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Democracy Inaction
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Business New Haven
11/11/2002
By: BNH
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The results of Election 2002 are likely to reverberate for some time to come.
Nationally, of course, the story was the GOP's stunning seizure of the U.S. Senate. And while liberals across the land may be vexed by the elephantine tilt of the electorate at large, back here in Connecticut there are different causes for concern.
It goes without saying that a successful democracy depends on competing ideas and values to survive and thrive. Because of that, voters here should be alarmed by the dearth of serious competition in a rising number of campaigns for state and local offices.
Due to a lackluster campaign and inability to articulate and advance compelling issues, Democratic gubernatorial challenger Bill Curry never seemed a mortal threat to knock off two-term incumbent John Rowland. Nevertheless, the ultimate 5-4 Rowland victory margin brought no disgrace upon Curry and his party, and few really doubt that Rowland may indeed, facing a more formidable candidate with a more cogent platform, be vulnerable.
On the statewide "underticket," however, incumbents for the offices of treasurer, secretary of the state, attorney general and comptroller - all Democrats - faced no serious opposition. The "closest" of the races was first-term incumbent Treasurer Denise L. Nappier's 57-43 drubbing of Republican Ross Garber - hardly a competitive contest.
While the Nancy Johnson-Jim Maloney contest in the newly redrawn Fifth U.S. House District generated sparks and drew plenty of national attention and dollars, only one of the remaining four congressional districts - the Second - was even remotely competitive, with first-term GOP incumbent Rob Simmons staving off a late surge by challenger Joe Courtney by a 53-47 margin.
However, the most striking feature of many local General Assembly races was not the weakness of challengers - but their absence altogether. Of 33 state House districts in south-central Connecticut, 15 were uncontested, while in two others (the 91st and 116th) Republicans stayed on the sidelines, although Democratic incumbents Peter Villano and Louis Esposito Jr. had token third-party opposition to brush off.
Let that sink in a moment: Half of the races for state representative locally were no races at all.
It is equally (if not more) inconceivable that two local state Senate races, too, were walkovers: Democrats Toni Harp in the 10th and Joe Crisco Jr. in the 17th. Representing on average nearly 100,000 in population, no Senate district should ever go uncontested.
Democracy in action, this ain't. Blame campaign-finance rules that favor (to put it gently) incumbents. Blame a primary system that discourages genuine competition within the major parties. Blame the race-to-the-bottom predominance of negative campaigning, which ultimately signals to voters that all political candidates are jerks. Blame Connecticut voters, themselves, whose electoral participation ranks a dismal 34th in the nation. Blame the media (when in doubt, always blame the media) for a frontrunner mentality that makes it difficult or impossible for challengers to be taken seriously.
Save some blame, too for the state's GOP which, despite capturing three of five U.S. House seats and reclaiming the Governor's Mansion for the third time running, failed to place a dent in the Democrats' death grip on the General Assembly. The GOP's failure to translate a national landslide into local traction signals a real failure at the state party level.
For far too many General Assembly races as well as the statewide underticket, the cardinal rule of political campaigns remains in force: If you don't get in the game, you have absolutely no chance to win.
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