{news} fyi----Hartford 'WORKING FAMILIES PARTY ' GAINS TWO SEATS

[Tim McKee]

One Republican, Two Members Of Working Families Party Also Gain Seats On City Council  By JEFFREY B. COHEN
  And DANIEL E. GOREN Courant Staff Writers
  November 7, 2007
         
  Hartford voters Tuesday elected six endorsed Democrats, one incumbent Republican and two new Working Families Party candidates to the city's Court of Common Council, according to unofficial results.

With incumbent Mayor Eddie A. Perez winning re-election, all six of the endorsed Democratic candidates also won re-election, unofficial results show. They include incumbents rJo Winch, Kenneth Kennedy Jr., James Boucher, Pedro Segarra and Calixto Torres, as well as newcomer Matt Ritter.

Republican incumbent Veronica Airey-Wilson also secured a seat on the council.

Newcomers Luis Cotto and Larry Deutsch of the Working Families Party also secured seats, although the final outcome was not clear until after midnight. With some absentee ballots still being tallied late into the night, Deutsch and independent candidate Paul Mozzicato were separated by only a few hundred votes.

The current council has faced a great deal of criticism for too often acquiescing to the agenda established by Perez. But Ritter - son of former House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter - said Tuesday night that he thinks the new council will grow into its own.

"What I think will happen is a council continuing to find its focus under a new form of government," Ritter said, referring to the city's relatively new "strong mayor" charter. "We're going to have new people on the council. With new people come new ideas and new energy."

Kennedy said he's not sure what role this next council will assume.

"It remains to be seen," Kennedy said. "I'm confident that the council sees the fact that it's got to operate as a true legislative body. That doesn't mean you object for objection's sake. ... Maybe it means we have more open debates.

"But I think all my colleagues understand that the public was very clear that they wanted to see a more active council in the next four years." 

The matter of who will lead the council is a question that the candidates, themselves, have been asking, in no small part because the council president is next in line to the mayor.

And with Perez under state criminal investigation, Democrats have quietly asked the question among themselves: What happens if Perez faces criminal charges and is forced to leave office?

Kennedy did not address that discussion. But he did say that the discussion over who would be council president remained open. 

Cotto, of the Working Families Party, said he was happy to have won, and happier still to have won alongside Deutsch, and that he is now ready to start studying how the city spends its money.

"I'm psyched that we have two in," Cotto said. "Let the work begin."

City Treasurer Kathleen Palm Devine also won re-election. She ran unopposed.

Contact Jeffrey B. Cohen at jcohen at courant.com.

  Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant


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  Tim McKee
  Manchester CT
  Home-860-643-2282
  Cell-860-778-1304
  Tim McKee, is a National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
  BLOG- http://timmckee2008.blogspot.com/

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