Your CT Democratic Weekly Update
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Connecticut Connection!
A Huge Success
Thanks to everyone who made our 63rd Annual Jefferson Jackson Bailey dinner a great success. With Governor Dannel Malloy as our keynote speaker, the crowd was raucous and energetic the entire evening. Connecticut Democrats showed that while 2010 was a great year, we are ready to continue to work hard to elect Democratic mayors and first selectmen across the state in 2011 and keep our federal delegation “blue” in 2012. Governor Malloy was a tremendous draw—he drew roughly twice the crowd that the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives was able to attract at the CT Republicans’ annual fundraiser last month. Connecticut Democrats are fired up!
A New Addition
The Connecticut Democrats this week will welcome a great addition to our team. Jaclyn Falkowski joins the State Party as our new Communications Director. Jaclyn comes to us from the Senate Democrats where she has done outstanding work on behalf of our Democratic senators. This is another part of the Party’s plan to become even stronger and more dynamic heading into this fall’s elections.
More Jobs Now
As he continues to support innovative and forward-thinking ways to grow our economy, this week Governor Malloy unveiled a proposal to transform the UConn Health Center into a major economic and bioscience hub. His plan will create thousands of good jobs as well as longer-term sustained economic growth in our state. This is yet another move from our strong governor to create jobs and get our economy back on track.
But of course…
Even though Governor Malloy was joined by a Republican state legislator at the unveiling of the UConn Health Center proposal, the Connecticut Republican Party wasted no time in attacking his pro-jobs, pro-innovation leadership.
The CT Republican Party has grown so desperate and frustrated that a Democratic governor is succeeding where Republican governors have failed, that they are lashing out at anything and everything proposed by a Democrat. Connecticut voters deserve better than this.
President Obama in CT
On Wednesday, we were honored to have President Obama in New London to give the commencement address to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The president’s speech was well-received and he thanked the cadets for their brave service while celebrating and remembering our shared ideals and values as a nation.
A new GOP litmus test
This week, conservative presidential candidate Newt Gingrich drew harsh criticism from other Republicans for questioning Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, calling it “right-wing social engineering.” That’s right, even Newt Gingrich said that the plan to destroy Medicare was too radical. After this week, it is increasingly clear that the new litmus test for Republican candidates in Republican primaries is their support for this plan; anyone who doesn’t support the Ryan Plan is not worthy of Republican support. This shows just how out of touch and extreme today’s Republican Party has become.
It was great to see so many of you at the JJB this week, and we look forward to seeing you at Democratic events in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks for reading our weekly update. As always, please feel free to reach out with ideas and upcoming events!
Sincerely,
Your CT Democratic Team
