February Meeting: Thursday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m. City Hall
State Candidates To Speak
The Democratic Town Committee (DTC) will meet Thursday, Feb. 25th, at 7 p.m. at New Britain City Hall, 27 West Main St. in Room 504, with candidates for state office and plans for 2010 on the agenda.

Invited to be guest speakers are Secretary of the State hopefuls, including New Haven Alderman Gerald Garcia, House Majority Leader Denise Merrill (D-Mansfield) and State Senator Jonathan Harris (D-West Hartford). Former State Party Chair and state senator George Jepsen, who is vying for the Attorney General nomination, is also expected to attend the meeting.

Committee members will discuss a 2010 Campaign Karaoke Kick-Off in March. The public is invited to this and all meetings of the Democratic Town Committee.

DTC Organizational Meeting, Thursday, March 4, 7 p.m. City Hall
The Democratic Town Committee (DTC) will hold its organizational meeting to start a new, two-year term on Thursday, March 4th, at 7 p.m. at New Britain City Hall, 27 West Main Street in Room 504. The agenda includes the election of officers, district leaders and the formation of sub-committees. Statewide candidates will also be invited as guest speakers at the March 4th meeting.

From The Chair:
Remembering Bill Kerr, CCSU Politics Prof: Service Saturday,Feb. 27

A celebration of the life of Charles W. (Bill) Kerr will be held at the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, CT, on Saturday February 27, 2010, at 1 p.m. Kerr, 78, died on February 2, 2010 in his home at Sun City, Hilton Head, SC. A Missouri native, Kerr was a professor emeritus of Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) and served as Chair of the Political Science Department.

In the early ‘80s I first met Bill Kerr and his wife Marietta at a meeting of the Caucus of Connecticut Democrats (CCD) a few years before moving to New Britain. Thanks to connecting with Kerr outside of the city, I got a quick introduction to the New Britain Democratic establishment when I moved here and was fast-tracked into local politics – winning a seat on the Democratic Town Committee in ’86, and beginning what’s turned into 24 years of being involved in campaigns and elections.

Meeting Kerr at the CCD – the liberal group that in its heyday mobilized Dems for direct primaries, civil rights and an end to the war in Vietnam – was no accident. Bill Kerr, the partisan, was an unabashed progressive – supporting liberal candidates and favoring groups such as the Legislative Electoral Action Program (LEAP) and the Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG).

Though I was never in one of his classes, Kerr, the teacher, had keen insights and possessed a wry and dry sense of humor about politics that you would have had to be around to appreciate. Those attributes, not to mention a Ph.D in political science, commanded respect from the left and right, and from Rs and Ds in Connecticut.

At CCSU, Kerr had a good run of organizing conferences and workshops, bringing experts and pols of all stripes together. One year it would Cong. Nancy Johnson. The next it would be Barney Frank. He organized these forums under his Institute for Practical Politics (IPP), a fitting name at an institution drawing many sons and daughters of the working class to become teachers and professionals or, in some cases, local and state elected officials.

Kerr’s Institute was no high falutin’ think tank, but a series of “practical” sessions among academics and citizens on policy and political strategy. Kerr’s knowledge of CT politics and players always made IPP conferences informative and helped extend his teaching of politics and government well beyond the classroom.

When someone we know and respect dies it can be a comfort to say we are better persons for having known that person. In Bill Kerr’s case, I and I’d guess many of his students would say we are better citizens for having known him as fellow activists or students.

New Britain Democrats extend condolences to Marietta, Melanie and all the members of the Kerr family.

End Quote

“The state’s economy has undergone a critical structural change as the degree of outsourcing—whether to other states or abroad—has grown quickly for more than a decade. The result is that even strong growth in total output may not translate into rapid improvement in employment. The effect shows in a pattern of progressively slowed jobs recovery. Before 1990, Connecticut’s economy recovered jobs lost in recessions in ten months or less; recovery took 23 months and then 39 months in the last two recessions.”

From “No Jobs Recovery! When will Connecticut’s Misery End? February 2010 Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, University of Connecticut. http://ccea.uconn.edu/