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Election Day Lessons
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Business New Haven
11/13/2000
By: BNH
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The unprecedented drama of the 2000 Presidential election remains unresolved as we write this. The cornerstone of our democracy is rule of law - not rule of lawsuits - and we, like most Americans, can only hope for a speedy resolution permitting the President-elect to get on with the all-important business of assembling a team to govern our nation.
The coincidental closeness of the Bush-Gore contest obscures a more systemic problem that evidences itself on a local level here in Connecticut: Dearth of voter choice.
Reviewing the Nov. 7 results, one cannot help but be struck by the number of state legislative races that were either effectively or literally uncontested. State Sens. Toni Harp (D-10) and Martin Looney (D-11) faced only token opposition; in the 12th Senate district, Republican incumbent William A. Aniskovich ran unopposed.
In the General Assembly, no fewer than four local incumbents received a free ride: Democrats Peter Villano (91) and Nancy Beals (88), both of Hamden, as well as Republicans Robert M. Ward of Branford (86), Peter A. Metz of Madison (101) and Straford's Lawrence Miller (122) faced no opposition at all.
Too many other local incumbents faced only token challenges, including New Haven Democrats John Martinez (95), Howard Scipio (93), Cameron Staples (96) and William Dyson (94) who, setting a new standard for arrogance, told the Yale Daily News he did not even know his challenger's name (for the record: Republican Thomas Fagan).
What's up with this? Certainly part of the answer - in New Haven, at least - is the Democrats' 12-to-one advantage in voter registration, which deters all from the most dauntless Republicans from investing time and treasure in futile electoral challenges.
Voters must shoulder some of the blame for rubber-stamp elections. Do informed New Haven voters actually believe they are getting their fair share from Hartford? If so, then they ought to return their senators and representatives to the Capitol again and again.
More likely is that too many voters simply follow the path of least resistance and pull the lever for candidate whose name is most familiar. Once upon a time, many states erected educational barriers to voting; perhaps that's an idea whose time has returned.
We in the media must accept our share of responsibility. How many newspaper stories did you read about the great ideas generated by Dino Cortina, who marched stoically to a 5,181-691 wipeout at the hands of New Haven Democrat Patricia Dillon (92), or Libertarian Ned Vare, whom Guilford Rep. Patricia Widlitz vaporized by a 20-1 margin? Not enough, we suppose.
One piece of the solution is this: The two major parties bear a responsibility to mount a serious challenge in every General Assembly and state senate race. Connecticut voters deserve no less.
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