muzzled dogg
01-18-2011, 11:18 AM
...although peter is not mentioned in article...
Susan Bysiewicz Running For U.S. Senate
By JON LENDER, CHRISTOPHER KEATING And DANIELA ALTIMARI
The Hartford Courant
11:50 AM EST, January 18, 2011
Susan Bysiewicz, former secretary of the state whose run for attorney general last year was cut short by a court ruling, announced this morning – almost two years before the 2012 election – that she will run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Joseph I. Lieberman.
Bysiewicz, a Democrat, made the announcement in an email sent to Connecticut media from a political consulting firm.
"I am running for the U.S. Senate for the same reason I first entered public service: because I want this state to be a better place for my children and yours," she said in the email. "As I travel across this state listening to the people of Connecticut, I hear over and over that too many of our children have to leave our state because there aren't enough opportunities here for them.
"We need a senator who is 100 percent focused on helping our state, and Sen. Joe Lieberman has been focused on everything but Connecticut. I will only work for the people of Connecticut so we can create jobs that keep our children and grandchildren here in Connecticut for generations to come."
Lieberman, who won election to the Senate as a Democrat in 1988, now is an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats. Polls show his support among voters sagging.
Mark Bergman, whose consulting firm Mission Control Inc. handled the announcement, said: "There's no ambiguity. She's running for U.S. Senate and she wanted to say so."
The firm did work for the Richard Blumenthal Senate campaign last year as well as the U.S. Senate campaigns of Kirsten Gillebrand of New York and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.
Bysiewicz has worked with the consulting group since 1998.
Bysiewicz, who served 12 years as secretary of the state, decided in 2009 to run for her party's 2010 nomination for governor. But then in January of last year, when then-state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, also a Democrat, decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Christopher Dodd, Bysiewicz switched to a candidacy for state attorney general.
However, that effort ended abruptly in May with a state Supreme Court ruling she did not meet the qualifications as a lawyer with at least 10 years in "active practice" in Connecticut.
Bysiewicz, 49, whose tenure as Secretary of the State ended Jan. 5, was not immediately available to comment Tuesday morning at her Middletown home.
Her announcement continues the high-profile scramble for the seat.
U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy of Cheshire has said he is interested in the seat, and many political insiders believe that professional wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon of Greenwich will seek the Republican nomination after spending $50 million in a failed attempt to win the seat in 2010 against Blumenthal.
Bysiewicz's candidacy for attorney general last year was controversial, as questions about her qualifications led to a Superior Court challenge by the state Republican Party against her eligibility to run for the office.
On Tuesday, Republican State Chairman Christopher Healy – who had pushed that court challenge to Bysiewicz's attorney general qualifications, issued an immediate blast at her new candidacy for Senate.
In a prepared statement, Healy said: "It has taken Democrat politician Susan Bysiewicz only a few weeks to decide she can't live without the spotlight or a public sector paycheck.
"After being declared unqualified to serve as Attorney General by the State Supreme Court and a disastrous display of incompetence as Secretary of the State on Election Day 2010, private attorney Bysiewicz has decided the U.S. Senate will be the next stop on her political fantasy tour.
"In 2010. Susan Bysiewicz showed Connecticut voters it's all about Susan. You have to give Ms. Bysiewicz credit, she can take a punch and doesn't dwell on disappointments. Voters will however, will see this for what it is - another career politico in search of greater glory."
Healy said that Bysiewicz "has never properly answered for the improper use of an in-house, taxpayer financed database of 36,000 citizens nor her erratic performance on Election Day and days after where she gave inaccurate information and cast initial doubt on the veracity of the outcome."
"Like the rest of Connecticut's delegation in Washington, Bysiewicz has made her career in politics and is looking for an opportunity to move up in the ranks," said Healy. "She has proven in the last year she is less than qualified in many ways and the people of Connecticut deserve better."
Bysiewicz dismissed Healy's comments as political "inside baseball."
Copyright © 2011, The Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-susan-bysiewicz-running-for-us-sen20110118,0,6004061.story
Susan Bysiewicz Running For U.S. Senate
By JON LENDER, CHRISTOPHER KEATING And DANIELA ALTIMARI
The Hartford Courant
11:50 AM EST, January 18, 2011
Susan Bysiewicz, former secretary of the state whose run for attorney general last year was cut short by a court ruling, announced this morning – almost two years before the 2012 election – that she will run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Joseph I. Lieberman.
Bysiewicz, a Democrat, made the announcement in an email sent to Connecticut media from a political consulting firm.
"I am running for the U.S. Senate for the same reason I first entered public service: because I want this state to be a better place for my children and yours," she said in the email. "As I travel across this state listening to the people of Connecticut, I hear over and over that too many of our children have to leave our state because there aren't enough opportunities here for them.
"We need a senator who is 100 percent focused on helping our state, and Sen. Joe Lieberman has been focused on everything but Connecticut. I will only work for the people of Connecticut so we can create jobs that keep our children and grandchildren here in Connecticut for generations to come."
Lieberman, who won election to the Senate as a Democrat in 1988, now is an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats. Polls show his support among voters sagging.
Mark Bergman, whose consulting firm Mission Control Inc. handled the announcement, said: "There's no ambiguity. She's running for U.S. Senate and she wanted to say so."
The firm did work for the Richard Blumenthal Senate campaign last year as well as the U.S. Senate campaigns of Kirsten Gillebrand of New York and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.
Bysiewicz has worked with the consulting group since 1998.
Bysiewicz, who served 12 years as secretary of the state, decided in 2009 to run for her party's 2010 nomination for governor. But then in January of last year, when then-state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, also a Democrat, decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Christopher Dodd, Bysiewicz switched to a candidacy for state attorney general.
However, that effort ended abruptly in May with a state Supreme Court ruling she did not meet the qualifications as a lawyer with at least 10 years in "active practice" in Connecticut.
Bysiewicz, 49, whose tenure as Secretary of the State ended Jan. 5, was not immediately available to comment Tuesday morning at her Middletown home.
Her announcement continues the high-profile scramble for the seat.
U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy of Cheshire has said he is interested in the seat, and many political insiders believe that professional wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon of Greenwich will seek the Republican nomination after spending $50 million in a failed attempt to win the seat in 2010 against Blumenthal.
Bysiewicz's candidacy for attorney general last year was controversial, as questions about her qualifications led to a Superior Court challenge by the state Republican Party against her eligibility to run for the office.
On Tuesday, Republican State Chairman Christopher Healy – who had pushed that court challenge to Bysiewicz's attorney general qualifications, issued an immediate blast at her new candidacy for Senate.
In a prepared statement, Healy said: "It has taken Democrat politician Susan Bysiewicz only a few weeks to decide she can't live without the spotlight or a public sector paycheck.
"After being declared unqualified to serve as Attorney General by the State Supreme Court and a disastrous display of incompetence as Secretary of the State on Election Day 2010, private attorney Bysiewicz has decided the U.S. Senate will be the next stop on her political fantasy tour.
"In 2010. Susan Bysiewicz showed Connecticut voters it's all about Susan. You have to give Ms. Bysiewicz credit, she can take a punch and doesn't dwell on disappointments. Voters will however, will see this for what it is - another career politico in search of greater glory."
Healy said that Bysiewicz "has never properly answered for the improper use of an in-house, taxpayer financed database of 36,000 citizens nor her erratic performance on Election Day and days after where she gave inaccurate information and cast initial doubt on the veracity of the outcome."
"Like the rest of Connecticut's delegation in Washington, Bysiewicz has made her career in politics and is looking for an opportunity to move up in the ranks," said Healy. "She has proven in the last year she is less than qualified in many ways and the people of Connecticut deserve better."
Bysiewicz dismissed Healy's comments as political "inside baseball."
Copyright © 2011, The Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-susan-bysiewicz-running-for-us-sen20110118,0,6004061.story