{news} NB Herald-"G. P. Candiate Wins Over Voters at Debate"

[Tim McKee]

The audience, who remained basically quiet during the debate, broke in to
applause and cheers at Burbank's remarks.

Cheshire council member Tim White drove to Farmington for the chance to
see all four candidates. A Republican, White said he was undecided on who
he would vote for in November, but thought Burbank's passion added to the
debate.

Several audience members also agreed Burbank had come on strong and
displayed strong convictions on a variety of subjects.

Registered Republican Janet Buonaiuto of Washington said she would be
casting a vote for Burbank because the state was in need of change.

"I'm looking for a candidate who not only will represent me, but everyone
in a way that will help us," she said. "I think Harold Burbank will do
that."


10/27/2008

Four face off in 5th District debate
By JAMES CRAVEN , Herald staff

[IMAGE]FARMINGTON - A final debate for a seat from the 5th District in
the U.S. House of Representatives drew more than 150 people Monday night
to hear four candidates speak on subjects from the current financial
crisis to the war in Iraq.

The debate, which included Democrat Chris Murphy, Republican David
Cappiello, Green Party candidate Harold Burbank and Thomas Winn, of the
Independent Party, was sponsored by the Farmington Chamber of Commerce.

This was the first debate in which all four candidates participated
because of a ruling by the League of Women Voters to block Burbank and
Winn from participating in their debates.

Carol Presutti, president of the chamber, said her organization thought
it only fair to allow all the candidates to be heard."We've never done
this before, but we thought it would be a public service," she said. "Our
mission is to help businesses and our community and this is a way for us
to do just that."

Moderated by WVIT's Tom Monahan, each candidate made a two-minute opening
statement, followed by questions submitted by the political parties, also
with two minutes to answer.

Burbank, who pulled a long straw to decide who would go first,
immediately launched into his views on the Iraq War and Murphy's role in
not doing more to impeach President George W. Bush. In the strongest
language that would be heard during the debate, Burbank lashed out at
Murphy for doing little to bring Bush to "justice."

"There are 4,100 soldiers lost, 100,000 soldiers wounded and more than
one million Iraqis dead," he said. Burbank also held Murphy accountable
for his stance on health care and the financial crisis.

In response, Murphy said he was proud of the work he had accomplished
during the past two years, but allowed that much work still needed to be
done.

"We had a Congress and a White House willing to look the other way while
Wall Street took on unjustifiable and unmanageable risk that put our
entire economy in peril," Murphy said. "I went down to Washington two
years ago to take Washington back."

Cappiello, in his opening statement, talked about his Lebanese and
Italian background, his family's business and the plight of
small-business owners.

"We have a Congress that has gone wild," he said, adding that he was
worried about the future of his children given the deficit.

The final opening statement by Winn was less directed at Murphy, but also
seemed less in touch with the debate.
"Our Congress is just dysfunctional," Winn said. He then meandered
through a list of grievances seemingly without connection.

Describing himself as a "Reaganite," Winn grew most agitated when talking
about the war.

Cappiello distanced himself from his party leader, and said he had been
opposed to the surge of troops in Iraq.
"We need to withdraw our troops as quickly as possible," he said.

The audience, who remained basically quiet during the debate, broke in to
applause and cheers at Burbank's remarks.

Burbank, a human rights lawyer, said the United States needs to get out
of Iraq immediately, bring in the United Nations, and consider paying
reparations to the Iraqi people.

A question on whether there should be a tax increase given the current
recession, drew mostly party-line responses, with Murphy and Cappiello
taking a stand against excessive taxation on middle-class families.

Cheshire council member Tim White drove to Farmington for the chance to
see all four candidates. A Republican, White said he was undecided on who
he would vote for in November, but thought Burbank's passion added to the
debate.

Several audience members also agreed Burbank had come on strong and
displayed strong convictions on a variety of subjects.

Registered Republican Janet Buonaiuto of Washington said she would be
casting a vote for Burbank because the state was in need of change.

"I'm looking for a candidate who not only will represent me, but everyone
in a way that will help us," she said. "I think Harold Burbank will do
that."


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

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