{news} Richard Duffee in Norwalk Citizen-News

[David Bedell]

The reporter listed our whole slate but forgot Cliff Thornton for Governor?

http://www.norwalkcitizen-news.com/local/ci_4075320

Duffee is Green Party's Nominee for 4th District

By Leslie Hutchison
Norwalk Citizen

Richard Duffee of Stamford, the Green Party candidate for the 4th
Congressional District seat, had to convince his own party's state committee
that he had the wherewithal to launch a campaign.

Duffee said the committee recently did agree that "there is energy to run"
against Republican incumbent Christopher Shays.

Duffee's campaign manager, Paul Bassler of Norwalk, said some committee
members were concerned the party would spread itself too thin with a run for
Congress. However, Bassler believes "a local candidate energizes those areas
and brings out more support" for statewide Green Party races.

At the party's Fairfield County nominating meeting July 11 in Norwalk,
Duffee received 19 of the 22 votes cast. However, to get his name on the
ballot, Duffee and his volunteer campaign workers must collect at least
2,909 signatures by Aug. 9. To ensure that enough qualifying signatures are
amassed, Bassler said their goal is to collect 5,000.

The Green Party's nominees at the state level are Robin Schafer for
lieutenant governor, Colin D. Bennett for comptroller, David Bue for
treasurer, Nancy Burton for attorney general, and Mike DeRosa for secretary
of the state.

Ralph A. Ferrucci is the Green Party's candidate for U.S. Senate.

Campaign strategies for a third-party candidate are not that different from
those for a mainstream Republican or Democratic contender, according to
Bassler. He said he'll work "to get Richard in front of groups and
associations" and included in any debates that may be scheduled between
Shays and his Democratic challenger, Diane Farrell of Westport.

Duffee is a former teacher who also has a law degree. He's lived in Stamford
for about a year and is "just doing this now," he said, referring to his
candidacy. "This is very absorbing," he added.

The candidate said he's been "interested in the Green Party for a long
time," going back to the early 1980s, when he worked on environmental issues
in the Hudson Valley. This campaign is Duffee's second, having run in the
1990s for the school board in Peekskill, N.Y., where he lost by 35 votes, he
said.

Duffee pointed to his Web site, www. duffee.politicalgateway.com, to explain
his platform for the race. His top five priorities are nuclear disarmament;
the halting and reversal of the greenhouse effect; massive United Nations
reform, including democratic reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions; the
abolition of absolute poverty; and reductions in the levels of disparity of
income to what they were in the 1940s and '50s.

Duffee has raised some funds for his candidacy, but nothing like his
opponents. Duffee said he has $400 on hand, having spent $200 of a total
$600 raised.

In comparison, Shays reported to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday
that his campaign had raised $2.3 million through June 30 and had $1.5
million on hand.

Farrell's campaign finance report to the FEC shows she had raised $1.8
million through June 30 and had $1.3 million on hand.

Greenwich Libertarian Phil Maymin also is petitioning to be placed on the
ballot for the 4th District race.