{news} The Day: 2nd Takes On A Shade Of Green

[David Bedell]

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=d77be5c4-3218-42a3-81fa-597480f0dd41

2nd Takes On A Shade Of Green
By David Collins ,
Published on 4/11/2008 in Home »Region »Region Columns

EIGHTY-THREE VOTES. That's all it took, by the time the last town finished its recount, for Democrat Joe Courtney to snatch the 2nd District congressional seat away from Rob Simmons in 2006. It's probably a number neither one of them will soon forget.

Ever wonder what would have happened had there been a third candidate in such a close race?

Well, stay tuned. Because for this fall's election there could well be a Green Party candidate on the ballot in the 2nd District, long known for its razor-thin margins of victory.

This Saturday, the Greens will hold their first 2nd District convention, at 2 p.m. at Otis Library in Norwich, and will likely nominate a candidate. It's expected to be Scott Deshefy, a 56-year-old retired supervising environmental analyst from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Deshefy will then need to collect the signatures of 2,500 registered district voters, from any party, to get on the ballot in November. That shouldn't be too daunting, given that there are active chapters of the Green Party in the southern end of the district, in New London, and in the north, in Willimantic, to help.

Deshefy said this week the petitions are circulating with volunteers, and he's pretty confident he'll have all he needs by mid-August.

“I'm not losing sleep over it — yet,” he said.

At a time when the country has turned “going green” into a marketing phenomenon, it's not hard to see how a green politician might have a lot of voter appeal. And Deshefy, who likes to call himself a “poor country scientist,” would be an intriguing candidate.

He lives in rural Lebanon, where he says he was the first person in town to register in the Green Party. He is a native of Montville and was once chairman of Montville Board of Education. He was a Democrat then.

He has bachelor's degree in biology, a master's degree in zoology and has also written a couple of books of poetry. His full resume is on his Web site, newmenu.org/deshefy4congress_ct.

If elected, he says he would work to withdraw all American troops from Iraq, to impose six-year congressional term limits, to enact ethics rules with zero tolerance for any kinds of gifts to members of Congress, to end predatory mortgage lending practices, to increase aid for education and to stop the erosion of the middle class.

“We have the widest gap between rich and poor that we have had in the 20th and 21st centuries,” he said.

He would also, if elected, give away 30 percent of his salary to charity, because he says he has enough from his pension to support his family.

I don't think Deshefy, no matter how appealing a platform he builds, has much credible chance of overcoming the entrenched political reality of the two-party system here in eastern Connecticut. But he could certainly change the dynamics of a close race.

I asked him if he worries about people calling him a spoiler.

“I think the spoilers are the Republicans and Democrats who are running the country,” he answered.

“I think the time is right. This is a nation in a state of flux. We have to adapt if we are going to overcome the economic peril that the planet is under right now. The Green Party is the agency of change, and I am going to be the congressional candidate of change here.”

Indeed, at the very least, he could change the outcome in a 2nd District race.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

Regional

_________________________________________________________________
Going green? See the top 12 foods to eat organic.
http://green.msn.com/galleries/photos/photos.aspx?gid=164&ocid=T003MSN51N1653A