I personally can't wait to see George in action. As someone who will seek to challenge the Defense of Marriage Act, he will follow Massachusetts' example in challenging that law in federal court. Connecticut faces a somewhat similar set of legal standards for challenging the law when compared to Massachusetts (just a wee bit of background info). Anyway, you've all heard the pitch before, but he will be an amazing advocate for women's rights and gun control as well. I am very excited to see my new Attorney General at work, and I hope you are too.
update (ctb): George Jepsen released the following statement:
"As Attorney General, my door will always be open to Martha and her supporters as we all work together to get Connecticut moving again," Jepsen said. "Even while disagreeing on most issues, I always respected Martha Dean's sincerity, her intelligence, or her commitment to the people of Connecticut. Our contest showed that candidates can disagree without being disagreeable, let alone getting personal, something all too rare in today's politics."
Dean said the passage of time and the legislature would likely resolve any questions remaining on the eligibility criteria for Attorney General. "At this juncture, I believe the best path forward is allow the AG-elect to focus on trying to run the AG's Office in a way that helps pull Connecticut out of its severe crisis," Dean said.
The American Association of Retired Persons (a radical organization, clearly, since they endorsed the health care reform law) sent out a questionnaire to all candidates for federal and state offices. They put together a voter guide based on the replies. There are specific issues and initiatives at both the state and federal level which the AARP supports, and this is an effort to represent candidates' levels of support on those issues, and to present the candidates' own statements about Medicare, Social Security and a wide variety of other topics.
Republicans apparently don't want to put anything in writing. Compare some of Dan Malloy's responses to Tom Foley's:
Hmmm. Peculiar. Tom Foley doesn't want to tell AARP voters his positions on any of these? I doubt it slipped his campaign's collective mind. I doubt you forget to respond to a request from the AARP. Plus, it seems to be some sort of epidemic among GOP candidates. Have a look at the Attorney General race questions. Democrat George Jepsen is pretty clear. Martha Dean, the Republican, has apparently invoked her fifth amendment rights.
The Federal Defense of Marriage Act was passed as a reaction to growing debate about equal marriage. It is a statute that was adopted by congress which gives the federal government the right to not recognize same-sex marriages from states which have equal marriage. If you have a same-sex husband or wife who works for the federal government, you cannot collect benefits as his or her spouse. If you want to move from, say, Connecticut to Utah, and are in a same-sex marriage, Utah may reserve the right to ignore that status and treat you as two individuals.
Attorney General Martha Coakley of Massachusetts last summer filed a suit against the federal government. The suit targeted DOMA, claiming that it enforced inequality, and stepped on a state's right to define what marriage is.
The three Connecticut candidates for Attorney General seem to support Coakley's suit.
Not surprisingly, the GOP candidates for Attorney General are not wild about supporting a DOMA repeal or challenge.
A link to an article in Bay Windows, a New England -based GLBT publication has the run down on Jepsen's, Bysiewicz's, and Staples' support of Coakley's suit, is below.
Before you get to the link, I apologize for the above run-on sentence.
George Jepsen, former CT state Democratic Party chair and the chairman of Ned Lamont's senate race, has published an op-ed in today's Hartford Courant that rightly credits Lamont with helping make the midterms elections about the war in Iraq and the need to start brining the troops home.
Lamont's message resonated broadly because he was the first national candidate to dare say what many people believed, that America was being driven over a cliff by an ideologue, a divorced-from-reality president, and a corrupt Congress. Those responsible for the mess should be held accountable. What made the campaign unique was that its target was a fellow Democrat, Lieberman.
Pundits initially dismissed Lamont's challenge. But, especially in the wake of Lamont's August primary upset, the national debate began to shift. Democrats increasingly framed their campaigns as a referendum on Bush and the war. Republicans, on the defensive, began to speak about the previously unspeakable - the need for an exit strategy. Even Joe Lieberman recast himself as a war critic. By mid-fall, Ned Lamont's once-lonely voice had become mainstream.
It's easy to miss the importance of the Lamont campaign if you look only at where we arrived on November 7th. Many Democrats around the country made withdrawal from Iraq a central piece in their campaigns. The leadership Lamont showed in speaking to this issue translated into national grassroots support for his campaign and a simultaneous demand from the American public to have Democratic candidates who would repudiate the Bush administration's failed policies in Iraq and work to bring the troops home. The Lamont campaign, particularly during the primary, but also during the general election, was a nationalized race that framed questions of accountability and responsible leadership.
Jepsen gets this and his op-ed is a concise enunciation of what the Lamont campaign achieved, even in defeat.
To make things work, Lamont activists can't sulk and walk away. Politics is a contact sport and losing, although painful, is part of it. They need to understand that with very tenuous majorities in Congress, Democrats are hardly in a position to call all the shots. Compromise will be necessary to govern responsibly and position the party for further growth. As long as Lieberman remains with the Democratic caucus, he should be given the opportunity to work for positive change.
Lieberman supporters, in turn, need to admit that Senate seats are not lifetime sinecures and there is nothing wrong with an issues-based challenge that spurs debate and re-energizes democracy. They also need to acknowledge that the energy that fueled the Lamont campaign was a positive expression of the need for a new direction in America - change supported by most Democrats and, indeed, most Americans.
Agreed -- I won't go anywhere and I'm pretty sure the Connecticut blogosphere isn't going anywhere either.
Lamont campaign chairman George Jepsen has sent a letter to Senator Joseph Lieberman.
Since the Senator regularly makes constituent mail public (in violation of Senate ethics rules and his own stated privacy policy), I figured, what the heck, I'll make it public, too.
George Jepsen, former state chairman of the Democratic Party, has been appointed "Chairperson" (whatever that means) of the Lamont campaign.
From the official announcement:
George Jepsen said, "I'm delighted to be on board and look forward to working with the Lamont team. 70% of Connecticut--not just Democrats, but unaffiliateds and moderate Republicans as well--agree with Ned Lamont on the issues. They want balanced budgets, good jobs with benefits, an end to pork barrel inside politics, and want to see investments in our future, especially education. They want to fight terror the right way by going after its root causes, not through a misguided, failed war in Iraq. Above all, they want a senator who will stand up to Bush/Cheney, not one who owes his seat to them. That senator will be Ned Lamont."
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