In This Issue:
From Paddi's Desk
450 News
Municipal Roundup
Inside Scoop
This Day in CT History
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The Race is On!
With CT’s Aug 9th primary election right around the corner, you’ve probably noticed the increase in TV/radio/and social media advertising for those running for statewide office, and maybe a lot more in person meet and greets around your town for candidates seeking their party pick to run in November’s general election.
I started to think, did the change in primary schedule from September to August really make a difference in voter turnout? Or was it just stretching out the campaign messaging and the unknown for a longer period of time?
I did some digging and I had to go way back to 2004 when CT changed primary elections from September to August with the belief that MORE CT registered voters would participate in this intra-party dust up. Interesting - according to the Secretary of State back then in 2004, turn out was at 16.8% for the Republicans and 17.0% for the Democrats. Then fast forward to 2016 and surprise surprise, turn out for the August primaries was 17% for Republicans and 17.39% for the Democrats - not even a full percentage point higher for either party! Even more recent primary voter turn out hasn’t created the buzz folks were looking for back in 2004.
So much for that theory that an earlier primary will result in more voters!
In 2020, under CT’s worst pandemic, we saw only a dozen state house seats and three state senate seats be contested at the primary. BUT, then there were absentee ballots in force as part of the governor’s pandemic action to protect the voters who did vote.
So basically, no matter what - earlier primaries in August did not drive increased voter turnout for either party. Why continue? Some believe that selecting party candidates to run in the Fall election before Labor Day would allow for more time for voters to research positions, create an informed opinion of who they would favor come November and increase voter participation in the final November elections. But do they?
In CT, probably not. Now, let’s go back to compare the November election turn out in 2004 – to 2006 when the first August primary elections took place, then let’s look approximately 5 years later (2015), then let’s look another 5 years to the 2020 elections where absentee ballots and early voting took place and see what the numbers tell us.
In 2004, CT voter turnout was just under 79% (78.65% exactly). In 2006, voter turnout was down a lot to 59.87% after the first August primary was held. In 2010 voter turnout stayed almost flat at 60% and in 2015, it dropped through the floor to 32.73%. OH MY.
2020 was a funny election if you recall. The laws changed to allow for the use of early voting and absentee ballot qualification changed AND we had a highly charged race for president where most CT voters stormed the polls believing one of the candidates was the devil incarnate. 2020 saw the voter turnout return to 2004 levels at 80%.
What do the numbers tell us? Maybe it’s not really about being better informed, or what time of the year we hold elections – Or is it more about convenience for the voter? Is it more about the political parties working the voter lists to identify their targeted voters and keeping them informed? Is it about the public relations and media coverage of the process to vote? Is it about having an election timetable that spans several weeks or a month to encourage registered voters to cast their ballots?
I don’t think anyone knows for sure. Back in 2004, there were no early voting days. You went to the polls, ran the gauntlet of candidate advocates, arrived no earlier than 6 AM but no later than 8 PM and you voted in person unless you met the limited exceptions for use of an absentee ballot. For many, it became a ritual - the town green - so to speak, for that election district.
Now with the regular use of early voting and the dramatic use of mail-in ballots, does Election Day over time become just another sort of RSVP? Will we see another huge drop in voter participation when the novelty wears off and these ballots get lost in your pile of bills, or worse, tossed away as another piece of unwanted campaign mailing? Will the tradeoff of early primary voting to allow voters to learn more about the people and their positions really drive increased voter participation? Or will it take the people part of the process as it becomes seen as just another “survey” you’re taking because someone sent it to you in the mail? I hope not.
For me, I will always vote in person because I see it as a personal relationship with the candidates I support. Checking a box and mailing in my ballot isn’t for me. I love getting to the polls early, catching up with a candidate here and there, getting a feel for voter turnout in person, and chatting with my neighbors. It’s my little “guilty” pleasure every November or August and I’ll take full advantage of the “people experience” even if that means I’m in the minority of CT voters!
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State Bond Commission
This morning, Governor Lamont, DAS Commissioner Michelle Gilman, and many other state leaders gathered in the LOB to approve 56 items brought before the State Bond Commission. Of these items, a few stood out as hot button issues. First and foremost was the $20 million allocated for technology to halt wrong-way drivers on CT highways. CT is experiencing a horror show, with 11 wrong way crashes so far this year, and 12 people killed in wrong-way crashes over Memorial Day weekend alone.
Republicans on the commission inquired as to whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in these crashes. DOT Deputy Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto confirmed that alcohol was involved in nine instances, and marijuana in two of them.
The commission also announced $34 million in state funding to support outdoor recreation. The state is allocating $15m for repairs, maintenance, and new construction at various state parks; $10m to provide open space grants for conservation and recreation purposes; and $9m to support improvement and expansion of recreational trails.
To see which other projects were funded through the bond commission, click here to see the full agenda from today's meeting.
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In a Pickle
No hard hitting news on the local end this week, so lets talk about pickle ball. Many of you probably play the fastest growing sport in the nation, but it is causing many local elected officials to scramble to create opportunities for the sport in their communities. The sport, which has been described as a combination of tennis, badminton and ping pong, has grown throughout the U.S. and locally within Connecticut. The sport’s origins date back to 1957. Pickleball is played with small paddles and a wiffle ball, and is revered for its quick to learn rules and socialization aspect.
In Connecticut, the pickleball trend began a few years ago. In 2018, the first “dedicated indoor Pickleball facility in Connecticut” opened in Oxford, which was offering four climate controlled full size courts, as well as in Westport at the Compo Beach courts, which have been drawing pickleballers for several years now. The West Hartford Town Manager just announced the development of six new pickleball courts in the Buena Vista Recreation Complex.
Pickleball is also a source of tension in many communities. News articles recently have published disputes between pickleballers and tennis players who use the same courts. Towns and cities have begun to make courts shareable, giving the greenlight for pickleballers to apply special tape to the courts to draw out the pickleball specific lines. This has caused additional tension between the two sports and has put a premium on local officials to settle those issues or create additional venues for the sports, which always comes at a cost.
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House Tour Part III
As we started our tour in the House election blog last week, we focused on a few interesting races across the state. Heading into August, we hop on Metro North for a tour of the Fairfield County area and some contentious races for House seats that have popped up with some retirements and open seats ready for some drama. Let’s take a trip on the rail line right around the Cos-Cob area and as they say, get this train moving!
Starting off in Greenwich, we head to Republican Harry Arora’s seat in the 151st district. Representative Arora is a staple on the House floor as one of the key messengers for the party. Given his name recognition and popularity among the party, Representative Arora will be running for State Treasurer this year, a statewide position. While the Democrats have a three-way primary, Rep Arora is running unopposed for his party. Hector Arzeno and Peter Sherr are running in the general election for Rep. Arora’s seat and Mr. Arzeno, the Democrat, lost to Rep Arora in 2020 by just under 1K votes. This has been a close race in the recent past, and these candidates know that in a hot election cycle anything can happen! Greenwich has its fair share of drama in their respective races for elected seats this year.
Down the Metro North line we hop off in Norwalk at the SoNo train station and head out to Rep Chris Perone’s district. Representative Perone is retiring this year after a long and distinguished career in Hartford. He was quiet in his effective advocacy for matters important to Norwalk. Rep. Perone has been a State Rep since 2005 and Kadeem Roberts, who served on the Common Council from 2019 to 2021, was endorsed by the Norwalk Democrats for the seat. Roberts takes on Luis Estrella in a race this year that is sure to head the Dems way. Why? For years Perone saw new Republican opponents. Each year he ran, he defeated them handily making this seat a Dem stronghold.
Continuing down on the rail line, we stop in Fairfield in a very diverse voting area to talk about the race for Representative Laura Devlin’s seat in the 134th district. Republican Devlin, is running for election for Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. This seat is important because the other two seats Fairfield has in the House General Assembly are held by Democrats. For years, this seat has been tight. Devlin won by just under 600 votes in each of the last three election cycles with the exception of 2016. Sarah Keitt is the Democrat endorsed candidate and Meghan McCloat is the Republican. It could be a flip if the Fairfield’s Democrats do a tremendous job getting out the vote.
Next week, we head further down the Metro North line to see what the likes of Stratford and West Haven have for us this cycle!
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July 29: A Determined Minister Swims for Justice
In 1926, a group of eastern Connecticut investors hoping to capitalize on the state’s new car culture, expanding highway system, and Roaring 20’s prosperity, purchased a large spring-fed wetland in Andover Connecticut. They cleared trees, cut roads, and built the 550 foot-long dam that created beautiful Andover Lake. When it was completed in 1928, they ran full page ads in The Hartford Courant offering cottage sites in their private summer colony, “where the restrictions will meet with your approval.”
The restrictions were explicit prohibitions against the sale of lots to Jews or Blacks.
Though the investors’ dream of an exclusive resort was thwarted by the Great Depression and World War II, by the 1950s the lake had enough cottage dwellers to form a property owners association that created its own restriction. No one – not even property owners – could use the lake without first being accepted by a two-thirds majority secret ballot of the members of ALPOA, the Andover Lake Property Owners Association.
William M. Philpot, an African-American minister from New Haven, had purchased a cottage in 1955 from a white Hartford minister, believing the purchase included the right to use the lake. He applied for membership in ALPOA, but was rejected three different times. In 1963, shortly after the Civil Rights march on Washington, Philpot, through James Tsuffis, another property owner, and Hartford attorney and state representative George J. Ritter, sought help from Governor John Dempsey to gain access to the Lake. Dempsey intervened, but ALPOA claimed that as a private group, it could restrict membership at will.
The Andover Lake question became a year-long focus of media attention dividing people across the state. Although half the property owners in Andover voted to admit Philpot, and the local Congregational church strongly supported him, local resistance included burning a seven-foot-high, five-foot-wide cross in James Tsuffis’s yard. With the unwavering support and counsel of attorney Ritter, Philpot pursued the right to swim in Andover Lake both legally and politically, only to be met with continuous resistance and frustrating delays.
In April of 1964, Philpot, weary of waiting, announced that he and his family intended to swim in the lake that year. The prospective “Wade In” provoked a flurry of media coverage, but the swims proved uneventful.
Philpot – seeking to avoid a media frenzy – reported only after the fact that he and his family had swum at the lake on two occasions, and had been greeted by the children of his white neighbors with, “Hello Mr. Philpot.” “I was really having a ball, ” the minister said. “I felt like I belonged to this community.”
Philpot was not unaware of the significance of what he was doing. “If I failed here,” he said, “I did feel that many others will be victimized.” He also added, “We will swim again this year if we feel like it.”
The association’s response was to seek a court injunction to prevent Philpot from using the lake. The case dragged on for three years, but ultimately, through Ritter’s relentless pursuit of justice, it was decided in Philpot’s favor. The summer after the decision, the lake association changed its bylaws to allow any lake property owner to join.
In the year 2000, 35 years after he had taken his historic swim, Philpot (now Bishop Philpot) reflected in a thank you letter to his friend Ritter, on the significance of that time.
“The “Wade-in” we experienced at Andover Lake marked the turning point of my life as well as my ministry,” Philpot wrote, “for we waded in the water as victims of prejudice and segregation. We came out of the water as victors, with confidence that our cause and crusade were right; and that we would be vindicated in the end. And so it was. For we did overcome.”
Today, a close and diverse community of Andover Lake lovers all enjoy one of the state’s cleanest lakes together, thanks to one brave family’s decision to wade in the water, today in Connecticut history.
To view the full story on the CT Historian's website, click here.
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Sullivan & LeShane, Inc.
www.ctlobby.com | (860) 560-0000
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