Ridgefield Press
CAMPAIGN TRAIL: What the candidates are saying
Sep 26, 2006

As the 2006 election draws near, the local political all-stars are out in full force, meeting with Connecticut residents and talking about their plans for the district, the state and the country should they be elected.
The following is a summary of campaign news received between Sept. 15 and Sept. 22:

4th District race
The race for the 4th Congressional District seat heated up this Monday when President George W. Bush showed up at a private event in Greenwich to stump for the Connecticut Republican Party — an event that Christopher Shays, the Republican incumbent, attended.

Campaign Trail will be a weekly feature until the Nov. 7 election.

Pre-empting the President’s visit, Diane Farrell, Mr. Shays’ Democratic challenger, issued a statement saying that Mr. Bush chose to hold the fund-raiser in the 4th District because of Mr. Shays’ enduring loyalty to the administration’s agenda in Iraq.
“President Bush is coming to Greenwich for two reasons: First, to thank Chris Shays for his unwavering support for the War in Iraq, and for a host of other Bush priorities; second, because President Bush knows Chris Shays is in serious trouble, he’s here to try and rescue him,” she said in a prepared release. “This visit is a reward and a down payment on Chris Shays’ continuing support for the War in Iraq.”
Mr. Shays issued a response saying “Whether a President is a Republican or a Democrat, popular or unpopular, as long as I am a member of congress they are always welcome in the Fourth Congressional District.”
Mr. Shays spent much of last week in Washington to cast votes in support of a number of legislative items including a bill that would strengthen the ethics process on Capitol Hill, and the Border Tunnel Act and the Community Protection Act, which both work to combat illegal immigration.
Recently the Lantos/Shays PETS Bill, a bill that protects pet owners and pets during emergency evacuations, which Mr. Shays co-authored with Tom Lantos (D-CA), unanimously passed in the House of Representatives.
“Two-thirds of American households own pets and, when Katrina hit, many pet owners had to choose between their own safety and the safety of their pets,” said Mr. Shays. “The PETS Act will help us ensure that during future emergencies we have plans to protect pet owners and their pets.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Farrell made stops around the district to talk about various campaign issues including Medicare, education, and the war in Iraq. Addressing an audience at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield last week, she talked about the need for a “political and diplomatic solution to the strife in Iraq,” according to a prepared release.
“Our own generals tell us we cannot fight our way out of this insurgency. We need a concerted diplomatic effort that will bring the warring parties to the table to negotiate a ceasefire,” Ms. Farrell said, adding that Mr. Shays had yet to call for a comprehensive strategy.
This Saturday, Sept. 30, Ms. Farrell will host a community forum from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Weston Town Hall.
In October, Phil Maymin, the Libertarian candidate, will join Mr. Shays and Ms. Farrell in at least seven of the 11 congressional debates. The first of these will take place on Sunday, Oct. 8, when the candidates will debate foreign policy at the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus. The debate will begin at 7 p.m.

Senate race
In the Senate race, incumbent Joseph Lieberman, the Democrat running as an independent, and Ned Lamont, the Democrat Party-endorsed candidate, continue to battle it out in their respective blogs.
Mr. Lamont’s camp recently attacked Mr. Lieberman’s record on health care.
“In the 2006 Senate primary debate, Lieberman said he has tried ‘to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance.’ But a look at his record shows the exact opposite,” it said on the Cup of Joe blog. “Lieberman has used Connecticut’s Senate seat to actually reach across the aisle to kill any efforts to reform the nation’s health care system. In the process ... he has become one of the health industry’s biggest recipients of campaign contributions, taking more than $1.8 million in the last six years alone.”
Mr. Lieberman responded with an attack on Mr. Lamont’s “negative-campaign” agenda.
“I guess Ned and his non-stop negative campaign are really running out of things to distort my record on,” said Mr. Lieberman in a prepared statement. “Last week he had to go back eight years to attack something I said that he previously praised me for. Now he is perverting comments I made 12 years ago to mislead voters into thinking I don’t support the goal of universal health care.
“The fact is, I have been strong and clear in my support for making health insurance accessible and affordable for all Americans. I supported the S-CHIP program, which has dramatically expanded coverage for low-income children in Connecticut and across the country. I am co-sponsoring a bill this session with 20 other Democrats that would do the same for small business employees.”
The Lieberman camp’s blog, the Full Lamonty, took a jab at Mr. Lamont by questioning the Greenwich businessman’s continual claims of being a volunteer school teacher in Bridgeport.
“Over the last few months, Ned Lamont has widely touted his work as a “teacher” in the Bridgeport public schools,” it said at the site. “We thought it was kind of curious that Ned was often leaving out the fact that he was a volunteer who assisted a teacher once a week. We also thought it was curious he was saying “I teach” and “I am a teacher,” as if he we were still currently teaching — we had heard from several sources that he had not shown up for class in some time.”
Beyond the blogs, Mr. Lieberman has spent much of his time lately working on transportation security issues. Two weeks ago, Mr. Lieberman praised the passage of the Port Security Improvement Act of 2006, which he co-sponsored. The legislation calls for almost $5 billion for rail and mass transit security.
“It takes a great stride toward securing one of the nation’s remaining homeland security vulnerabilities, an advantage for Connecticut’s several ports,” he said in a prepared release.
Mr. Lamont recently received an endorsement from Council 4 AFSCME, Connecticut’s largest AFL-CIO union. This endorsement represents the biggest union so far to switch its endorsement to Lamont after endorsing Lieberman in the primary, it said in a prepared release.  
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz released the order of the candidates on the Nov. 7 ballot ,which are as follows: Alan Schlesinger of the Republican Party, Ned Lamont, Democratic Party, Timothy Knibbs of the Concerned Citizens Party, Ralph Ferrucci of the Green Party, and Joseph Lieberman of the Connecticut For Lieberman Party.

Gubernatorial race
In the gubernatorial race, John DeStefano, the Democratic challenger, has mounted an attack on Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell for her support of President Bush’s energy plan.
Under Ms. Rell’s energy plan, rates around the state will go up 25% to 50% next year, according to a prepared release from the DeStefano camp.
“Connecticut has the highest electric rates in the continental U.S. and rates are about to rise again in a few months, just as winter arrives,” said Derek Slap, Mr. DeStefano’s communication director. “Incredibly, Gov. Rell offers no help. It’s another example that she just doesn’t understand the simple fact that you can’t afford to live in Connecticut any more.”
Mr. DeStefano recently picked up an endorsement from NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, a group that previously has endorsed Ms. Rell.
Carolyn Treiss, NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut executive director, cited Mr. DeStefano and his running mate, Mary Glassman’s position that emergency contraception should be available to rape victims at all Connecticut hospitals as one reason for the endorsement, according to a prepared release.
“One of the factors we take into account in all races is the candidate’s willingness to be a leader and make women’s reproductive health and freedom a priority,” said Ms. Treiss. “Mayor DeStefano and Ms. Glassman have both pledged their enthusiastic willingness to be leaders in this area...”
Ms. Triess said that NARAL abandoned its support of Ms. Rell because “…we were terribly disappointed in her choice of Michael Fedele as her running mate. Mr. Fedele does not have a 100% pro-choice voting record and did not return our questionnaire. It concerns us that Governor Rell did not take the issue of women’s reproductive freedom into account when selecting a running mate.”  
Ms. Rell has been focusing on cleaning up the trash-hauling corruption that has been plaguing the state. She recently unveiled a six-point plan to bring “new integrity to the state’s trash-hauling industry,” according to a prepared release.
An advisory group assigned by Ms. Rell has made a series of recommendations to restore integrity to the industry and foster a fair and competitive business climate, the release said.
“Following the indictments this summer of several solid waste haulers on racketeering and related charges in Connecticut, it was imperative that we stop the practice of allowing the garbage industry to self-police itself,” she said.
Ms. Rell also has been working to alleviate transportation problems around the state, recently focusing on Fairfield County.
She announced that $24.5 million in funding for upgrades to I-95 in Darien and Norwalk is expected to be approved at the Oct. 6 meeting of the State Bond Commission. The project aims to address some of the worst bottleneck areas along I-95 in Fairfield County, the release said.
“Congestion on Connecticut’s highways is a serious problem and I am working every day to address it,” said Ms. Rell.
Last week, Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate, announced Jean M. de Smet, of Windham, as his running mate. An electrician by trade, Ms. de Smet ran for first selectman of Windham experiencing some success in 2005, when she collected 28% of the vote, besting the Republican candidate, according to a prepared release.
Ms. de Smet, of the Connecticut Green Party, said her number one priority would be closing the gap between rich and poor.
“I am a construction worker from the most economically depressed area of the state,” she said. “I will work to bring economic equality to Connecticut by redirecting our priorities into job creation and revitalizing our cities. We can provide good jobs while simultaneously changing the direction of our state.”

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