Jonathan Kantrowitz

As one of the first members of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party, and its founding Vice-Chairman, I am distressed to learn that the current chairman, John Mertens, who succeeded the much loved, and recently departed John Orman, and wrote new rules is seeking the Connecticut for Lieberman Party’s nomination to run for the Senate in 2010.

Why does this distress me, and I am certain, would distress John Orman if he were still among us? Because John’s mission with CFL was to expose the hypocrisy in Joe Lieberman’s running for the Senate on a prty line for a party that had no registered voters, no by-laws, and no officers. The whole thing was a sham, and John exposed it brilliantly.

Those of us most closely identified with CFL have hoped that CFL would be around long enough to endorse the Democrat running against Joe Lieberman in 2012, and in doing so, re-enforce the history of cynical manipulation of electoral rules that so typified Lieberman’s 2006 campaign.

In order to be on the 2012 ballot, the the Connecticut for Lieberman Party needs to garner at least 1% of the vote in the 2010 Senate race. The BEST way to accomplish that is for the CFL party to cross-endorse Chris Dodd.

The WORST way to accomplish that is to have an unknown 3rd party candidate split whatever votes he may attract on 4 different minor party lines. But that is exactly what Mertens is trying to do:

Press Conference/Campaign Kick-Off Event:
Scheduled for September 9, 2009, 6:30 PM, 2071 Park St., Hartford.

West Hartford Resident John Mertens will publicly announce his candidacy for the 2010 U.S. Senate Race during a campaign kick-off event & press conference scheduled for September 9, 2009, 6:30 PM, at 271 Park Road, Hartford (the outdoor stage at Lena’s Pizzeria). The event will be followed by music and food.

Dr. Mertens is seeking the nominations of four political parties: the Independent Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. Dr. Mertens was the Independent Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006. Dr. Mertens has been the chair of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party since March, 2008. (http://www.ctforlieberman.org/)

Accompanying Dr. Mertens at the event will be Mike Telesca, State Agent of the Independent Party, Stephen Fournier, State Co-Chair of the Green Party, and Richard Lion, State Chair of the Libertarian Party.

A tenured Professor of Engineering at Trinity College in Hartford, Dr. Mertens also teaches environmental science and public policy, and conducts research in combustion and air pollution. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from California State University, Chico, graduating summa cum laude, and earned a Masters and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He began teaching at Trinity College in 1990. He has done volunteer work with Hartford public schools for over eighteen years, and is well informed about public school and urban issues. He has lived in West Hartford since 1996, where he has raised four children. They will join him on the stage on September 9th.

Dr. Mertens’ campaign will focus on solutions to long-term problems, using non-partisan, analysis-based public policies. According to Dr. Mertens, “The country is facing huge long-term problems: an $11 trillion national debt, a giant budget deficit, a $12 trillion social security shortfall this century, prisons that are bursting at the seams, urban schools that are struggling, a wounded economy with rising unemployment, a health care system that needs major reform, the lack of a coherent national energy policy that will protect our economy and the environment, and a government that has been encroaching on our civil liberties. The solutions exist. But we need to elect non-partisan problem-solvers who will fight for them. For decades we have lived with irresponsible public policies from career politicians in Congress who care more about increasing their party’s power and getting re-elected than they care about solving long-term problems. They haven’t been honest with us, and they have been lousy public servants.”

The Sept. 9th Press Conference/Campaign Kick-Off event at Lena’s Outdoor Stage in Hartford is free and open to the public. Dr. Mertens is holding the event in Connecticut’s capital city and New England’s ‘Rising Star’ to emphasize the need for coordination of federal and state policies to address issues such as education, health care, urban revitalization, and economic recovery.

This is against everything we who originally joined the CFL stood for. Even Stuart Korchin, who has also laid claim to the CFL chairmanship, is offended by this approach. It’s hard to see what the point of this exercise is, other than as a massive ego trip by Dr. Mertens.