Susette Kelo

Conservative Political Action Conference

Washington, DC
February 10, 2006

Click here for David Keene's introductory remarks.

Good evening everyone. I want to thank everyone for this award. It’s a true honor and it’s a true honor to be here tonight. I’d like to thank the Institute for Justice and Ralph, my husband, who are here with me tonight and have represented me throughout this battle.

I am Susette Kelo and Kelo vs. the City of London is the infamous United States Supreme Court case, in which the court ruled that private property, including my home, can be taken by another private party who promised to create more jobs and taxes with the land. They didn’t have to prove. They only had to promise.

Five years ago, on the evening before Thanksgiving, I received a notice to quit—to leave my lovely and now legendary pink cottage on the Thames River that I had worked so hard for, and this marked the beginning of my fight to defend what is rightly mine.

Last year I had the opportunity to testify before the Judiciary Committee of the United States House and Senate on the issue of eminent domain abuse. Congress is already showing signs of doing what judges and local legislators so far have refused to do for me my neighbors and thousands of people like me across this country: protect our homes under which we believe to be the original intent of the United States Constitution.

Federal lawmakers are considering legislation that will hold federal funding for eminent domain projects that are for private development, such as the one that could take my home, which received $2 million in federal funds. However, while this legislation is very important, it is not a magic solution surrounding to the many problems of the government use of eminent domain.

If homeowners, small business owners, churches and others are to be safe, state law across this nation must follow the congressional lead and do what they should have been doing all along: respecting an individual’s rights to own property rather than cutting sweetheart deals with developers who tempt lawmakers with the promise of more taxes and jobs.

What we have now at the local, state, and federal levels amounts to government by the highest bidder. If you think I’m overstating my point, consider my story—variations of which are played out daily with literally thousands of homeowners across the country who now live under the threat of eminent domain for another private party’s profit.

South Eastern Connecticut has always been my home. I bought my house at 8 East Street in New London in 1997 because it was just what I was looking for: A great view of the Thames River, nice neighbors and a price I could afford. I spent a lot of time and energy fixing up my little cottage but I enjoyed it and I made a little home for myself and my family, and I’m proud to say an asset to my neighborhood and the city.

In 1998 a real-estate agent came by and made me and offer on behalf of an unnamed buyer. I told her I was not at all interested, but she said if I refused to sell my home would be taken by eminent domain. She went on to tell me stories of her relatives who had lost their homes to eminent domain. Her advice? “Give up, the government always wins.”

It turned out that the unnamed buyer was the City of New London acting through the New London Development Corporation. So why did they want to kick us out? To make way for upscale condos, other private development that could bring in more taxes for the city and could possible create more jobs.

Claire Gaudiani, the president of the New London Development Corporation, is quoted as saying: “To make it a hip little city.” I took that to mean higher income people. The poor, the middle class, had to make way for the rich and politically connected. If the government wanted to take our property for a road or a firehouse, I would be disappointed but I would be prepared to sell. But this was not the case, and the government should not be allowed to force me to sell my home so somebody else could live here.

The New London Development Corporation wants my land to market it for a developer for projects that will compliment the new FISA facility in our area. This is for private profit, not public use. Most of my neighbor’s homes have been bulldozed. Many of my older neighbors have died still hoping their homes would be saved. But six families have stayed and fought—not only for our rights, but for the rights of homeowners nationwide.

Like my neighbors, I worked hard, and in my case, working as many as three jobs to pay for my home. Our own government should not force us out simply because someone else who carries more political clout wants the land for a non-public use. Isn’t that what the courts, Congress and the Constitution are supposed to protect us from?

As I sat in the United States Supreme Court last February and listened to the justices hear my case, I was disappointed that their first question and their first concern was for the power of the government and not the rights of the citizens. In many ways, my neighbors and I are victims of legislators, lawyers and judges who believe it is somehow a sign of intelligence to make language that clearly means one thing mean something exactly the opposite. Public use now means private use. Judges don’t adjudicate; they allow legislators to decide whether the Constitution is being violated.

There is nothing intelligent about misusing language in this way about taking peoples homes and their rights. What has happened to me and my neighbors should not be allowed to happen to anyone else in this truly democratic society such as ours.

Congress and state legislators need to send a message to local governments that this misuse of power will not only not be funded, it will not be tolerated. Special interests that benefit from the use of the government power are working to convince the public that there is not a problem. But I am living proof that there is a problem.

The battle against eminent domain abuse may have started as a way for me to save my salmon pink cottage, but it has rightly grown into something much larger: the fight to restore the American dream and the sanctity and security of each one of our homes. Thank you.