Author Archives: hbennett

5th District Congressional seat could be tough to keep

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

Though Democrat Elizabeth Esty won a decisive victory in the race for the 5th District Congressional seat, the real litmus test may be her potential 2014 re-election bid.

Gov Malloy, Elizabeth Esty and her husband Dan Esty enter for her vivtory speech. Mara Lavitt

“If there’s one district where the incumbent could go down in the midterm election, it’s the 5th,” said Gary Rose, chairman of Sacred Heart University’s Political Science Department. “That campaign begins today.”

Jim Maloney, a former U.S. representative from Connecticut’s 5th District, said the race for the 5th District during a presidential year is not that same game as in midterm elections.

“There’s another election or two of real battles she’ll have to fight in order to keep that seat,” Maloney said. “The difficulty comes in the non-presidential year. There’s no cover there.”

Maloney, a Democrat, said Esty “put together a very effective campaign,” but also had the benefit of riding the “huge coattails of the president and senator-elect Murphy.”

While Esty will have “the same effectiveness and the advantages of incumbency,” Maloney said “there won’t be those coattails.”

Roraback garnered more votes than Maloney’s successor, Republican Nancy Johnson did in 2006, (after redistricting) or any other Republican candidate since then. Though Maloney did not say that meant good things for Republicans in 2014, it should be taken as a warning to Democrats.

“I wouldn’t say it’s encouraging, more a caution to Mrs. Esty,” he said. “Though I expect she’ll win that race in two years.”

The big hits for Roraback, who took most of the small to mid-sized towns in the district, came in the very Democratic cities of Waterbury, Meriden and New Britain. Maloney said a Republican doesn’t need to win those cities to win, just to eat away at the margins.

“It’s the margins that are important,” he said. “In a presidential year the turnout is substantially smaller (in cities).”

Johnson, a Republican who beat Maloney in the 5th District in 2002, (after redistricting) said as much on election night in Torrington, as she and other supporters watched the results from those cities come in.

“I lost New Britain a lot of times,” she said.

Rose agreed. He said without the presidential turnout in the big cities, those cities will not provide as much as a boost.

“The cities, without Obama at the top of the ticket, the turnout will not be as high in 2014,” he said. “She will be a vulnerable incumbent.”

According to Rose, Esty will have the additional difficulty of redefining herself. Over the course of the current campaign, Esty cast herself as someone who can work across the aisle. But as a minority party freshman representative from an entirely Democratic state, Esty will have to work to gain relevance, he said, and being a “maverick Democrat” won’t help that cause.

“She’s going to quickly realize that this is not the town council,” he said. “She’s going to have to answer to Nancy Pelosi, who raised money for her. If she wants to get anything done she’s going to have to be a loyal soldier to Nancy Pelosi.

“She will likely be quickly assimilated into the polarized culture in Washington,” he said.

 

Andrew Roraback not ruling out 5th District run again in 2014

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

A day after narrowly losing his bid for the 5th District Congressional seat, Republican Andrew Roraback is not ruling out a second stab at a run in 2014.

He’s not saying yes, but he’s not saying no.

“Never say never. I’m not going to make any decision in the near future,” he said. “Everybody deserves a break from politics. Voters, the press and potential candidates.”

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who supported Roraback in the general election, said Roraback deserves another shot at the office, if he chooses to take it.

“If Andrew wants to make a return engagement, I think he’s earned it,” he said.

Roraback said he came within 5,000 votes of victory in the race against Democrat Elizabeth Esty— if 5,000 more voters in cities such as New Britain, Meriden and Waterbury had chosen him, “that would have made the difference.”

“The turnout from New Britain, Meriden and Waterbury was huge,” he said.

Asked what single factor cost him the election, Roraback said, in part, the failing candidacies of those higher up on the ticket.

“Mitt Romney did not run well,” he said. “Linda McMahon did not run well.”

Chris Murphy beat McMahon with 53 percent of the vote in Connecticut. In the 5th District, Murphy received 38,819 votes more than McMahon did.

President Barack Obama won a plurality of votes in Connecticut, though Litchfield County, which comprises much of the 5th District, chose Romney by a 4 percentage point margin.

Roraback said he is spending some much needed time with his family, and “not really thinking” about what comes next yet.

“There’s no regrets,” he said, echoing a line he used in his concession speech. “Other than we would have liked a few more votes.”

 

Esty, Roraback likely to spend Election Day trying to increase turnout

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By Jordan Fenster, Register Staff

According to those familiar with the race, both Democrat Elizabeth Esty and Republican Andrew Roraback will spend the last few hours before polls close of Election Day shoring up their bases and making sure the energy level stays high.

Chris Healy, who was senior advisor to Roraback primary opponent, Lisa Wilson-Foley, and is a former state GOP chairman, said in more Democratic-heavy cities such as New Britain, Waterbury and Meriden, it’s a matter of “damage control.”

“She should win (Waterbury and New Britian). The question is, how big a margin does she get,” Healy said of Esty. “In Waterbury and New Britain it’s damage control — how much do you lose by.”

Dan Roberti, who fought Esty in the Democratic primary but has since been volunteering for the campaign, agrees. He said the last he heard, Esty planned to be at 19 polling places on Election Day.

“She’s actually spending her time where she needs to be, which is everywhere,” Roberti said. “You absolutely always have to work to get your turnout as high as possible. This is all GOTV (get out the vote) at this point.”

One city to watch closely, both Healy and Roberti agree, is Danbury. Though the city’s voters are overwhelmingly registered as Democrats, Mayor Mark Boughton is a Republican, as are three of five of the city’s General Assembly representatives (Sen. Michael McLachlan and Reps. Dan Carter and Jan Giegler).

“Danbury’s always an interesting city to look at,” Roberti said.

According to Boughton, a Roraback supporter, the Republican will win the 5th District congressional race, but he hesitated when asked whether Roraback would take Danbury.

“It’s going to be close. It’s a difficult challenge,” he said. “I’m a political realist — I think Andrew wins by between three and five points, and breaks even or gets a slight edge in Danbury.”

And then there’s Cheshire, where Esty calls home and which she represented for one term as a state representative. Roberti believes Esty will “carry Cheshire very strongly,” but Healy’s not so sure.

 

He points out that Esty took her state House seat from Al Adinolfi, who took it back one term later. The town is about evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

“I’m not so sure Esty’s going to come out of Cheshire a winner,” Healy said. “She’s batting .500 in Cheshire.”

Both Healy and Roberti agreed that Esty has had a bit of difficulty getting her message across, though they couch it in different terms.

Esty has said repeatedly on the campaign trail, that however moderate a voice Roraback may be, the first vote he will cast, should he be elected to Congress, is for Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner.

For Roberti, that’s an important vote — the speaker, he said, is in position to set the agenda of the U.S. House of Representatives, deciding which issues get debated and which issues don’t.

“I think there have been some misinterpretations of what Elizabeth’s point has been,” he said.

Healy said that Esty’s attempt to characterize Roraback as a “cookie-cutter” Republican, taking her cue from Washington Democrats, falls flat among anyone who knows Roraback in either party.

“It didn’t even have a level of credibility,” he said. “Esty had a considerable amount of cash after the primary. She did not effectively define Roraback or define herself quickly enough.”

 

5th District debate focuses on Medicare, Social Security

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

The fourth debate between 5th District congressional candidates, for which AARP acted as host and was held on the radio on WATR, offered the candidates a chance to extensively argue their positions on Medicare and Social Security.

Democrat Elizabeth Esty continued to hit on a talking point she has brought up many times on the campaign trail, that Republicans and, therefore by extension her opponent, Republican Andrew Roraback, are in favor of privatizing Social Security and are in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act without presenting any real alternatives.

Roraback responded in much the same way he has on the campaign trail, saying repeatedly that he is an “American first and a Republican second,” and a proven bridge builder.

“I will have the courage to stand up for what’s right,” he said. For months, Esty has attempted to link Roraback to presidential candidate Mitt Romney, vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and Speaker of the House John Boehner, who took part in a fundraiser for Roraback early in October.

When asked if he would cast a vote for Boehner, Roraback gave an unqualified yes. “I am a Republican,” he said. “I would vote to elect the speaker.”

When asked whether she would support the current Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, California’s Nancy Pelosi, Esty was not as unqualified.

“I will certainly look at whoever the nominations are. There are a lot of different factors,” she said. “My eye is on Nov. 6.”

Esty, in a debate tactic she has not used in previous matchups, addressed questions directly to Roraback, and attempted to fact-check the statistics he proffered, in one case calling them “nonsense.”

Both Esty and Roraback said they would support raising the income cap as a way to pay for Social Security benefits, and both said they would not seek to make additional changes to Social Security beyond that move.

“In plain language, hands off Social Security,” Roraback said. “Social Security is a program that no one should touch.”

Esty said she would advocate for “no changes other than adjusting that income cap.”

The most time was spent discussing the Affordable Care Act, which Esty again said she was staunchly in favor of and which Roraback again decried.

“The Affordable Care Act is a misnomer,” Roraback said. “It has driven the cost of healthcare even higher.” Roraback said that he believes each individual state should be encouraged to come up with solutions to create affordable health care, a point he has made repeatedly throughout the campaign.

Esty said that states could not cover the cost of the “doughnut-hole,” the Medicare part D coverage gap between the initial coverage limit and the catastrophic coverage limit, making beneficiaries pay for prescriptions and care when their medical costs are in between those limits.

“There’s no answer from Andrew Roraback on what we do about the donut hole. I don’t know where you stand,” Esty said to Roraback.

“The doughnut hole is the craziest thing that Congress ever came up with,” Roraback said in response.

Esty said Roraback was in favor of instituting all the recommendations of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, commonly called Simpson-Bowles, an Obama-created commission designed to look at ways to deal with national debt. Roraback said otherwise.

“I’m not embracing any one of their particular recommendations, but I think they should be considered,” he said. Both candidates accused the other of fear-mongering — Esty accusing Roraback of using “scare tactics” culled from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s website and telling seniors that Social Security benefits are in danger, Roraback accusing Esty of promoting incorrect information in her advertisements.

To try to win an election by “scaring” people “is not the best of American politics,” he said.

Chris Donovan campaign finance suspect scheduled for change of plea hearing, U.S. Attorney says

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

David Moffa, also knows as “Buffalo,” is expected to become the second of eight alleged co-conspirators to plead guilty in a campaign cash-for-legislative action scheme that embroiled speaker of the house and former congressional candidate Chris Donovan.

Moffa, a former union official and correction officer, was charged earlier this year with conspiracy to cause false statements to the Federal Elections Commission and to defraud the United States along with seven other individuals.

Moffa pleaded not guilty during his July arraignment, but the U.S. Attorney’s office said Wednesday that the defendant would appear in U.S. District Court in New Haven Friday to change his plea.

Moffa’s attorney, Bridgeport attorney Richard Meehan, refused to comment on the matter when he was reached by email.

Tom Carson, U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman, would only confirm that a plea change was scheduled for Friday.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, individuals associated with roll-your-own tobacco shops offered to provide money to Donovan’s 5th District congressional campaign with the understanding that a bill intended to increase taxes on those tobacco shops, simultaneously up for review by the Connecticut General Assembly, would be killed.

Moffa, according to the indictment, met with two smoke shop representatives and arranged to exchange cash for a conduit contributions.

“Why don’t you stop at my house, get the checks so I don’t have to come down there?” Moffa told alleged co-conspirator Paul Rodgers, according to the indictment.

 

In all, the FBI alleges that $27,500 in campaign cash was illegally funneled to the Donovan campaign. Donovan has not been charged.

The first of the co-conspirators to plead guilty was Ray Soucy, also a former corrections officer and union official. Among those also charged was Joshua Nassi, former Donovan legislative aide and campaign manager.

Moffa, a former president of the local chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is from Middlebury. He is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in New Haven on Friday

The hearing will be held at U.S. District Court in New Haven.

MOFFA David Plea Calendar

Elizabeth Esty bets on Obamacare (News Junkie)

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Ctnewsjunkie.com reports: Was the Affordable Care Act popular enough in Connecticut to campaign on? With less than two weeks left before Election Day, Elizabeth Esty is betting it is.

Andrew Roraback (Register Citizen Photo/Rick Thomason)

The Cheshire Democrat is competing against Republican Andrew Roraback for the open 5th Congressional District seat. She held a press conference in Farmington Thursday where she touted the benefits of the controversial health care reform law, and highlighted her opponents’ intention to repeal it.

“Make no mistake, the Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect but it goes so far and is so essential to keep in place. It’s a critical first step and I will stand strongly by it with every breath that I have,” Esty said.

Ctnewsjunkie has the full story.

Esty decision on Hamden school may have played role in legislative loss

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

Did Elizabeth Esty’s suggestion that funding be cut from a Hamden school contribute to the 2010 loss of her state House seat? Possibly, according to one local Democrat.

The New York Times’ endorsement of Esty for the 5th District congressional seat relates the candidate’s vote to abolish the death penalty in the wake of the 2007 home invasion and murders in Cheshire, but her loss to state Rep. Al Adinolfi, R-Cheshire, in 2010 may have been more complicated than that.

The Times, which said Esty “proved she will vote her conscience” when she voted to abolish capital punishment so soon after the death of Dr. William Petit’s family, is not the only one to make the connection.

“She voted to abolish capital punishment after a gruesome murder in her state, losing her Assembly seat as a result,” The Times said.

The Hartford Courant recently made a similar association, saying Esty “knew her vote could cost her the next election,” as has Esty herself. “I lost my seat in the legislature over a vote on the death penalty that was quite unpopular, to say the least, in my community,” she told the audience at a saturday debate in New Britain.

According to Joe McDonagh, who finished an eight-year stint as head of Hamden’s Democratic Town Committee, Esty’s vote to repeal the death penalty did contribute to her loss in 2010, but so did her suggestion that funding be cut from Hamden’s Wintergreen School.

Esty was part of a group of Democrats who, in 2009, suggested an alternative budget plan to state Democratic leaders. That plan, among other cost-cutting measures, proposed a reduction of $1.5 million in funding from Bridgeport’s Edison School and Hamden’s Wintergreen School, in Esty’s own district.

“It may have been a contributing factor,” McDonagh said. “Maybe the Democratic Party didn’t work as hard as they did two years before.”

Though the map has changed since Esty represented the 103rd state House district, in 2008 and 2010, the district covered pieces of Esty’s hometown, Cheshire, as well as Wallingford and Hamden.

Esty received 20 percent fewer votes from Cheshire, where Petit’s family was killed, in 2010 than she did in 2008. She lost 25 percent of the Wallingford vote in 2010, compared to two years earlier, and 23 percent of the Hamden vote in 2010. (It should be noted that Brendan Sharkey, whose 88th District covered the other portion of Hamden, lost close to 32 percent of the vote year over year in 2010, though he still won by more than 1,000 votes, with nearly 25 percent fewer voters casting ballots in 2010.)

Wintergreen is an interdistrict school, pulling students from Hamden and Wallingford, as well as New Haven and Woodbridge, but not nearby Cheshire.

“Wintergreen parents were probably aware of it,” McDonagh said, as was Esty aware of the consequences. “We warned her that she was jeopardizing her chances.”

As a result, McDonagh said the local Democratic Party didn’t withdraw support from Esty, but allocated funds differently.

“Resources were probably divested to a different part of town,” McDonagh said. “It made me less enthusiastic, I’ll say that.”

Esty’s campaign said, in an emailed response to a request for comment on this story, said Esty’s vote to abolish the death penalty, knowing that her reelection efforts would be affected, shows “backbone.”

The campaign did not address the effect of the proposal to cut funding from Wintergreen.

“In the State House, Elizabeth voted her conscience on the death penalty knowing very well that it would likely cost her her seat,” Esty’s spokesman Jeb Fain, said. “Elizabeth has shown that she has backbone and that she’s willing to take a tough stand — particularly when it counts.”

Rell joins Roraback in support of breast density screening bill

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

At an event in Torrington Wednesday, Andrew Roraback called former Gov. M. Jodi Rell “Connecticut’s best-known breast cancer survivor.”

Rell and Roraback came to the Hungerford Imaging Center to announce Roraback’s intention, should he win the race for the 5th Congressional District, to introduce legislation similar to a bill he co-sponsored and Rell signed in 2009.

That bill required health insurance companies to cover screenings for breast density. It was based on data gathered by Dr. Gary Griffin of the Hungerford Imaging Center, and suggested by Nancy Capello.

Roraback reminded Rell that, as governor, she had given the state of the state address fresh from breast cancer surgery.

“I had the great pleasure of signing the bill,” she said of the insurance coverage mandate passed in 2009. “But Nancy’s the one that did the legwork.”

Capello, founder of the advocacy organization Are You Dense? and a breast cancer survivor herself, said her own cancer was missed by the traditional mammography because of the density of her breast tissue.

Once Rell signed the 2009 bill into law, Capello said she began to hear stories from across the country similar to hers.

“This is real life,” she said. “It’s not mandating medicine it’s mandating life.”

“Good ideas for important legislation come from the people we represent,” Roraback said.

Within hours of Roraback’s announcement, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, issued a condemnation of his intentions.

“If Mr. Roraback had done his homework he would have realized that I have already introduced bipartisan legislation, the Breast Density and Mammography Reporting Act, which requires that women receive information on their breast density and cancer risks from their health care provider,” she said. “I will continue to fight for this legislation and improved healthcare for women while Republicans like Mr. Roraback continue to seek to roll back the clock on women’s health care.”

At the event, however, Roraback said that he wanted to join with Democrats to support that bill, but that it does not go far enough.

“I want to go one step further,” he said. “Insurance should cover that screening.”

Capello said other states have since instituted bills similar to what was introduced in Connecticut.

“Andrew, I’m thrilled that you’re going to be bringing this issue to Congress,” she said. “So a woman’s zip code does not determine whether she lives or dies.”

Roraback, Esty 5th District debate brings out some similarities

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

Andrew Roraback and Elizabeth Esty ate lunch at the same table prior to the third of four 5th District congressional debates, held Wednesday in Waterbury.

Perhaps as a result, the debate centered more about the candidates’ similarities than on their policy differences.

The debate, held by the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce, focused on issues relating to the economy and small business. Though Esty again linked Roraback’s policies to those of presidential candidate Mitt Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, Roraback repeatedly agreed with Esty’s opinions.

Both, for example, said they support clean energy, though both qualified their support.

“Clearly the future” will be clean fuel, Roraback said. “But we live in the here and now.”

Esty said that it is “critically important that we move over time to clean renewable energy,” and that “we live in a transition time between fossil fuel and whatever comes next.”

On the Affordable Care Act, Roraback repeated his belief that it “costs too much and delivers too little.” Esty, though she has expressed her support for the ACA on many occasions over the course of the campaign, said the bill “is a necessary but incomplete first step.”

In a moment of disagreement, Esty characterized Roraback’s plan for health care, that each state become a laboratory for designing universal health care, as “like a kid saying ‘I want to start with the sundae and have the spinach later.’”

Democrat Elizabeth Esty and Republican State Senator Andrew Roraback debate moderated by Waterbury Republican Executive Editor Jonathan F. Kellog Peter Hvizdak / New Haven Register

Roraback also agreed with Esty’s contention that in order to pay for increased Social security costs, “we’re going to raise the income tax.”

When asked their three top priorities for improving the economic well being of the 5th Congressional District, both cited transportation, small business development and manufacturing.

Roraback distanced himself from his own party several times, saying that he is “not in favor of privatizing Medicare,” and arguing against Ryan’s budget proposal, particularly as it regards paying for college.

Ryan’s budget cuts assistance to college students too dramatically, particularly Pell grants, he said.

“Yes, I am a Republican, but I am an American before a Republican,” he said during his opening remarks. “I will vote without regard to the political fallout.”

However much the two candidates tended to agree, a few sparks did fly when voting records were discussed. Roraback said Esty, who was part of a group of moderate democrats during her two years in the general assembly who proposed an alternative budget, tended to vote along party lines.

”While it’s true that on one occasion she did vote against her party,” Roraback said of Esty, she ultimately voted for the budget proposed by Democratic legislative leaders, though eight other Democrats did not. “That budget raised 700 fees.”

Esty attempted to throw the same sentiment in the other direction.

“Andrew claims the mantle of independence, but has voted his party line every time,” she said.

Esty, Roraback not skimping on TV ads in 5th District race

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

With $14 million spent so far in the 5th District congressional  race, much of it on television ads, viewers can expect a plethora of political advertising pertaining to the campaign during their favorite shows between now and Nov. 6.

Major market television stations are required by the Federal Communications Commission to post online the upcoming orders for political advertisers.

Those orders contain information such as how much each ad costs, how many times it will run, when and on which television shows.

So, if you’re a junkie for political ads on TV, you might want to watch the following shows. This, by the way, is only a very partial list:

The World Series

Perhaps not surprisingly, The World Series is an expensive time slot. That didn’t stop the Government Integrity Fund, an Ohio-based super PAC that recently dropped $1.1 million to help out Andrew Roraback’s campaign, which bought time for two ads during the biggest baseball series of the year, one on Oct. 24 and another on Oct. 27, at $7,500 each.

Football

The Government Integrity Fund bought time on regular season NFL on WFSB at a rate of $6,000 per spot. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Fund bought what appears to be the most expensive campaign ad yet in the 5th Congressional District race: One spot on NFL on FOX (the Giants’ game this Sunday) for $10,000.

The morning news

On WVIT, the local NBC affiliate, Andrew Roraback has reserved time on the 6 a.m. news, the 9 a.m. news and “The Today Show,” and CBS Sunday Morning. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved ad time during the same shows to help out Democrat Elizabeth Esty. Esty also bought time of CBS’ “The Early Show.” The Government Integrity Fund has reserved time on WFSB’s “Eyewitness News,” starting at 5:30 a.m. Esty, too, will be buying in to “Eyewitness News.”

The evening news

The Government Integrity Fund has bought a lot of time on FOX-CT’s evening news programs, both on weekends and weekdays, and on WFSB’s evening news program. Esty, too, has reserved time on FOX-CT’s evening news shows, though not as much. Roraback’s campaign also reserved time on FOX-CT during its evening news. Slots on the news at 10 p.m. cost $1,400 each, according to the contract.

The DCCC also bought time on the evening news, but, as an outside political action committee and not a directly affiliated with a candidate, was charged a higher rate.

 Late night television

The Esty campaign must think some voters stay up late, as they have reserved time on “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late, Late, Show,” “The Tonite Show” and “Late Night with David Letterman.”

“Ellen” and others

Esty has reserved a pair of spots on Ellen Degeneres’ show, as well as “Raising Hope,” “Ben & Kate,” “Glee” and others. Late night television The Esty campaign must think some voters stay up late, as they have reserved time on “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late, Late, Show,” “The Tonite Show” and “Late Night with David Letterman.”

 

Roraback, Esty face off in 1st debate in quest for 5th District seat

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

TORRINGTON — In a highly charged and highly partisan debate, Elizabeth Esty and Andrew Roraback squared off for the first time Tuesday at the Warner Theater.

The debate moderator, Republican-American Executive Editor Jonathan Kellogg, started off on a cordial note. The candidates had agreed to call each other “Andrew” and “Elizabeth.” Before long they were referring to each other as “my opponent.”

Moments before the debate began, the Esty campaign issued a release telling supporters what to look out for.

“If some of Senator Andrew Roraback’s talking points sound familiar in tonight’s debate, it’s because they are,” the release said. “In defending his right-wing positions on economic issues, look for Roraback to continue to repeat the same talking points as Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Linda McMahon, and right-wing Republicans across the country.”

Esty repeatedly hit Roraback on that point during the debate, accusing him several times of being yet another Republican voice espousing Republican values that she said don’t work.

Roraback anticipated the tactic, calling himself in his opening remarks a “fiscally prudent, socially moderate legislator,” who will “mold” bi-partisan solutions.

“Party loyalty has its place,” he said later in the debate. “But party loyalty has begun to erode what made this country great.”

A question about the controversial Keystone pipeline (which Roraback supports and Esty called “an environmental disaster”) prompted Roraback to bring up campaign donations he said Esty had solicited and accepted from NRG Energy, a company her husband, Dan Esty, regulates as commissioner for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“The environmental disaster is the coal ash from NRG,” Roraback said. “Elizabeth Esty is wrong to take campaign donations from companies her husband regulates.”

“This is the 21st century,” Esty responded. “I am married and my husband has an important job.”

Roraback, who lives, works and has represented the Torrington area as a legislator, appealed to the hometown crowd on several occasions.

Referring to a Democratic alternative budget from 2009 that Esty and other Democratic legislators proposed, Roraback said Esty had planned to close the lowest performing University of Connecticut campus.

“I think that’s code for, ‘let’s close the Torrington campus,’” he said.

In an attempt to contrast what she said is the Republican policy of giving tax breaks to the “very, very top,” Esty said roraback would cast a vote for U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, and support the same fiscal policies of tax breaks to the wealthy.

Roraback countered with a personal attack on Esty’s own wealth, saying that she makes revenue from a family-owned factory in Ohio that she hasn’t visited in 20 years.

“I think Elizabeth Esty speaks from experience when she talks about how the upper echelon is doing,” he said.

When the candidates were asked on their positions on the Affordable Care Act, which Esty supports, Roraback, repeating a line he has used before on the campaign trail, said he would support encouraging states to develop their own strategies for affordable health care.

“The states are in a much better position to come up with a policy that supports everyone,” he said.

Esty responded by attacking Roraback’s record as a legislator. When the state’s universal health care proposal, called Sustinet, came to a vote in the state Senate, Roraback was against it.

“That raises a question of whether or not he does support health care reform,” she said. “what my opponent suggests is an unfunded mandate.”

A moment of levity came when the candidates — Esty a Harvard graduate, Roraback an alumnus of Yale — were asked their opinions on who would win this year’s Harvard-Yale football matchup.

Esty said her money was on MIT disrupting the game with “American ingenuity,” but Roraback said he hopes his alma mater wins, precisely because they are not expected to, that he knows about underdogs.

“I’m a Republican running for congress in Connecticut,” he said.

Tuesday’s debate was the first of four. Roraback and Esty face off again 2 p.m. Saturday at Trinity on Main, 69 Main St., in New Britain.

Esty ad on senior tax breaks: Partly true

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

In Elizabeth Esty’s latest advertisement, the narrator says the Democrat “Led the effort to reduce property taxes for seniors.”

That statement is partly true.

The Esty campaign said the ad refers to a move in 2006 to provide property tax credits to low income seniors, ultimately passed in 2007. Esty did, according to the minutes of Town Council meetings, propose those credits.

There was also a movement in 2007 to offer a tax freeze for seniors in Cheshire, initiated by a group of seniors and, later, supported by Esty.

Esty is now running for the 5th District congressional seat against Republican Andrew Roraback.

As a result of the tax freeze, seniors’ taxes, according to a story by New Haven Register reporter Luther Turmelle at the time, did not go down but “would be established by residents’ July 2007 and January 2008 tax bills and be frozen at that level for the next two payment periods.”

The 2007 tax rate was a 1.88 percent increase from the previous year. Though seniors’ tax rates did freeze at that level, other residents saw the Cheshire Town Council, including Esty, add a tax increase of 3 percent in 2007.

The initiative to freeze taxes for seniors in 2007 was not initially Esty’s but the result of a petition drive launched by town resident Ellen Carson, who said at the time that the council had “some pretty tough customers.”

“I think some of them would like to see us move out of town, but now we’re going to have to wait and see what they’ll do,” she said then.

Esty’s support for the proposal — the petition was comprised of 3,100 signatures — was moderated at first, though she did later help to get it enacted.

“There are no easy answers to this, and whatever we come up with is something that’s got to work for the community as a whole, not just one group,” Esty said when the issue first arose. “The state has now given municipalities the option to consider offering property tax freezes, so it’s something we need to consider. Whether it’s the right answer or not for us, I’m not certain.”

A year earlier, Esty, as a member of the council’s Ordinance Review Committee, had advocated “increasing the property tax credit with maximum increase in tax relief for those at the lowest income levels within the residential requirements,” according to council minutes from Jan. 10, 2006.

“Mrs. Esty encouraged people to attend the public hearing to provide input on this important issue of the Town on what can be done to help seniors living in Cheshire for a long time to stay in their homes,” the minutes read.

In 2007, when the council finally voted on the tax freeze, it was Esty who made the motion to adopt and spoke of its importance. She also acknowledged the work of those seniors who organized the petition. According to the the minutes of the town council: “Mrs. Esty thanked everyone involved in the process, including the senior citizens and supporters who worked on the petition.”

Both the property tax credit and the property tax freeze were enacted in 2007.

Cheshire Town Council Meeting 03-15-07

Esty, Roraback see eye-to-eye on energy policy, just not its economic impact

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On energy policy, the two 5th District congressional candidates agree on almost every point, though they split when it comes to the more partisan issues of tax breaks and federal funding for oil companies.
The Keystone pipeline has been one divisive issue, the candidates falling down party lines. Conservatives have called it a boon to job creation and a step toward energy independence, while Democrats have decried the cost and questioned the value.

The 5th District candidates have followed their parties on that score: Andrew Roraback expressing his favor of the crude oil pipeline from Canada to Texas, Elizabeth Esty saying she’s against it.

Beyond the Keystone pipeline, the candidates share many views, from renewable energy to fuel efficiency. Esty, in fact, calls energy policy central to her candidacy.

“One of the reasons I’m running is because we need to put a comprehensive national energy policy in place to move us beyond fossil fuels and towards a clean, renewable energy future,” she said in an email. “We need to end subsidies to big oil companies. At a time when oil companies are making record profits and we’re facing a record deficit, we should not be subsidizing big oil companies with taxpayer money to prolong our dependence on fossil fuels.”

Where the two seem to differ is on the economic impact made by energy policy. While Esty talks about ending federal oil subsidies, Roraback talks about creating economic opportunity.

“My first focus will be to work to establish a national energy policy that secures North American energy independence, drives greater energy cost reductions through increased energy efficiency and supply, creates economic opportunity and lowers the environmental impact of our energy use through support for clean alternative energy sources,” he said. “Energy efficiency is a win-win-win-win proposition as it delivers cost savings, creates jobs, provides energy security and delivers the cleanest energy of all as the energy you do not use is the pollution you do not make.”

Both Esty and Roraback say alternative energy sources are important, and advocate greater emphasis on research and development, though Roraback, when asked about his energy priorities, echoed presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s criticism of tax breaks given to energy company Solyndra by the Obama administration.

Roraback said he is in favor of “increased support for research and development rather than investing money in politically connected business like Solyndra.”

“We should instead increase the federal budget for basic energy research as well as provide challenge grants for innovation,” he said.

“We should accelerate the development of alternative energy sources, such as fuel cells, wind, solar, hydroelectric, bioenergy and advanced technologies like hybrid vehicles. Wind energy’s recent developments are making it cost competitive in appropriate areas. These energy sources are domestic, clean and largely fuel free,” he said.

Esty also noted the value of tax incentives, and the need to examine fuel efficiency.

“We need to encourage the continued development of promising renewable energy sources including wind, solar, fuel cells, and some bio-fuels,” she said “We should also take measures to encourage energy efficiency including grants and tax incentives and the building of more fuel-efficient vehicles.”

Roraback particularly puts focus on ethanol, and federal requirements that he said drive up the cost of fuel

“I will work to eliminate the current requirement to support corn based ethanol that drives up the price of gas as well as food,” he said “The ethanol requirement is also not environmentally friendly as it takes nearly as much energy to make it as it produces and uses vast amounts of water.”

 

Elizabeth Esty campaign, Connecticut Democratic Party form joint fundraising committee

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

Elizabeth Esty’s campaign and the state Democratic Party have formed a joint fundraising committee to avoid perpetuating the same fundraising transgression they accuse Andrew Roraback and Steve Obsitnik of committing.

The Esty campaign informed the Federal Elections Commission this month that the Connecticut 5th District Victory Fund was in existence.

According to Esty spokesman Jeb Fain, it’s “a joint fundraising committee between the Esty campaign and the state Democratic party,” though the “victory fund” and Esty’s campaign committee share a treasurer, Patti Flynn-Harris.

Elizabeth Larkin, spokesperson for the Connecticut Democratic Party, said creating joint fundraising entities is common, something state Democrats have done for the campaigns of Richard Blumenthal, Chris Dodd and others, though she confirmed that Esty is the only candidate thus far to share a committee with state Democrats this cycle.

“It’s a pretty typical thing that we do for candidates,” she said. “This way you can fundraise together.”

Andrew Roraback

Recently, the state Democratic Party filed an elections complaint against 5th District candidate Roraback and 4th District candidate Obsitnik, claiming that the pair had improperly held a joint fundraiser, not identifying the combined nature of the event on invitations and not forming a joint committee.

And while no joint fundraiser is yet planned between the state party and Esty’s campaign, the formation of the joint committee makes such an event possible.

Esty is, however, scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a Democratic Party fundraiser on Oct. 19, the ninth annual Ella T. Grasso Women’s Leadership Breakfast, at which Larkin said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Senate candidate Chris Murphy and others would be in attendance.

Last month, the National Republican Congressional Committee pulled a similar move, reforming its generic nominee fund into a Roraback-specific committee called “Friends of Roraback.”

Neither Friends of Roraback or Esty’s Connecticut 5th District Victory Fund have announced any specific donors or expenditures. Esty and Roraback face each other in a general election scheduled for Nov. 6.

5th District left out of National Republican spending

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent no money on Connecticut’s 5th District race so far this year, excluding the contest in its most recent spate of media buys, which totalled more than $7.5 million.

The NRCC has announced more than $15 million in media buys for and against congressional candidates around the country in the 10 days since it filed its latest monthly report with the Federal Elections Commission on Sept. 20.

The latest filing notified the FEC of $7,513,608 in media purchases on Sept. 28. That followed a pair of media buys totalling $82,507 on Sept. 24 and a series of $7,511,945 in media buys on Sept. 21.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRCC has spent $27,556,485 as of Sept. 30 for or against 89 congressional candidates. Neither Republican Andrew Roraback or Democrat Elizabeth Esty is on that list. Compare that to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which has spent a total of $284,639 so far in the 5th District race, all of it on anti-Roraback attack ads.

Those numbers do not contradict statements made by the NRCC, according to a spokesman, which has said that it considers the 5th District an “opportunity.”

“We view this as one of the best pick-up opportunities in the Northeast,” spokesman Nat Sillin said in September, a sentiment he reiterated during a more recent interview.

“We think the Democrats’ spending to date demonstrates their desperation in this race,” he said.

According to one political science professor, it’s only a matter of time before more is spent. There’s still more than a month left in the race, and money will be spent on both sides when and if it’s needed, said Vincent Moscardelli assistant professor of political science at the University of Connecticut.

“In a competitive race in New England, with control of the House in the balance, I would be shocked if either side allowed their opponent to accrue a major spending advantage,” he said. “They’re just going to keep their powder dry.”

Roraback — pro-choice, in favor of gay rights and against the death penalty — is considered a moderate Republican.

“When the most recent report is released, the voters of the 5th District will see that Andrew enjoys robust state and local support, as well as strong support from the national party,” said Chris Cooper,  Roraback’s spokesman.

Sillin would not comment on why the NRCC has not yet invested in Roraback’s campaign, but his moderate social views are apparently not a barrier.

The NRCC has, for example, spent $874,391 against eight-term Democratic Massachusetts U.S. Rep. John Tierney, who faces Richard Tisei in a fight for that state’s new 6th Congressional District. Republican

Tisei is gay, sharing a home with his partner on Martha’s Vineyard, and considers himself a “traditional Republican,” according to a report by The Martha’s Vineyard Times, and, as the Washington Post reported, “a Goldwater conservative.”

Moscardelli said that “ideological misfits,” candidates who do not generally agree with their parties on social issues, are not usually shunned — except in the most extreme cases.

In 1992, former Louisiana state representative and grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke attempted a run for the presidency, for example, but was blocked by the Republican Party, which refused to support his candidacy.

“Short of a David Duke scenario, there’s no evidence that parties withhold funds from party non-conformists,” he said.

Roraback To Esty: Stop misleading 5th District voters

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Ctnewsjunkie reports: Republican Sen. Andrew Roraback says he isn’t going to sit idly by as his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Esty portrays him as someone he isn’t. He urged his opponent to stick to the issues.

“Her campaign ads are dishonest and her public comments about me are dishonest,” Roraback said Tuesday at a Hartford press conference.

Elizabeth Esty speaks at a 5th District congressional debate in Torrington. (Register Citizen photo/Rick Thomason)

Roraback and Esty are vying for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by Chris Murphy, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

“What we all deserve is a discussion of the issues facing Connecticut and the nation,” Roraback said.

Esty’s campaign said that’s exactly what they have been doing and denied misrepresented anything Roraback has said, including his position on Social Security, which they cited in the campaign’s first general election ad.

Ctnewsjunkie.com has the full story

Esty dodges questions about pulling ad, says Roraback not Tea Party Republican (News Junkie)

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Ctnewsjunkie reports: “While the Democratic Party may want you to believe Sen. Andrew Roraback is a “Tea Party Republican” his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Esty said Tuesday morning during a radio interview that she doesn’t necessarily believe that.”

“I don’t say that,“ Esty told WNPR’s John Dankosky. “And I’ve said I don’t say that.”

Click here to listen to the show.

But Esty said, ctnewsjunkie reports, ”the reality is the national Republican agenda with Speaker John Boehner in charge of the U.S. House has ‘taken an obstructionist path. She said if Connecticut sends a Republican to Washington D.C. to represent the 5th Congressional District it will only help further that agenda.”

Ctnewsjunkie.com has the full story.

Republican PAC reforms to help Andrew Roraback in 5th District race

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A political action committee with ties to Linda McMahon and the National Republican Congressional Committee, originally created as a repository of funds for all Republican 5th District candidates, has been reformed to help out Andrew Roraback.

According to an amended statement of organization filed with the Federal Elections Commission, the CT-05 Nominee Fund, formed on July 17, has been renamed “Friends of Roraback.”

Neither the Friends of Roraback nor CT-05 PACs have posted any money raised with the FEC.

The treasurer and custodian of records for the  “Friends of Roraback” PAC is Robert Jentgens, identified as the controller for the NRCC.

Jentgens has a long history in Republican Party politics. Mitt Romney’s former deputy finance director, Jentgens launched three super PACs in 2011, in  Iowa, Florida, and South Carolina, according to an article by the Center for Responsive Politics.

In addition to aiding Romney’s first presidential campaign in 2007, Jentgens served as treasurer for Linda McMahon’s 2010 U.S. Senate bid.

Nominee funds are often set up by large, national organizations, as a way to generate money during the primary that is then offered to whichever candidate runs in the general election.

NRCC spokesman Nathaniel Sillin said that “nominee funds like this one are common for both parties.

“Democrats and Republicans create nominee funds frequently,” he said. Andrew Roraback’s campaign did not immediately return requests for comment.

National political attention stays on 5th District Congress race

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

The race for the 5th District congressional seat received national attention long before the primary was decided, with congressional committees from the Democratic and Republican parties weighing in on the two major party candidates.

The level of attention from those quarters has only increased since the primary, Republicans naming it as one of their top priorities in the Northeast.

Andrew Roraback (Register Citizen Photo/Rick Thomason)

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been actively involved in the race since April, when it filed a freedom of information request to obtain records of Andrew Roraback’s decades in the state legislature.

The attacks, however, began in earnest soon after the Aug. 14 primary.

Before the primary, a Democratic Super PAC paid for a television advertisement suggesting Roraback was too liberal — but the morning after the primary the message had changed.

On Aug. 15, the DCCC released a web video calling Roraback a “Tea Party Republican.”

Two days later, another email emerged, the DCCC saying in a release that Roraback  “is ready to get his marching orders” from Washington Republicans.

Elizabeth Esty

The DCCC followed up with some positive news for Democrat Elizabeth Esty, issuing results of a poll showing Esty over Roraback by nine points and naming her to its “Red to Blue” program.

Then, this week, when former Gov. M. Jodi Rell came out to Danbury to endorse Roraback, the DCCC took one quote, Rell saying she did not find Roraback too hard to control, and generated a release around it.

“This is just one more example of how a vote for Andrew Roraback is a vote for the same Republican extremism that would force seniors to pay more for health care in order to fund tax breaks for companies that outsource American jobs,” Stephen Carter of the DCCC said in the release.

The National Republican Congressional Committee has not been as vocal. Though it did respond to the DCCC’s mid-August web video, it wasn’t until Sept. 6 that results of a poll favoring Roraback, paid for in part by the NRCC, was released.

That’s not to say the NRCC isn’t interested in the race — quite the opposite, according to spokesman Nat Sillin.

Sillin said there are a few congressional races in New England the NRCC sees as “pick-up” opportunities — one on Long Island (currently held by Rep. Tim Bishop), Bill Owens’ seat in upstate New York, Maine’s 2nd District, currently held by Mike Michaud, among several others.

“Certainly this is up there at the top of the list,” Sillin said of the 5th District. “We view this as one of the best pick-up opportunities in the Northeast.”

When asked why the DCCC had focused so much attention — and so much of it negative — on the 5th District race, Sillin said Democrats, too, see it is a viable Republican pick-up opportunity.

“It shows their desperation in this race,” he said. “They’re desperate and they’re scared.”

In response, the DCCC’s Stephen Carter referenced the Rell endorsement, again going on the attack.

“Washington Republicans are as present as ever in Andrew Roraback’s campaign — just take a look at his extreme agenda,” Carter said. “Republicans already said they’re eager to help Roraback because, as Gov. Rell reminded us, Roraback will be easy for Republicans to control.”

Email Jordan Fenster at jfenster@nhregister.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanfenster. Follow our 5th District coverage on Twitter@5thDistrictCT or Facebook@CT5thDistrict.

Chris Shays: Idea that moderates like Andrew Roraback are ‘irrelevant’ is ‘crazy’

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

When he endorsed Democrat Elizabeth Esty for the 5th District congressional race, current U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy said that her opponent, Republican Andrew Roraback, would not have a place in Washington.

“There is no room for Andrew Roraback in the Republican Party,” Murphy, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said this week.

“He would be completely irrelevant,” Murphy said of Roraback

Roraback is socially moderate — he’s pro-choice and opposes the death penalty — and while one professor of political science said it’s a difficult time for moderates in Congress, former Connecticut U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-4, said the idea that moderates are irrelevant is “crazy.”

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays File photo

“That is so stupid,” Shays said. “The most relevant person is the moderate because they’re important to both sides.”According to Shays, being a moderate Republican can work in your favor, and when you’re one of only a few Republican representatives from a region, you can become immune to reprisals, to some degree, when you vote against your own party.

After the 2006 election Shays found himself as the lone Republican member of Congress from New England, he said, which enabled him to vote his conscience, as it would if Roraback were elected.

“I was given a lot of leeway within my own party to vote the way I wanted to vote,” Shays said. “They will look at (Roraback) and say, ‘You vote the way you need to vote to make sure you’re back here next year.”

That’s not to say there weren’t some consequences for going against the party.

For example, Shays said that because he was pro-choice, he knew he was never going to be speaker of the House.

And when he “championed” campaign finance reform, he “paid a penalty.”

“I wasn’t made chairman of the Government Oversight Committee,” he said.

Today, there are only two Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives in New England: Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta, both from New Hampshire.

Vincent Moscardelli, assistant professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, said it’s a particularly difficult time for moderates of both parties, that the “centers of gravity in the two parties have been moving away from each other.”

Each year, The National Review, the most widely circulated conservative magazine, rates congressional votes and ranks representatives on a scale from liberal to conservative.

Since 1982, the magazine’s research has shown the disappearance of liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, the result of which, Moscardelli said, is a demand for greater adherence to the official party line.

“Every aspect of legislative life is directed, dictated and determined by party affiliation,” he said.

The U.S. Senate, too, has seen the disappearance of New England moderate Republicans. Maine’s Sen. Olympia Snowe announced her retirement this year, saying that partisan politics had become too pronounced, following in the footsteps of Vermont’s Jim Jeffords and Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee.

Not counting Senate hopefuls (such as Linda McMahon, who is facing Chris Murphy for Lieberman’s seat), that leaves only Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Maine’s Susan Collins.

“Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term,” Snowe told The Washington Post.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

According to Lieberman, recently named by the Washingtonian as the second least partisan senator, that’s a shame.Lieberman, who became an Independent after losing the 2006 Democratic primary, said moderates bridge the widening gap between the parties.

“We need more independent-minded moderates in both parties,” he said in an email.

“They serve as bridge builders between parties so that compromises can be reached that will solve our country’s problems. The American people are right to feel frustrated with inaction in Washington and that’s why solution oriented moderates are so essential.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3.

In her own endorsement of Esty, U.S. Rep.  Rosa DeLauro, the longtime Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut’s 3rd District, said Roraback would have to vote with his party, that it would be expected of him.“If he is elected, he will have to tow the line,” she said.

Moscardelli agrees, at least as far as the “big ticket items,” such as budgets and the appointment of a speaker of the House.

“The expectation will be that all Republicans will support the party,” he said. “It’s a difficult time to be a moderate in either Congressional party, and junior members are more susceptible to the pressures of the party.”

U.S. Senate candidate Chris Murphy speaks to the editorial staff at the New Haven Register. (New Haven Register Photo/Melanie Stengel)

According to Shays, DeLauro and Murphy would know about partisan politics, but not much about the Republican Party.

“I consider Rosa one of the most partisan politicians in the entire chamber,” he said.

And as for Murphy, “He has voted 95 percent of the time with [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi. I guess he thinks you have to do that.”

 

Email Jordan Fenster at jfenster@nhregister.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanfenster. Follow our 5th District coverage on Twitter@5thDistrictCT or Facebook@CT5thDistrict.

Gov. Malloy: Andrew Roraback puts ‘politics’ first as 5th District candidate

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

Fifth District Republican candidate Andrew Roraback and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy have gone toe-to-toe more than a few times, on more than a few issues, in occasionally a very public manner.

Items on the list of disagreements range from state union concessions to bonding funds to budgets and more.

Both blame the policies of the other for the state’s problems, and both see the political machinations of the other as the cause of the disputes.

As vitriolic and their arguments have become, it’s nothing personal, according to a representative with the governor’s office. It’s just politics, but for the Malloy administration, it’s the type of politics Roraback has been practicing since launching his bid for Congress that’s at issue.

“The governor thinks Sen. Roraback is a perfectly nice guy, but he has been a different public servant since he decided to run for Congress,” said Roy Occhiogrosso, the governor’s senior communications advisor. ”I think the governor has at times been frustrated with the senator putting politics before policy.”

“No one — even in distant memory — has been more in-your-face political than Malloy and the one-party rule of the Democrats,” Roraback said in response.

Elizabeth Esty arrives at her campaign gathering on primary night Aug. 14, 2012

Malloy recently threw his support to fellow Democratic Party member Elizabeth Esty, also running for the 5th District congressional seat, and linked Roraback with the national Republican agenda.“The Ryan-Romney-Roraback plan is nothing other than to decimate the middle class. To turn back the clock. To make it harder for the middle class to move forward,” Malloy said recently.

But Roraback said the governor’s acrimony has more to do with the manner in which he governs than any direct opposition to the state senator and congressional candidate’s policy.

“It is clear that I have gotten under the governor’s skin, because he does not tolerate dissent,” Roraback said. “The bottom line is that the governor’s vision for Connecticut is very different from mine. It’s not about politics, it’s about governing.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Malloy and Roraback have thrown darts at each other on a variety of issues, something Roraback readily admits.

“I have disagreed with Governor Malloy about many, many things — including the so-called state employee ‘concessions package’ that did not come close to yielding the savings the governor promised, the ill-advised multi-million dollar boondoggle of a busway, Malloy’s record-setting $1.6 billion in new taxes that have crippled our already damaged economy, and the manner in which the governor and the legislative Democrats have strong-armed their disastrous agenda for our state,” Roraback said.

When the governor proposed the union concession deal to which Roraback refers, the state senator said he would “shave his head” if it were actually to move forward.

When the busway proposal came to the senate for a vote, Roraback spoke vociferously against the plan, breaking down the cost into increments.

“The state of Connecticut is spending $912 an inch for an 8.6-mile, whatever the length of this thing is, it’s a lot of money and it’s a lot opportunities that we are foregoing, too,” he said on the Senate floor.

The argument became public when Malloy accused Roraback of flip-flopping on earmarks, saying he voted in favor when an item is in the state senator’s district and against when it’s not.

Roraback’s 30th senate district encompasses Brookfield, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, New Milford, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington, Warren, Washington and Winchester, his website says.

In 2011, when criticizing the governor’s budget proposal, Roraback said, on the Senate floor, that Malloy’s plan would harm the middle class. “For the middle class, the message is hold onto your hat,” he said then.

“We’re going to tax you from head to toe. Nothing is sacred.”

When a bonding proposal providing funding to the Shehan Center in Bridgeport was postponed, Roraback condemned the governor for not disclosing the fact of the postponement.

“I’ve been a member of the state Bond Commission for four years, and it is unprecedented for an item to be surreptitiously removed from the agenda without it being disclosed fully and publicly to each and every member of the Bond Commission,” he said.

Occhiogrosso shot back at the time: “He asked his questions and they were answered, but to call himself a victim is as ridiculous as the tortured path he took on the death penalty issue. He’s running for Congress.”

When the governor proposed eliminating the state’s ban on Sunday liquor sales, Roraback said the plan would hurt small businesses, particularly in small communities such as his hometown of Goshen.

“If you like what Home Depot has done for our hardware stores, if you like what CVS has done for our drug stores, you’re going to love what the governor’s proposal does for our package stores,” he told CTNewsJunkie.com. “I live in a town that doesn’t have a grocery store, it doesn’t have a gas station. Our community cracker barrel is a neighborhood package store.”

Then there was the state’s purchase of a property on Bantam lake, a proposal to spend $800,000 in a congressional scoreboard, the food stamp fraud that resulted in the loss of a job for many state employees and a plan to provide funding for a New Haven-based organization with Communist ties — all issues on which Roraback and Malloy have openly and publicly sparred.

Occhiogrosso said Malloy works regularly with GOP legislative leaders, like the state Senate minority leader, Fairfield’s Sen. John McKinney, and the House minority leader, Norwalk’s Rep. Larry Cafero. In those relationships, public spats are expected, he said. But Roraback does not hold a legislative leadership position.

So why have disagreements between Roraback and Malloy been so public, stretching back to the early days of Malloy’s tenure?

“The public nature of it is because Sen. Roraback has been very vocal in his attempt to frame issues to benefit his candidacy,” Occhiogrosso said.

Roraback and Occhiogrosso both see politics as the basis for their disagreements, and each blames the other for the problems the state faces.

According to Occhiogrosso, many of Roraback’s disputes with Malloy have been intended to “score cheap political points.”

“It’s that kind of politics that Sen. Roraback has been practicing that helped drive Connecticut into a ditch,” he said.

But, according to Roraback, the opposite is true.

“He believes that more government and the taxes to pay for more government are the solutions,” Roraback said of Malloy.

“I believe they continue to exacerbate the problem. We now have $1.6 billion in new taxes, a state budget shortfall despite those taxes, and we continue to have a stagnant economy and unacceptably high unemployment. It is clear that Governor Malloy’s vision for Connecticut is a failed one,” he said.

Email Jordan Fenster at jfenster@nhregister.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanfenster. Follow our 5th District coverage on Twitter@5thDistrictCT or Facebook@CT5thDistrict.

Labriola: 5th District socially conservative Republicans won’t hurt Roraback

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By Jordan Fenster, Staff Reporter

Some social conservatives in the 5th District have said they may vote for a minor party candidate, rather than help elect a socially-moderate Republican such as Andrew Roraback.

But Connecticut’s Republican Party chairman is not worried.

Chairman of the CT GOP Jerry Labriola, Jr. (New Haven Register Photo/Peter Casolino)

“With respect” to those social conservatives, Jerry Labriola Jr. said their votes won’t mean very much, in the grand scheme.

Peter Wolfgang, of pro-life organization the Family Institute of Connecticut, had said during a recent interview that “I can’t say for sure what I’m going to do on Nov. 6.”

“Right now my attitude toward Andrew Roraback is wait and see,” he said,

Bill O’Brien, president of Connecticut Right-to-Life, said “We may be better off getting a Democrat in office now so we can put up a pro-life opponent in two years. A lot of people I’m in contact with won’t vote for Roraback.”

John Pistone

Roraback was recently named the nominee of the Independent Party in the 5th District, meaning his name will appear on the ballot twice, but social conservatives have a third choice, write-in and pro-life candidate John Pistone.

But it’s not very likely, Labriola said, that votes for Pistone from the social conservative wing of Connecticut’s Republican Party will affect Roraback’s chances of winning.

“There’s always been protest votes. Most reasonable-thinking Republicans are going to support our nominee,” he said.

According to Labriola, Roraback, a fiscal conservative and social moderate, will have appeal among the mass of unaffiliated voters in the 5th District, and possibly even some Democrats, too.

“That will more than overcome a few disgruntled elements,” he said. “I have absolutely no concern in that regard.”

Email Jordan Fenster at jfenster@nhregister.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanfenster.