After last weekend’s storm and the slow response from utility companies, tomorrow’s elections haven’t been at the top of everyone’s mind. Most Hartford residents have their electricity back. But now it’s time to talk about having power.

Local elections aren’t glamorous. But tomorrow, Hartford residents have a chance to vote for the kind of change our city needs. Good jobs for Hartford residents. Quality schools for our kids. Safe and healthy neighborhoods.

The Working Families Party is supporting a slate of four experienced community activists for City Council who have the energy and the ideas to rebuild a city we can all be proud of: Luis Cotto, Cynthia Jennings, Joel Cruz and Larry Deutsch.

Look for the Working Families Party team on Row C. You can’t spell change without C.

We couldn’t be prouder of our slate. Luis Cotto is an activist who believes in Hartford, working to invest in the city’s arts and parks and improve opportunities for our kids to make our neighborhoods more vibrant. Larry Deutsch is a practicing physician, a PTO leader, and an activist for workers’ rights. Cynthia Jennings is a civil rights attorney. As a co-founder of Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, she has stood up to big polluters to make Hartford neighborhoods healthier. Joel Cruz is a former marine and a pastor who organized his church to stand up for healthcare for all.

And with four votes, you can help elect a team that has what it takes to bring real change to Hartford.

Here’s how you can help:

• Remember to vote tomorrow. If you’re not sure where to vote, look up your poll site here.
• Click here to spread the word on Facebook.
• Email this message to other Hartford residents to spread the word.

Finally, if you support the work we do and want to help, please make a contribution towards our get-out-the-vote efforts for Tuesday. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a difference. If you can contribute $15 right now, it will be a big help.

All the best,

-Jon Green
Executive Director
CT Working Families Party

Working Families is supporting Tom Bruenn because he’ll stand up for the needs of every day working families.

In every election, Working Families members evaluate the records of all the candidates, and only support the ones who will fight for working families — from making healthcare more affordable to creating good jobs to fair taxes for the middle class.

Especially with our struggling economy, we deserve a Senator who understands the difficult times ordinary working families are facing.

In a low turnout special election, every vote really matters.

So mark your calendar and set an alarm on your phone to remind you — go vote this Tuesday, February 22nd. Polls are open from 6AM – 8PM.

In Tuesday’s Senate race, Tom Bruenn is the clear choice for working families.

Tom Bruenn knows that to get our economy back on its feet, our elected leaders need to come together and work to create decent jobs. Tom is deeply committed to serving to our community, having spent 37 years as a high school teacher. Tom is committed to protecting and expanding affordable healthcare and improving our schools.

When you vote on Tuesday, you’ll see Tom Bruenn listed on the Democratic candidate on Row A, and also the Working Families candidate on Row C. Voting on the Working Families line counts the same to elect Tom, but also sends a message to all politicians that you’re counting on them to stand up for working families like yours.

Remember to vote this Tuesday. Find Tom Bruenn on the Working Families ballot line.

Help spread the word by sharing your support on Facebook.

Working Families is supporting Terry Gerratana, because we can count on her to put the needs of our community first.

In every election, Working Families members evaluate the records of all the candidates, and only support the ones who will fight for working families — from making healthcare more affordable to creating good jobs to fair taxes for the middle class.

Especially with our struggling economy, the residents of New Britain, Berlin and Farmington deserve a full-time Senator who believes public services means putting the needs of ordinary working people first.

In a low turnout special election, every vote really matters.

So mark your calendar and set an alarm on your phone to remind you — go vote this Tuesday, February 22nd. Polls are open from 6AM – 8PM.

In Tuesday’s Senate race, Terry Gerratana is the clear choice for working families.

Too many politicians seem like they’re just in it for personal or political gain. Not Terry.

Terry is a committed public servant with an impressive record of delivering for ordinary families. As a legislator, she stopped insurance companies from dropping cancer survivors, and led the fight for early screenings for cervical cancer, which save hundreds of lives.

When you vote on Tuesday, you’ll see Terry Gerratana listed on the Democratic candidate on Row A, and also the Working Families candidate on Row C. Voting on the Working Families line counts the same to elect Terry, but also sends a message to all politicians that you’re counting on them to stand up for working families like yours.

Remember to vote this Tuesday. Find Terry Gerratana on the Working Families ballot line.

Help spread the word by sharing your support for Terry Gerratana on Facebook.

Last Election Day, millions of voters nationwide frustrated with the current administration in Washington voted Republican.

But not in Connecticut.

Here in The Land of Steady Habits, the Grand Old Party failed to pick up a single seat in Congress and fared almost as poorly in state elections. Former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, buoyed by a surge of late votes in Bridgeport and New Haven, became the state’s first Democratic governor in a generation. His margin — a slim 6,700 votes.

What made the difference? Like most close elections, political observers were eager to cite various factors. In the gubernatorial race there was an unprecedented mobilization by union members, an increased voter turnout in the cities and what might have been the deciding factor — the showing at the polls of the state’s Working Families Party.

An independent, grassroots  political party the WFP and its ballot line attracted 26,000 votes for Malloy — a much larger total than his actual margin of victory.

Jon Green, executive director for Working Families, wasn’t bashful about discussing his party’s impact.

“Working Families endorses candidates who support policies that make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people,” said Green. “Things like ensuring that workers can earn paid sick days, closing corporate tax loopholes and making health care more affordable.”

Green added that “now more than ever, we need our elected leaders to be more responsive to the needs of hard-working families.”

During his campaign Malloy had been vocal in his support of paid sick days legislation — a top priority for the Working Families Party.

According to a poll conducted before the election by Suffolk University, most Working Family voters are independents. Party leaders boast that the WFP knocked on more than 50,000 doors this year to reach out to these voters.

In discussing results of the mid-term election, Republican Justin Bernier said the state GOP could learn from groups like WFP in terms of mobilizing voters and listening to their concerns.

“Voters we spoke to this year are frustrated with the difficult economy,” said Green. “They’re concerned that neither party seems like they’re putting the needs of ordinary families first, ahead of the demands of high-powered lobbyists and special interests.”

Southington and Berlin could be a case study on how the Working Families Party can make a difference in close elections. The party cross-endorsed Democratic state Reps. Joe Aresimowicz and Zeke Zalaski — two legislators who, WFP leaders say, have been forceful advocates for working class families.

State Rep. Corky Mazurek, D-Southington and Wolcott, — a “conservative” Democrat who had opposed legislation on paid w days and a bill to stop the outsourcing of good jobs — was not cross-endorsed by WFP. Mazurek lost by 45 votes, while Aresimowicz and Zalaski received 345 and 176 votes, respectively on the Working Families ballot line.

“Some issues I and Working Families support aren’t exactly popular with lobbyists and political heavy hitters, but they’re the right thing to do,” said Aresimowicz. “Having a group that actually gets out and knocks on doors in support of certain issues makes it easier for legislators to stand strong for them.”

This election year, the Working Families Party endorsed 93 candidates in the state — mostly Democrats. However, the occasional Republican and independent also received the party’s nod. In total, 73 WFP candidates were victorious, including four who — like Malloy — would have lost their race without the votes cast on the Working Families line.

Steve Cassano won a state Senate race in Manchester by 73 votes after a recount — with nearly 1,000 of his votes on the Working Families ballot line. Jim Crawford of Westbrook was elected to the state House by a margin of 22 votes — 235 of his votes came from the WFP ballot line.

“The lesson here is that when you speak up for what you believe in and for what matters to [working] people, voters will reward you for it,” said Green. “After this recent election, I hope Democrats and Republicans will work on getting the economy back on track for the middle class.”

Working Families hasn’t closed up shop since Election Day.

“We’ll be knocking on doors all year round, talking to voters, working hard to make sure our politicians deliver for ordinary people, rather than special interests,” Green vowed.

Dan Malloy’s election as governor was a double victory for the Working Families Party: Its cross endorsement was crucial to his narrow win, and Malloy unequivocally supports its top issue, a bill requiring private employers to offer paid sick days.

But the drive to make Connecticut the first state to mandate paid sick time also lost ground on Election Day as Republicans unseated 10 House members and one state senator who have voted for the measure in past sessions.

“It’s going to be a fight,” said Jon Green, the executive director of the Working Families Party.

The issue could be a high-profile, first-year battle for Malloy and the Working Families, a minor party that practices a brand of fusion politics primarily aimed at drawing left-leaning voters to sympathetic Democrats.

Both the House and the Senate have passed versions of a sick-leave bill in recent years, but not during the same session and not by a tally large enough to withstand an anticipated veto by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Overriding a veto would require 24 votes in the 36-member Senate and 101 in the 151-member House

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said Malloy’s election changes the math.

“Now, you need 18 votes in the Senate and 76 in the House,” Looney said.

A tie vote of 18 to 18 in the Senate would be broken by the presiding officer, Malloy’s running mate, Nancy Wyman.

Looney said he now believes the Senate also will debate an earned-income tax credit for low-income residents, another idea endorsed by Malloy.

For the first time, the Working Families can lay claim to helping elect a statewide office holder with a cross endorsement that put Malloy’s name on the ballot twice, as a Democrat and a Working Families candidate.

Counting only the votes cast for Malloy on the Democratic line, he lost to Republican Tom Foley by 19,904 votes. But add the 26,308 votes for Malloy on the WFP line, the deficit turned into a 6,404-vote win.

Of course, voters cannot vote more than once for a candidate, but polling shows that the cross-endorsement draws support from voters who might be unwilling to cast a vote on a major-party line.

The Working Families say their cross-endorsements allow voters to cast “a protest vote that counts.”

Two Democrats also won state Senate seats with help from their cross-endorsements.

In the 4th Senatorial District, Steve Cassano of Manchester lost by 923 votes on the Democratic line. With his 996 WFP votes, he was able to eke out a 73-vote win for the seat left open by the retirement of Sen. Mary Anne Handley, D-Manchester.

Without her 1,081 votes from her Working Families cross endorsement, Sen. Edith G. Prague, D-Columbia, lost by 279 votes. As the co-chairwoman of the labor committee, Prague is a key ally for the minor party.

But Green soft-pedals being able to claim his party provided the margin of victory for a new governor.

Ask him what it means that Malloy got so many votes on the WFP line, he replies, “It means Malloy’s the governor, as opposed to someone else.”

The important result on Election Day was that an ally won, not that his margin fell within his Working Families vote total, Green said.

“I don’t mean to be too cute, but let’s not forget,” he said. “That’s what it actually means.”

Malloy was the only major-party candidate to strongly and unequivocally back paid sick days. Others questioned if any mandate on business was wise in a tough economy – especially one not adopted by any other state.

The version of the legislation proposed in Connecticut in 2009 applied only to companies with 50 or more employees.

It would have required up to five paid sick days, based on hours worked. Employees would have accrued one hour of leave for every 40 hours worked.

Companies that already offer paid time off would have been deemed in compliance.

It passed the House, 88 to 58, but it did not come to a vote in the Senate. In 2008, the Senate passed a different version, 20 to 16.

The margins would be tighter in both chambers.

Ten of the 88 House members who voted for the bill lost to Republicans this year, shrinking the ranks of the supporters to 78. With all members in attendance, passage of a bill in the House requires 76 votes.

Green has not performed a new headcount, but at least one Democratic opponent of the bill was succeeded by a more supportive Democrat, off-setting some of the losses, Green said.

In the Senate, two supporters of the bill will not be returning. Thomas Colapietro, D-Bristol, lost his seat to a Republican and Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, did not seek re-election.

Harris will be succeeded by Beth Bye, a Democrat who voted against the bill in the House last year and was endorsed by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the leading opponent of paid sick days.

A sitting governor can help round up waffling legislators. He also can carry the public-relations debate in a way that individual legislators cannot.

“That helps a lot,” Green said.

Kia Murrell, a lobbyist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said the strongest argument against paid sick days is that it would be a risky move in a bad economy for a state with a reputation for a hostile business climate.

“The economy, that still tells a very compelling story this year, as it did last year,” she said. “A paid sick leave mandate is simply a bad idea right now. The fact it’s been stalled on the federal level is very telling.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District, has been unable to advance a federal version. With Republicans about to take over the majority in the U.S. House, the issue is dead in Congress for at least the next two years.

Washington D.C. and San Francisco have municipal ordinances requiring paid sick days. In San Francisco, some business associations report that the requirement has been less burdensome than feared.

But the best argument against the bill in CBIA’s view is that Connecticut would be the first state to require the benefit, an unwanted distinction when the state is trying to improve its business climate.

“This is not the trophy we want to bring home,” Murrell said.

For immediate release
For more information contact:
Joe Dinkin at (978) 223-5868 (cell) or jdinkin@workingfamiliesparty.org

HARTFORD — Today, Dan Malloy has pulled out a narrow victory in the race for Governor over Tom Foley, with the votes on the Working Families Party line pushing him over the top. While the tally has not been finalized, about 25,000 voters cast their vote on the Working Families Party ballot line for Dan Malloy, much larger than his narrow margin of victory.

“Twenty-five thousands Working Families voters made their voices heard on Election Day by voting on the Working Families ballot line for Dan Malloy, and sent a message that that we support Dan Malloy because we need elected leaders to be more responsive to the needs of ordinary working families, not just lobbyists and CEOs. We congratulate Dan on his victory and we’re proud to have made a difference,” said Jon Green, Executive Director of the Connecticut Working Families Party.

The Working Families Party contacted tens of thousands of voters around the state over the past six weeks in support of the party’s endorsed candidates, through a combination of phone calls, direct mail and the party’s door to door canvassing operation, which knocked on over 50,000 doors.

Support from Working Families also proved to be critical in a number of state legislative races. In total, pending the results of several recounts, 73 of the Working Families Party’s 93 endorsed candidates have won.

Working Families Party is an independent, grassroots party that stands up for ordinary working families and fights for creating good jobs, making healthcare more affordable, allowing workers to earn paid sick days and fair taxes for the middle class. Working Families examines the records of all candidates — Democrats and Republicans — and endorses only the candidates with a proven track record of working to improve the lives of ordinary families, not powerful special interests.

###

WESTBROOK — Pending a mandatory recount of ballots, Democrat James Crawford eked out a narrow 22-vote victory Tuesday over Republican challenger David Denvir as the new state representative for the 35th District.

Crawford, a Westbrook school teacher, would succeed five-term Democrat Brian O’Connor as the state representative for Clinton, Killingworth and the north portion of Westbrook if the results stand in a recount that must take place by next Tuesday.

Despite losing the races in Clinton, the largest town in the district, and in Killingworth, Crawford appears to have prevailed by virtue of his overwhelming victory in Westbrook, where he defeated Denvir by 544 votes.

With the results still unofficial, Denvir has a total of 4,720 votes from the three towns, while Crawford, also on the ballot as the candidate of the Working Families Party, won a total of 4,742 votes.

There was heavy voter turnout in all three communities: 71 percent of registered voters came to the polls in Killingworth, 2,902 of Westbrook’s 4,122 voters cast ballots, and the Clinton polling place went through more than 5,000 ballots — the most ever used for a state election.

In Denvir’s view, however, the result hinged on a mere one percent difference — 47 votes — between the number he projected he would win and the actual number cast.

The former two-term first selectman in Killingworth and Madison attorney also acknowledged, “I always knew the biggest challenge was going to be Westbrook. They haven’t voted for a Republican in 15 years. I wish Jim well, but I’ll let the process continue and see what happens.”

Crawford attributed his victory to hard work in campaigning and to the support of Westbrook voters. “Obviously, I’m very gratified by it,” he said of the results in his town. “The folks in Westbrook got me elected.”

“I worked hard to make sure (the Westbrook voters) didn’t feel neglected, but I spent a lot of time campaigning in Clinton and Killingworth, and I was a little disappointed with the results. I hit a lot of houses in those towns,” he remarked.

On the other hand, he said, “A win’s a win. Over the next two years, I’m going to try to develop better name recognition beyond Westbrook and to do the job I’m elected to do.”

Clinton First Selectman William Fritz said he was disconsolate over the initial report from the Westbrook polls that showed Crawford losing by 19 votes. With a corrected count and a victory for Crawford, Fritz said of him, “He worked harder than anybody I’ve ever seen (campaign). He was definitely committed to it. Dave’s well-known around here, but it looks like he didn’t do much campaigning.”

Fritz said he was particularly cheered by Crawford’s win because “He’s just the nicest guy.”

There are many important issues, and big differences between the candidates. Here’s two issues that really show why Dan Malloy is the right choice for ordinary working class families.

OUTSOURCING
Tens of thousands of decent jobs in Connecticut have been outsourced to other states or other countries. Working Families supports legislation to end tax breaks for companies who send jobs out of state and a policy to allow the state give preference to contractors who will keep the work in Connecticut.

Dan Malloy supports both policies to stop the outsourcing of good jobs.
Tom Foley opposes both policies.

PAID SICK DAYS
For hundreds of thousands of working parents in Connecticut, losing pay can be as easy as catching the flu and a child’s doctor’s appointment could cost you your job. In this difficult economy, no one should be forced to choose between their family’s health and their job. Working Families supports legislation to allow workers to earn paid sick time.

Dan Malloy has vocally supported a paid sick days policy and testified for it at the legislature.
Tom Foley opposes a basic paid sick days policy.

What it boils down to is this: Dan Malloy shares the values of ordinary working class and middle class families. Tom Foley comes from a different world, the world of Greenwich CEOs and yacht owners. He’ll never really understand the struggle ordinary working families are facing.

When you vote on the Working Families ballot line, your vote counts for Dan Malloy, but it also send a message to all politicians that you want them to fight — to really fight — for the issues that matter to you.

It’s time to focus on the issues — not the smears, the money race, the personalities or the polling — and vote our values, by voting for Dan Malloy on the Working Families ballot line.

Can we count on you to vote Working Families? Take the pledge.

Then share this voter guide with anyone who you think could use it.

With pollsters predicting tight gubernatorial and congressional elections, a cross-endorsement by the Working Families Party could be pivotal for the first time in a high-profile Connecticut race.

The labor-backed party, which is trying to transplant New York’s tradition of fusion politics to the state, has cross-endorsed top Democrats, beginning with the gubernatorial nominee, Dan Malloy.

In a year when the electorate appears to be tilting right, the left-leaning Working Families hopes to deliver the margin of victory Tuesday for Malloy and other Democratic allies.

Malloy is a backer of the minor party’s top legislative priority, a law mandating paid sick days. And with polls showing the tightest gubernatorial election in decades, the cross-endorsement could be decisive.

U.S. Rep. John B. Larson at the Working Families Party. (CT Mirror)

Malloy and many other Democrats will appear twice on the ballot, on the Democratic and Working Families lines. In past years, the Working Families has provided the margin of victory for several state legislators.

Unlike other minor parties, the Working Families Party is closely associated with Democrats, although it does cross-endorse some Republicans and has run its own nominees.

Offering voters a chance to cast “a protest vote that counts,” Working Families pitches itself as a way for voters turned off by the major parties to still cast a vote for Democrats.

A recent poll by Suffolk University found that many voters who intend to cast a vote for a Working Families candidate would not mark their ballots for the same candidate on the Democratic line.

Jon Green, the party’s executive director, said Working Families has been focusing its door-to-door canvassers on working-class neighborhoods with high percentages of unaffiliated voters.

“The response is pretty good,” Green said.

U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, delivered a pep talk Thursday before the canvassers fanned out from its Hartford headquarters for another day of door-knocking.

Larson said the door-to-door campaigning is an “old-school” counterbalance to “the obscene amount of money that’s been spent” in the 2010 races for Congress and statewide office in Connecticut.

“The only way that we’ll succeed is by doing it the old-fashioned way, getting them out to vote,” Larson said. “So, after all the money that’s been spent, and everything that goes down, it all comes down to the next several days in getting the vote out.”

Larson said later he was not bothered that part of Working Families’ appeal is to voters who are turned off by the major parties.

The Working Families Party, which has brought New York’s tradition of fusion politics to Connecticut, has cross-endorsed the top of the Democratic ticket, starting with the nominee for governor, Dan Malloy.

Larson said he views the Working Families as one of many branches of the Democratic coalition that ranges from organized labor to the conservative Blue Dog Democrats.

“It’s like another caucus of the Democratic Party. Their instincts are all Democratic, but they want to make sure they’ve got a spot at the table,” Larson said. “I get it. I understand it. We’re a big tent.”

Originally available at:
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/8214/working-families-gives-democrats-another-base

With so many elections coming down to the wire, particularly the governor’s race and some congressional contests, the Working Families Party thinks it could make the difference in who wins Tuesday.

The party earned 82,854 votes across Connecticut in the 2008 election, or 5.4 percent of the ballots cast.

“We are not going to win with 5 percent of the vote, but we could tip the balance,” said Jon Green, executive director of the Working Families Party.

The party has cross-endorsed a number of state representatives and state senators, mainly Democrats, as well as the Democratic statewide constitutional officers and the five Democratic congressional candidates.

The race for governor between Democrat Dan Malloy and Republican Tom Foley is tight, according to all recent surveys.

A Quinnipiac Poll shows Malloy ahead by 5 percentage points, while he is out front by 3 percentage points in a survey by Rasmussen Reports, and the poll commissioned by CT Capitol Report shows the men neck and neck at 45.1 percent of likely voters.

Malloy said at the time that he was happy to get the endorsement of the Working Families Party and hopes it counters tea party support he says is likely to go Foley’s way.

In 2008, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, squeaked by incumbent Republican Christopher Shays by a vote of 149,345 to 146,854, with the 9,130 votes from the Working Families Party making the difference.

Green and Joe Dinkin, spokesman for the Working Families Party, also look for inspiration to another close contest in 1938, when the Republican candidate, Raymond Baldwin, won by 3,046 votes in a six-way race with the help of the small Union Party, beating Democrat Wilbur Cross.

The Working Families Party, just as its name indicates, aligns itself with issues it feels resonate with working class and middle-class voters.

“The organization is about a better economy and fairness for working families,” said Green.

With a core paid group of some 20 workers, augmented by volunteers, the group knocks on about 1,000 doors a day statewide, concentrating where help is needed.

Green said people rally around their stance on paid sick days for certain size companies, where vacation time and flexible scheduling is part of the mix; raising the minimum wage and a pushback against the outsourcing of jobs.

He said it attracts people who are upset “with the unevenness of the economic recovery” and those frustrated with the major political parties.

“Both major parties are not held in the highest regard and we are an alternative,” said Green. “The tea party doesn’t have a monopoly on frustration and anger.” He feels the Working Families Party has specific issues it works on, rather than just being oppositional.

The party has gotten some members elected at the municipal level, but for the statewide elections, it decided cross-endorsing candidates made more sense. “It’s more important to advance issues,” Green said.

Kim Rose, the Democratic candidate in Milford’s 118th District, running against Republican Greg Smith, said she was happy to get the Working Families Party backing. She said she holds the same views on a number of issues.

State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, said a cross-endorsement signals to people who may be upset with the major parties that the issues are what are important to one’s candidacy