Nonpartisan Waterford Voters Guide 2022
How to vote for competent policymakers, rather than hats and bumper stickers
Voting is the most patriotic American activity. As Waterford’s sole party-unaffiliated RTM representative, I have heard from constituents that it’s difficult to know what’s on the ballot and what each candidate stands for. So I’ve decided to draft this piece, delivered through the imperfect lens of the biases of myself. It’s not intended to be exhaustive, academic, or expert analysis.
tl;dr: just tell me who to vote for. (take me to the cheat sheet)
Look, I get that it’s a fair amount of work to learn about all the candidates for eleven different offices plus one ballot question, so I’m sharing my work here in case it might help neighbors make decisions about how they want to vote. And regardless of whether you agree with me or not—that’s fine!—please vote Tuesday November 8.
The Nonpartisan Waterford Voters Guide
(screenshot this or print it and bring it with you)
Now, before you stop reading, because conventional wisdom is that This is a Red Town or This is a Blue State, consider that Waterford voters are 21% R, 32% D, and 45% unaffiliated—nearly HALF.
And those numbers mirror our state. (CT Secretary of State records)
As somebody who believes that many of the problems in our country, state, and town are caused by partisanship, the system designed to protect the dominant parties, and moneyed special-interest corruption, I prefer to evaluate candidates not on their party, but by their priorities, policy positions, their voting record if they’ve held office, and assessment of their likelihood of competence in the position they seek. So that’s how I’m going to take you through the ballot.
About Election Day: Tuesday, November 8.
On Election Day, polling places will be open from 6am to 8pm. You’ll want to ensure you’re voting at the correct polling place (one of the three elementary schools or Town Hall), and confirm that you’re registered to vote in Waterford if you primarily live in our town. Election-Day Registration is available at the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall.
State Representative
State Rep represents Waterford and parts of Montville in Hartford. Kathleen McCarty does not have a campaign website, and when I asked about her priorities and agenda, she said she’d be getting around to writing something. Nothing ever materialized. That’s lazy and disrespectful of voters. McCarty is running purely on party and name recognition. Long on lawn signs, short on substance.
In her time in this office, I’ve liked many of her votes and bills, but most of McCarty’s work has been limited to the relatively narrow scope of public health and education. Those are admirable areas to focus on, but I want to be represented by someone also willing to do the work on our economy, infrastructure, personal rights, and environment, to name a few. Nick Gauthier has moderate, progressive, clear policy proposals across a broad range of topics.
Endorsement: Nick Gauthier for State Representative
State Senator
State Senator represents a larger section of our region in Hartford. My thinking on this one is pretty similar to the State Rep race. Martha Marx has an easy-to-understand portfolio of policy priorities, with which I mostly agree. Jerry Labriola is running mainly on being the retiring Paul Formica’s endorsed successor. Labriola’s campaign website makes no policy or agenda statements whatsoever. In interviews, he’s made claims about rising crime, which aren’t supported by Waterford Police data, and talked about inflation (a global problem) being an issue, but hasn’t made any mentions of what’s he’d do about it as State Senator. Labriola is clearly running on Formica’s name and the Republican party.
I’m disappointed that both Marx and Labriola have resorted to negative attack ads against each other—Marx calling Labriola an “extremist”, and Labriola calling Marx “radical.” Neither is true. They both smell of desperation and poor judgment.
Reluctant endorsement: Martha Marx for State Senator
Representative in Congress (U.S. House of Representatives)
Rep in Congress represents roughly the eastern half of the state in Washington after recent redistricting. Joe Courtney has been in this seat for a decade and half, is popular, competent, and likely to win this handily. I would like to see his economic development approach to our region—one of the worst nationally in terms of recovery and progress since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis—consist of more than essentially keeping General Dynamics happy. I’m being reductive here, but you get my point. I also would like to see more results on infrastructure. Our region could benefit greatly from improvements to high-speed rail, mass transit, and networking, all of which which are interlinked to, and enable the regional economy.
Mike France is even more interested in growing the war industry than Courtney. He regularly makes claims that are unsupported by evidence, including rising crime, election irregularities, and the partisan composition of the district for which he’s running. Gross.
Kevin Blacker has some really good ideas and priorities. He knows he’s not winning, and I love the conversations he’s forcing to the surface in media appearances. I couldn’t find a campaign website for William Hall, and looking at the ballot was the first time I’d heard of him.
Protest endorsement: Kevin Blacker for Representative in Congress
U.S. Senator
U.S. Senator represents our state in Washington. Leora Levy is a hypocrite who stands for nothing besides partisan power. The longtime Republican fundraiser condemned Trump, and then she embraced him. And then she distanced herself from him after his endorsement helped her win the primary, and then she fundraised at Mar a Lago. You haven’t heard about her since the primary because her campaign ran out of money. She’s running on the fully loaded, cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs agenda of whatever QAnon is saying that week.
Bluementhal is fine. But let’s call it a day after this next term, please.
Endorsement: Richard Blumenthal for U.S. Senator
State Governor and Lt. Governor
Governor and Lt. Governor run our state as Number One and Number Two elected officials. You vote for them as a package deal, rather than separately. Lamont-Bysiewicz have done a competent job helping Connecticut navigate the pandemic, improve its financial and economic situation, and limit Covid-related educational declines.
Stefanowski, who seems like he’s still not running on anything as much as filling the “not Lamont” or “not Democrat” void, has fallen in line with the GOP’s mainstream boilerplate of allegedly rising crime, inflation and gas prices, and cutting taxes without saying how he’d do it. Stefanowski built his wealth as a financial manager at GE during the company’s collapse, and then ran a payday lending firm whose predatory products and business practices were deemed so egregious that it was barred from operating in Connecticut.
Given the manner in which he built his wealth by taking advantage of others’ misfortune, and his gross lack of vision or strategy (or charisma for that matter), I vehemently oppose Stefanowski as a leader for our state.
Props to Rob Hotaling for keeping Stefanowki from strong-arming his way onto the Independent Party line of the ballot despite his best efforts. I love that Hotaling is running on affordable housing, and appreciate that his policy proposals are more nuanced and incremental than the polarized Good vs. Evil framing of issues by the reds and blues. I love a good policy wonk and appreciate his attention to detail, but I just don’t see a cohesive strategy or rallying cry for folks to get behind.
Emphatic endorsement: Ned Lamont and Susan Bysiewicz for Governor and Lt. Governor
State Attorney General
Attorney General is the chief legal officer for the state. They represent the public interest and provide counsel to state agencies. William Tong has done a good job in his first term, working on the fallout from opioid crisis, holding Perdue Pharma and its ownership Sackler family as well as consulting firm McKinsey, accountable for the evils they knowingly inflicted upon people. Tong’s work has otherwise focused on antitrust, consumer protection, and environmental protection.
Jessica Kordas is running on a platform that vaguely accuses the AG’s offices of being a platform for self-interested politicians, without citing any specifics. Ken Krayeske doesn’t have a campaign website and doesn’t appear to be a serious candidate. A.P. Pascarella is on the ballot as well and I couldn’t find anything, anywhere, on what he stands for, or why anyone should consider voting for him.
Endorsement: William Tong for Attorney General
Secretary of State
The Secretary of State runs elections and voter records, as well as business registrations, and record keeping for the state. Dominic Rapini is a salesman who has been searching for widespread voting fraud since well before it became a mainstream GOP talking point. I don’t find Rapini to be credible, data-backed, or likely to have the best interests of Connecticut residents in mind in his quest for attention. Rapini has waffled on election denialism in public appearances while running for SoS, and that is dangerous and irresponsible.
Stephanie Thomas spent most of her career leading a company that fundraised for nonprofits. I appreciate her agenda, which focuses on election infrastructure, technology, and accessibility. Cynthia Jennings is an environmental attorney whose campaign website doesn’t really make a case for his credibility in, or desire for this role.
Endorsement: Stephanie Thomas for Secretary of State
State Treasurer
The Treasurer is the chief financial officer of the state. Erick Russell is an attorney whose platform is built on servicing debt, pension-fund caretaking, corporate governance (nice), and what earned my endorsement, FINANCIAL LITERACY! Love seeing this in Russell’s top four priorities.
Harry Arora is an investment manager who claims he’ll get better returns on the state’s debt and pension obligations with his investment strategy. Voting for Arora sounds like taking our pension obligations to Mohegan Sun. No thanks.
Jennifer Baldwin doesn’t have a campaign website, but on Ballotopedia she did talk about financial education in K-12 schools. Which is great, but she’s not a serious candidate. JoAnna Laiscell is on the ballot and I couldn’t find anything on why anyone should consider voting for her as Treasurer.
Endorsement: Erick Russell for Treasurer
State Comptroller
If the Treasurer is the state’s CFO, the Comptroller is the Finance Manager, handling accounting and reporting on financial matters. As a State Rep, Scanlon chairs the Finance Committee but does not appear to have any other financial experience. Scanlon is running on looking for opportunities to cut expenses, reduce taxes on the middle class, and, honestly not much substance. His website is just barely updated from his previous campaign for State Rep, and he appears to have invested very little effort in tailoring the content to the role he seeks.
Mary Fay is a former finance professional and a member of West Hartford’s town council. Given that only one candidate has functional, professional financial experience, this discussion seemed pretty easy to me.
Endorsement: Mary Fay for Comptroller
County Probate Judge
The Honorable Matthew Green is running unopposed for reelection.
Town Registrar of Voters
There are two seats and two incumbents running for reelection: Bigi Ebbin and Patti Waters are running without competition.
Ballot Question
Should CT permit early voting? CT is one of only four states that don’t offer early in-person voting. A “yes” vote supports early voting, and a “no” vote opposes early voting. The proposed change has been endorsed by more than 30 civic and political organizations in the state.