The national AFT has endorsed Hilary Clinton for President, and the Connecticut AFT is not thrilled: AFT Connecticut President Reacts To Clinton Endorsement
The AFT executive council today endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.
In reaction to the endorsement, AFT Connecticut President Sharon Palmer had this to say:
I am very disappointed in the AFT executive council's endorsement of Senator Clinton. For months, AFT has made it known that the input of members would be foremost in the decision making process regarding a presidential endorsement. The manner in which the AFT executive council rushed through this endorsement, without any notice to State Federation's like ours, is a disservice to our members.
On behalf of the AFT Connecticut, I would like to reiterate our support for Chris Dodd's candidacy for President of the United States. From expanding Head Start to passing Family and Medical Leave, Chris Dodd has delivered results for America's teachers, parents, and most importantly students for the last 26 years. For his advocacy and ability to get results Dodd was named "Senator of the Decade" by the National Head Start Association.
And now Senator Dodd is offering the boldest proposals - from providing access to free community college to calling for universal pre-school to reforming No Child Left Behind - to bring desperately-needed changes to our education system. Without Chris Dodd's leadership behind these bold ideas, we are concerned that the status quo will trump change, to the detriment of our nation's students. While we are disappointed in the AFT's endorsement decision, we remain steadfast in our commitment to Chris Dodd's candidacy and hopeful that voters will recognize the need for his leadership with results.
AFT Connecticut is the state's second largest AFL-CIO union representing more than 27,000 professionals, including teachers, healthcare, higher education, and public employees.
I attended the MoveOn Virtual Town Hall Meeting on Iraq at the Bishops Corner Library Senior Center in West Hartford, hosted by Huguet Pameijer of the MoveOn Operation Democracy Greater Hartford Council, with Gregory Spears of Connecticut Opposes the War manning the laptop. It was a great venue, with good sound and a big projection screen, and my eyeball estimate of the crowd was ~30 people.
The format was that each candidate was asked three questions from the MoveOn membership. The first question for each candidate was "what is the best and fastest way out of Iraq?", submitted by a Florida woman; the other two questions varied. After the questions, each candidate had a 1-minute closing statement, for a total of roughly 10 minutes each.
My notes and my take on the candidates (in order of appearance) &mdash a sort of delayed liveblog based on my notes &mdash is below the fold...
Hattoy was the first openly gay person (and the first with HIV) to address a political convention when Bill Clinton asked him to speak at the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York. His speech was broadcast nationally in prime time.
and below brings back very bad memories and is a Hattoy quote:
AIDS is a disease of the Reagan-Bush years. The first case was detected in 1981, but it took 40,000 deaths and seven years for Ronald Reagan to say the word "AIDS." It's five years later, 70,000 more dead and George Bush doesn't talk about AIDS, much less do anything about it.
John Wirzbicki over at CT Blue chronicles Joe Lieberman's visit to Waterford to speak behind closed doors to DTCers and delegates. (Hat tip to ctkeith.)
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