| On Thursday night the other Democratic candidate for Chris Dodd's senate seat, Roger Pearson of Greenwich, addressed his hometown Democratic Town Committee. Here's who he is and what he said.
Roger Pearson served as the town's first selectman from 1983 to 1985, his election largely resulting from dismay at the dismal handling of the town's traffic problems by Republican first selectwoman Rebecca Breed after the collapse of the I-95 bridge through the town in 1983. That collapse led all of that traffic to be rerouted through Route 1, clogging local roads, and leading to the curious consequence of drug dealers using the town as a new market for their wares. At the end of his term, the town Republicans promptly voted him out of office. Mr. Pearson gained some unwelcome notoriety after his term ended by pulling over and ticketing motorists without the authority to do so.
Apparently Roger Pearson's father Samuel Pearson was a partner of Dreyfus Funds founder Jack Dreyfus in the 1960's. Roger Pearson graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. At AU he worked for the university newspaper and recounted covering the return of President Kennedy's body to the White House in the middle of the night after Kennedy's assassination. After university, Pearson worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman Michael Feehan, who he said was notorious for not proposing legislation. Pearson decided not to challenge for McKinney's congressional seat in 1987, but did challenge new congressman Chris Shays unsuccessfully in 1988.
Pearson began by talking about Kennedy's assassination and then spent a good deal of time discussing the legislative accomplishments of Lyndon Johnson, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he noted Barry Goldwater opposed, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He stated that the Voting Rights Act "gave us this president", President Obama. He also listed Johnson's accomplishment in passing the Fair Housing Rights Act of 1968, which outlawed discrimination in housing. According to Pearson, Lyndon Johnson would have gone down in history as one of America's greatest presidents, had it not been for the Vietnam War.
Pearson then went on to his history with Greenwich, saying that he moved to town in 1974 when Democrats "weren't even an afterthought." He ran on the ticket with Ruth Sims, who won in the famous "tie vote". He listed his accomplishments in town government as being the conversion of the old Town Hall into the current Greenwich Arts Center, the creation of the Nathaniel Witherall Nursing Home, the creation of the police department's pistol range, and the addition of between 300-400 new parking spaces by "re-striping".
He then rhetorically asked, "Why am I challenging Chris Dodd?" He answered, "I think (Dodd)'s become the "bank senator'. He is one of the prime culprits." He continued that "Dodd shepherded through the Graham-Leach-Blyly Bill that repealed Glass-Steagel." Pearson explained that when Chris Dodd voted for the repeal of Glass-Steagel in 1999, just 5% of all mortgage loans were "sub prime"; in 2007 when the housing decline began, 30% of all mortgages were sub prime."
Pearson went on to criticize Dodd for running for president in 2008: "he announces he's moving to Iowa. Then he comes in seventh, behind 'uncommitted'. He has lost his way." He also stated that he is against "professional politicians" and that "thirty years is enough, and it's time for a change."
Pearson also emphasized that he is committed to campaign finance reform, and criticized Dodd for taking substantial sums from the banking industry and from AIG.
Pearson also revealed that he was not his own first choice to challenge Chris Dodd, but that he had urged Ned Lamont to run against him. Pearson added, "I think that Lamont will have trouble running for governor in 2010," and that he'll have trouble against Lieberman in 2012. He added that, "I don't think Lieberman should have gotten a free ride, a free pass. I don't think that Dodd should get a free pass to the nomination."
Pearson then admitted that, "I'm not going to trounce (Dodd). If anything, he's going to trounce me."
Returning to campaign finance reform, Pearson remarked, "It's a bit obscene how we elect people to office today."
He then remarked that he has been having a good time in retirement, and that he has four young children. But, he continued, "I think I have something to say. I think the president has it right on health care." He also said, "I think you see the passion I have."
Pearson revealed that Jack Trout is advising him on his campaign, and that Trout is also advising Nancy Pelosi.
When he completed his remarks, Pearson took questions, the first of which dealt with Joe Lieberman. Pearson acknowledged that he had backed fellow Greenwich resident Ned Lamont in the Democratic senatorial primary in 2006, but that he had switched his support to Lieberman in the general election. He complained that he had tried to call Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan three times, but had not been able to get through to him. On the other hand, Lieberman had spoken to him and assured him that he supported establishing a timetable for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. He continued, "But Lieberman has disappointed me."
Concluding his remarks, Pearson stated, "I think Chris Dodd has done all in his power to turn this into a red state." Then he said that he will formally announce soon that he is running for U.S. Senate. |
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