FIC Blog

I want to thank all of you for the many kind messages I have received since yesterday’s announcement that I am the new executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut. I know you share my excitement about my new role in the fight for Connecticut’s families. And I know I can count on you in the battles that lie ahead.

In the coming weeks I plan to meet with many of you in person to discuss those battles. For some of you, this will not be a new experience. It has been my privilege to meet many of Connecticut’s finest citizens in the years since we first joined together to protect our values here in our home state.

But because FIC has literally thousands of supporters it is bound to be the case that, in the weeks ahead, I will be meeting some of you for the first time. And while it is likely that you have heard my name you may still be asking yourself: who is Peter Wolfgang?

For nearly all of my 37 years I have lived here in Connecticut. I was born and raised in the town of Manchester, where I attended the public schools (MHS, Class of ’88) and Manchester Community College. I have a B.A. in International Studies from American University (Washington, D.C.) and a J.D. from UConn School of Law. I have also lived in West Hartford, New Hartford and Avon and I have worked in Connecticut towns too numerous to name. Currently I live in Waterbury with my wife, Leslie, and our four children: Elizabeth, 7, Katharine, 5, Isaac 3, and Rose, 1.

“Yes,” I can hear you saying, “but how did you end up executive director of FIC? Did you come up through some conservative or Christian pipeline? Did you intern for the Republican Party or grow up listening to Focus on the Family broadcasts?”

No and no. In high school I helped found a “peace” group opposed to the arms race. At American University I was president of the College Democrats. And in law school I was briefly involved with the “progressive” National Lawyers Guild.

But it was during law school that the liberalism of my youth seemed less and less persuasive to me. And a key reason was the issue of abortion.

Despite a mostly left-of-center worldview, I had always been pro-life. The more I thought about that issue the more difficult it was for me to understand how the cultural Left—the supposed defenders of compassion and the oppressed—could so heartlessly condemn an unborn child to the cruel fate of an abortion.

I am making a long story short. But the bottom line is that the contradiction between the professed values of the Left and their “pro-choice” activism had the effect of moving me to the “right”—in both my faith and my politics. I read some of the great conservative writers and found in them a more authentic understanding of the principles upon which our nation was founded.

Yesterday’s e-mail alert told you much of the rest of this story. After reading a 2001 Courant column about FIC I contacted the organization to offer my help. In 2002 I was a prime architect of one of the biggest petition drives in state history: 100,000 signatures for the defense of marriage. As director of public policy since 2004 I have become “FIC’s frequent public face,” appearing in scores of media outlets, at the state Capitol and in speaking engagements at churches throughout the state. And I am blessed to have played a key role in many of FIC’s great successes during the last several years.

It was because of those previous successes that the board of directors unanimously chose me to be FIC’s executive director. They know how much FIC can accomplish if we continue to build on the good work that Brian and I have done. And that is exactly what I am going to do…with your help!

There are a lot of big challenges in the months ahead. Sometime this autumn Connecticut’s Supreme Court may impose same-sex “marriage” on our state by judicial fiat. All the victories won at the state Capitol by Connecticut’s pro-family majority may be swept away in a single undemocratic power grab by our state’s highest court.

In the weeks ahead FIC will be laying out new strategies to combat this and other threats to faith and family in our state. And we will be reaching out to you in person.

At some point soon we will hold an “open house” at the FIC office in order to thank all of our members who have done so much to get FIC this far. Shortly thereafter we will begin to hold regular membership meetings. And we will be forming a youth wing of FIC.

Indeed, if you are one of the high school or college-aged homeschooled kids that I spoke to at the state Capitol last spring, please do give our office a call. The number is (860) 548-0066. I can also be reached by e-mail at pwolfgang@ctfamily.org.

I want to thank all of you again for your kind words and your support. We will be in touch soon.