|
This website was established in
2007. It has two purposes: 1. To provide information to the
public about the Connecticut General
Assembly (the state legislature) including a rating of the voting record of each legislator on issues relevant to democracy and humanity; 2. To encourage people to volunteer in election campaigns for candidates who support democratic and humane policies. Last update - July 31, 2008 - 9:02 pm |
|
ELECTION
VOLUNTEERS
for
Democracy and Humanity
|
| ... Legislators are listed below. If their names are underlined, you can click to see information such as transcripts of speeches they made at the Capitol. - To see how legislators voted on issues critical to democracy and humanity, click on "Voting Records of Legislators". |
|
|||
|
House: Abercrombie, Catherine Senate: Caligiuri,
Sam S. F. |
You can volunteer for the following recommended candidates for the Connecticut General Assembly. The first list is for the
primaries on August 12, 2008. After that are the first few
high-priority endorsements of candidates for the general elections on
November 4, 2008. Where possible, contact information has been included make it easy for you to volunteer. Please keep checking the website because new candidates will be added regularly. ENDORSEMENTS - 2008 ACTIVE PRIMARIES 1. Andrés Ayala - House District
128 ( 4. Deborah Heinrich - House District 101 (Madison and Guilford) - 7. Joseph Hachey
- House District 9 (Manchester, Glastonbury, East Hartford).
Joseph has expressed support for the kinds of issues promoted by
this website. ______________ Note: The final grants for public funding for the primaries have been made and all of the primary candidates endorsed above were awarded the grants. Therefore none of the candidates above needs further financial contributions. All need volunteers. ___________________ 2008 Primaries with Endorsements - 1. Lonnie Reed -
House District 102 (Branford)-Lonnie began long ago to make careful
preparations for a campaign against the incumbent, Peter Panaroni, who
had a 25% on the Democracy-Humanity
Rating,
the lowest of any Democrat.
Lonnie worked very hard, and has been very active in the
community. Representative Panaroni announced that he would not
run again as a Democrat, and the Republican Party also decided not to
propose a candidate. Unless there is a minor party candidate,
Lonnie will be the next representative from this district. She is
still
planning to go door-to-door speaking with voters, and if you would like
to help her you could contact this website. To read an article
about her endorsement by the Democratic Party you could go to the link
below to read an article from the Branford Eagle, an excellent online
news source written by Marcia Chambers and affiliated with the
wonderful New Haven online newspaper: http://www.newhavenindependent.org. 2. Larry
Butler -
House District 72 (
3. Charles Clemons - House District 124 (Bridgeport) - Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity
Rating 100% -
Charles has made quality education a priority, and was instrumental in
obtaining funding for the Park City Prep Charter School in Bridgeport.
He also sponsored a bill on green cleaning standards.
General ElectionsIn late July the primary opponent for Charles Clemons withdrew from the race. To volunteer for the November election please call 203.331.0958. _______________ November 4, 2008 The first few endorsements of candidates are below. The website will be updated regularly with many more endorsements and more information about the candidates. Working for a good local candidate is also an excellent way to generate additional votes in the November presidential election. This year above all years, don't go to work on November 4! Take the day off and go help some candidate somewhere! ___________ 1. Janice Andersen - Senate District 21 (Stratford, Monroe, Seymour and Shelton) - Janice is running against incumbent Dan Debicella, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0%
and was extremely active in opposing most of the democratic and humane
bills this website has supported. This is a very important race.
Please help if you can.
More information about Debicella's record in the legislature will
be added to this website later. Janice is an excellent candidate
with a long history of public service. If elected she intends to
focus especially on issues of quality health care and education. As of July 25, 2008, Janice still needed contributions in order to raise the amount needed to receive the public funding. To contribute, please write the check (between $5-$100) to "Andersen08",
print and fill out the campaign finance contribution form at http://www.ct.gov/seec/lib/seec/CertificationForm2008.pdf
______and mail to 879 Wilcoxson Avenue, Stratford, CT 06614. To volunteer, you can contact Janice directly at (203)375-6455, or email janiceandersen@gmail.com. 2. Michelle Cook - House District 65 (Torrington) - Michelle is running against incumbent Anne Ruwet, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 0%. Ruwet has won by very small margins in some recent elections. Your work in this district could be the determining factor in a victory by Michelle. If elected, Michelle plans to focus on issues of education, seniors, medical insurance, and the revitalization of downtown Torrington. Please see her website for contact and contribution information: http://www.michellecookforthe65th.com/ 3. Elizabeth Esty - House District 103 (Cheshire, Hamden and Wallingford) - Elizabeth is running against Al Adinolfi, who has a Democracy-Humanity Rating of 33%. She is working very hard and there is a good chance that she could win. She is extremely knowledgeable about environmental and energy policy and if elected she will make an enormous contribution to the development of innovative responses by Connecticut to the crisis in energy costs and the need for alternative approaches to environmental issues. Elizabeth already has received her public campaign funding grant and therefore needs no further contributions. For more biographical and policy information and an easy way to volunteer, please go to her website at http://www.elizabethesty.com. 4. Joseph Taborsak - House District 109 (Danbury) - Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity Rating 100% Among other things, Joseph has focused on legislation giving relief to electric utility ratepayers. If you wish to volunteer or contribute, please contact Joe at Taborsak2008@gmail.com or (203)744-7888. 5. Jason Bartlett - House District 2 (Bethel, Danbury, Redding) - Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity Rating 100% Among other things, Jason has focused on legislation to improve health care, education and social services. To volunteer you can email info@jason08.com or telephone (203)648-8095. 6. Eileen Baker - House District 43 (Old Saybrook, Lyme, Old Lyme, Westbrook)- Eileen is running against incumbent Marilyn Giuliano, who has a Democracy-Humanity
Rating If you wish to volunteer or contribute, please contact Robbin Donahue at (860)245-5020. 8. Ed Meyer - Senate District 21 (Guilford, Madison, Killingworth, Branford, North Branford, Durham) - Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity Rating 100%. Ed is the Chair of the very important Environment Committee of the legislature, and has also been a strong leader on issues of ethics. If you wish to volunteer or contribute, please contact Jacquelin Kozin at (203)980-6466. Friday, July 18 was the last day for legislative candidates to apply for the public funds for the primaries. The Commission will meet this Wednesday, July 23, and will probably approve the last funding requests for the primaries at that time. A list of all approved requests (both for the August 12 primary and the November general elections) is on the web at: http://www.ct.gov/seec/cwp/view.asp?a=2861&Q=401806&PM=1 Minutes of the Commission meetings can be found at: http://www.ct.gov/seec/cwp/view.asp?a=2358&Q=305490&seecNav=| _________ Other Volunteer Opportunities At the Capitol Public hearings are
recorded
and transcribed but committee meetings are not. Under the
Freedom of Information Act any member of the public may record them.
It
would be helpful to be able to track the actions of
legislators
in
committee meetings and report them on this website. We need
volunteers to attend committee meetings and record them.
Research We need help with the research
that is the backbone of this website. There are many topics
pending. We especially need help doing research for candidates during this election season.
For more information, to comment on the website, or to volunteer please contact Barbara Richards at: electionvolunteers@mags.net Bio of Author/Webmaster |
| To
find the names of the Senator
and Representative for your voting district go to:
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm Click on the box that says "Don't know your 9-digit zip?" and type your address. Then return the first page, fill in the zip and press "GO". |
A
great deal of helpful information about the legislature can be found
at: http://www.cga.ct.gov/
|
There is a wonderful service that allows you to watch selected Connecticut legislative sessions, committee meetings, news briefings and other important public meetings on your computer or television. Go to: http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/ |