Brookfield Dems Weigh in on Murphy, Bysiewicz Candidacies

Brookfield Democratic Town Committee (DTC) Chairman Joni Park said it was “a very, very difficult” decision to endorse U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy (D-5) of Cheshire instead of another longtime friend, former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz (D-Middletown), in the race for the party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate that will be vacated by Sen. Joseph Lieberman at the end of his term in 2012.

“I’ve been very impressed that right from the time he went to Congress, Chris has tried to get Democrats and Republicans to work together on issues,” she said in a phone interview with Brookfield Patch.

Murphy is a co-chairman of the U.S. House Center Aisle Caucus, which has an equal number of Republicans and Democrats who meet periodically at social events to discuss issues.

The congressman has said he is frustrated by the lack of interaction between members of the two parties, noting that they even have separate dining facilities on Capitol Hill.

Park said Bysiewicz, who has attended Democratic campaign events in Brookfield for more than a decade, did a superb job as secretary of the state from 1999 until early this year when her third term ended.

However, she said that in addition to being impressed with Murphy’s work since he arrived in Washington in early 2007, she and other Democrats have “questions” regarding Bysiewicz’s “ability to assess situations and then move forward.”

Bysiewicz surprised some political observers by announcing in January of last year that she would seek the Democratic nomination for attorney general instead of governor, even though a Quinnipiac University poll showed that she was leading in the Democratic gubernatorial race.

Her announcement came a week after U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) announced that he would retire after 30 years in the upper body and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich) would run for Dodd’s seat.

In May, three days before the state Democratic Convention, the state Supreme Court ruled that Bysiewicz was not eligible to run for attorney general, since she didn’t meet the requirement of having been a practicing attorney in Connecticut over the previous 10 years.

A lower court had earlier ruled in her favor.

“I think some people felt that she should have been more astute in her decisions,” Park said.

However, she said she is impressed with the work that Bysiewicz did as secretary of the state and is grateful of her support for Brookfield Democratic candidates through the years.

Bysiewicz, for example, administered the oath of office to First Selectman Bill Davidson, in December 2009.

Robert Marconi (D-Brookfield), an assistant attorney general, said during her career as secretary of the state, Bysiewicz returned unexpended funds to the state treasury, rapidly got information on the Internet after online functions became available and hosted dozens of recognition ceremonies for World War II and Korean War veterans.

However, he said that as of last year’s setbacks, she doesn’t have as much leverage as she had about 16 months ago when she was the apparent frontrunner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Marconi said he is currently neutral in the race, although he did attend a recent fundraiser for Murphy.

“I haven’t been asked to attend a fundraiser by Susan, but I would be happy to do so,” he said.

Park and Marconi both said Murphy is the frontrunner for the seat that Lieberman has held since early 1989.

Murphy has raised more than $1 million, about twice the figure that Bysiewicz raised in the first quarter, which ended March 31.

The two candidates both entered the race in mid-January.

Marconi said Murphy also has received endorsements from the other U.S. Reps. from Connecticut — John Larson (D-1), Joe Courtney (D-2), Rosa DeLauro (D-3) and Jim Himes (D-4), as well as state Attorney General George Jepsen (D-Ridgefield), Secretary of the State Denise Merrill (D-Mansfield) and Comptroller Kevin Lembo (D-Guilford).

Bysiewicz said in a phone interview that she has received more than 600 combined endorsements from current and former state and local elected officials, many of whom are likely delegates to the state convention in May of next year.

“Even though Chris is in the lead in fundraising and has some high profile endorsements, I don’t think this race is such that the leadership in the Democratic Party is about to ask Susan right now to leave the race for the good of the party,” Marconi said.

Some observers believe the Democratic nominee will face a strong challenge next year from former World Wrestling Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Linda McMahon, who easily won the Republican nomination last summer before losing to Blumenthal in the general election.

She spent nearly $50 million of her own money on that race.

Reports have indicated that former gubernatorial nominee Tom Foley (R-Greenwich) and former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons (R-2) might consider running for the GOP nomination.

Park said Murphy, who has been noted for visiting voters door-to-door, already has shown signs that he will mount an aggressive  “grassroots campaign” in the Senate race.

She said she expects that he will continue to campaign through neighborhood visits and in front of supermarkets, as well as seeking smaller campaign contributions on the Internet.

Park said Democratic leaders are still impressed with Murphy’s effort five years ago to defeat former U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-New Britain), who had been in office 24 years, which was a record for a congressman from Connecticut.

Bysiewicz failed to win the Democratic nomination for secretary of the state in 1998, but mounted a strong campaign to capture the primary.

She won each of her three races for that office easily, annexing nearly 70 percent of the vote in 2006.