New Britain Will Consider "No Confidence" Vote On Lieberman
The Democratic Town Committee will consider a "no confidence" vote against Senator Joe Lieberman when it meets on December 11th amid growing calls and resolutions by local and state party officials opposing Lieberman's role in the 2008 Presidential Election.
Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic nominee for Vice President and a 20-year incumbent elected to the Senate in 1988, endorsed Republican John McCain and spoke at the GOP national convention. He pointedly criticized President-elect Barack Obama during the campaign and defended the Bush Administration's Iraq policy. Connecticut's junior senator, however, remains a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus, which has voted to return Lieberman to the chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Throughout his Senate career Lieberman has steadily moved away from his progressive roots by embracing and chairing the Democratic Leadership Council, a corporate-lobbyist financed group founded in the 1980s to push a right of center viewpoint in the Democratic Party. An early indicator of his rightward drift occurred barely two years into his first term when he backed a pension for convicted Iran-Contra figure, Col. Oliver North. His unceasing support of militarism over diplomacy and affinity for President Bush were the catalysts to his defeat in the 2006 Democratic Primary
The decision by the Senate Caucus to return Lieberman to a Chairmanship is drawing heavy criticism in the state Democratic Party despite Senator Chris Dodd's support for his colleague. The news that Lieberman used his "Reuniting Our Country" PAC to support some GOP candidates in addition to Democrats (including $10,000 to the CT Democratic Party over the last year) may help to advance a censure resolution at the state central committee in December. It is clear that Lieberman was playing it both ways in contributions from his political action committee in this past election cycle -- $10,000 to Republican Susan Collins of ME, $5,000 to Republican Peter King of NY, $5,000 to Republican Gordon Smith of OR and $5,000 to McCain for President. (More information on PAC and candidate giving is accessible at www.opensecrets.org)
The counter argument to ousting Lieberman from his Chairmanship is that he will continue to caucus with Democrats, further weakening Republican influence in the upper Chamber. Some observers point to what Lyndon Johnson said of the late J. Edgar Hoover in keeping Lieberman happy: "It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in." And in his comments this week, Lieberman has also let it be known that he will be in lockstep with the Obama economic plan for job creation and economic stimuli that will be pushed in the first days of the new administration. He no longer says much of anything about the costly Iraq war.
That being said, however, Lieberman may face an insurmountable task to convince many Connecticut Democrats that he should be welcomed back by the rank and file Democrats after his transgressions against Obama and Democrats on the campaign trail. It won't be enough to buy off support using his past practice of giving thousands of dollars to the state party. Leading the charge for state party sanctions against Lieberman is State Central Committeewoman Audrey Blondin -- a backer of Lieberman's failed 2004 bid for the Presidential nomination.
Democratic Town Chair John McNamara, who supports a no-confidence vote from the New Britain committee, said Lieberman's expected pro-Democratic votes in the next Congress will be appreciated. "The point of these censures and no-confidence votes, however, should be to send a message to Joe that we are looking for a new senator in 2012. Going back on your commitments while hiding behind the cloak of 'bipartisanship' give politics and politicians a bad name. Senator Lieberman has repeatedly turned his back on Democrats who made it possible for him to serve in the U.S. Senate in the first place."
Democrats wishing to join a censure move against Lieberman may link to http://www.ipetitions.com/
House Speaker To Be Donovan Credits New Britain's Michalowski As His Mentor In Public Service
In a profile in the Nov. 16 Meriden Record Journal, House Majority Leader Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) cited his early work as a community organizer and crossing paths with the late Laddie Michalowski of New Britain in putting him on a path to politics and public service:
In the 1970s, a young Donovan was a graduate student of social work at the University of Connecticut, interning with the Connecticut Citizens Action Group. He found inspiration in a fellow community organizer, the late Ladislaus Michalowski.
Michalowski, who died in 2006, was a union guy from New Britain and the greatest influence in Donovan's life. His activism was not limited to Connecticut. He participated in the 1962 March on Washington and the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.Michalowski struck Donovan as someone who cared about people and treated individuals with respect. "He dedicated his life to helping people out," Donovan said.
Donovan was elected incoming Speaker by his Democratic Caucus this month. He will assume the gavel when the biennial session of the Legislature opens early next year.
Democratic Justice Nominees May Visit Clerk's Office for Swearing In
The Town Committee nominated all incumbent Justices of the Peace at its May endorsement meeting. All Democratic JPs are urged to visit the Town and City Clerk's office now to be sworn in for the new term that begins in January.
The Town Committee will resume filling vacancies for Justices of the Peace in January. Interested Democrats are asked to contact the Town Committee and to demonstrate they are volunteering a minimum of two hours per month in the community.
End Quote for Thanksgiving
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
President John F. Kennedy
