This has been a tumultuous year for Democratic politics in Connecticut, as partisans have salivated over casting off the inexplicable Republican stranglehold on the Governor’s office. Two power-players in Connecticut, former Mayor Dan Malloy and former Democratic nominee for Senate Ned Lamont both vied for the governorship, with Dan Malloy prevailing in a come-from-behind victory last month.
Malloy is a liberal’s liberal, an impressive Mayor who believes in the power of the government to improve citizens’ quality of life and act as a guarantor of social stability. He did amazing things in Stamford, both stabilizing and growing the city’s economy. After over a decade in the Mayor’s Office, Dan Malloy went a long way to turn around Stamford city government.
Many of you will remember that former Attorney General Chris Dodd stepped aside, and that attorney general Richard Blumenthal stood up to take his place. Blumenthal has been an activist Attorney General in the best sense of the term. He’s led the fight to stop the sexual exploitation of minors through Facebook and, as you may have read in this past issue of The Argus, even filed suit against Wesleyan’s former (and allegedly corrupt) Investment Manager Tom Kannam.
Long-time residents of Connecticut know Blumenthal as the face of responsibility and civic virtue in Connecticut. But they’ll soon know him as the heir to a legacy of liberal leadership in the Senate. We may be losing a giant in Chris Dodd, but Dick Blumenthal is a worthy heir to his three decades of virtuous Senate service.
One person regrettably absent from this story is Middletown Resident, Wesleyan parent, and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz P’13. After bowing out of the governor’s race to run for attorney general, the state supreme court, in a misguided ruling, found her unqualified to run for attorney general despite her years of service in state government. I’m confident we haven’t heard the last from Susan Bysiewicz—look for her to challenge Joe Lieberman in 2012. That’s a race we should all look forward to.
Those are the big stories this year, but one candidate who isn’t getting the attention he deserves is Kevin Lembo. Lembo is running for comptroller, a statewide position that would make him the chief financial officer of the state.
The first thing you should know about Kevin Lembo is that he is a wonk. What is a wonk? Put simply, a wonk is someone who nerds out about government. What gets Lembo excited the most is making state government run more efficiently.
He’s currently the state’s healthcare advocate, meaning that he acts as an advocate for Connecticut residents when their insurance companies try to cheat them. In this position, he’s returned over $20 million to Connecticut residents and completely covered the costs of his office in the process. He’s saved taxpayers millions without costing them a dime.
His other responsibility as healthcare advocate is co-chairing the board that runs SUSTINET, Connecticut’s public health insurance. The board’s other co-chair is the state comptroller. So, if elected, Lembo would just move over from one co-chair to the other.
Before serving as the healthcare advocate, Lembo worked as an assistant state comptroller, which led to his garnering the endorsement of the current comptroller and Democratic nominee for governor Nancy Wyman in the primary. It’s hard to imagine a qualification for this office that Lembo doesn’t have.
One last cool thing about Kevin Lembo: he’s Connecticut’s first gay statewide candidate and will be its first gay constitutional officer. I’m not going to tell you that you should vote for someone because they’re gay, but seeing a highly competent gay man with a husband and children will surely inch the fight for marriage equality further. It’s just an added bonus.
There are plenty of reasons to oppose Republican candidates in Connecticut, such as the fact that they’re largely out-of-touch and they don’t offer constructive solutions for the state’s fiscal problems. However, I wanted to avoid a negative, hateful tone for my discussion of Connecticut politics.
But before you cast your lot, you have to register to vote. If you’re a U.S. Citizen and a Wesleyan student, you can be a Connecticut voter. You live here now and so you should vote here, too, since having people like Malloy, Blumenthal, and Lembo in power benefits all of us.
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