Working Families Party: We’ll sort it out when Donovan’s back

Since Chris Donovan lost last Tuesday’s Democratic primary, there has been a lot of speculation about whether the retiring state House Speaker from Meriden will continue his run for Congress as the Working Families Party candidate.

Donovan received the party’s endorsement and it is up to him to tell the Secretary of the State to leave his name on the ballot for the 5th District seat or pull it off.

It’s hardly a scientific poll, but two Donovan backers I interviewed Wednesday said he should leave the race. One feared if Donovan runs as the Working Families candidate he will take votes away from the Democratic nominee – Elizabeth Esty – and hand the race to Republican Andrew Roraback.

The other said they did not see the point in Donovan continuing his bid because the campaign finance scandal that damaged the Speaker’s candidacy hasn’t gone away.

Like I said, hardly scientific, but valid points.

Anyway today leaders of the Working Families Party, likely tired of fielding questions about Donovan’s political future, released the following statement advising everyone to chill out for a few days/weeks.

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Julie Kushner, Kurt Westby, and Sal Luciano, the co-chairs of the Connecticut Working Families Party State Committee, have released the following statement:

When Chris Donovan returns from vacation, we’ll have a conversation with him about remaining on the Working Families ballot line. State law leaves the decision in Chris Donovan’s hands. If he chooses to give up the line, the Working Families Party will go through our regular, democratic process to determine how to fill the vacancy in the next few weeks.

The Working Families Party has a responsibility to voters and our supporters to ensure that our  nominations go to candidates who will stand up for the values that affect working and middle class families. The value of our endorsement comes, in part, from the integrity of this process.

The Working Families Party is an independent grassroots party that fights for the 99%. WFP evaluates the records of all the candidates and supports only those with a proven track record of standing up for working-class and middle-class families on issues like good jobs, affordable healthcare, fair taxes and quality schools.

Brian Lockhart