People-Powered Bridgeport Democratic Primary Debate!

Coolest thing EVAH (4.00 / 2)

The CT vblogging crew is amazing. If this was 1775 you all would be meeting in a pub in Boston and figuring new and exciting uses for British tea. I'm blown away at the level of civic leadership you are demonstrating with this project.

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by: joejoejoe @ Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 12:45:02 PM CDT

Hear! Hear! (4.00 / 4)

Maura and the gang deserve a lot of credit.

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by: BranfordBoy @ Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 12:54:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Coolness! (0.00 / 0)

(anyone remember Parker Lewis?)

Anyway, this is a friggin awesome idea, and it's great that this is happening here in CT.

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to it."

-Lawrence Summers

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by: joesaho @ Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 15:01:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Kudos (0.00 / 0)

This is just fantastic, innovative stuff!

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by: Ann Galloway @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 07:18:55 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

that's awesome (4.00 / 1)

I think it's great that you guys are getting out there to get questions on the street.  Keep up the good work.

"Join the resistance and there will be no resistance." - My Grandmother

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by: Rusty5329 @ Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 13:22:20 PM CDT

Some videos are already up (0.00 / 0)

Great work by MattW ("minimatt") in getting some questions already up on Youtube.  To view them, go to Youtube and search on "bridgeportdebate".

Connecticut Bob

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by: Bob Adams @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 06:03:30 AM CDT

Hey Bob (0.00 / 0)

... any idea why it took 8+ hours for the tag to stick?

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 06:20:06 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

YouTube (0.00 / 0)

..always take 24hrs to refresh tags. The sheer volume at the place, with probably 100,000 new videos there every day.

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by: Scarce @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 06:23:32 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

So far so good (0.00 / 0)

Here is a direct link to the videos.

http://www.youtube.c...

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by: joejoejoe @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 13:02:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

btw (0.00 / 0)

Thanks to Beau for trucking down from NB to help shoot the first batch! With his tripod and mic setup, this is about the best quality we're going to get I think :)

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 21:41:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

BOOOOOOO!!!! (2.00 / 1)

So The Weekly and My Left Nutmeg set up the first debate in Bridgeport that excludes third party and independent candidates...and I am supposed to be impressed? 

It is no surprise that people who get their paychecks from the Democratic Party are actively working to exclude other candidates in this forum and keep the Democratic party's stranglehold on Bridgeport's future. 

It is sites like My Left Nutmeg and partisan two-party hack circuses like this debate that have had a hand in killing the Left. 

You might as well just hire the Commission on Presidential Debates to do this. 

Oh, we'll be there alright...Nader-style. 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 12:59:34 PM CDT

Ugh (4.00 / 1)

Should independent candidates be included in a Democratic PRIMARY debate?

Most people on MLN are committed Democrats. If you want to team with the Fairfield County Weekly to have an independent candidate YouTube debate (and do all the very real work) then knock yourself out. I'm sure Maura & friends would be generous with some How-to suggestions.

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by: joejoejoe @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 13:14:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Urgh (0.00 / 0)

Sometimes committed, progressive Democrats need to walk away from the party in order to get the Democratic party to do what's right for the people.

Bridgeport being the perfect example... 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 18:09:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This argument seems very thin (0.00 / 0)

To me, the decision between Finch and Caruso is one of political style: Finch is promising change predicated on his competence, and Caruso promises change predicated on his willingness to hurl established people out of their positions of authority. Can Caruso run a city? Will Finch's proposals really change anything substantive at all? If either of these questions were really resolved in my view, I'd probably write up a little endorsement blurb.

Since I don't accept your premise that Caruso and Finch are identical candidates, please explain why those committed to the party "need to walk away from the party in order to get the Democratic party to do what's right for the people." Why not get people inside the party involved in choosing a "best" candidate from among the potentially broad range in the city?

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 19:30:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'll take a stab at putting some meat on the bone... (0.00 / 0)

In short our party has produced the candidates that you mention (say what you may about them.) They are both members of a state delegation which simply does not compete with cities like Hartford and New Haven.  Their constant infighting and egomaniacism has hurt the city in which I live immeasurably and any lobbyist will tell you the same.  Whenever they have been subject to challenge (like Ernie Newton was) the state Dems check in and see to it that that person stays (like Kevin Sullivan did.) 

The state Democratic and Republican parties are fundamentally suburban entities.  There is a bit of hostility to municipalities even with Democrats and there is an obvious vested interest by the leadership to see that people who can (or can't) offer certain deliverables stay in place.  Local needs are not of concern, natually. 

This year Jodi Rell (of all people) laid out a budget that made increases to the municipalities.  There was a movement within this Republican's proposed budget to attempt to move Bridgeport closer to New Haven and Hartford's funding levels.  The budget committee cut the gain to Bridgeport and beefed up Hartford and New Haven.  This is the story every budget cycle...every one. 

This primary election and the MLN Democratic primary debate will allow two  Democratic legislators to propagate the myth that they have catered to the interests of the city over the party.  They are spending thousands right now to disseminate that myth.  They will succeed.  I expect a lot of good, hard YouTube questions but ultimately the independent and third-party candidates will not be able to keepm the spin in check personally. 

On the local level there is a stagnation in government that finds its place with the local party.  The DTC just simply needs to stop feeding off the city's coiffers and childrens' desks.  It needs to re-orient itself fundamentally.  The patronage system must go...and it won't stop with either of the two Democrats in office.  Caruso and Finch have candidates in both of their camps who are city employees, volunteers who are not only election law violators but those who have a lot of sway in the current patronage system and a vested interest in its continuance. 

The local party has been resistant to holding meetings and expanding membership.  When ta group of now not-so-young Bridgeport Dems tried to form a young Democrats chapter in the city the state chapter shot it down.  Why?  Because showing off for Diane was more important than raising new leadership in the city.  (Not that the local party can deliver federal candidates like it needs to anyway.)

The wards typically mine the city payrolls and a small cadre of families for members.  This patronage system is highly evolved.  I hold that the Democratic Party in Bridgeport needs to be cut off for a while in order to fundamentally re-orient itself.  We can talk about running progressives for office but the fact of the matter is that whenever there is a challenge to DTC slates local political bosses drown the reformers with money and and their AB lists.  All the while the Registrar of Voters will do everything in her power to protect the DTC chairman's hold on power. 

It will take a Mayor with the audacity to cut off critical ward bosses and vote getters in the city.  Reform in Bridgeport is a suicide mission for a any true reformist Mayor and the Democratic party on the local and state level will resist it every step of the way. 

We're trying to get our city to where it needs to be...step by small step.  We need help-not harm.  It wasn't fair for me to call you guys hacks but Bridgeport desperately need new direction. 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 21:49:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Re: YDs (0.00 / 0)

My understanding is that the chapter there is in the process of getting recognized.

What do you mean by "cut off ... vote getters in the city"? Do you mean expanded executive powers that take away authority from the Council? How do you cut off the people who win elections?

We have a multi-tiered system that requires co-operation between all varieties of district, city-wide, State and Federal officeholders, and so I would hope that some city employees would be involved in all of the campaigns. MLN folks can be brass-knuckles sometimes, but certainly our government is required to function on a professional and coalition-based level. (On the flipside, I would have loved to have seen your AFSCME questionnaire :)

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 22:20:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This sounds like a good post (4.00 / 1)

Are you sure you wouldn't rather join the party you are disillusioned with and change the Bridgeport DTC from within?

In this world, I find that pragmatism often trumps idealism, if not for the results the former has over the latter.

I do agree with you about Bridgeport needing a new direction. And, I don't know if Caruso's lawn signs which exclaims 'Change!' on one side is enough to effect the change Bridgeport needs. I essentially work within the universe of Bridgeport (with Bridgeport Hospital smack dab in the middle). I would love to get Bridgeport out of its localized depression and on better par with the other urban centers of CT--like Hartford and New Haven. As the biggest urban center in CT's wealthiest county, it's very Dickensian to have a depressed Bridgeport surrounded by ultra-affluent suburban towns.

I don't know what is the best way to fix this decades-old problem.

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

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by: connecticutyankee @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 22:28:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Um...there is a PRIMARY election in Bridgeport! (4.00 / 4)

Jaspermclevy --- what do you not understand about primary elections?

There are TWO elections in Bridgeport.  One is on September 11.  In that election, Democratic primary voters are choosing between Chris Caruso and Bill Finch for the Democratic party nomination.

After that, there is ANOTHER election.  It's called the general election.  That election is in November. In that election, candidates from other parties including the Bridgeport First party, the Park City party, the Republican party, and the Democratic party, will join with unaffiliated candidates to run for the seat of Mayor.

This debate is for the Democratic primary.  That's why the title of this post is "People-Powered Bridgeport Democratic Primary Debate".

Make sense?

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by: Maura @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 13:48:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

There is a primary...someone should tell the 3/4 of Dems that will stay home... (0.00 / 0)

Will MLN and the Weekly be organizing another debate. 

Even if they do they will have given the Democratic candidate an extra boost.  Extra name recognition.  Extra debate skills.  Extra message. 

This is the fourth Mayoral debate in Bridgeport and the first to exclude candidates.  Those other candidates need those little extras that the Dems get just because they have the right letter next to their name on the ballot.

Taxpayers shouldn't even be paying for these primaries anyway.  We need IRV in Bridgeport.  Until then, everyone should have equitable access to the debate structure. 

 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 14:53:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nihilism doesn't help (4.00 / 1)

First of all, it's simply preposterous to call Finch and Caruso "two Bushes".  That sort of "there's no difference between the candidates/parties" nihilism is utterly counterproductive.

Do you just want to be a destructive bombthrower, or do you actually want to have more people participate in the political process? 

There IS AN ELECTION on September 11.  MLN and FCW didn't set up that election.  We're simply giving more people an opportunity to ask questions of the two candidates who are participating in that election.

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by: Maura @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 19:20:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

oh boy (0.00 / 0)

Oh, we'll be there alright...Nader-style.

You know you've attracted too many psychos to your cause when your model for progressive electoral success is the Bush presidency.

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 17:23:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

"Nader-style" (0.00 / 0)

In the sense of progressives being excluded from a debate process that is meant to exclude.

Finch and Caruso are like two Bushes...so there will be no spoiler here.  Bad reference with Nader there perhaps...my bad. 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 18:05:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nader was once a progressive (0.00 / 0)

... who became a short sighted, self-important misanthrope.

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 18:30:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I agree... (0.00 / 0)

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 20:32:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

FAIRFIELD WEEKLY ADS (2.00 / 1)

The ads that The Weekly ran for this don't mention the primary anywhere in them. 

All the ad says is that one of those two Liebercrats will become Mayor. 

We need more Democracy in Bridgeport...not less. 

 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 13:34:39 PM CDT

Has the 3rd Party Candidate... (0.00 / 0)

or his supporters looked into sponsors for a debate?

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by: chele @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 17:21:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Re: (0.00 / 0)

Don't the Third Party candidates have enough on their plate in this one-party town?

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 17:55:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

If you think Bridgeport is a one party town (0.00 / 0)

then why not be proactive with your cause and join that one party and push it further to the left (which, I assume, is where you think the Dems of that city have drifted away from).

There are more ways to skin a cat (sorry, mattw or nolo). If you can't beat them, join them.

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

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by: connecticutyankee @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 18:30:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

So yell at the newspaper (0.00 / 0)

This is a partisan website. MLN is helping to run a debate to inform Democratic primary voters. I don't know anyone with the goal or ambition to entertain Republicans, Keith 'n' Steve, or whatever other fabulists may reside in the Park City.

Plus, "Jasper," you'll get your democracy -- the question is, will you still be proud of it should the public deliver you 3% of the vote?

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 17:33:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Re: your irritation (0.00 / 0)

I would have thought that a Democrat like yourself would be into that "Democracy" thing. 

Sorry...I was mistaken. 

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by: jaspermclevy @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 17:59:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

pff (4.00 / 2)

All the stuff that goes into running a competitive campaign in large cities, congressional districts, and presidential races does suck. You have to raise a lot of money, and have a large base of support, and work for a long time to get people to identify with your values. It requires an order of magnitude more work for people who choose not to align themselves with known political entities, because too few people pay a great deal of attention to campaigns and fill in the gaps in their knowledge about specific candidates with their knowledge about the party in general.

Note: THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO DOING THIS WORK. OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES HAVE SPENT LITERALLY MILLENNIA WORTH OF VOLUNTEER HOURS ESTABLISHING THEIR IDENTITIES WITH VOTERS.

This style of lazy jackassery -- which is far too often associated with people who claim to share the same ideology as me -- is embarrassing. I wrote about it at length here, and in short-form here.

You could potentially win me over to your cause, if you make claims that are realistic, arguments which appeal to my values, and show that you have the ability to build a coalition that can effectively run some part of our government. Instead, your case seems to be based on saying that the other candidates are "Liebercrats" and "Bushes," and making snide remarks regarding my and other potential allies' commitment to their principles.

All of this in order to get a site which is explicitly identified with the party that you enjoy insulting to assist you, so you can participate in a debate for an election in which you aren't running, to provide a shortcut for the exceedingly difficult work of building a political coalition that can run a city. Even if you were great (and you're proving that you're not by your posts here), you still shouldn't be in the primary debate.

Maybe you should stop trollling in blog comments and knock on some fucking doors. Just saying.

–7.25 / –7.28

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 18:52:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What's wrong with a democratic process? (0.00 / 0)

The Democratic Party is choosing its nominee through a democratic process called a primary election.

I don't know why that troubles you so much.

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by: Maura @ Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 19:14:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Give it a rest, Jasper! (0.00 / 0)

What part of "DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY" do you not understand?

Are the Republicans being invited to participate in the debate? No. Because it's a DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY debate.

Anyway, Maura, Matt, Spazeboy, Connecticut Bob and ctblogger - you guys rock!

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by: saramerica @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 21:18:18 PM CDT