{news} Durfee to drop out?

[Green Party-CT]

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-green3oct20,0,3776992.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines 
  Green Party may drop candidate, switch support to FarrellBy Mark Ginocchio
Staff Writer

October 20, 2006

To avoid being a spoiler for Democrat Diane Farrell's congressional bid, state Green Party officials plan to meet this weekend to discuss dropping their candidate in the 4th District race and supporting the former Westport first selectwoman.

When the party nominated Stamford resident Richard Duffee in July, many party members said they should run a candidate only if it didn't hurt Farrell's chances of ousting U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, said David Bedell, secretary for the Green Party's Fairfield County chapter.

Tomorrow's closed meeting for the party's leadership came at the suggestion of Farrell's camp and the Green Party, Bedell said.

A Green Party flier for its members suggested Farrell could make "concessions in exchange for our withdrawal," though Bedell would not discuss specific expectations.

"We discussed this happening a number of times, and now we're looking at it again," Bedell said.

The party's members will vote on dropping Duffee, and the results should be made public next week, Bedell added.

Since the Green Party does not have minor-party status for the 4th District office -- meaning it has not gained 1 percent of the vote in past elections -- it cannot cross-endorse another candidate. The party could replace Duffee with another candidate up until Oct. 30.

"If he were to withdraw, the party can nominate another candidate, but not another existing candidate on the ballot," state elections officer Arthur Champagne said.

Shays' camp criticized Farrell and the Green Party, calling the closed-door meeting "questionable."

"At this late stage in the game, the meeting should be open to the public," said Michael Sohn, Shays' campaign manger. "What concessions is she going to make? After all the debates, what is going to change?"

The candidates finished their last of 11 debates yesterday at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center.

Farrell's campaign manager Adam Wood dismissed the attack, calling the meeting one of many the Democrat is using "to persuade people to vote for change."

Wood said he wouldn't define the "concessions" expected by the Greens in their flier because "I wouldn't want the Greens to speak for me. I wouldn't want the Republicans to speak for me. I wouldn't want the Libertarians to speak for me. So I won't speak for them."

Duffee, who has appeared in the fewest debates among the candidates since the campaign started, said he has always understood the party could eventually drop him, and he wouldn't be disappointed if it happened.

"I never had the notion that it was possible for the Green Party to win this election," Duffee said. "I know people say you run to win, but it would be irresponsible for me to think that. My purpose was to get information into the campaign and to get into political discussions. I wanted to make some of these ideas more accessible."

The 4th Congressional District election has been considered by most political analysts to be a toss-up. A Reuters/Zogby poll released this month put Farrell ahead of Shays 46 percent to 41 percent with 13 percent still undecided; a poll by the University of Connecticut and The Advocate and Greenwich Time taken during the same period showed Shays up 44 percent to 40 percent with 16 percent undecided.

-- Assistant City Editor Jonathan Lucas contributed to this story.   Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. 
             =0)document.write(unescape('%3C')+'\!-'+'-') //-->   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20061020/d9fa6999/attachment.html>