Litchfield Country Times: Kent Democrats Are Saying No To Chris Dodd

Thursday, 25 June 2009 11:48

By: Kathryn Boughton
Litchfield Country Times

KENT-Five-term U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd may have regained some lost political ground in the most recent Quinnipiac University poll, with his approval rating rising from a low of 33 percent in April to 38 percent in May, but he has failed to satisfy the Kent Democratic Town Committee, which registered a vote of no confidence Monday night.

The committee voted 8 to 5, with one abstention, to pass the no-confidence resolution, and the vote came one month after the initial discussion of the group's dissatisfaction with the state's senior senator.

"There was a good deal of frustration with Senator Dodd's appearance in Cornwall," said committee chairman Tod Jones. "Some committee members felt [Mr.] Dodd did not answer their questions at all. Only three or so questions were answered and people felt their concerns were not addressed."

Following last month's committee meeting, Senator Dodd was invited to attend any one of the Kent committee's meetings that he could make. He has yet to reply, but the director of his Hartford office, Edward Mann, came to Kent Monday to address the committee's concerns.

"He tried to persuade the committee that Senator Dodd is not taking our concerns lightly," reported Mr. Jones, "that he was not trying to write us off. He tried to answer some of the questions that came from the committee to him, but I'm afraid he didn't change anybody's mind [pro or con]."

The resolution was drafted by John Nonneman, with help from Dennis De Paul. "The more we dug, the more we found and it wasn't very encouraging," said Mr. De Paul after the meeting. "Senator Dodd has done a lot of good things for the state in the areas of environmental issues, maternal leave, worker considerations ... but when you look at other side, at how he has financed his entire political career, it raises lot of questions about his impartiality and judgment."

He noted that Senator Dodd has been a longtime member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee at the same time that he was taking donations from AIG and from banking interests.

"Dodd played a critical role in getting the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed (that allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate), which is considered one of the primary reasons we're in the situation we're in now," Mr. De Paul said. "His defense is that he never let political contributions affect his decisions. He says, 'I have done nothing illegal and unethical according to our regulations.' But I make a distinction between legality and ethics. I'm looking for a higher level of responsibility. We can do better than this, folks. There is a lot of anger and a lot of frustration from a lot of folks out there who now have a very uncertain future."

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