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

Gubernatorial candidates submit to 12-minute job interviews on CPTV

  • Politics
  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • June 7, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

mark pazniokas :: ctmirror.org

From left, Steve Obsitnik, Ned Lamont, Timothy Herbst and Mark Boughton get last-minute stage directions.

West Hartford — Mark Boughton watches NASCAR and does yoga, though not at once. In ninth grade, Ned Lamont played keyboard in a band called Flower Pot. Timothy Herbst played offensive line in high school for a legendary football coach. Steve Obsitnik’s kids didn’t want him to run for governor, but they got over it.

Are you ready to hire one of them for governor?

Probably not. 

The four gubernatorial candidates who have qualified for the Democratic or Republican primaries took turns on stage Thursday night, submitting to truncated job interviews for “A Job Like No Other,” a one-hour special broadcast live on Connecticut Public Television. Each candidate was quizzed for about 12 minutes by Chris Ulrich, a body language expert, political consultant, improvisational actor, and personal coach.

“I think people got a different perspective of the candidates. It’s none of this banging on the podium and pointing your finger at them,” said former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who hosted the event. “People can actually look at the candidates and get a glimpse of what that person is like, what’s their personality.”

The special was presented by the Rell Center for Public Service at the University of Hartford.

No one was asked, “How did you hear about the position?”

In most cases, these job applicants have been running since last year, seeking the office being vacated by Rell’s successor, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The four candidates on stage — Democrat Lamont and Republicans Boughton, Herbst and Obsitnik — qualified for primaries at the Democratic or Republican conventions.

Democrats Joseph P. Ganim and Guy L. Smith and Republicans Bob Stefanowski, David Stemerman and Mark Lauretti are trying to qualify by petitioning. None were invited, though Ganim, the mayor of Bridgeport, showed up and was given a ticket to watch in the audience at the Lincoln Theater.

mark pazniokas :: ctmirror.org

M. Jodi Rell

Ulrich posed questions unlikely to be heard at a debate: What are three adjectives your mother might have used to describe you at age 10? How about a friend today? Is there a failure that you cherish for what lessons it imparted? What is your leadership style? What’s your process to bring people together?

“Hyperactive — I never stopped moving,” Larmont said, explaining how his mother might have described him. “Optimistic” was the second adjective he offered. He considered a third before replying, “Good looking.”

The crowd laughed. All four apparently had supportive mothers. Boughton’s mother would have called him “intelligent” and humorous. Herbst’s mom found her son tenacious and resilient. Obsitnik was empathetic and inquisitive.

All four said  voters could learn something from the interviews.

“I think they get a little sense of the personality, a little bit of character, a little bit of who the person is, maybe what they are like,” Lamont said. “With those questions, you couldn’t slip into stump speech very easily. They were making you think on your feet, and people saw how you do that.”

“I think it allowed people to kind of see the human side of us and go through a leadership decision, the thought process we use and where we glean our experiences from,” Herbst said.

Herbst said his high school football coach, Jerry MacDougall, was an inspiration.

All four have been chief executives who have hired people: Boughton is the mayor of Danbury; Herbst was first selectman of Trumbull; Lamont founded and ran a cable-television company; and Obsitnik’s last private-sector job was running a cellular telephone antenna company.

“I would have asked people for their plans,” Obsitnik said. “I would have gone deeper into some experiential things— how you’d manage your way out of a problem. He tried to do that with limited time.”

“I would have asked what do you feel are three things you need to accomplish right out of the gate,” Herbst said.

Boughton said there is time for all of that.

The primaries are Aug. 14. CPTV intends to rebroadcast the show, time to be announced.

Mark Boughton
Timothy Herbst
Ned Lamont
Steve Obsitnik, left, interviewed during his 2018 campaign on CPTV.

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 is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Feds will not be placing migrant children in Connecticut
by Mark Pazniokas

The closed Juvenile Training School had been under consideration as a shelter

Lamont closed the restaurants. Now he is their promoter.
by Mark Pazniokas

A year after Gov. Ned Lamont banned indoor dining due to COVID-19, the industry has welcomed him as its savior.

CT lawmakers call for funding to stop ‘mass killing’ of Black and brown children
by Kelan Lyons

Lawmakers identified a $5 billion proposal by the Biden administration, and marijuana and sports-betting legalization efforts, as potential funding.

Lamont faults CDC on J&J vaccine pause: ‘I would have handled it differently’
by Mark Pazniokas

Gov. Ned Lamont and other governors expressed dismay to the White House over pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

GOP retains Monroe-Newtown seat in CT House
by Mark Pazniokas

Republican Tony Scott of Monroe won a special election Tuesday in the 112th House District of Monroe and Newtown.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion College students in Connecticut should be vaccinated now
by Dayna Vadala

If the state of Connecticut wants its institutions of higher learning to return to normal in the fall, it’s going to have to get shots into the arms of the students.

Opinion Connecticut, be a International leader against hair discrimination among children
by Faith D. Crittenden, Jade A. Anderson, MD, and Whitney L. Stuard

On March 1, 2020, Connecticut became the eighth state to pass the Crown Act, a national legislative movement that recognizes natural hair and cultural headwear discrimination as a form of racial discrimination in the workplace. While we are  in strong support and advocate for this law, it is important to recognize the limitations of the Crown Act and how it can be improved upon in future policy.

Opinion Three lessons for schools across America from Secretary Cardona’s hometown
by Mark Benigni

Over the past decade, Meriden Public Schools -- where U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona served as assistant superintendent -- has become a unique laboratory for new ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in public education. And many of those ideas have paid off.

Opinion A healthcare system too broken to fix
by Sosena Kedebe MD

On March 25, the White house announced that it was going to invest over $6 billion in health centers that are funded through the Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in order to expand COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services provided to vulnerable populations. As a chief medical officer for a health center that is strained to reach some of the most disenfranchised patient population in Hartford, this was great news. Yet there was a part of me that took the news with a deep concern. Why you might ask?

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 numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

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 like to wake up in new skin?”

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 the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

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 and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

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