13 September 2009

Town and City Clerk Primary Is Tuesday, September 15

The Democratic Primary for Town and City Clerk will be held Tuesday with all city polling places open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Clerk’s post is the only municipal office being contested in the Primary.

Endorsed Democrat Suzanne Bielinski, the President pro tem of the Common Council, is seeking the nomination after serving six terms on the council. Ms. Bielinski, an insurance company analyst who attended Michigan State University and CCSU, is seeking to become the first woman Town and City Clerk in the city’s history. She has campaigned on a platform of bringing “process improvements in the Town Clerk’s Office to deliver exceptional service” and increased access to online information and forms.

Incumbent Peter DeNuzze is the challenger.

For polling place or other information e-mail newbritaindemocrat@gmail.com


From the Chair: On The Politics of Cheap Shots and Animus

Callous and mean-spirited chatter appearing in the Herald reader comments about Mayor Timothy Stewart and traced to a misused state Capitol computer last week are part of an escalating use of the internet for political cheap shots.

In a September 12th editorial The Herald has it exactly right in saying it’s time to “raise the level of political discourse, focusing on ideas, rather than personalities; discussing issues rather than making personal smears.”


Unfortunately this latest political smear fits a pattern of negative, personal attacks that has been occurring with regularity here in New Britain for several years.

Hardball politics has always had its share of name calling and derisive back and forth here. Didn’t Sen. Joe Lieberman used to joke in his Democratic days that “New Britain is the Beirut of Connecticut politics?”

Anonymous forms of political sniping, however, are showing up in the unfiltered threads of the Herald in a way that shows the newspaper is having a hard time managing it. They are routine in a blogosphere where only the cost of a modem is needed to spread derogatory remarks, innuendos, family and ethnic slurs. In one recent instance, a threat of violence against City Alderman Phil Sherwood was made on the “franksmithsaysnb” blog. A police investigation ensued and confirmed the identify of the person making the threat (the spouse of an officer on the Republican Town Committee). The New Britain Herald, with a newsroom then in transition and under a new publisher, chose not to publish a story on the internet threat to a Democratic elected official.

For campaign 2009, a Republican-leaning blog such as the “bizy bee” is now the source of frequent, anonymous posts with a heavy sprinkling of lies and character assassination, including this excerpt:

“Lets take alderman at-large candidate Ryan Hurlburt for example; the kid was born and raised in Cornwall. He didn't move to New Britain until last year when he decided to expand his slumlord business to central conncticut. he's running for council becasue he was forced to by McNamara, after expressing that he wanted to be a part of the Board of Assessment Appeals (where hes looking for a tax credit on his three family on Ellis Street). The poor kid has no idea what he's getting himself into. Why should this carpetbagger, recruited by John McNamara, deserve to represent us New Britainites who have lived here our entire lives when we know that WE are more qualified to run for council than he is?

This is not the only example of carpetbaggers on the Democratic slate; their candidate for Mayor, Tim O'Brien, has only lived here for less than 15 years, and some question if he even does reside here. He doesn't even pay real estate taxes in the city but yet he wants to be mayor? He doesn't even own any property, and some have said he even lives out of Manchester, but rents a crappy apartment to make it seem that he lives in his district.

Phil Sherwood, NOT from New Britain, BOTH candidates in Ward one-NOT from New Britain , two At-Large candidates-NOT from New Britain, SEVEN ward candidates -NOT from New Britain. The Democratic ticket is made of carpetbaggers because they simply couldn't find anyone else who wants to be part of the Democrats embarrassing behavior.

Is this the kind of political discourse the Herald has in mind in calling for a more civil conversation on city issues? Is calling a new candidate a “slumlord” without evidence or deliberate lies about the residency of Democratic candidates “sticking to the issues?”

The “Bizy Bee” has the fingerprints of Mayor Stewart’s inner circle and the Republican Town Committee all over it. The blog links to Stewart’s campaign Facebook page and the Republican Town Committee web site extols its virtues as a conduit for its own lies and cheap shots. “You may have noticed that The Bizy Bee is in our blog roll now. Please check it out for another great look at what goes on in New Britain. It is a great read and well written,” says the official organ of New Britain Republicans.

As Republicans charge Democrats with mudslinging and claim they are as pure as the driven snow, they officially promote and sanction a deliberately false campaign of animus and character attack. Theirs is a race to the bottom when it comes to having a campaign based on issues.

Isn’t it time for everyone on all sides engaged in local politics to own up to their own words? And it is past the time for a dialogue on where the city is headed on key issues -- a burgeoning municipal deficit, downtown revitalization, property tax relief, the future of Pinnacle Heights and improving the quality of schools.


On the Calendar (Send your announcements)

Saturday, September 19: The New Britain Irish Social Club (AOH) holds its annual picnic from noon to 5 pm. Tickets $20 for families; $12 for individuals 12 and over. Telephone 832-8023. The event will be held at New Britain VFW Pavillion, Veterans Drive.

Monday, September 21: Democratic Town Committee will meet at the Headquarters, 46 Broad Street at 7 p.m.

Thursday, September 24: Fund-raising campaign event for Ward 4 Ald. Phil Sherwood, 6:30 p.m., Italian Fraternal Society, Monroe Street.

Friday, September 25: The New Britain Irish Social Club (AOH) music from 8 to 11:30 p.m. featuring The Boomers (Jimmy Buffet style) at the club, 39 South Street.

Saturday, September 26: New Britain Branch NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner will be held at CCSU Student Center ballroom from 7 to 11 pm. Honorees this year include one of us – Ward 3 Ald. Shirley Black. A New Britain Branch NAACP event, P.O. Box 323, New Britain, CT 06050. More information e-mail newbritaindemocrat@gmail.com

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But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, September 12, 2009 at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13dowd.html

7 September 2009: Labor Day

At The Common Council: Anti-Blight, Hospital Garage Lease On Committee Agenda Tuesday, Sept. 8th

The Common Council’s Committee on Planning, Zoning and Housing will take up the Stewart administration’s proposal to weaken the city’s anti-blight ordinance at a public hearing and meeting slated for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. At issue is whether to maintain the local ordinance that exceeds the standards of a more general state statute. Other aspects of the proposal -- a provision on homesteading and creating a blight committee -- appear to have gained bipartisan support.

Also on the agenda is a proposal to terminate the lease the city has with the Hospital for Central Connecticut for the Quigley Garage located next to the hospital that was due to end in 2013. While parking receipts from the garage now boost city revenues by more than $600,000 annually, the Stewart administration favors ending the lease to gain a one-time income boost this year of an estimated $2 million. The one-shot revenue is needed to close a growing shortfall from the administration’s estimates sales of property for development recorded in prior years that have not materialized.

The full Common Council may take up the same issues at its regular meeting scheduled for Wednesday, August 9, at the Council Chambers.

State Budget: O’Brien, NB Delegation Instrumental In Preserving State Aid, Services To City

A $37.6 billion state budget, which took effect last week for the biennium ending in 2011, spared New Britain the loss of key resources and services—cuts that had been sought by Gov. Rell and Republicans. The Governor, critical of the two-year package, allowed the “compromise” plan to stand without signing it to end a two-month impasse over state revenue and expenditures.

“This budget cuts spending and lowers taxes for middle class and poor families while preserving important public services,” said Representative Tim O’Brien (D-24), the Democratic nominee for Mayor. “While I do not agree with everything this budget does, it is a reasonable compromise.”

According to legislators, the budget bill cuts approximately $3 billion in state spending over the biennium and raises $1.25 billion in new revenue to help balance an $8.56 billion deficit over the next two years. Focusing on New Britain the budget also:

• Preserves the state matching grant program for Dial-a-Ride services that benefit seniors and the disabled;
• Increases operating grants for area magnet schools to encourage increased enrollment;
• Restores cuts to the state’s Family Resource Centers and Head Start programs;
• Increases funding for adult daycare services;
• Rejects the governor’s proposed cuts to nursing homes;
• Rejects a proposed increase in bus fares;
• Makes no changes to the ConnPACE prescription drug program for seniors and the disabled;
• Preserves the state’s $500 property tax credit;
• Provides full funding for the Care4Kids program;
• Saves the New Britain Department of Motor Vehicles branch office;
• Protects municipal aid, including Town Aid Road and the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant.

“This budget represents a balance of cuts and revenues and it represents a shared sacrifice of everyone across the state of Connecticut while preserving vital service,” Representative John Geragosian (D-25), co-chair of the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee. “This budget represents the values of our state and protects our most vulnerable.”

“These are very difficult times,” said Senator Donald J. DeFronzo (D-6), “but these are the times when people need the services and programs that their government provides more than ever. This budget contains heavy cuts, but it saves those things that seniors, working parents, children, low-income families and the disabled need to survive, and it’s this support that will help to bring us out of this recession. This is a balanced approach, a compromise approach.”

A detailed analysis of the bill may be found at http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/BA/2009HB-06802-R01SS1-BA.htm

The Democratic Slate (One of A Series): Alderwoman Black Seeks New Term in Ward Three


City Alderwoman Shirley Black is seeking re-election to represent Ward 3 in 2009, citing her work on the Council’s planning, zoning and housing committee and efforts to improve neighborhoods in the center of the city over the last two years. The ward includes voting districts 5, 7 and 8.

Black says her priorities will be to continue to support the city’s anti-blight enforcement, a senior property tax relief program that the Stewart administration has failed to implement and effective public safety. A retired machinist long active in her union and its retiree group, Black is widowed and has three grown children, Charissa, Alfred, Jr. and Kevin. She serves on the Democratic Town Committee and is president of the Black Democratic Club. She was a 2004 Connecticut delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

“I am honored to represent the people of Ward 3 on the Common Council and strive to represent their best interests in the way I vote on the city budget and policies that come before the Council,” said Black. “I have worked to improve Ward 3 neighborhoods with support of the Willow Street park development; the re-establishment of a Building Commission and bringing sweat equity and home ownership to the area via Habitat for Humanity. I am accessible to constituents for any concerns they may have with City Hall and city services.”

Since charter change was adopted earlier in the decade this year marks the fourth city election in which 10 city councilors are elected from council districts or wards, two from each area. The other five aldermen are elected at large.

Photo Credit: The Hartford Courant, December 2008

Labor Pushing For Health Care Reform
Former DNC Chair Dean Counts Votes For Public Option In Senate

This Labor Day and on the eve of President Obama’s address to Congress, nothing is more critical to working families than seeing real progress on health care reform. According to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), every week that health insurance reform is delayed: 44,230 more people will lose their health insurance coverage; 16,653 more people will file for bankruptcy because they can't pay their medical bills and s many as 423 people will die because they lack health coverage. From: http://www.seiu.org/index.php

Here is a Democracy for America link on former DNC Chair Howard Dean’s Senate vote count for a public option http://standwithdrdean.com/whipcount-results

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In comparison with the casualties of industrial society in the past, unemployment today provokes new forms of economic marginalization, and the current crisis can only make this situation worse. Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering. I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity.

from the Pope’s ENCYCLICAL LETTERCARITAS IN VERITATE, June 29, 2009

1 September 2009

Congressional Health Care Forum On Tap For Murphy, Larson Wednesday, 9/2

Advocates of universal health care will participate in Congressional forums on health care legislation on Wednesday in the 1st and 5th Congressional Districts. The push for reform will include pre-forum rallies.

A Hartford rally and march previously scheduled at Cong Larson's and Senator Dodd's Hartford offices has been cancelled, according to organizers in a move to encourage participation at the forums.

1st District -- Cong. John Larson

4:30 PM West Hartford - Health Care Town Hall Forum with Congressman John Larson
There will be a 4:30 pm rally at West Hartford Town Hall, 50 South Main Street, West Hartford followed by the health care forum with Congressman Larson beginning at 5:30 PM.

5th District -- Cong Chris Murphy

5:30 PM Washington - Rally and Health Care Town Hall Forum with Congressman Chris Murphy. There will be a 5:30 pm rally at Shepaug Valley High School, 159 South Street, Washington, CT followed by the health care forum with Congressman Murphy beginning at 6:30 PM.

State Budget Will Stand After Parting Shots But No Veto From Governor

Governor Rell announced late Tuesday afternoon that she will allow a two-year state budget plan just approved by the House and Senate to stand without signing it. Her move to support a 1 percent increase on the state income tax for wealthy households paved the way for passage amid falling tax revenues and a multi-billion deficit. Rell said she agreed to the income tax hike on the highest income earners ($500,000 and up) because, she said, all the cuts that could be made have been made. In a contradictory statement Tuesday,however, Rell criticized Democratic legislative leaders for not cutting enough. Democrats say they have trimmed up to $3 billion from state spending without severe cuts to the social safety net and dismantling of key state services.

CT News Junkie's Christine Stuart covered the announcement and reactions.

31 August 2009

Statewide Push For Health Care Reform Is Underway:
Wednesday Rally In Hartford, Congressional Town Hall Forums On Tap

Proponents of Congressional action on health insurance reform that includes a public option are beginning a new push the first week of September in every Congressional district in Connecticut.

On Wednesday September 2nd a “Send Them Back To Work rally will be held at 4:30 p.m. at the offices of Congressman John Larson, 211 Main Street, Hartford that will include a march to Senator Chris Dodd's office on 14 Lewis Street. Both Congressman Larson and Senator Dodd have played key roles in moving a public insurance option forward in the House and Senate. Cong. Larson will host a Town Hall Health Care Forum in West Hartford at the town hall, 50 South Main Street.

In the 5th Congressional District, a 5:30 p.m. rally will be held at Shepaug Valley High School, 159 South Street followed by a health care forum with U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy at 6:30 p.m.

The New Britain Democratic Town Committee platform calls for “affordable, universal health care and insurance for children and families that provides easy and timely access to appropriate providers throughout the State and high quality care for all individuals.” Its resolutions have supports Connecticut's Sustinet plan, the Health Care Partnership initiative and federal legislation that provides affordable coverage for all citizens.

More information on all events and activities in the state at www.ccag.net

The Democratic Slate (part of a series)
Platosz Seeks New Term In Ward Two; Wants Energy, Insurance Rates Cuts

Veteran City Alderman Adam Platosz is seeking re-election to the Common Council to represent Ward Two. “I am an accessible member of the common council committed to improving neighborhoods and solving the serious financial problems the city faces,” said Platosz. “I am also a committed member of the Democratic Party and support its values and principles that benefit working people and retirees.”

Platosz, who served as an alderman at large during the administration of former Mayor Donald DeFronzo, has introduced and pushed for legislation that would reduce the high costs of energy and electricity for city government and residents over the last two years. “I intend to continue the effort to reduce these soaring costs of energy and insurance to lower property taxes,” he said.

Along with reducing those costs, Platosz says his priorities will be to further reduce blight in Ward 2 and to develop new strategies to develop jobs and job opportunities in the city.

A widower and father of two grown children, Platosz has more than 25 years experience in data processing and computer operations in banking and health care. A longtime member of the Democratic Town Committee, Platosz belongs to the the Elks Club, the 8th Ward Political Club and other civic and fraternal organizations.

Suzanne Bielinski Sets Pre-Primary Fundraiser September 10th

The Committee for Ald. Suzanne Bielinski, the endorsed Democrat for Town and City Clerk, will hold a happy hour on Thursday September 10th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the home of Carolyn Palmer-Camp, 7 Hickory Hill Road, New Britain. The suggested donation is $50 but any amount will be appreciated for this Bielinski for Clerk event. To RSVP and for information contact Carolyn at 223-8048 or Suzanne at Sooze544@msn.com (or call 225-5151)

Bielinski, a six-term member of the Common Council and its President Pro Tem, said she seeks the Clerk post “to deliver process improvements with a goal of exceptional service in the Clerk’s office, including reducing wait times and improving phone service and increased access to forms,licences and other information that can be made available to residents on the internet." Bielinski cites her 17-year career at CIGNA where she is a business analyst and has served as a contract specialist as “a good blend to provide the base from which I can achieve the goals I have to improve the office.”

A primary for Town and City Clerk will be held Tuesday, September 15th. All polls will be open from 6 am to 8 pm.

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Ted Kennedy’s life’s work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.

President Obama in his eulogy of the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), August 30th.

26 August 2009: Remembering Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy’s five-decade Senate career spanned 10 presidencies, starting with his brother’s 1,000 days in office through Barack Obama’s first year.

That longevity – which counts for a lot in the U.S. Senate –allowed Kennedy to leave a lasting mark on shaping landmark laws on civil rights, health and education, from the passage of voting rights in the mid 1960s to the current debate on health insurance being mandated as a right for all Americans.

The current bill coming out of Kennedy’s committee on insuring the uninsured – “the cause of his life” –will undoubtedly emerge in some compromised fashion with Ted Kennedy’s name on it.

The Kennedy Health Care Act (it’s not called that yet but will be), marked up by his friend, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, will be made law so long as the Democratic majority finds the will to do reconciliation and blows off the phony bipartisanship of the “gang of six” and the likes of Joe Lieberman.

Much of the commentary on the passing of the last of a generation of Kennedy brothers will focus on the “mystique” and the impression that Ted Kennedy was kind of royalty, not to be challenged at the ballot box. It’s true that Kennedy was never seriously challenged in the Democratic Party. There was the first run in 1962 when he was taken on by Edward McCormack, Jr. in an Irish brawl of a primary during the Kennedy presidency, but nothing ever since. Save for a well-financed run by former MA Governor Mitt Romney, the hapless Republicans have mostly served up a succession of patsies against Edward Kennedy for 46 years despite the Senator’s personal travails and unsuccessful run for the presidency.

While his name and money gave him a head start, Kennedy and his operatives rarely took the grassroots for granted. They always seemed to remember former Speaker Tip O’Neill’s advice that “all politics is local.” That entailed taking care of constituents' individual issues and old-fashioned politicking that has been the trademark of Kennedy’s well-honed home state operation for all these years.

My only encounters with Ted Kennedy nearly 40 years ago illustrated that Kennedy’s longevity came not just from his privileged life, but never forgetting the electoral base that would turn him into the “lion of the Senate.” They came as part of my job as a reporter for the Lynn Sunday Post between 1972 and 1974 when I was just out of college.

A regular part of the Kennedy itinerary would be to get around to cities and towns, to address high school assemblys and civic groups and visit the local press, including the tiny newsroom of a small weekly on the North Shore just outside of Boston. There, I simultaneously held the titles of city hall and state house reporter and was the paper’s national affairs correspondent when Kennedy came to town. These two or three annual newsroom interviews were 30-minute one on ones where I, next to a Royal manual typewriter, would ask the questions and Kennedy would give his well-rehearsed take on Nixon impoundments, Watergate and the tough fights for progressive legislation during a Republican administration.

We then would all pose for a picture with local politicians in tow before Kennedy moved on to the next town.

I think Kennedy knew when I met him briefly so long ago and to his last days that the local politicking he grew to enjoy and did every year counted for the very long run that he had in the U.S. Senate. It’s a politician’s chore that may be easy to forget after you’ve been in Congress for a few years with all the trappings of office. But Kennedy never forgot. [Photo from: Lynn Sunday Post 1972]

O'Brien for Mayor Committee Holds Volunteer Meeting Wednesday 8/26

Supporters of State Rep. Tim O’Brien’s campaign for Mayor will gather at the Pulaski Democratic Club Wednesday, August 26th at 6:30 p.m. to mobilize for the November 3rd municipal election. There are six ways To help Tim O'Brien and the Democratic slate.

1. Make calls to voters about November 3rd
2. Drop lit in the neighborhoods/sign up new voters
3. Send cards to family, friends and neighbors
4. Write letters to the editor
5. Sign up for a lawn sign
6. Make a financial contribution.

The Pulaski Democratic Club is located at 89 Grove Street.

25 August 2009

O’Brien For Mayor Volunteer Orientation Meeting
Wednesday, Aug. 26th, 6:30 p.m.

Supporters of State Rep. Tim O’Brien’s campaign for Mayor will gather at the Pulaski Democratic Club Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. to mobilize for the November 3rd municipal election.

Six Ways To Help Tim O'Brien and the Democratic slate. Vote Row B November 3rd.

Your time and support are needed now.

1. Make calls to voters about November 3rd
2. Drop lit in the neighborhoods/sign up new voters
3. Send cards to family, friends and neighbors
4. Write letters to the editor
5. Sign up for a lawn sign
6. Make a financial contribution.

The Pulaski Democratic Club is located at 89 Grove Street.

22 August 2009: Obama Refutes Republican Lies On Health Insurance Reform

Here is President Obama's weekly address that corrects the record on health insurance reform and the lies being spread by the GOP and industry lobbyists who are spending record amounts to sway the Congress' decision on the legislation up for debate and votes this fall.