In The News
LVT hearing draws supporters, foes
New tax idea draws supporters, foes to NL hearing
By Kathleen Edgecomb
Publication: The Day
Published 02/09/2010 12:00 AM
Concept puts burden on land, not buildings
New London – Despite a committee recommendation that the city not participate in a land value tax pilot program, twice as many people spoke in favor of the program as against it during a three-hour hearing Monday at City Hall. more . . .
Day: on NL voters, Council
from The Day, 12/11/2009, Chuck Potter’s column
NL voters need to get more involved
About seven months ago, in this space, I was lamenting an embarrassing lack of leadership in New London. The city was in need more . . .
Day editorial: council off to fast start
from The Day, 12/11/2009, unsigned editorial:
NL council starts fast
We were glad to see the new City Council act quickly in forming a more . . .
NL Green candidates John Russell & Ronna Stuller installed
Congratulations to NL Green candidates John Russell and Ronna Stuller on their inauguration last evening! Now the hard work really starts… more . . .
The Day’s NL council election postpartum
Although “Buscetto’s Close Shave” would have been funnier (considering his close-cropped beard), you gotta love a phrase like “Peg’s Curtin Call.” Chuck Potter nailed it, though, observing, “Councilor-elect John R. Russell Jr., . . . will be the most powerful person on the council.” (Emphasis added)
Article published Nov 7, 2009, The Day
Voting for dull years at NL City HallTuesday’s election had many themes. It could easily have been titled “Buscetto’s Close Call.”
Mike Buscetto saddened me. To see him point to anyone not in his mirror for his plummet from the top to the near-bottom of the vote-getters was disappointing. No matter who he believed caused his problems, a strong leader looks inward. They ask themselves what they could have done or not done to avoid a bad situation.
Even if Buscetto believed there was a smear campaign, diplomacy should have governed his commentary. Apparently he didn’t learn that before the election and didn’t show it after. Buscetto might, someday, play a great role in moving the city forward. He just needs to learn to push it with a stroller, not a bulldozer.
The election could have been titled, “Peg’s Curtin Call.”
When it comes time to say farewell to Mary Margaret Curtin, surely the room will be filled with more than just Democrats. She has served the city for nearly two decades. The entire city. She deserves a grand sendoff. No, we won’t have Peg Curtin to push around anymore. It will still be cool to have her drive us around, though.
Thank You, Ms. Curtin, for all you’ve done.
The election could have been titled “Shut Up and Run,” which didn’t apply to, but was applied by, Adam Sprecace. Rather than just hang around the polling places talking to people who had already decided to vote, he shut up and ran, toting a huge campaign sign through the city. Sprecace said he missed his regular running routine during the thick of the campaign. So he jogged from his Gardner Avenue home to Nathan Hale School, then to Harbor and finally, to New London High School. And back.
Whatever the title, Tuesday’s drama might just have been the preview of coming attractions. Soon, Councilor-elect John R. Russell Jr., perched cozily among three Democrats and three Republicans, will be the most powerful person on the council.
I caught up with Russell (on the cell) at Hot Rod Cafe, where re-elected Councilor Wade Hyslop hosted his traditional thank-you party. When a group of Republicans arrived, fittingly led by Rob Pero, the man who would be mayor, the Democrats applauded. The two groups, and Russell, socialized into the night.
Rod Cornish, the proprietor, called it a beautiful thing. Perhaps, he wished aloud it is a sign of the times. I agree.
I digress.
Russell, who was respectfully denied a position on the Republican ticket, switched his affiliation to Independent, ran on the Green Party line and was subsequently dual-endorsed, said his loyalty will lean toward the right thing to do for the people and the city.
“There’s no pressure. I’ll do what I think is best,” he said. “I made that clear to the Greens and the Republicans, too.”
He was sincere. I just hope he can sustain. The council appears to be a productive, intelligent mix of personalities and ideals that seems conducive to cooperation.
If the Democratic trio attempts to maintain its position of power, might the Republicans fight back with their own party line weaponry? Will Russell be compelled to fight with them? Will the Republicans expect loyalty from him? Will they expect their endorsement to be Russell’s last deciding variable?
The coming years could offer an action-packed reality show worth watching. Or they could be as boring as a rainy resort. I vote for the latter. Enough with the drama.
This is the opinion of Chuck Potter.
http://www.theday.com/article/20091107/NWS05/311079976
Day: A new season for NL City Council
A new season for the City Council, indeed.
It’s a ‘new season’ for NL City Council
By Kathleen Edgecomb, The Day, 11/05/2009 12:00 AM
http://www.theday.com/article/20091105/NWS01/311059328/1018
Republicans Pero and Sprecace, Green Party’s Russell say it’s time to end divisiveness and move city forward
New London – The three highest vote-getters in Tuesday’s election are setting an agenda for the next two years that they say will focus on issues and not political gains.
Rob Pero and Adam Sprecace, two of three Republicans elected to the City Council in this predominantly Democratic city, want the new council to bring development to Fort Trumbull, hire a new city manager, revise the City Charter, address the homelessness issue and improve relations with the Board of Education.
John Russell, the first Green Party candidate elected to the council, is looking for a group that will work to improve the city, not someone’s political career.
It’s a tall order for a council made up of three Republicans, three Democrats and one member of the Green Party.
“It’s day one, or the first day of school, or the new season of a baseball team or a football team, however you want to put it,” said Pero. “We have to take whatever issues we’ve had in the past and put them behind us.”
Pero, a 14-year veteran of the council who will most likely be elected the city’s ceremonial mayor by fellow councilors at the first meeting in December, said he will be looking for consensus from his peers.
“I’m not into majority rule,” said Pero, who, if elected mayor, will be the first Republican in the position in 20 years. “I’m not into building a party. We’re here for the city.”
Sprecace, who earned the second-highest number of votes, said Wednesday that when he was first elected two years ago, he had a vision. Now he wants to help make that vision a reality.
“In my eyes, we have to sit down with stakeholders and identify changes that can bring New London forward,” he said.
Both men agree that searching for a new city manager, establishing a Charter Revision Commission to update the city’s governing document and looking again at the Fort Trumbull Municipal Plan of Development are some of the top priorities. They also would like to work more closely with the school board to save taxpayer money and improve the city’s education system.
Russell, who was the third-highest vote-getter, said he’s looking forward to working with a council that does not have a majority vote.
“I don’t have any special interests pushing me one way or the other,” he said Wednesday, adding that he hopes to be a unifying force. “The city, especially over the last year or two, has been damaged by a lot of divisiveness. Instead of everyone getting mad and taking a personal interest in things, we’re going to transcend that stuff.
“This is not about you or me. It’s about the city.”
Russell, who was elected to his first term, said he plans to focus on drawing more business to downtown and improving schools to attract families. He said he also will continue to help the homeless.
“Some think my penchant for working with the homeless will have the city filled with homeless,” he said. “That’s just not the case.”
In collaboration with the Homeless Hospitality Center, Russell opened the Homeward Bound Treasures Thrift Shop, which filled a vacant downtown storefront, created six jobs and put three former homeless people into apartments. The store pays sales, payroll and property taxes.
“Little organic grass-roots ideas can work,” he said.
D. Collins: Greens shake up the city
Collins’ take on the New London Green Party’s historic win Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, all of the negative comments on The Day’s website are about the writer’s comments on A. Basilica.
By David Collins, The Day, Published 11/04/2009 12:00 AM
http://www.theday.com/article/20091104/NWS05/311049893
John Russell, who won a seat on the City Council Tuesday, went right to an analogy last week, when I asked him how he came to be a Green Party candidate cross-endorsed by the Republicans.
“When logs come down a river, they sometimes jam up, and someone has to kick them free,” Russell said.
And in a city long dominated by Democratic Party rule, what better way to kick than for the two weaker parties to join forces.
“I believe the city needs a shake-up. There is too much nepotism and cronyism,” Russell said last week. “Coalition building would be a way to change the balance of power in the city.”
And indeed, the coalition built by the Greens and the Republicans on Tuesday helped unlock the Democratic majority on the council, a remarkable win given an overwhelming voter registration handicap.
(It didn’t hurt that dysfunctional Democrats, busy locking out one of their own, practically handed them the keys to the election.)
Not only was Russell the third highest voter-getter in the council race, Green candidate Ronna Stuller finished fourth for Board of Education.
That’s quite a showing for a party with only about 50 registered voters in the city.
Russell and Stuller are the first Greens to win council or board seats in New London and are among only a handful from the party to hold elected office around the state.
At their campaign headquarters Tuesday night, a corner of the lobby of Union Station, the Greens were reliably understated, although a small cheer went up when preliminary results showed their only two candidates had won.
“The Green Party had a clean sweep,” someone offered slyly.
“I guess Green is in,” said a grinning Stuller, who is also chairwoman of the party.
Clearly the cross endorsements of Russell and Stuller by the Republicans were instrumental in the party’s success this election, and in a curious way the arrangement supports some of the party’s unorthodox political thinking.
They are not people easily herded.
Russell was actually a lifelong Democrat before changing parties and running for the legislature as a Republican. He ended up as a Green council candidate this election when he didn’t at first find a place on the Republican council slate.
“I am not a party guy and I vote across party lines,” he said. “I don’t see the big issue of parties at this level.”
Stuller, too, told me she votes for individuals, whatever their party might be.
Stuller said she and other Greens supported a lot of Republicans this year, mostly because they wanted more of the city’s business done in the open, rather than in closed party caucuses.
“When one party has a monopoly on power, even one as fractured as the Democrats are now, everything becomes a done deal,” she said.
By that same thinking, she said, the Greens didn’t want to see a Republican sweep either. Even the Greens, she added, wouldn’t want all seven council seats to themselves.
“The Greens have never wanted to run the city. We just wanted to be in the mix,” she said.
When I heard her say that I tried to imagine Anthony Basilica, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, saying the same thing, and I had to chuckle at the thought.
I might have tried calling Basilica Tuesday night to run the idea by him, but I figured, given the Democrats’ poor showing, that he might already be home in bed, right where he was the October night when the top vote-getter in the last council election (he fell to seventh in Tuesday’s voting) was busy locking the mayor out of his campaign headquarters.This is the opinion of David Collins.
Wins for NL Green candidates Russell and Stuller!
NL Green Party candidates Russell and Stuller elected
Two New London Green Party candidates, who were cross-endorsed by the local Republican party, have been elected!
Green Party candidate John Russell was chosen third among all nominees to serve on the city council.
Democrats lose their grip on New London City Council
By Kathleen Edgecomb, The Day, Published 11/04/2009 12:00 AM, Updated 11/04/2009 09:18 AM
Majority lost for first time in 20 years as GOP, Green Party combine to win four seatsNew London – For the first time in nearly 20 years, Democrats have lost control of the seven-member City Council, with Republicans winning three seats and the Green Party one.
Republican incumbents Rob Pero and Adam Sprecace were the highest vote-getters with 2,207 and 2,067 votes, respectively. John Russell, a Green Party candidate who was cross- endorsed by the Republicans, came in third with 1,638 votes. Republican Martin T. Olsen, who served on the council from 1987 to 1991 and returned to politics this year, received 1,390 votes, winning the seventh seat.
Democrats Wade Hyslop and Michael Buscetto were re-elected to second terms, coming in fifth and sixth, along with Michael Passero, who was seeking his first term. Passero earned 1,618 votes, making him the fourth-highest vote-getter.
Voter turnout was estimated at 27 percent, compared with 39.1 percent in the last municipal election two years ago. There are 11,839 registered voters in the city.
In 2007, in his first bid for office, Buscetto earned the most votes in each of the city’s seven districts with 2,492. This year, with the voting districts consolidated to three, he came in sixth with 1,316 votes.
“It’s a sea of change for New London,” said GOP committee chairman William Vogel. “I think we had good candidates who worked hard. … The Democrats had a major split and that had to help us. I think that was worth one seat.”
. . .
Sprecace said the vote indicates to him that people want a change and they want a council that will work together. “It’s three Republicans, three Democrats and one Republican cross-endorsed Green candidate,” he said. “It’s good to have a split. It means we have to work together. . . .
Ronna Stuller was elected to the Board of Education (third time’s a charm!):
Republicans make gains on NL school board
by Stephen Chupaska, The Day, Published 11/04/2009 12:00 AM, Updated 11/04/2009 05:27 AM
Green Party’s Stuller, GOP’s Catala help shrink Democrats’ majorityNew London – The Democrats maintained control of the Board of Education Tuesday, though the once-dominant party now has just a one-vote majority.
The Republicans gained a seat, bringing their total to two, as challengers Barbara R. Major and Jason Catala each won election, while the Green Party candidate, Ronna K. Stuller, who was cross-endorsed by the Republicans, also won.
“I’m in shock,” Stuller said, as she celebrated Tuesday with her fellow Green Party members at Union Station.
As he did in 2007, Democratic incumbent Bill Morse got the most votes. Morse had 1,597, followed closely by Catala with 1,547. Catala’s election to the school board marks his return to elected office in New London. He previously served on the board and on the City Council.”A couple of years ago I was told I wasn’t a fit in New London,” he said. “Tonight the voters have spoken.”
Waterford teacher and New London native Louise Hanrahan, a Democrat, finished third in the election standings, with 1,514 votes. Hanrahan credited her experience as a teacher and her positive campaign as reason for her election. She said she is looking forward to working with board members of all parties.”We are all working for the best interest of the children of New London,” she said. . . .
The New London Green Party congratulates both John and Ronna for a campaign well won.