A view from my front yard (11.07.12 @ 1:00 PM).
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
(VIDEO) One on one with David Arconti and Andrew Wetmore
Cross post from HatCityBLOG
One of the more interesting State Rep races in the state is in Danbury with two young politicians vying for the 109th seat vacated by Joe Taborsak.
Here’s my interview with Democratic David Arconti and Republican Andrew Wetmore.
Arconti:
Wetmore:
(VIDEO) Elizabeth Esty explains 2005 “move” comment
Elizabeth Esty’s campaign took a hit when a 2005 video surfaced that showed the Democratic Congressional candidate telling individuals in her hometown who did not like the recent town revaluation that they “are always welcome to move to one of our neighboring towns.”
During one of her last campaign stops on Sunday, speaking to a congregation at Mount Pleasant A.M.E. Zion Church, Esty explained the rationale behind her comment and how her statement led her to run for office.
You can view Esty’s entire remarks in Danbury below…
View former Danbury city councilman Robert Arconti’s racist anti-Obama sign
Following in the footsteps of Danbury City Clerk Jean Natale, Danbury city council majority leader Pauline Basso, and immigration hate-group leader Elise Marciano, another one of Mayor Mark Boughton’s close political confidants exposes his racist undertones.
If you know former “>city councilman (and immigration hate-group sympathizer) Robert Arconti, you’re not surprised…although I’m sure some people at the Danbury News-Times would be shocked to see their former Human Resource manager, Carol Arconti’s, name proudly displayed on this offensive piece of garbage.
I wonder how former Mayor Gino Arconti would feel about his family’s name being associated with such blatant racism?
…developing.
McLachlan runs away from defending his record AGAIN
Although I’m taking a break from political blogging, I couldn’t resist posting on State “Birther” Senator Mike McLachlan’s latest attempt to avoid defending his horrible record with challenger Jason Bartlett
PRESS RELEASE:
For the second time in as many weeks Senator Michael McLachlan has decided not to attend a debate against opposing candidate Jason Bartlett. Former State Representative and State Senate candidate Jason Bartlett had accepted an invitation to debate Senator Michael McLachlan in an event to be hosted by Naugatuck Community College. The debate was slated to take place at the Palace Theatre in Danbury, on October 25th at 8 pm.
Bartlett has accused Senator McLachlan of failing to advocate for local and state issues, instead attempting to legislate extreme policies that appeal to the far right wing of his national party.
“During the January 2011 session,” Bartlett said, “Connecticut’s unemployment was 9.3%. Instead of working on jobs, McLachlan was introducing his ‘birther bill’ questioning President Obama’s citizenship as well as a bill requiring invasive ultrasounds for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies. He is hiding his record of radicalism from the people of the district and needs to be held accountable”
In light of Senator McLachlan’s absence from a previous debate held by the Danbury chapter of the, Bartlett has expressed deep dissatisfaction that the senator has chosen to avoid another debate.
“An honest, public debate is essential for voters to be informed on where their candidates stand on issues they care about. I’m appalled Senator McLachlan thinks that he has a better chance of winning by hiding his record.” Bartlett said when the news of McLachlan’s refusal came.
The Naugatuck Community College event was the second planned debate for the 24th District State Senate seat this election season. It would have been the first public debate that Senator McLachlan ever participated in as a candidate for public office.
Below is a transcript of the email exchange between the parties.
From: michael@mclachlan2012. com [mailto:michael@ mclachlan2012.com ]
Sent: Monday, October 15
To: Longcore, Matthew J
Subject: RE: McLachlan vs. Bartlett debate at The Palace DanburyDear Matt,
Thank you for your kind invitation but I regret I am unavailable. We have less than three weeks remaining in this campaign and my schedule is completely full through Election Day.
Perhaps in the future you can provide the candidates more lead time for planning purposes to assure we can properly schedule your event. As an example, the Realtor’s candidate forum scheduled for 10/18 has been on my calendar for two months. I encourage you to host debates in the future as I would enjoy meeting the NVCC students at such an event.
Regards,
Mike McLachlan
(UPDATE) Bartlett, McLachlan set to debate TOMORROW
UPDATE With less than eight hours to go until the start of the debate, McLachlan chickens out…I guess he thought he would have a hard time explaining his birther nonsense to the crowd.
Tomorrow, Jason Bartlett and Mike McLachlan will participate in a State Senate debate.
The debate is sponsored by the Greater Danbury NAACP will take place tomorrow at 12:30 at the Danbury Public Library and is open to the public.
Shays and Simmons love McMahon? Yeah right!
CT Mirror breaks down the staged fest that happened in Danbury yesterday.
But neither of the former congressmen was exactly on message. Simmons said nothing about McMahon from the podium, and he and Shays offered her the thinnest of praise, calling her the obvious choice of GOP voters.
[...]
Shays dodged the question of whether he now believes McMahon is qualified.
“I think that she’s the candidate, and I think that Chris Murphy is incredibly vulnerable,” said Shays, who lost an Aug. 14 primary to McMahon by a ratio of nearly 3-1. “I think she can win this race.”
Simmons offered a similar assessment.
Asked if McMahon had improved as a candidate since their 2010 contest, Simmons said, “She spoke without notes, which I think is a positive development.”
Dishonest comment of the week
Cross post from My Left Nutmeg
I know it’s Thursday but I’m certain nothing can beat this laughable comment.
The only person in this campaign who has been ducking the press is Chris Murphy.
-Linda McSham campaign spokesman Todd Abrajano
Linda McMahon campaigned with Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska over the weekend, holding up the two moderate Republican senators as her role models for their willingness to defy a conservative GOP leadership.
Does that mean McMahon would have joined them supporting the Lilly Ledbetter pay-equity law? Or stood with them in opposing a bill to define a fetus as an unborn child? Would she have confirmed Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court?
McMahon wouldn’t say in an interview, and her campaign declined a request by The Mirror to say how she would have voted on a key issues index published in the 2012 and 2010 editions of “The Almanac of American Politics.”
[...]
Abrajano called an effort to compare McMahon’s positions with Murphy’s record on votes going back six years “a senseless exercise that will not move this country forward and does nothing to solve the economic mess we’re in today.”
Well, we tried. Throughout this entire campaign season, dogged producer Tucker Ives has been trying to schedule Republican senate candidate Linda McMahon for our series on Where We Live called “Where We Vote.” We ask for one hour of the candidate’s time, in our studio, to answer questions from me and our listeners. We’d wanted to have her on during the primary against Chris Shays. Shays came on the show, she didn’t.
For weeks since then, we’ve tried again and again, and had our phone calls unreturned, and requests for dates unanswered. It’s a bit ironic, given the press release I got on September 19 with the heading “Will Murphy continue to stonewall and duck media questions for another 48 days?”
We have to wonder if Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon is being well-advised. In a statement issued earlier this week, her campaign manager said Ms. McMahon will not meet with newspaper editorial boards before the August GOP primary.
[...]
Ms. McMahon, the former chief executive officer of WWE, is certainly not obligated to appear before editorial boards. She attends public events that are open to the media. But in refusing to do so, she risks giving the impression that she can’t handle questions that probe her positions and must be kept on a scripted message, or that she feels she has the primary in the bag and doesn’t want to risk a gaffe or misstatement. Neither option is particularly inspiring.
Trust me, I could go on and on but I think you get the point.
