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Endorsements for Connecticut House of Representatives

by: Barbara Richards

Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 08:10:43 AM EDT

The endorsements for the Senate from the website http://www.electionvolunteers.org were posted on MLN on Friday. Here are the candidates for the House of Representatives.

Again, they are in order by district. Entries with "***" in front are expected to be hard-fought races. In those cases a special effort was made to provide campaign contact information so that volunteers might easily sign up to work.

Please help by providing corrections, additions, disagreements...Thank you.

Barbara Richards :: Endorsements for Connecticut House of Representatives

Endorsed Candidates -
Connecticut House of Representatives

Green, Kenneth P. - District H001 (Bloomfield, Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

***Bartlett, Jason W. - District H002 Bethel, Danbury, Redding) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent - To volunteer contact info@jason08.com or phone (203)648-8095. Among other things, Jason has focused on legislation to improve health care, education and social services.

Roldan, Kelvin - District H004 (Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Kirkley-Bey, Marie L. - District H005 (Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Hector Luis Robles - District H006 (Hartford) - Open Seat - Democrat - No Republican opponent

McCrory, Douglas - District H007 (Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Lewis, Joan A. - District H008 (Columbia, Coventry, Vernon) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Genga, Henry - District H010 (East Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Barry, Ryan P. - District H012 (Manchester) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Thompson, John W. - District H013 (Manchester) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Hale, Kathy - District H014 (South Windsor) - Running as a Democrat against Republican incumbent William Aman, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer contact kathaleesq@aol.com or Kathy@KathyHale.org

McMahon, Faith - District H015 (Bloomfield) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Noble, Deborah Beth - District H016 (Simsbury) - Candidate of the Working Families Party, running against incumbent Democrat Linda Schofield, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. There is also a Republican candidate in this race. To volunteer go to contact wfpforsimsbury@att.net or lfarrell@workingfamiliesparty.org or phone WFP at (860) 523-1699.

***Brett Eisenlohr - District H017 (Avon, Canton) - Open Seat - Democrat - Has Republican opponent - To volunteer go to http://electeisenlohr.com/ or call 860-978-7184.

Fleischmann, Andrew M. - District H018 (West Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Bye, Beth - District H019 (Avon, Farmington, West Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

McCluskey, David - District H020 (West Hartford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Giannaros, Demetrios S. - District H021 (Farmington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Boukus, Elizabeth A. - District H022 (Bristol, New Britain, Plainville) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Baker, Eileen D. - District H023 (Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Westbrook) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Marilyn Giulano, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 17. To volunteer call 860-388-2761.Two priorities for Eileen are the environment and protecting victims of sexual assault. She is also an expert on issues relevant to the deaf community.

O'Brien, Tim - District H024 (New Britain, Newington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponentTim O'Brien is an outstanding legislator. Those who read his blog at http://reptimobrien.blogspot.com/ learn a great deal about the issues before the Connecticut General Assembly.

Geragosian, John C. - District H025 (New Britain) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Tercyak, Peter A. - District H026 (New Britain) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Nafis, Sandy H. - District H027 (Newington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Morin, Russell A. - District H028 (Wethersfield) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Aresimowicz, Joe - District H030 (Berlin, Southington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Kehoe, Thomas J. - District H031 (Glastonbury) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

O'Rourke, James A. III - District H032 (Cromwell, Middletown, Portland) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Hamm, Gail K. - District H034 (East Hampton, Middletown) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Spallone, James F. - District H036 (Chester, Deep River, Essex, Haddam) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Ritter, Elizabeth B. - District H038 (Montville, Waterford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Hewett, Ernest - District H039 (New London) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 80 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Wright, Elissa T. - District H041 (Groton) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Urban, Diana S. - District H043 (North Stonington, Stonington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent. To volunteer contact Robbin Donahue at (860)245-5020.Since her last election, Diana Urban has taken the unusual step of changing from the Republican to the Democratic party. We need to defend her in her re-election campaign, now as a Democrat.

***Flexer, Mae - District H044 (Killingly, Plainfield, Sterling) - Running as a Democrat for an open seat - Has Republican opponent. To volunteer contact Derek Haviland at 802-318-3594 or maeflexer@gmail.com.

Olson, Melissa - District H046 (Norwich) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Orange, Linda A. - District H048 (Colchester, East Haddam) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

***Johnson, Susan - District H049 (Windham) - Running as a Democrat for an open seat - Has Republican opponent - To volunteer contact susan@obrienjohnsonlaw.com or 860-423-2085.Susan Johnson has a long history of activism for good causes in her community.

***Vogt, Sherri - District H050 (Brooklyn, Eastford, Hampton, Pomfret, Woodstock) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Mike Alberts, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0.

***Avery, Arlene - District H052 (Sommers, Stafford, Union) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Penny Bacchiochi, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 17. To volunteer go to www.arleneavery.com or contact info@arleneavery.com or phone (860)684-6819.

***Hurlburt, Brian - District H053 (Ashford, Tolland, Willington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Merrill, Denise W. - District H054 (Chaplin, Mansfield) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent - Denise Merrill has been outstanding as a leader in the development of the state budget.

Tallarita, Kathleen M. - District H058 (Enfield) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Jarmoc, Karen - District H059 (Enfield) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Annie Hornish - District H062 (Barkhamstead, East Granby, Granby, New Hartford) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Richard F. Ferrari, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 17. To volunteer go to http://www.anniehornish08.us or contact anniehornish08@gmail.com or phone 860-653-0729.

Willis, Roberta B. - District H064 (Cornwall, Goshen, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

***Cook, Michelle - District H065 (Torrington) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Anne L. Ruwet, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer contact www.michellecookforthe65th.com/. Ruwet has won by very small margins in some recent elections. Your work in this district could be the determining factor in a victory by Michelle. If elected, Michelle plans to focus on issues of education, seniors, medical insurance, and the revitalization of downtown Torrington.

Butler, Larry B. - District H072 (Waterbury) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent but has an Independent Party opponent. In Waterbury this party plays a major role. To volunteer phone 203-755-1100. Representative Butler has been an excellent legislator. One major focus this year was the bill on "Money follows the person", allowing more seniors with health problems to be cared for at home.

Aldarondo, David - District H075 (Waterbury) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Wright, Christopher A. - District H077 (Bristol) - Running as a Democrat for an open seat. There is a Republican opponent. To volunteer contact wrightforbristol08@gmail.com or phone 860-261-7656.

***Jacqui D. Denski - District H078 (Bristol, Plymouth) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican William A. Hamzy, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 17. To volunteer contact To volunteer contact Jody Trestman at 860-212-8595, or go to http://www.votedenski.com or email Jacqui at Jacqui.denski@yahoo.com.

Zalaski, Bruce "Zeke" - District H081 (Southington) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Abercrombie, Catherine F - District H083 (Berlin, Meriden) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Donovan, Christopher G. - District H084 (Meriden) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponentChris Donovan will probably be the Speaker of the House in the coming session, after many years of outstanding work in the House.

Mushinsky, Mary M. - District H085 (Wallingford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Fontana, Steve - District H087 (North Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Sharkey, J. Brendan - District H088 (Hamden) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Nardello, Vickie O. - District H089 (Bethany, Cheshire, Prospect) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponentVickie Nardello has been an important leader on energy issues.

Villano, Peter F. - District H091 (Hamden) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Dillon, Patricia A. - District H092 (New Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Walker, Toni E. - District H093 (New Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

***Winfield, Gary - District H094 (New Haven) - Running as a Democrat for an open seat Democrat - No Republican opponent but there is a well-known petitioning candidate. To volunteer contact gary@winfield08.com.Gary Winfield is running to replace Bill Dyson, who has endorsed him. After winning a tough primary he is likely to become an excellent legislator.

Candelaria, Juan R. - District H095 (New Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Staples, Cameron C. - District H096 (Hamden, New Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Megna, Robert W. - District H097 (New Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Widlitz, Patricia M. - District H098 (Branford, Guilford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

***Lawlor, Michael P. - District H099 (East Haven) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent - To volunteer go to http://www.mikelawlor.net/. Mike Lawlor has been the Chair of the Judiciary Committee and has done a wonderful job of patiently explaining the details of legislative proposals to the members of the House. He is meticulous in crafting legislation.

***Lesser, Matthew - District H100 (Durham, Middlefield, Middletown) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Raymond Kalinowski, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 33. To volunteer contact matt@mattlesser.com.

***Heinrich, Deborah W. - District H101 (Guilford, Madison) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent - To volunteer, go to http://www.debheinrich.com or call Steve or Donna Kapsinow at (203)453-9628.

Reed, Lonnie - District H102 (Branford) - Was planning to run in a Democratic primary against an incumbent with a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 25, but the incumbent dropped out of the race and the local Republican Party decided not to run anyone. Lonnie Reed is a hard-working campaigner and will be a very effective legislator.

***Esty, Elizabeth - District H103 (Cheshire, Hamden, Wallingford) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Al Adinolfi, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 33. To volunteer go to http://www.elizabethesty.com.She is working very hard and there is a good chance that she could win. She is extremely knowledgeable about environmental and energy policy and if elected she will make an enormous contribution to the development of innovative responses by Connecticut to the crisis in energy costs and the need for alternative approaches to environmental issues.

***Masters, Di - District H111 (Ridgefield) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican John H. Frey, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer contact info@dimasters2008.com or call 203-438-5460.

***Michele C. Mount - District H112 (Monroe, Newtown) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican DebraLee Hovey, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer go to http://www.mountforstaterep.com/

Roy, Richard - District H119 (Milford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

***Potter, Scott - District H120 (Stratford) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican John A. Harkins, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer contact potter.scr@gmail.com or phone 203-913-6132.

***Jansen, Cheryl - District H122 (Shelton, Stratford) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Lawrence G. Miller, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer contact csver@aol.com or phone 203-530-1823.

Clemons, Charles D. Jr. - District H124 (Bridgeport) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Caruso, Christopher L. - District H126 Bridgeport) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent. As Chair of the Government, Administration and Elections Committee, Chris has been at the center of much controvery, out of which has come some great laws such as the public funding of election campaigns.

Hennessy, John F. - District H127 (Bridgeport) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Ayala, Andres Jr. - District H128 (Bridgeport) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent. During his first two years in office Andres Ayala has demonstrated a capacity for thoughtful leadership that will be important for the future of the House.

Santiago, Ezequiel - District H130 (Bridgeport - Running as a Democrat for an open seat - has a Republican opponent

Fawcett, Kim - District H133 (Fairfield, Westport) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Christiano, Tom F. - District H134 (Fairfield, Trumbull) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Perone, Chris - District H137 (Norwalk) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

Ryan, Kevin - District H139 (Bozrah, Franklin, Lebanon, Montville) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Morris, Bruce V. - District H140 (Norwalk) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 100 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

***Reeves, Peggy - District H143 - Norwalk - Running as a Democrat for an open seat - has a Republican opponent - To volunteer go to http://www.voteforpeggy.com.

***Miller, Patricia Billie - District H145 Stamford) - Running as a Democrat for an open seat - has a Republican opponent

Fox, Gerald M. III - District H146 (Stamford) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 83 - Incumbent Democrat - No Republican opponent

Tong, William - District H147 (New Canaan, Stamford) - Incumbent Democrat - Has Republican opponent

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Endorsements for Connecticut House of Representatives | 14 comments

These ratings are somewhat misleading (4.00 / 1)

I would encourage people to dig a little deeper than this (or most) scorecards. Using three votes from 2004 & 2005 is not very relevant especially for freshman legislators who were not there then. The context of a vote is also important (like whether the legislator is in a tough race/district and whether the Governor is likely to veto the bill). Also whether individual legislators actively
support/opposition ta bill is as important as their vote on it. In short, some 100% are not really such and neither are all 0%.

by: dmccluskey @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 12:40:50 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Reply to dmccluskey (4.00 / 1)

To correct one inaccurate statement in your comment, most of the 8 votes used for the rating were in 2007.

As a more general reply, I would say that the ratings are far from perfect but nonetheless useful. It is difficult for an outsider to understand what is really happening in the legislature. The wonderful coverage by the television network CT-N helps, and the legislative website is also useful, but of course there are ways that legislators can purposedly mislead the public.

I have been engaged in a one-person campaign to ask the legislative leadership to allocate funds for one position so that CT-N can record all committee meetings and put them up on their website as downloadable mp3 files. This would be a big step toward transparency in legislative processes. Both Republican and Democratic leaders say they support the idea but up to now the funds have not been allocated.

With the information available, I tried to pick issues that involved controversy and important consequences for the people of our state. When I began to think about endorsements I intended to support only those incumbents with 100% ratings. However, when I looked at the list of almost-100% legislators I realized that it included a number of very fine legislators. Some had voted against the abolition of capital punishment. That is a position I cannot understand but it is a moral question about which there is much disagreement in our society. The other vote where many legislators lost the 100% rating was the 2007 vote on the progressive income tax. It is true that in this case the Governor had made it clear that she would veto the bill immediately, and indeed she did that. Some legislators, particularly those from the Stamford area, voted against it, knowing that the consequences would not be grave because it would not stand in any case. After thinking about these two votes I decided to endorse a number of incumbents with ratings lower than 100%. That decision is reflected in the posted endorsements.

With regard to endorsements of non-incumbents, it has been terribly difficult. I have asked for advice from everyone I know and respect who is involved in elections, and made hundreds of phone calls to candidates and people in their districts to try to figure out which candidates might do a good job in the legislature, but no one knows what they will do once they take their seats.

My work on the website at http://www.electionvolunteers.org began in 2007. I hope that over time I will pick up more inside information from people like you that will help me to refine the process of selecting issues for the ratings and deciding on endorsements. There is certainly no attempt to mislead. On the contrary, this work is an effort to help voters understand their choices and encourage the public to volunteer for candidates whose views they support.

If you or others have any specific disagreements about issues or endorsements I would be grateful for any information you can give me, either through comments on MLN or privately at electionvolunteers@mags.net.

by: Barbara Richards @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 14:13:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

In response (4.00 / 1)

I was trying to stress that scorecards don't tell the whole story. I think using 3 votes out of 8 votes from a previous General Assembly is not especially useful unless you want to break it down one for the 2 year term and a lifetime score. Some votes are more relevant and contentious than others. Depending on the ones chosen, a legislator can look more supportive or opposed than he/she really is on the subject. Other scorecards have similar problems such as the League of Conservation Voters and the AFL-CIO where legislators with high scores are not really that supportive. Some legislators can kill/pass bills w/o their fingerprints on them as well.

I was involved in getting CT-N to close-caption our sessions/hearings/committee meetings for the deaf & hearing impaired and believe it would be more costly than one position to record all our hearings/committee meetings, but I would support that and I think the incoming Speaker Chris Donovan would as well once the budget deficit is addressed.

I also have a biased in favor of electiblity. Endorsing third party candidates who can not win, but who may assist in electing a worse candidate makes no sense to me.

by: dmccluskey @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 16:34:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

electability (4.00 / 1)

If there's an issue you care about, and a particular legislator is instrumental in keeping your preferred policy from becoming a reality, then I could understand helping to bounce them out to get a fresh start.

On a national level, if there was one Democrat in the Senate who was publicly promoting the privatization of Social Security, thus keeping that lousy idea alive, would you consider feeding them to the wolves? I can't say I'd fault someone who did, even if I didn't make the same choice.

What if a reasonable universal healthcare bill made it out of committee, passed both houses, was vetoed, and then missed the veto override by one vote?

Honest Greens (there are some out there) admit this was the plan in 2000 -- to beat the moderate and bet on a liberal resurgence. On the presidential level, this didn't work very well. But the Club for Growth and similar conservative groups have used a "fuck them to pieces" strategy on moderate Republicans on the local and congressional that has very effectively made the GOP more conservative over time. Maybe that's Barbara's MO as well.

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

by: mattw @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 17:19:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Electability (4.00 / 1)

In general I have a bias in favor of electability. I was totally opposed to the Greens' strategy in 2000. For the upcoming CT legislative elections there is only one case where I endorsed the Working Families candidate in a race with a Democrat and Republican running. The Democrat in question, Linda Schofield, had a zero rating on the "Democracy/Humanity" scale. There were some other actions she took that do not appear on the scale but were not helpful to the cause of universal health care. The tradition in our state and in our nation is that a person can run as a Democratic candidate without regard to their voting record. In this case the Working Families Party knew about her record. They put forward a candidate and they are working hard in that district.

by: Barbara Richards @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 17:45:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

reply (4.00 / 1)

Schofield voted to overide Governor Rell's veto on increasing the minimum wage THIS YEAR - one of MY votes on the Democracy / Humanity scale. If Heagney wins because of Noble wanna bet his Democracy / Humanity vote score is worse?

by: dmccluskey @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 17:55:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Electability (4.00 / 1)

Thank you for giving me your endorsement! Despite what has been said negatively about 3rd party candidates the response in Simsbury has been tremendously positive. Just this weekend I got a call at home from someone who saw my information in the Simsbury Life newspaper and she promised me her vote.

Third party candidates are getting elected more frequently on the municipal, state & even federal levels. I was elected on the WFP line in Windham just 4 years ago. In fact both Juan Perez and I were elected and eliminated 2 Republicans from the Board of Selectmen.

I am used to fighting an uphill battle, but I hate to fight against those I admire, like you Rep. McCluskey. When I get elected AGAIN I will continue to be a tireless advocate for health care (not insurance companies), living wages, paid sick days, affordable housing, a better tax structure, more accountability of government & corporation and the working men and women of Connecticut. It's time we voted for a positive change and not the lesser of two evils. Let's stop those elected officals who continue same old practice of throwing money into a broken system of government that works for some, but not for all.

We did it before and We can do it again!

by: Deborah Noble @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 18:15:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

More on Electability (4.00 / 1)

To David McCluskey: I agree about Heagney. But wouldn't it be wonderful if Deborah Noble won? It's a tough call.

I also agree about the importance of the minimum wage vote and will include that in the next rating scale. If anyone has other suggestions for votes from 2008 to include in that scale please let me know.

And thank you very much for reading the endorsements carefully and taking the time to respond. I agree with Deborah that you are a great legislator. One example of this is that you helped us with the bill on in-state tuition for immigrant children. You even came to a coalition meeting once to help us plan the campaign. Thanks for all that you do.

To Deborah Noble: Good luck!

by: Barbara Richards @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 18:34:40 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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The fact that this is an important election is an understatement... (4.00 / 1)

Just a quick note to weigh in on this little score card debate.

As is so often the case when progressive people disagree - there are legitimate points on both (all sides).

That said, a big thank you to Barbara for putting this information together. Like all scorecards the information needs to be viewed for what it is - a listing of how people voted on some important issues. There are certainly times when a scorecard doesn't tell the whole story - I won't bore you with some of my old tails of woe, but it seems particularly fitting when McCain now claims to be the great "regulator" that examining voting records is one of the most relevant ways to measure a candidate.

Also - and perhaps even more importantly - with the Legislature firmly in Democratic hands - and certainly staying that - I think it is very appropriate, legitimate and necessary to look carefully at our candidates and their records.

The Legislature will face an extraordinarily difficult time in this upcoming session. In many respects it will be even harder then the income tax debate of 1991 - in part because Rell has proven that she is utterly unprepared to provide the leadership necessary to adopt a fair, balanced and appropriate state budget.

Electing people who will stand up and be counted on the really important issues is essential if the Democrats are going to successfully capitalize on the opportunity that is at hand and undue some of the damage from 18 years of Republican control of the executive branch of government.

The score card here may not be perfect but it does provide some very valuable information and hopefully interested voters will use it to further their understanding - at least to the point of calling candidates and asking them to explain the voters their appear to have fallen short on.

Thanks again Barbara for all of your work on this.

by: jonpelto @ Mon Oct 20, 2008 at 19:30:07 PM UTC

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Joan Lewis (4.00 / 1)

I note that Joan Lewis' race (H008) is not flagged as "expected to be hard-fought," but what we're hearing on the ground is that Joan's facing a real challenge from Tim Ackert this time. If you're in Joan's district (Columbia/Coventry/Vernon) and have some time to give, I'm sure she could use the help. You can find an e-mail link in Joan's entry in the Courant Voters' Guide. In addition, I believe the Joe Courtney campaign has been doing some coordinated phonebanking in Joan's district.

by: dauphinb @ Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 02:19:26 AM UTC

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Joan Lewis (4.00 / 1)

Thank you for the info on Joan Lewis's campaign. I will put the contact info up right away on http://www.electionvolunteers.org and try to find out more about the campaign tomorrow.

Your comment represents exactly the kind of thing that I had hoped might happen when I posted endorsements. There are too many good candidates for me to adequately deal with them. The people in the local districts will know better whether a race is likely to be close. I hope there will be other posts about additional close races.

As a general comment, I am awed by the quality of the responses to the original post this morning. It is a privilege to be able to write for MLN.

by: Barbara Richards @ Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 03:16:10 AM UTC

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More on scorecards and minor parties (4.00 / 1)

I'm just getting to this a bit late, but thought I'd weigh in breifly.

First, as I've noted directly to Barbara previously, I agree with McCluskey and others that scorecards are often imperfect and don't tell the full story. This scorecard, for example, does not include committee votes. Granted, that takes a fair amount more work and I think it's something Barbara wants to include in the future. But sometimes committee votes and votes on amendments are as indicative of a legislators real positions as the final vote on the floor.

As one brief example, a few years ago Joe Aresimowicz was pushing a bill to curtail outsourcing of jobs. Some conservative Democrats proposed an amendment on the floor of the house that clearly would have killed the legislation. The amendment was narrowly defeated, clearing the way for the full vote on the bill on the floor of the house. Then almost all of the legislators who voted for the amendmant that would have killed the bill turned around and voted FOR it. They tried to kill it and failed. Then, realizing that the bill was going to pass and not wanting to have a bad vote on their record, they went ahead and voted "Yes." But the vote on the amendment was more indicative of how those conservative Democrats felt about the proposal.

So, for version 2.0 I suggest trying to include committee votes and amendments.

As for the state rep race in the 16th District (Simsbury), we endorsed Deborah Noble because she's a true progressive who has been an active WFP member for several years, including a stint in Willimantic as one of the first WFP members ever elected. Like Barbara and David, the WFP is not generally a supporter of "spoiler candidacies." But seriously, let's not compare this to the 2000 Presidential elections. The circumstances and nuances are totally different.

For starters, I'd like to ad a comment about the context of this campaign. The WFP has cross-endorsed over 80 Democratic candidates for Congress, State Rep. and State Senate. We're doing a large amount of work in some of these races (over 35 WFP people are canvassing for Janice Andersen and Anthony Musto as I write this. ) No one is going to confuse the WFP with a typical "spoiler" party.

But in rare circumstances, we're not afraid to run our own candidate, particularly against very conservative Democrats. We take these campaigns pretty seriously (Deb and Cicero Booker both qualified for public financing grants) and frankly it's clear that, for better or for worse, other politicians take them seriously too.

Deborah Noble is a die-hard progressive. Linda Schofield has opposed most of the issues that Working Families champions like Paid Sick Days and universal healthcare reform. For the most part we believe in pragmatism, as the strategy of cross-endorsmen suggets. But sometimes you need to simply stnand up for what is right and we felt that this is one of those times.

by: ctwfp @ Tue Oct 21, 2008 at 22:32:05 PM UTC

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Re: Michele Mount (0.00 / 0)

***Michele C. Mount - District H112 (Monroe, Newtown) - Running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican DebraLee Hovey, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0. To volunteer go to http://www.mountforstaterep.com/

Lennie Grimaldi over at Only in Bridgeport lets go against Mount's opponent:

DebraLee Hovey is a jerk, a bubbled-headed myopic moron, a daffy demagogue with all the depth of Missy Moonbeam Sarah Palin and that cretinous Congressional witch Michelle Bachmann. Hovey's specialty is dealing with the learning disabled. She's learning disabled.
Here's what the Republican state representative from Monroe had to say Tuesday night in a debate with her Democratic challenger Michele Mount. "While I've been your state representative for three terms, I've made sure small towns have not been overridden by big-city interests. I fight for you in Hartford and make sure we get our fair share. While I've been working for you, my opponent has been working for Bridgeport."
...Monroe sends Bridgeport its garbage, sick and homeless, and now wants to send its sewage, the city provides higher educational opportunities, and sucks in all tax-exempt properties that cozy Monroe doesn't want. Yes, the way to preserve the suburban lifestyle, according to Hovey, is to wall up all the social problems in the city...

Most of the comments agree with him.

by: Jon Kantrowitz @ Wed Oct 22, 2008 at 19:46:02 PM UTC

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Correction (4.00 / 1)

A big apology to Brett Eisenlohr, whose listing in the endorsements was as follows:

***Brett Eisenlohr - District H017 (Avon, Canton) - Democracy-Humanity Rating 0 - Open Seat - Democrat - Has Republican opponent - To volunteer go to http://electeisenlohr.com/ or call 860-978-7184.

In fact Brett is not an incumbent and has no Democracy-Humanity Rating. I've been learning about Excel concatenation formulas and obviously copied the wrong one into that cell. So sorry.

I corrected the listing on the website at http://electionvolunteers.org and I will mail out a correction to the big list-serve that received copies of the endorsements.

Good luck, Brett!

by: Barbara Richards @ Thu Oct 23, 2008 at 17:06:18 PM UTC

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Endorsements for Connecticut House of Representatives | 14 comments

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