Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Donovan tries to bar negative ads in 5th CD primary

  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • February 26, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Southbury — House Speaker Chris Donovan endorsed an expansion of Medicare and a voluntary ban on negative ads at a forum Sunday for the four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District. Elizabeth Esty is with him on Medicare, not so much on the ad pledge.

Esty was the only one of four Democrats who didn’t embrace the local party’s call to swear off negative ads, an idea that Donovan rushed to endorse in a news release emailed to reporters while the candidates still were on stage. She saw no need.

“I will only talk about honest things. I think we all have records, and I am proud of mine, and I will defend my record and promote it,” said Esty, a former Cheshire councilwoman and one-term state legislator. “I don’t think that’s negative.”

Donovan Roberti Esty Yale

From left, Donovan, Roberti, Esty and Yale

As the speaker of the state House of Representatives, Donovan is the best known candidate in the field and has a two-decade legislative record to promote and defend as he pursues the nomination for Connecticut’s only open congressional seat.

“We’re all Democrats, and we want to win this seat,” said Donovan, who urged the candidates to agree to swear off negative ads and to voluntarily pay a “fine” equal to half the cost of negative ads run by an outside group on their behalf.

“I want to put some teeth into it to make sure we don’t beat each other down that we concentrate on fighting the Republicans,” he said.

Donovan, Esty and two newcomers, Daniel Roberti and Randy Yale, ambled through the 90-minute forum at Pomperaug Regional High School like baseball players stretching at spring training.

It was an opportunity to limber up and hone talking points, not to swing for the fences. They glided through immigration, energy policy, the deficit, atrocities in Syria and the tense U.S. relationship with Iran without disagreement.

Strategists for the candidates said it’s a long season, building toward a convention in May, a primary in August and the general election in November.

The quartet, who are competing to succeed U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, a  U.S. Senate candidate, was on stage together for the first time.

All four praised Murphy and President Obama, even as they pronounced Washington to be dysfunctional. They pledged to preserve Social Security and Medicare, whose long-term financial health are uncertain.

John Dankosky, the news director of WNPR radio, moderated the forum, posing his own questions and those from an audience of more than 50 people.

No one seriously tackled an audience question about how to slow the increasing costs of Medicare. In fact, Donovan called for an expansion, without saying precisely how.

“Medicare is actually one of the best health care programs we have in this country, and we need to protect it,” Donovan said. “There are those who talk about cutting it. I’m not talking about cutting it. I think we have to expand the services that are in Medicare.”

Esty also would expand coverage, at least to cover care that could prevent expensive medical complications.

“We pay to cut off the diabetic foot, but we don’t pay for the insulin,” Esty said. “We have a messed up system.”

Donovan and Esty are the only candidates to hold elective office.

Roberti, a former social services director in a homeless shelter, is the son of a Washington power broker, but he is offering himself as “a fresh voice, a new approach to Congress.”

“My background is a unique background,” said the 29-year-old Roberti, the youngest in the race. “I spent my life working with people whom the government has turned their back on, the people the government has forgotten.”

Yale, an insurance underwriter who moved to Connecticut in 2006, is the latest to join the Democratic field. He is the chairman of the Cheshire Environment Commission.

Donovan, Esty and Roberti have a head start in raising money and lining up support. Each had about $500,000 cash on hand as of Dec. 31, the close of the last campaign finance reporting period.

“You know a lot about them,” Yale said, acknowledging some have suggested he is crazy for jumping into the race. He smiled and said, “The truth is I am crazy.”

Yale said his candidacy is a protest against the influence of big money.

“Money has become a cancer on the body politic,” Yale said. On that score, he is the picture of health: alone among the four candidates, he has yet report raising any money.

Like Roberti and Yale, Esty took on the mantle of outsider.

“I am not a professional politician,” Esty said in her opening statement. “I am a mom. I’m an attorney. And, like many of you in this audience, I’ve been active for years in the life of my community.”

Implicit in her opening was the suggestion that Donovan is a professional politician. But that was the closest she came to criticizing him.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Democrats want CT to spend $180 million more on municipal aid. What does that mean for your town?
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Legislative Democrats recommend that the state spend $180 million or 7.4% more more in municipal aid next fiscal year.

Legislature presents its own budget plan, and the stage is set for debate
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Democrats on the Appropriations Committee and Gov. Ned Lamont are headed for a showdown over the next two-year state budget.

CT Democrats to propose beefed-up spending plan
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The Appropriations Committee will propose a two-year state spending plan Wednesday that bolsters municipal aid, higher education and social services.

One step Connecticut can take to address our maternal mortality crisis
by Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD

Uncertainty. Fear. Worry. These are just a few of the thoughts and emotions that run through the minds of almost every expecting parent. And for many expecting Black parents, those feelings can be more acute. That’s because for far too many, having a child is a life and death struggle.

Connecticut lawmakers on aid in dying: two decades of delay, deferral, obstruction
by Paul Bluestein, MD

Very soon, members of the Connecticut House and Senate will be voting on HB6425, - the Medical Aid in Dying bill. More than 20 years ago, Oregon implemented its Death with Dignity Act. Since then, Washington, Vermont, California, Montana, Colorado, Maine, Washington DC, Hawaii and most recently New Mexico have passed legislation authorizing medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults. But not Connecticut.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion One step Connecticut can take to address our maternal mortality crisis
by Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD

Uncertainty. Fear. Worry. These are just a few of the thoughts and emotions that run through the minds of almost every expecting parent. And for many expecting Black parents, those feelings can be more acute. That’s because for far too many, having a child is a life and death struggle.

Opinion Connecticut lawmakers on aid in dying: two decades of delay, deferral, obstruction
by Paul Bluestein, MD

Very soon, members of the Connecticut House and Senate will be voting on HB6425, - the Medical Aid in Dying bill. More than 20 years ago, Oregon implemented its Death with Dignity Act. Since then, Washington, Vermont, California, Montana, Colorado, Maine, Washington DC, Hawaii and most recently New Mexico have passed legislation authorizing medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults. But not Connecticut.

Opinion The intersection of race, class and gender in America’s childcare system: The class edition
by Georgia Goldburn

When Michelle Obama declared that she wanted to become “Mom in Chief,” she spoke to a sentiment shared by many women, i.e. the desire to […]

Opinion A progressive income tax to re-align Connecticut’s moral compass
by Ezra Kaprov

Redistribution of wealth and property is a fundamental and missing pillar of the hope for multi-racial democracy in the United States.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s […]

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is […]

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO