You can listen to the debate at www.wnpr.org.
My reception is lousy here, and I'm on a slow connection, so I won't be recording the debate. I will do my best to give you updates as the debate progresses. If you're listening out there, feel free to post observations.
32 comments:
Okay, here we go. it's 9:07am, and the debate is starting.
This debate is being taped by CT-N for broadcast later.
Opening statements (paraphrased):
GLASSMAN: Lt. governors become governors. She is detailing her history, and bemoaning the loss of open space, jobs and college grads. Election is about change.
FEDELE: History, immigration story (emigrated from Italy as a boy, raised in Stamford, legislative history), move CT forward with Gov. Rell.
Glassman doesn't come off as much of a leader...
q1: What can you tell us--what kind of gov. would you be if you had to assume the office?
GLASSMAN: I will not be a ribbon-cutting lt. governor, I will be strong. She's highlighting jobs and high health care costs. She says she has a "proven track record."
FEDELE: I bring skill sets required to be good gov., lt. gov. He is highlighting his private-sector experience, and legislative experience. He is highlight his "well-balanced resume."
GLASSMAN: only one with experience working in the LG office (she worked for LG Sullivan). She's listing some stats.
Glassman sounds nervous. Fedele sounds calm.
Q: What will you be able to do in this office? How closely do you expect to work with Gov.? WIll you be able to influence policy?
FEDELE: Gov. Rell and I will work as partners. Look at my resume, experience. "I'm here to move forward." Rell "understands she needs a strong partner."
GLASSMAN: What you see is what you get. Hard work. Active in policy-making.
--sorry missed a bunch of things--
Glassman stumbling & bumbling over words. Surprisingly she is not attacking Rell as DeStefano did. Looks like a different strategy. Fedele looks to be taking the Jodi Rell road: talk about accomlishments and "bright future". Very good debate right now. Both sound a little better/smoother than the Gov candidates...
glassman is talking about transportation. She is highlighting smart growth initiatives. Mentioning the millionaire's tax. More money into mass transit.
FEDELE: No question transportation is a big issue. Rell is first gov. to put money into transportation in 20 years. We couldn't afford Dem transportation plan, too expensive for taxpayers. Transportation problems occur b/c of neglect by the legislature. Money, commitment will fix problem.
GLASSMAN: Rell plan is limited, half of what we need to accomplish goals. No real smart growth policy.
Jobs:
FEDELE: Tax structure for corporations not favorable. We need to make CT more corporate friendly. We have a lot to offer, but tax structure, labor laws are prohibitive for companies. I plan to play a role in that. We need to make sure corporations can work with the state.
GLASSMAN: Businessess need help with health care and providing a skilled work force. Gov. has not done this. We have different agencies to deal w/ business, cumbersome, DeStefano would help streamline. We are not investing in our educational system. Link business community with educational system.
I must say that Fedele sounds a lot better than Glassman.
Next question (from readers): Do you support a ban on eminent domain?
GLASSMAN: Towns have the right and opportunity to take land for public purposes, but NL did something else, by taking private homes for commercial development to try to raise funds. I would support restrictions on eminent domain. Towns should be given the right to take property for public use. She's transitioned to education funding. We will support every city and town, every city and town gets 50% of ed. funding.
FEDELE: NL eminent domain was "wrong" and legislature should correct problem. Ed. funcing: ECS formula out of date. Legislture and task force will hopefully reform.
GLASSMAN: We don't need a task force to tell us that towns need more money for education.
Plan B and hospitals:
FEDELE: Moot point, morning-after pill will become available over the counter in January. Rell and Fedele focusing on womens' issues.
GLASSMAN: Voters wanted a balanced ticket, why they chose me. Interested to hear opponent is pro-choice, opponent voted for a bill in legislature to make certain kinds of abortions a felony. No question I'm pro-choice. I support plan B, womens' health. I would be an advocate for women. [this was a stronger response by Glassman--her strongest yet]
FEDELE: No question Rell and I are pro-choice. What Glassman said is completely wrong.
Agreed, Fedele sounds better. Smoother and stating facts.
Glassman's nasal voice/overbite really attributing taking away from what she is actually saying. And what she is saying seems a bit discombobulated.
Fedele seems on the ball and actually answering questions. Glassman seems to be taking the DeStefano road in his debates to spinspinspin and change subjects...
Campaign Finance Reform passed, what about contracting reform? Why not passed? What can be done?
GLASSMAN: We need to do more. Rell didn't support campaign finance reform until Rowland went to jail. We need to do more for contracting reform. She is mentioning contractors contributing to Rell campaign. We can do privitization with safeguards.
FEDELE: Reason Gov. vetoed contracting bills was because "special interests called unions wanted all the gravy in those bills." we have to get away from special interests. Open it up to everyone, all organizations. Contributions: this campaign has got no money from special interests PACs. Opponent's campaign has. It is the law, fair to do, but let's be clear which campaign is taking it, which is not. some donations fall through the cracks, when we find out we return money.
[Zing!]
GLASSMAN: Rell has broken her own standards. We are acting within the law.
Fairfield county issues:
FEDELE: fairfield county is one of the counties with troubles, hopefully my expertise will help. Fairfield County challenges are all across the state, we can use same sorts of solutions in different ways for entire state-traffic, energy, housing.
GLASSMAN: Fairfield County issues are unique. I-95, for example. DeStefano will do something about transportation. We need to focus on improving rail system, improving ports. Get trucks off highways, move cargo through ports. Smart land-use decisions along with transportation development. We have a unique opportunity to attract businesses.
fedele: If we can solve Fairfield County, we can solve rest of CT.
Glassman's loyalty to Malloy is transparent - Stamford has grown under Mayor Malloy...
Urban redevelopment--how should state balance big-ticket development and smaller needs?
GLASSMAN: We lack a smart-growth policy. We need to coordinate our land-use policies. We need to invest in education, in people. [Huh?] We need to prioritize budget, bonding, fund education. INvest in development we already have before investing in new development.
FEDELE: If you don't have items like Adrien's Landing, Steel Pt., companies will say state hasn't made an investment, why should we? We need to also make sure we invest in education, reliable energy, etc, so companies look at total package. Remember, problems occured over time, solutions same way.
GLASSMAN: If we had a strong gov., we'd have a smart growth plan. We wouldn't be wasting bonding dollars with projects here, there.
More questions over email from listeners. Every year, state police work withh Hartford police to cut down on violence. Violence always comes back--how can this cycle be stopped?
FEDELE: Need to make sure police have resources they need (in all towns). Also work with judicial system. Gun courts. Job creation in inner-cities so children can see jobs are better than drug dealing. Total package.
GLASSMAN: State police levels at all time low, we need more. Disagree with opponent, energy/money needs to go into education, after-school programs, community work, police instead of gun courts to prevent crimes from happening. Gov. has cut summer jobs, summer programs. Not about judicial dept., about investing in kids.
FEDELE: No question gov. has commitment to children and education.
Millionaire's tax: how do you balance tax with people leaving?
GLASSMAN: We need to make sure all CT citizens enjoy all opportunities millionaires do. We need to take money and invest in property taxes, education, etc. Those earning over $1 mil a year should give back to the state. It's less fair to raise taxes on working families.
FEDELE: Millionaire's tax just a new way of taxing everyone. This is a way to pop the spending cap. We need to make sure we're looking at spending. DeStefano talks about a billion dollars in tax increases--no money from tax increases going to education. Opponents talk about jobs, keeping people here, but also about taxes. Companies and individuals have feet. We need to work together. [Probably his best answer]
GLASSMAN: I guess it's okay for poor people who can't afford to leave the state to keep paying taxes. Highlighting kids losing HUSKY, health care.
closing statements:
GLASSMAN: Election is all about opportunity, education and change. History. First Dem elected in Simsbury for 35 years. it's our time to give back to the people of CT. Every child in CT in priority districts should get preschool, college more affordable. Make a change, vote for DeStefano/Glassman.
FEDELE: immigration story again. providing for pre-K, education, jobs, health care access, quality health care for everyone in the state. Challenges of immigrants and CT somewhat similar. How do we get to where we want to go? Rell: someone who has made us proud to be CT citizens again. Choice on Nov. 7th.
No knockouts... checking the judges cards... the winner, by decision, after 10 rounds.. is...
Fedele. He'll be a great LG. I think it's going to begin an era where the LG is more than just a name...
Pretty interesting debate. CT-N will be broadcasting debate later.
Fedele did better, overall, although Glassman got over her initial nervousness and did better towards the end of the debate. Attacks were kept to a minimum, although they were more present than in the two gubernatorial debates.
Two future stars of their party debated here today. Well worth hearing.
I'm not trying to be mean, just honest with my opinion, but Fedele easily outclassed Glassman. Fedele will do very well as LG. Glassman will never be heard of again, in all likelihood. Let's be honest, she was Malloy's accidental pick after all of his top choices declined. Given Rell's popularity no one serious on the Dem. side wanted to run for LG, so Malloy and DeStefano each ended up with inexperienced unknowns. That showed in today's debate.
Plan B going OTC makes whether or not it's carried in the hospitals a moot point according to Fedele. Really, if your raped just have the ambulance stop at Walgreens on the way to the ER. Idiots.
Anon 10:24 - Maybe the Rape Crisis counselor from the police department could carry them, since they don't need to be prescribed./ Idiots.
The hospital pharmacies will now stock them as OTC drugs. No one will have to be tested to see if they're pregnant/ovulating. No prescription necessary, no need to stop anywhere but the hospital. Idiots, can't take yes for an answer.
anaonymous 10:45 is full of it. If the RC Hospitals won't stock Plan B as a prescription they are not going to stock it as an OTC. Idiot.
RELL/FEDELE 2006!!!
Bluecoat said: "The Family Institute will soon take over for the CT GOP."
Bluecoat, certainly have missed your many posts, it is nice to see you back.
This statement, however, is crazy.
The Family Institute has virtually no influence in the Republican party. The Republican candidate for Gov., Lt.Gov., AG, SOTS, Comp. & Treas., plus all 5 Republicans running for Congress have no involvement with the Family Institute. Moreover, they are all pro choice and (correct me if I am wrong) all support civil unions. Hardly Family Inst. stuff there Bluecoat.
How many Republicans running for the 187 legislative seats are FIC candidates? Less than 10% is my guess. Plus, FIC has endorsed quite a few Democratic lawmakers too.
FIC has 2 main issues - abortion and gay marriage - and neither of those issues drives a significant number of even Republican voters in CT.
Do you know any FIC sponsored candidates in your town or area, because I don't?
I know of two FIC candidates in my area -- Rick Giordano and Fred Wilms (Norwalk, running against Bob Duff).
In order to be endorsed, each had to answer three questions correctly, Do you oppose same-sex marriage? Do you oppose forcing Catholic hospitals to offer emergency contraceptive to rape victims? And do you oppose forcing religious schools to hire or retain cross-dressing teachers?
Any candidate endorsed by the FIC had to answer all three questions with a YES to receive the endorsement.
While Rick Giordano has been "outed" as an ultra-right wing candidate in Stamford/Darien, his counterpart -- Fred Wilms -- in Norwalk has not.
http://www.ctfamily.org/Crosshairs.html
the FI even takes on GC directly but they use his given name instead of his handle in the post.
Not the first time they've attacked me. They seem to enjoy taking comments from this site and posting them out of context.
But I see no reason to waste my time responding to religious extremists, except to say that almost no candidates in this state have made opposition to civil unions and/or gay marriage a major and visible part of his or her campaign.
Does anybody remember Fedele doing much when he was a legislator?
Didn't think so. Rell who initially had said she was an "old fashioned girl" flip-flopped on civil unions and pissed off the Family Institute so when it came time to pick an LG she threw them a bone with Fedele. McKinney and Lauretti just didn't fit the bill.
DeStefa-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Love from his own LG! She hearts Malloy still!
It's too bad that the public could not call in. I wonder how Glassman would have replied if someone asked her why she gave $500 to John Rowland's campaign in 2002.
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