By Sten Spinella, Staff Writer
The most powerful Democrats in the state of Connecticut showed up to tell the University of Connecticut to vote, n Thursday night in the North Lobby of the Student Union.
These politicians included Gov. Dannel Malloy, Congressman Joe Courtney, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, State Senate candidate Mae Flexer, State Representative Gregg Haddad, Attorney General George Jepsen, Comptroller Kevin Lembo and probate judge candidate Barbara Gardner Riordan. Senator Richard Blumenthal also made an appearance, although he is not up for election. Each politician offered varying speeches to the all-Democratic audience of the North Lobby.
President of the College Democrats Marissa Piccolo, a copy editor at The Daily Campus, spoke first, and was the Master of Ceremonies for the night. She talked about how the Democratic candidates’, “commitment and dedication to UConn…is something that the other side does virtually none of.” She also admitted that the Get Out to Vote event took “a lot of planning.”
Sarah Fischer, a representative of the Graduate Employee Union spoke next, thanking legislators and politicians like Malloy for their support of the graduate students’ efforts to unionize.
“Governor Malloy stood with us in April, we’re standing with him now,” Fischer said.
As the first politician to speak, Gardner-Riordan gave a few cursory remarks about getting out to vote.
Students attending the rally came out to learn more about the candidates and to support their cause.
“I just want to be more informed on who I’m voting for. I already know who I’m voting for, but I think even more so, being here, seeing them, and supporting them is great,” 3rd semester political science major Heide Hernandez said.
The second speaker was “special guest” Blumenthal, who, despite not being up for election, came to the rally to support his fellow Democrats.
“I love being here before an election week,” Blumenthal said. “I remember standing here four years ago…we were bombarded by negative ads from my opponent…my opponent spent $50 million that election. But I had something money can’t buy. I had you.”
Blumenthal went on to tell the people at the rally that “this election, your future is on the ballot.”
State Comptroller Kevin Lembo came next. He used his time to talk about his lack of political experience prior to being elected, saying, “I’m a classic data nerd.” He also spoke to the diversity of Democratic opinion.
“You get 20 Democrats in a room, you’re gonna get 40 opinions,” Lembo said.
His pitch was made at the end of his speech, saying that if Democrats “turn the keys over” to Republicans, who have “no plan,” the same thing is going to happen that happened when Republicans were in office years ago: they’re going to dig a ditch and ask Democrats to get them out of it. He completed the metaphor by saying of the key candidates: “We’ve gotta hold on tight.”
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman took the intimate crowd to a new level by, providing energy with her excited, raspy voice, her characteristic everyman charisma and running to the stage in her heels as she was being introduced.
“Some people don’t know the governor like I know the governor,” Wyman said. “He sometimes says he has sharp elbows, but I’ve been with him. When people have lost their houses, during the storms, I’ve been with him. When people have lost their children in Newtown, I’ve been with him…He cares so much about the people of this state. I look at the comparison of Tom Foley to Dan Malloy…I put my grandchildren in the hands of this great governor, and I might think of moving as fast as I can if the other guy becomes governor.”
Attorney General George Jepsen was the next speaker. He continued on the theme of the importance of the youth vote, but also offered some interesting comments about Quinnipiac polling, positing that the Q poll “under-samples Democrats systematically.”
After a few words from Piccolo, Courtney took the stage. This is his sixth race for Congress in Eastern Connecticut.
Courtney spoke extensively of his close 2006 race, when, he argued, UConn was responsible for his victory, a victory that was claimed to be a loss by his opponent hours before the final results came in.
“They’re not gonna call an election until they see what Mansfield does,” Courtney said.
Courtney was the first speaker to talk about specific issues crediting the growth of downtown Storrs to the Malloy administration’s efforts.
“Your downtown is a model for the smart growth of communities…and Dan Malloy was there every step of the way,” Courtney said.
Malloy spoke last and longest. It was the typical stump speech, starting off in a loose, off the cuff fashion, and becoming animated and passionate by the end.
Easing into the speech, he made two jokes regarding Haddad’s campaign against his cousin.
He also recognized the fact that voters can take advantage of same-day-registration if they haven’t registered before election day, a law that was passed under Malloy him.
Malloy explained that he isn’t afraid to tackle controversial issues – citing marijuana decriminalization as an example.
Before running through a list of accomplishments, he turned to UConn.
“When I became governor, UConn was one of the top 25 public universities. We’re No. 19,” Malloy said. “We have Next Gen on the way, and yes, we’re even gonna have water at the University of Connecticut.”
Then came the list of legislation. Minimum wage, labor unionization, the implementation of a housing department and policy, the implementation of an energy department and policy, the implementation of Obamacare, the addition of 70,000 private sector jobs, and the improvement of graduation rates in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven.
Malloy recognized how close the last election was, and implored UConn students and students within the Union that night, to vote and encourage others to vote next week.
Haddad and Flexer, two UConn graduates, finished the evening with more words encouraging voting.
“I was here before as a UConn student, never dreaming I’d be standing before you as a candidate,” Flexer said.
She also recognized work that needed to be done within the university, pointing to the sexual assault forum that she had attended earlier that day.
“Some of the administrators running the discussion I frankly thought were tone-deaf and defensive,” Flexer said to applause.
After the rally, 3rd semester political science major Erin Puglia addressed why she thought it is imperative to vote in this election.
“I think it’s a really important election, this year especially, because there’s such a difference in the candidates,” Puglia said. “All the Democratic candidates on the ticket this year do so much for UConn students…they hear the concerns from our (College Democrat) meetings and they take action.”
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