7 September 2008

Fired Up and Ready To Go:

NEW BRITAIN HEADQUARTERS TO OPEN MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH
A 7 P.M. KICK OFF TO FALL CAMPAIGN; TURNOUT GOAL SET AT 80%

The New Britain Democratic Party headquarters will officially open on Monday, September 15th, at 7 p.m. for voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities leading up to the Nov. 4th Presidential Election.

The headquarters is located at 385 West Main Street and will be used to support the Democratic slate including Obama/Biden, Cong Chris Murphy, State Senator Don DeFronzo and state Representatives Betty Boukus (22), Tim O'Brien (24), John Geragosian (25) and Peter Tercyak (26).

The New Britain Committee is striving to increase Democratic Party enrollment and achieve an 80 percent turnout of registered voters, said Town Chair John McNamara. Recent turnouts in Presidential elections have been approximately 70 percent, said McNamara.

GOP Town Chair Loses At FOI Commission: Complaint By Carver Had Been Deemed "Frivolous" and "Partisan" by Democrats

Republican Town Chair Paul Carver's complaint regarding the appointment of Carmen Aloisi to the Mattabassett District board earlier this year was dismissed at a state Freedom of Information Commission meeting in Hartford August 27th. The Republicans had wanted former Ald. Peter Gostin for the post but the Council chose Aloisi to the regional authority

According to the New Britain Herald, the Commission ruled unanimously "in favor of Michael Trueworthy, Democratic majority leader of New Britain's Common Council, whom Republican Town Chairman Paul Carver had accused of violating a law regarding a meeting agenda."

Carver had alleged that Trueworthy did not give 24 hours’ notice of a resolution at the City Council’s January 23rd meeting. Carver contended that inadequate notice was given despite the posting of the Mattabassett District vacancy on the regular agenda.

“Mr. Carver knows as well as anyone that other names can be proposed from the floor at a regular council meeting when a vacancy is posted,” said Democratic Town Chair John McNamara immediately after the complaint was filed. “His complaint subverts parliamentary procedure and the right of the Council to be the appointing authority. As a former Council member and current Board of Education member, Mr. Carver knows better and should withdraw the complaint immediately.” McNamara also contended that Carver may be subject to a penalty by the Freedom of Information Commission if his complaint is deemed to be frivolous. He cited a section of the law that states in part: “If the commission finds that a person has taken an appeal under this subsection frivolously, without reasonable grounds and solely for the purpose of harassing the agency from which the appeal has been taken, after such person has been given an opportunity to be heard at a hearing conducted in accordance with sections 4-176e to 4-184, inclusive, the commission may, in its discretion, impose against that person a civil penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.”. McNamara said Democrats are not interested in filing a counter complaint and further wasting the public's time and resources.

Council Democrats believed Carter’s FOI complaint stemmed from GOP unhappiness with a new ordinance giving the Council and public the right to access public information at City Hall in a timely manner. City Councillors and other public officials have faced difficulties in recent months in obtaining information from city departments because of a policy by Mayor Stewart that release of information be cleared with his office first.

Carver's FOI complaint has been part of a pattern by New Britain Republicans to use official complaints and public money for partisan purposes. The tactic dates back to the early months of the Stewart Administration when the GOP turned the city ethics commission into a partisan vehicle to punish Democratic city council members who were city employees and members of municipal unions. The same mayoral appointed ethics commission ruled in favor of Stewart despite his failure to report his status as a firefighter on leave from the city department -- a requirement of the city ethics code. In the process the local ethics commission has compromised itself should legitimate conflicts of interest arise in the Stewart administration or the Common Council.

Catholic Dems Denounce Palin Remarks On Community Organizing

Catholic Democrats, a national association of state-based groups "advancing Catholic social teaching", has strongly denounced Sarah Palin for attacking Democratic Nominee Barack Obama's work as a community organizer.

According to a story in the National Catholic Reporter (Sept. 4) the statement by Catholic Democrats asserted:

“Her (Palin's) divisive rhetoric, repeatedly pitting small towns against urban communities, demonstrates not only a lack of charity toward the needs of some of the least among us but a fundamental disrespect for those who dedicate their lives to overcoming poverty across our country.”

The statement referred to Palin's acceptance remarks: “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.” Palin is the former mayor of Wasilla Alaska a town north of Anchorage with a population 8,000.

“It is shocking that a vice presidential candidate would disparage an essential component of the Catholic social tradition with her condescending attack on urban community organizing,” said Dr. Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats .Referring to Palin’s speech, the statement said: “Her divisive rhetoric, repeatedly pitting small towns against urban communities, demonstrates not only a lack of charity toward the needs of some of the least among us but a fundamental disrespect for those who dedicate their lives to overcoming poverty across our country.”

In the 1980s following his graduation from Harvard Law School Obama worked among parishes in the The group criticized Palin for mocking Obama’s work “in the 1980s for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.” The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and it partially funded Obama’s activities in Catholic parishes on the South Side of Chicago. At the time it was known simply as the Campaign for Human Development.

Community organizing was work Obama undertook “instead of pursuing a lucrative career on Wall Street,” according to a statement from Catholic Democrats.