Politics & Government
Holmes says Dobbs v. Jackson decision has altered campaign dialogue
107th District Democratic state House candidate says she supports decision to spend more money on children's mental health programs
By Scott Benjamin
State House candidate Phoebe Holmes says the 6-3 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court in June on the Dobbs v. Jackson case on abortion rights “has changed the conversation” among voters, but not to the point that it has become more prominent than roaring price inflation.
“No one likes to see the price of gas and groceries going up,” remarked Holmes of Brookfield, who is the Democratic candidate in the 107th District.
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She said among women the Dobbs case - which leaves abortion rights up to the states and effectively reversed the 1973 court decision on Roe v. Wade – may have become equally important to inflation.
“We cannot have a world where our daughters have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers,” Holmes declared in a phone interview with Patch.com.
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Holmes, who was nominated in May, faces Republican former Brookfield First Selectman Martin Foncello in the suburban district, which encompasses all of Brookfield, the Stony Hill section of Bethel and a slice of northern Newtown.
Foncello initially was elected in 1999 after defeating six-term Republican incumbent Bonnie Smith in a primary and then prevailing in a three-way race in the general election. He captured a second term in a landslide in 2001 before being defeated by Republican Jerry Murphy in a 2003 GOP primary and then losing a three-way race that November.
In an e-mail statement to Patch.com, Audrey Blondin of Goshen, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee from the 30th state Senate District, stated regarding Holmes, “The district is currently 47.8% male and 52.2% female, with a college graduation rate of almost 50% (49.5%). As a Connecticut native, wife, working mother and small business owner, Phoebe has the background and experience to be an effective leader who can articulate and advocate on the issues of importance to the voters of the 107th District.”
“Also, in a district where women outnumber men by almost 5 percentage points, her opponent is going to have to explain to the district his support as a Republican of the Dobbs decision overruling Roe v. Wade outlawing a woman's right of choice over her own body,” Blondin added.
Patch.com sent an e-mail message on Friday morning, September 2, to Rose DeMarco, Foncello’s campaign manager, seeking a statement on his position or to schedule a phone interview regarding his position on the Dobbs v. Jackson decision by Sunday night, September 4. Apparently, there was no reply.
The seat is being vacated by Republican Stephen Harding of Brookfield, who is the GOP nominee in the 30th state Senate District.
The Democrats last captured the district in 1974, when Bethel attorney Jim Mannion was elected to his only term.
Holmes, a former Social Studies teacher who now helps her husband operate their remodeling business, says the other prominent topics among voters are women’s rights, democracy, gun responsibility and polarization in government.
She said there also has been discussion of environmental rights, and she tells voters that she supports the climate change provisions in the federal Inflation Reduction Act that Democratic President Joe Biden signed in August.
On another topic, she said she supports the General Assembly’s vote this Spring regarding three bills that provide an additional combined $232 million to address “the children’s mental health crisis highlighted by the pandemic.”
Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid of Ct News Junkie reported that, “The bills address an expansion of funding for school-based health centers and increase the number of early childhood slots. It also sets aside funding for minority teacher recruitment.”
Holmes commented, “The past 10 years, maybe five, we’ve seen that our children need these services.”
She said the need grew during the recent pandemic.
“Their mental health suffered because they hadn’t seen their friends,” Holmes said in an apparent reference to the remote learning over the recent academic years.
However, what about potential budget obstacles?
A year ago, the Truth In Accounting Financial State of the States report indicated that Connecticut has only funded 43 percent of the pension obligations for its state employees and only five percent of the retiree health care obligations.
Through the volatility cap, which was part of the 2017 bipartisan budget agreement and recent surplus funds, some of those obligations have been paid down. For example, in 2018 the report from the Commission on Fiscal Stability & Economic Competitiveness stated that the pension were only 29 percent funded.
CT Mirror budget reporter Keith Phaneuf told a Wilton League of Women Voters forum in April 2019 that every year from 1939 through 2010 the state employee and the public-school teacher pensions were structurally underfunded.
Holmes said the teachers are “curious. They’re hoping that everything that they paid into, they get back.”
However, she said Democrats have an undeserved reputation on raising revenue.
For example, The Wall Street Journal wrote in a 2021 editorial: “Ned Lamont says no more taxes; A Democratic Governor stands up to his state’s never-enough caucus.”
Holmes commented, “Democrats don’t tax people to death.”
She said that if taxes need to be increased the wealthy should pay their “fair share. I don’t think that working families should pay the price.”
What did she learn from earning a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) in Danbury that has helped her during the campaign?
She cited her instruction from the late Thomas Godward of Brookfield – a graduate of the doctoral program at the renowned Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. One of Godward’s professors at the Maxwell School was the late Alan Campbell, who would later serve as the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Democratic former President Jimmy Carter.
Godward taught Political Science and Teacher Education at WCSU from 1963-2008.
Holmes, 41, said, “That’s also when I started volunteering on campaigns, when I started studying ideas and reading books. Political Science is about ideas and implementing them. It is also about history.”
She said now, about 20 years later, she has a different perspective on the concepts she developed as an undergraduate.
Holmes explained, “There are the ideas and then the practicality of the ideas.”
Resources:
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2022/05/05/analysis-its-a-wrap-winners-and-losers-of-the-2022-session/
https://www.ctpost.com/business/article/Sweeping-CT-economic-plan-Cut-state-income-tax-12719929.php
https://www.wsj.com/articles/n...
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/harding-wants-fight-inflation-slashing-taxes
