CT Group Gets Good Press for Forum

Written by: Kyle Duggan on Dec 8, 2005 10:55 AM EST

Malloy makes pitch to the party faithful

Stamford Advocate, By Doug Dalena

NORWALK -- Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy told some of Fairfield County's most fervent Democrats last night that Gov. M. Jodi Rell can be beaten next November and that he is more likely to do it than his rival for the Democratic nomination.

Speaking at the Silver Star Diner to about 30 people in the Fairfield County chapter of Democracy for America, the political action committee and Democratic group founded by former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean, Malloy said he has a better chance of being elected governor than New Haven Mayor John DeStefano.

"No Democrat is going to be elected who cannot get some of the Republican vote and a majority of independents," Malloy said, "and I have the ability to do that."

Some party activists have associated DeStefano with the more liberal wing of the party represented by Dean, and Malloy with the more conservative Democratic Leadership Council associated with former President Clinton. Malloy was named one of the Democratic Leadership Council's 100 Democrats to Watch in 2003.

The crowd included David Stevenson, who said he campaigned for Dean before the 2004 New Hampshire primary, and Keith Crane of Branford, creator of the DumpJoe.com Web site, which advocates mounting a Democratic challenge to U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Stamford native and friend of Malloy.

Edward Anderson of Branford said before Malloy arrived that "anytime a DLC guy comes to Dean people for support, it's of interest."

But on issues, Malloy made the case that his 10-year record as mayor of Stamford includes the kind of progressive success that Dean and Democracy for America support.

The organization's Web site says it is looking to support "fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates."

Malloy touted the city's universal prekindergarten program, his formation of the Stamford Achieves education task force and his leadership on devoting local resources to school construction as evidence of his ability to move the state to better educational performance.

The chief way to do that, he said, was through reforming the state's tax system by increasing sales, utility, income and gambling taxes and devoting half the increase to education. That, he said, would reduce the property tax burden on local towns.

If increases in those four taxes, which he said grow faster than any other revenues, had been devoted to fully funding education grants to towns 10 years ago, property taxes would not be so high, Malloy said.

"The reality is with the Rowland-Rell administration, that they used those increased revenues to cut taxes, many times on corporations, and to make the tax system less progressive," he said.

"Let us stop defending it," he said of the property tax, adding that no one would re-create Connecticut's tax system if asked to design a plan to adequately fund education.

Malloy said Stamford remains the only city in Connecticut to require affordable housing in multifamily developments, while under Republican leadership, the state has decreased funding for affordable housing from $125 million to about $6 million each year.

On job growth, Malloy said Rell has abdicated responsibility. He said the state must invest heavily in transportation improvements as New Jersey did 20 years ago, make public and higher education more responsive to business needs, and compete heavily for business in every sector.

Noting the state's heritage as the home of the insurance industry, he told the group more insurance jobs had been created in Iowa in the past decade than in Connecticut.

Malloy's message resonated with some in the crowd.

Marcia Bandes of New Canaan liked what he had to say about education.

"I think that's a severe problem in this state," she said, adding that she liked Malloy's ideas about addressing education funding disparity along racial, income and home ownership divides instead of cities against towns.

"If he can help with those points, he's got my vote," Bandes said. She had not heard DeStefano speak and said she did not know enough about him to compare the two.

John Hartwell of Westport, who was a 4th Congressional District coordinator for Dean in 2004 and organizes the monthly "meet-ups," agreed.

"Personally I thought he was very impressive. I had never heard him speak before," Hartwell said. "He sounded as progressive to me as the rest of this group is."

Hartwell said neither Dean nor Democracy for America is as liberal as some people may think.

"Dean talked about balancing budgets," he said.

Anderson said while Malloy had a strong message, he found it hard to support a man tied to a group he blamed for attacks on Dean during the 2004 presidential campaign. Anderson said that while either Malloy or DeStefano would be a better governor than Rell, DeStefano is a better Democrat.

"John DeStefano's dad was a cop," Anderson said. "He understands what it's like to be a working person."

Malloy, who described his mother's work as a nurse during his pitch to the group, argued that because his city is more reflective of Connecticut, in its political and economic mix, his success here could translate more easily to statewide victory.

Anderson also took issue with Malloy's close relationship with Lieberman, and Lieberman's support for the war in Iraq.

"To Dan's credit, he came out very honestly against Joseph Lieberman's foreign policy," Anderson said.

Hartwell said he would like to get DeStefano, who has spoken to the group before, and Malloy together for "a conversation, not a debate" in front of the group.

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