Monday, July 29, 2013

Eye Co-Founder Seeks to Primary Local Democrats for place on Ballot

Devoto sought a nomination to the Middletown Democratic Town Committee slate as a candidate for Planning and Zoning on the 2013 election, however, was denied a seat after a vote was taken at the town committee meeting. Devoto is petitioning the slate, and upon gathering 519 signatures from registered democrats, can call for a primary to take place for the Democratic seat prior to the general election in November. Devoto is currently seeking signatures for such a primary. Devoto wrote as under the pseudo name Fishmuscle for the Middletown Eye Blog for  the first two years of the blog as most writers did before using his real name Stephen Devoto. (Blogger changes all usernames so this only shows in cached data.) From 2008 til now, he has hundreds of posts on the blog covering local arts, politics and mainly municipal meetings ofthe Planning and Zoning Commission. 


Dr. Stephen H. Devoto, Ph.D  is aprofessor of Biology ( degree from Rockafeller University) at Wesleyan University and  has resided with his family in the Westfield section of town for the past 16 years. Dr. Devoto is proprietor of Devoto Vineyards LLC located in Kelseyville, CA with property also in Lakeport CA. The vineyard specializes in award winning Rieslings. The 142 acre vineyard, established in 1972 boasts of organically planted vines since 2005. 
Devoto  is a local activist, Middletown Eye Editor, and co-founder of the No Strip Mall No Wrecking Ball  activist group (see facebook message board) along with BOE member & Blue House LLC founder Ed McKeon.  Blue House LLC supposedly outbid the Connection Inc. to purchase a multi family house at 150 College Street in order to block the nonprofit from possibly making it a group home. He is aiding the group in fundraising for Jennifer  & Jared Proto who have a lawsuit against the P& Z commission's legislative actions concerning the passage of changes to the MX zone adopted in April of this year. 

Devoto has been active in local politics as an activist; he is a board member of the Westfield Residents Association and lead the group in its opposition to the original site of the Army Reserve Training Center on Freeman Lane. This group proposed that the Army consider the Mile Lane location where it currently resides. Devoto is also locally known for his advocay for safe streets for cyclists and pedestrians, himself an avid cyclist, is often  seen attending  municipal meetings with his bike. Devoto brought forth the "Right to Dry Act" Committee Bill # 5995 concerning cessasion of the ban on clothesline use in certain private homeowner's associations in Middletown specifically and other communities in Connecticut that have restrictions against them. 

Below is his letter re posted as a courtesy to readers, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Middletown Insider staff. Below is Devoto's public letter as published in the Middletown Patch : http://middletown-ct.patch.com/groups/your-take/p/earning-middletown-democrats-nomination-candidates-perspective. 
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By Stephen Devoto

Last week, when the Middletown Democratic Party convention nominated candidates to appear on the ballot for the November municipal elections, I tried to gain one of its three nominations for Planning and Zoning.

I failed, and am now collecting signatures for a primary. What follows is a personal story of trying to get on the ballot, along with some personal opinions on the municipal democratic process. Please note that this is not intended to be journalism: I believe everything to be accurate, but I am not a disinterested observer. 
I have invited the chair of the Democratic Committee to submit his own perspective on the nominating process.

  • Part 1 (today) will briefly cover why I am running for Planning and Zoning, as well as my experience trying to be nominated by the Democratic Town Committee. 
  • Part 2 will cover the process of petitioning for a primary.
  • Part 3 will be opinion and analysis of ballot access issues.
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Why run for Planning and Zoning?
The two most important activities of City government are education and land use regulation. Other city actions like snow removal, public safety, and water supply are obviously important, but their impact rarely extends beyond the lifecycle of an election. In contrast, land use decisions shape the nature of our city for generations to come.

I believe that informed residents who consistently watch government make a substantial contribution to the process of municipal governance, because they provide some accountability for both the elected and the appointed city officials. In the area of land use, Katchen Coley and Arline Rich have been recent exemplars of this type of civic contribution.

I started following our city’s land use decisions very shortly after moving to Middletown 16 years ago. I became active in the Westfield Residents Association, and whenever the Planning and Zoning Commission considered a Westfield property, we examined the proposed plans and attended the public hearing.

The Middletown Eye provides a venue to expand this kind of watchdog citizenship. Anyone who is willing to observe a public meeting can post a record of the deliberations and decisions, to inform others in the city. In the last five years, I have done this for land use, attending nearly every meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission, many meetings of Inland Wetlands, and a few meetings of Design Review and Historic Preservation. I filed a report on each meeting for The Middletown Eye (search for "Planning and Zoning" in The Eye's search window on the upper left).

During my time watching and reporting on Planning and Zoning, I have seen a nearly complete turn-over of Commissioners, Les Adams is the only Commissioner who has been attending meetings longer than I have. In the last 5 years, I have a better attendance record than any of the current Commissioners.

During this time, I realized that I was qualified, and that I have the energy and level of commitment necessary to be a Commissioner. In addition, I grew increasingly frustrated by what I was witnessing on the Commission.  First, the Commission was doing no planning, in the past two years any discussions about the future of our city have been driven by proposals of developers, only occasionally by the appointed staff, and never by the initiative of the Commission. Second, the Commission was too deferential to the lawyers paid for by the developer, and too dismissive of the testimony by Middletown residents.  The balance was wrong.

I realized that if I wanted to change any of this, I needed to be part of the Commission. I decided to run for office. Naturally, the first step would be to get my name on the ballot.

Dear Chairman Pickett: I am writing to express my interest in a nomination …
The most common path to the ballot is a nomination from the Democratic or Republican Town Committee. The Democratic Town Committee is elected every two years: it consists of elected officials, the spouses and children of some of them, and others actively engaged in electing local democrats. The DTC meeting in July is held as a “nominating convention” at which endorsed candidates are submitted for the November ballot.

I wrote to Dan Pickett, chair of the Democratic Town Committee, expressing my interest in receiving one of three Democratic nominations for Planning and Zoning. I described my background and experience (read my letter HERE).

Every person who expresses an interest in being on the ballot as an endorsed Democrat is interviewed by the nominating subcommittee of the DTC. This year, the nominating subcommittee consisted of Pickett, Richard Pelletier (sitting Planning and Zoning Commissioner, not up for election this year), Dan Russo (sitting P&Z Commissioner, up for election this year). Two members of Middletown Young Democrats, Alison Cleary and Will Arther, participated but they were not members of the Town Committee (they were elected to membership after the nominating committee's work was done).

In my interview, I was asked to describe my experience and interest in Planning and Zoning; this discussion took less than 10 minutes, perhaps because there is such an extensive public record of my involvement.

The remaining 20 minutes of my interview was spent on my level of commitment to the local Democratic party. These questions all came from Dan Russo, who has been the chair of the DTC. Some of the questions I expected, and I do not think are unreasonable. I was asked if I would commit to raising at least $500 to support all non-mayoral candidates. Russo explained that this was to cover the cost of brochures, phone lines, office rental, etc. I said ‘yes’. I was asked to enumerate what I had done for local Democratic candidates in recent elections. I admitted I hadn’t done much, later I explained that as a news correspondent for municipal meetings it would have been inappropriate for me to campaign for municipal elections. I encouraged them to weigh the strength of my background for the governance aspect of Planning and Zoning against this weakness.

Russo then asked me, “Do you pledge your support for ALL candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party?” At the risk of appearing hopelessly naïve and/or idealistic, I confess I was not prepared for what was clearly the most important question to the Nominating Committee.

With 5 Democratic operatives staring at me across the table, the ‘correct’ answer was obvious, but I could not bring myself to say it. I hemmed and hawed for awhile, to try to disguise my shock and frustration that I would be expected to give blanket approval to the as-yet-unknown recommendations of the three-man nominating sub-committee. I finally replied that the question was unfair, I could not honestly express my support for candidates that had not yet been named.

I left the interview hoping that the committee would recommend my nomination based on my experience and qualifications for governance, even while it recognized that my background in electioneering was less than other possible candidates.

I was disappointed when Chairman Pickett phoned me on the morning of the nominating convention and said I would not be recommended for a nomination. However, this was not the end of the process, and I made it clear to several DTC members that I hoped for a nomination from the floor at the nominating convention.

The Nominating Convention.
The Democratic Town Committee met last Thursday to nominate candidates. The nominations for Mayor and Board of Education went according to the recommendations of the nominating committee. The nominating committee’s recommendation for the 8 Common Council candidates was followed with one exception, Quentin Phipps was removed from the recommended slate, to be replaced by Jim Streeto. This was pre-arranged, as Phipps voluntarily declined the nomination and Streeto was immediately nominated.

When it came time for the Planning and Zoning Commission nominations, Chairman Pickett announced the recommendation of Dan Russo, Rob Blanchard, and Paul Turenne. Dan Russo is a former DTC chair and was the dominant force on the nominating committee; Rob Blanchard is a former paid employee of the Malloy campaign, and is currently a driver for Attorney General Jepsen; Paul Turenne is the associate registrar at Wesleyan.

After reading the list of recommended candidates, Pickett asked if there were any further nominations. I was nominated and seconded from the floor, and therefore the 40 delegates to the nominating convention (all members of the DTC), were tasked with voting for 3 out of 4 nominated candidates. One of the DTC members asked that delegates hear from each of the 4 candidates, and Chairman Pickett agreed.  This was highly unusual, the delegates normally vote without ever hearing from the candidates.

Russo, Blanchard, Turenne, and I each spoke for 3 minutes. Russo spoke primarily about his work for the DTC, Blanchard and Turenne spoke of their love for our city, and I reiterated my experience with Planning and Zoning and other land use regulative bodies in the city. I also pledged, if I received the official endorsement of the DTC, to support the other Democratic candidates for office.

Ballots were then handed out, one by one, to each of the 40 DTC members present. Each ballot was pre-printed with the three endorsed candidates, votes for me required the voter to write in my name. This was reasonable, because Chairman Pickett had no way of predicting who might be nominated from the floor.

What was more surprising was that each ballot was also individually marked with the name of the DTC member who would be voting. This was not anonymous voting, every voter would know that his or her vote would be known to the Chair and presumably others. The DTC has in the past battled over whether balloting should be secret or not.

When the votes were tallied, I received votes from almost half of the DTC members, but this placed me last among the 4 candidates (Russo, 32; Blanchard, 35; Turenne, 27; Devoto 19). Later I learned that DTC members are expected by the party to vote exclusively for those endorsed by the nominating committee. In that light, I am grateful to have received as many votes as I did.

This is not the end of the nominating process. Any Democrat who fails to get the endorsement of the nominating committee has the right to petition for a primary in which all Democratic voters will decide which candidates to put forward in the November election.

Stephen Devoto
Middletown Planning and Zoning Petitioning Candidate

12 comments:

  1. The line of questioning from the Dem Town Committee members should have been a tip-off to Steve that they want everyone to fall in line. Followers is what they want, independent thinkers need not apply.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John:
    Ask Phil and Joe how much the Republicans value independent thought.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So if he were to win he'd be suing himself?

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  4. anon: 3:55 Doesn't anyone get that independent thought is fine when that logic makes sense? Stuff Phil came up with - his voting for the China trip and ridiculous spending defy any logic! After reading Phil's letter I can totally sympathize with what the Republicans had to put with all these years!My god they let that guy carry a gun for all those years!

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  5. Anon at 5:10:
    Giuliano has already admitted that they were kicked off the ticket for hurting his chances of becoming mayor by voting for reorg.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @3:35PM why don't you ask the councilwomen how he worked with them and how often he even talked to them. Part of being a team is communicating, something the Minority Leader failed at miserably.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Team is what devoto fails to see. Wants to be on the dem team. Wants the team support and money. But doesn't want to support the team in return. There is no "I" in team.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So you criticize Devoto for being independent and you criticize the Dems for punishing independence. No wonder the Insiders whine so much.

    ReplyDelete
  9. THE INSIDER WASNT CRITICIZING HIM- THE POST IS ACTUALLY RATHER FLATTERING!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice to see Dems reading MI. Middletown Dems run a tight ship with zero tolerance policy - you don't like it, move on or change it from within but don't whine about it.

    Much more to the Phil/Joe story than Phil's spin. They weren't fired because of any conspiracy...their failures were too great to ignore.

    ReplyDelete

  11. In my opinion here is why Phil Pessina and Joe Bibisi were kicked off the ticket and other fun tidbits.


    1) Refused to play with the team.

    2) Argued (Phil) to announce the GOP budget in 2011, and then during the recess bagged the GOP women and announced that he was voting for the DEM budget ala bi-partisanship.. He wanted the attention so bad he was prepared to do the ole PP speech thing and promote the GOP budget, until he got cold feet at the last minute.

    3)During the last two elections, Phil would cock block any new candidates who wanted/needed to walk with the mayor. It was the Phil making sure he was front and center with the mayor. This is great but if you are one of the tickets highest vote getters, shouldn't you be grooming younger candidates.

    4) Joe Bibisi would take the master walking list for himself and never return it. If he took someone it was a friend like Hutton/Tarasi with whom he wanted on the ticket to control and groom. Bibisi never worked with younger candidates in order to promote the team.

    5) JB/PP only thought about their selected places at the political table and didn't give two hoots about the other Republicans except for a selected few.

    6) Joe loved his stipend- a lot.

    7) Both Kissed Seb's ass until he lost. The EMS team is still finding chunks of both their hair up the former mayor's anal cavity.

    8) PP really believes Drew went to China, "to bring jobs to Middletown", this works against him 2 ways. A) He is kissing Drew's ass or B) Does he really believe the Chinese are going to bring jobs to Middletown?

    9)Joe and Phil will not primary for a variety of reasons: A) Too much money and energy B) They are not used to doing the work C) Would rater complain and have strange hopes that TS and the big boys will allow them into the Dem sandbox one day. Ain't going to happen!

    10) Joe not running is actually an inside job, ask around. There were certain people who don't want him to run. Ask around- do your own homework.

    ReplyDelete

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