.”
For instance, our leadership in medical research, discovery and excellence is unparalleled. So Tong has joined 21 state attorneys general in a lawsuit to block Trump from a “slash and trash” approach to CT’s premier research institutes.
Critical work into treatments for heart disease, tick-borne diseases, autism and chronic pain at UCONN are at stake. Two-thousand clinical trials focused on cancer therapy, mental health and heart disease at Yale, involving 38,000 patients, are also at risk.
“This decision poses a considerable threat to Yale’s research endeavors, which lead to medical breakthroughs, support patients in clinical trials, and drive economic growth,” said Yale president Maurie McInnis.
Cutting medical research funds is a priority of Project 2025, the playbook which has informed much of the Trump administration’s early moves.
“Donald Trump is defunding cancer research,” Tong said. “In his sloppy rush to slash funding, Trump has ignored federal law, and we are seeking a court order immediately blocking this illegal overreach.”
Countering Musk’s data breach
Tong also joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general suing to stop Elon Musk’s access to Americans’ personal data. Trump gave Musk and his team of young techs access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system, which stores data on social security payments, veterans’ benefits, Medicare and Medicaid payments and more. They’re now seeking access to our IRS records too, which include your banking info.
“This is the largest data breach in American history… an unlawfully constituted band of renegade tech bros combing through confidential records, sensitive data and critical payment systems.” Tong said. “We have no idea what they are doing with this information, and whether the world’s richest man is using this information to further enrich himself and his companies. We are suing to protect the functioning of our government and the security of every single American’s private data.” On Tuesday, a federal judge rebuffed the lawsuit, giving Musk continued access to our data at seven federal agencies, at least temporarily.
Tong understands the value of birthright citizenship
Healthcare costs in CT are rising faster than household incomes. To meet this challenge, Lamont iGoing after the Trump administration for its efforts to end birthright citizenship was personal for AG Tong. The son of immigrants from China and Taiwan, he’s the first in his family born on US soil, and the first Asian American elected to statewide office in CT. Tong joined 22 other states to stop Trump from overturning birthright citizenship, which is protected by the 14th Amendment.
The legal maneuvering has seen some initial success. After Tong and 23 other states filed a motion to block Trump’s freeze on congressionally authorized funding, a judge issued a restraining order on Trump’s action. But some of Trump’s agencies are ignoring it. This presidential defiance of law and judicial orders is what some define as a constitutional crisis. Clearly, Tong’s work is far from over.
You can send AG William Tong an email thanking him for his efforts to protect our rights and our funding here.
Pedestrian safety tops these neighborhood associations’ concerns
One of the most important things politicians can do is listen to their constituents. We asked Greenwich’s neighborhood associations which matters were most important to them this year, and will be publishing their responses in the coming weeks.
Four associations cited walking and biking safety as priority number one. “Cos Cob’s biggest issue is the fact that it is a village divided by a busy four-lane state highway,” wrote Randy Caravella, president of the Cos Cob Association. Students, many of whom walk, must cross Route 1 on their way to school, parks, shops and the library. “To make matters worse,” Caravella said, “the town is proposing to change crosswalks so that cars can move at the same time as pedestrians.” Also, he said, other main streets aren’t bicycle friendly, or haven’t had new sidewalks in memory.
Liz Eckert, chair of the Byram Neighborhood Association echoed that. “Byram is a walking community. However, dangerous drivers continue to threaten our residents’ safety and quality of life. Pedestrian safety and the implementation of traffic calming measures are on the top of our priority list.” She noted that new, large apartment buildings in nearby Port Chester will make Byram streets even more congested.
“Safety is surely a top issue,” wrote Kristin Luntz, president of the Riverside Association, “especially in terms of pedestrian and bike safety as so many of our residents walk or bike to school or the train station. There were a lot of complaints brought up at the annual meeting about speeding/running stop signs on Riverside Avenue, Summit and Hendrie Avenues.” She also noted concerns about traffic on Route 1.
Even in the backcountry, this theme is paramount. “We want to take our roads back,” said Round Hill Associationpresident Brendon DeSimone. GPS devices like Waze and Google are routing through-traffic off the busy Merritt onto the community’s narrow, windy roads to save a minute here and there. “We need slow speeds and safer streets, so we can ride bikes and walk our dogs again.”
What we’re reading
Historian Heather Cox Richardson shines a light on how access to deep troves of private information about hundreds of millions of American citizens and businesses by Musk and his team puts all of us at risk of financial fraud, and could be manipulated to impact election outcomes. “This information can feed the AI projects that Musk envisions putting at the center of American life. It also opens the way for Musk and his cronies to weaponize private information against business competitors as well as political enemies,” writes Cox. Read it here.
Looking for your nontoxic community on social media? Check us out on Bluesky and give us a follow.
Action Calendar
March 3. Honor.
Join Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz and the Power of Women PAC to celebrate women’s history month and honor Democratic women leaders. At a private home in Fairfield, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. RSVP here.
| Volume 3, Number 35 • February 20, 2025 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |