… for most responsive candidate.
After state Senate Democrats proposed a surcharge on million-dollar bonuses paid out to Connecticut residents working for federally-bailed-out financial institutions, I sent out e-mails to various candidates for Congress or incumbents to gauge their thoughts.
I contacted Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, who is retiring; Linda McMahon and Rob Simmons, two of the Republicans vying for the GOP nomination to run for Dodd’s seat; U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Greenwich Democrat and former Goldman Sachs executive; and state Sen. Dan Debicella, R-Shelton, considered a frontrunner among the handful of Republicans looking to take on Himes.
So far only Debicella responded with the following e-mail:
“First off, I am glad to see the Democrats have endorsed our proposal to eliminate the business entity tax. As you know, the legislative Republicans have been proposing it for years. I introduced it last year as SB 161 in the 2009 session.”
“The amazing thing is that the Democrats want to pay with this with another tax! Rather than getting serious about cutting out-of-control government spending, the Democrats are trying to be demagogues by attacking Fairfield County residents. Raising taxes on financial services professionals will just cause them to move out-of-state– hurting the middle class who will have to make up the lost taxes.”
“I believe we should eliminate the business entity tax and should pay for it with reduced government spending. We Republicans have proposed hundreds of millions of dollars of spending cuts, any one of which would make up for the $10-20 million revenue loss from the elimination of the business entity tax.”
Thanks for the reply, Dan. And the rest of you – Dodd, McMahon, Simmons and Himes – are on notice. I want you all on the record on this issue.
Debicella “has your vote”? You’ve gone on record in print as saying you will vote for Debicella over Jim Himes? But you will continue to cover the congressional race, one supposes, and pretend that you’re an umbiased, objective, professional journalist, right?
Do you have any idea how blatantly unprofessional it is for a journalist to declare his support for one candidate in a race he is covering? And please don’t tell me you were just kidding. A professional simply would never think of writing what you just did. Never.
Comment by Sean — February 9th, 2010 @ 10:19 am
I said he has my vote “for most responsive candidate.”
However I’d say it’s a tie between Debicella and Himes for my vote for “best hair in the 2010 U.S. Senate race.”
Linda McMahon has my vote “for making the 2010 U.S. Senate race a particularly crazy, fun-to-cover romp filled with controversies over wrestling storylines involving necrophilia and the mentally disabled.”
And you, Sean, have my vote for being the reader who most frequently questions my professionalism.
Comment by Brian Lockhart — February 9th, 2010 @ 11:11 am
That should have read that Himes and Debicella are tied for best hair in the race for U.S. Rep.
Blumenthal has my vote for best hair in the U.S. Senate race.
Comment by Brian Lockhart — February 9th, 2010 @ 11:14 am
Brian thanks for your lighthearted take on the candidates. It’s a pity that some might launch into an atack before actually taking the time to read the article.
Probably the same folks who support trillion dollar congressional bills without taking the time to understand what exactly they are commiting themselves to.
Comment by Armando — February 9th, 2010 @ 5:15 pm
Sean, throttle back on the caffeine
Comment by Paco — February 10th, 2010 @ 10:31 am
Mr. Lockhart, that was your headline: “Dan Debicella Has My Vote..”
Ask yourself whether a reporter for the New York Times would ever consider putting a headline like that one on an article he writes. Would any editor at the New York Times ever permit a headline like that, whether in the print edition or on a blog? Of course not. And neither should anyone at Hearst Newspapers.
It’s wrong, and it’s unprofessional. If you don’t like your professionalism being questioned, then don’t permit unprofessional headlines like that on your publications. It’s simple.
Comment by Sean — February 11th, 2010 @ 11:27 am
“…and state Sen. Dan Debicella, R-Shelton, considered a frontrunner among the handful of Republicans looking to take on Himes.”
Brian what makes you think that Debicella is considered the frontrunner?
You consider him the front runner and it’s obvious by the fact that out of all the candidates you sent the question to, you linked only
state Sen. Dan Debicella, R-Shelton, and didn’t even send Rob Russo the question. The only reason Dan has raised more money, is because he is an incumbent Senator. You shouldn’t take this as an indication that the voters see Dan as a “frontrunner”.
Comment by Joel Gonzalez — February 11th, 2010 @ 4:45 pm
Hi Joel.
1. I contacted Dan with the question because, of the five GOP contenders for Himes’ seat, he is the only one currently serving in the state legislature, where the proposal originated.
But you’re right – it would have been better had I also contacted Russo. I did ask him the same question today while we were on the phone.
2. If Dan and Russo enjoy greater name recognition and support from party leaders (state House Minority Leader Larry Cafero today endorsed Debicella) that translates into fund raising dollars and that gives them an advantage over other Republican candidates.
Debicella was recently given a shout out by the National Republican Congressional Committee at http://www.nrcc.org/news/read.aspx?id=1265.
I am comfortable labeling Debicella and Russo as the front runners at this time.
Comment by Brian Lockhart — February 11th, 2010 @ 5:20 pm