{news} Miguel makes the Courant!

[David Bedell]

Go Miguel!

http://www.courant.com/news/local/nb/hc-nebmayor0430.artapr30,0,1727129.story

Mayoral Hopeful Tries Green Party Bid
Nieves Says Third Party Can `Bring The City Back To The People'

By JOANN KLIMKIEWICZ
Courant Staff Writer

April 30 2005

NEW BRITAIN -- He ran for city alderman, tried to launch a new political 
party, and led a grass-roots organization for Latinos.

Now Miguel Nieves is going Green. And he's running for mayor.

Nieves, 40, officially kicked off his campaign as a Green Party candidate at 
the Puerto Rican Society Friday night. Surrounded by about a dozen 
supporters in a banquet hall festooned with the party's color, he said it 
was time New Britain had a choice beyond the two-party system.

"We see Democrats and Republicans fighting each other and actually not doing 
anything for the city," said Nieves, a manager for Family Dollar chain 
stores. "I think it's time for a third party to really bring the city back 
to the people."

Nieves knows it's an uphill battle. He's trying to unseat first-term 
Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart while Democrats, the city's dominant party, 
are launching a campaign to put City Treasurer Jason Jakubowski into the 
seat.

And while there are more than 16,000 registered Democrats in New Britain, 
there are 22 Greens.

Friday's announcement was sparsely attended - there were more folks hunkered 
at the bar downstairs. And most in the Nieves crowd were Green Party members 
from out of town.

But, said Nieves, "That's just a start." He said he'll be walking the city 
streets, knocking on doors to get his message out: The city needs to cut 
municipal spending, bring in more jobs and improve the quality of life for 
its residents.

Nieves said he approached the Green Party last year at a meeting in 
Hartford. He said he wanted to do in New Britain what the Greens were able 
to do in Hartford with Elizabeth Horton Sheff. She made headlines in 1999 
when she was first elected to the city council on the Green Party line, 
becoming a local and national symbol that the party was making headway as a 
third-party option.

Horton Sheff has since resigned from the party.

The party has been organizing in New Britain since January, said Mike 
DeRosa, co-chairman of the Connecticut Green Party. He said the party is 
also planning to announce several candidates for the common council.

Nieves ran unsuccessfully for alderman on the Democratic Party ticket in 
1999. He was one of 10 people who began the United Party, a third party that 
had little success. About three years ago, he created Latinos in Action, a 
volunteer organization that has hosted festivals.

But the festival will be on hiatus this year, Nieves said.

"All our efforts will be going into my campaign," he said.

Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant