The Final Weekend

This weekend both Democrats and Republicans are out in full force trying to get the vote out. Driving around the city today I saw pamphlets for both sides, as it has become clear that many races will be determined by whoever wins the get out the vote effort.

So, what do you think is going to happen? This may be one of the most interesting local elections we'll see. Just three days left!

Abrantes Has TV Ad

Democratic mayoral candidate Helena Abrantes has released a TV ad. It targets Mayor Boughton, and questions his leadership. Here is a transcript of the ad:

Irresponsible development means more traffic congestion. Tax giveaways for big residential developers means more taxes for us.

As our mayor Helena Abrantes wants to restore vision, hope, respect, and results for Danbury.

Helena Abrantes: leadership, experience, respect for community, respect for family.

Elect Helana Abrantes Mayor. Danbury can do better.

With only four days to go, this race, along with many others are going to be very interesting to see the outcome of.

News-Times Endorses Boughton

The News-Times endorsed Mayor Mark Boughton for a forth term today. You can read it here.


Boughton's accomplishments seemed to be why the chose him, as they mentioned them. Here is probably the biggest reason behind the endorsement of the Mayor:

Schools have been expanded. Construction has begun on a new police headquarters. Construction has been completed on a westside firehouse. The ugly battle between Boughton and the police union over a contract has been resolved.

However, they did criticize Boughton's leadership skills, but in the end said he was best qualified. Remember, this Sunday we will be making our endorsement for Mayor.

Very Important Voting Information

Get ready for one of the most confusing posts you will ever read. However, it's also probably one of the most important one's you'll ever read too. This post is going to explain the ballot for this year's election, and explain how the votes for different races are really counted.

To begin with, the four top races for the office of Mayor, City Treasurer, City Clerk, and Town Clerk are all the same. Like many would expect the candidate with the most votes of the two wins. It's simply by popular vote.

Now onto the somewhat confusing races. The Common Council at Large consists of seven elected members. There are six Democrats and seven Republicans running. The way this works is the top seven people that earn the most votes, of the total thirteen candidates, are elected. For example, all seven Republicans could win, or five Democrats could win and only two Republicans.

Okay, that's not that confusing, right? Well, it's only going to get more fun! When it comes to electing candidates for the Council by wards, many people get confused about who wins. As many know, each ward gets two Council members. Each party runs two candidates, for a total of four candidates. The top two candidates with the most votes win. Many believe that a ward has to elect both Republicans, or both Democrats, but that is not true. In fact, the first ward used to have one member from each party representing them. This doesn't happen often, but if you have two well known candidates running from opposite parties, that are well liked by the public then it is definitely possible. Currently, each ward has two Council members from the same party, but that could very well change this year.

The Board of Education can get very confusing, especially this year. Democrats hold a 6-5 majority, which they will still hold this year because they have three seats up for bid, and the Republicans also have three seats up. However, there is also one more seat up for grabs because of the death of a former Republican school board member. The Republican who filled the seat at the time, Richard Jannelli, is running for it this year. He will win automatically because the Democrats did not run anyone for that one seat. Like mentioned earlier, each party has three open seats. The Democrats chose to run just three candidates, and they will all win because they only have three spots to fill. The Republicans nominated six people (the most they can for the school board) to fill their three seats. So, actually the Republicans will be running against each other because the top three vote getter's of the six will win the three open seats. Just to note the Republicans can't try to earn the majority because each party has the same number of seats up for grabs. They had the chance in 2005 when each party was guaranteed two seats, and the fifth seat was up for grabs. Republicans could have won the seat by earning more votes than the Democrat, but they did not. This can only happen when a Republican Mayor is running for re-election.

The Zoning Commission elects nine people. The majority can only be a 5-4 member ratio, which Republicans currently have. The top four candidates of each party will win. The ninth seat is filled by comparing the Republican with the fifth highest votes to the Democrat with the fifth highest vote. Whoever has more votes, wins the seat, giving their party the majority. It is slightly similar to the Board of Education.

The Zoning Commission Alternates are also chosen like the regular Zoning members are. However, instead of nine members, there are only three. Each party definitely gets one person, and the third person is decided by putting the second highest candidate of each party's results up against each other. Whoever has more votes win the seats, and gives their party the majority.

Constables are also elected this way. There are five of them. The top two of each party win, and then head to head results are compared between the next closest candidate of each party. The one with more votes win, and gives their party the majority.

To wrap it up, though some candidates have their names placed above and below each other, they are technically not solely running against them. The only ones that do truly run against each other are the races for the top four offices.

Gee, it sure can get confusing, but it's very important information to know!

Nancy Johnson Endorses Giuliani

Yesterday, Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made a trip to Connecticut to accept the endorsement of former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. You can read it here.

Johnson served twenty-four years in Congress, and was considered a moderate, typical New-England Republican. She said that Giuliani was the best choice for the GOP to make, and brings enthusiasm to the party.

Many do believe this to be true in our state, as Giuliani has a chance at winning Connecticut in the general election. Polls have shown that Giuliani has a very solid lead in our state's Republican primary. Giuliani already has the support from many state legislatures. Congressman Chris Shays has shown that he likes John McCain. Mitt Romney has the backing of Mayor Mark Boughton, who is co-chairing his efforts in the state. Most Democratic Connecticut legislators are supporting Chris Dodd in his quest for the Presidency.

New Voting Machines Info

As most of you know, this year the voting system has changed in Connecticut. Instead of the lever machines, we will now have optical scan voting machines. Since many are not sure how this works, I have decided to include a video from the Secretary of State's office, which details how you will be voting this year. Just remember to be careful, and take your time. I will be posting on how many people you need to vote for in certain races, and ballot placement soon. You can view the video here.

The Race For Mayor

Today, the News-Times ran two good articles on mayoral candidates Mark Boughton and Helena Abrantes. The following are some of the highlights of each article.

Democratic challenger Helena Abrantes said that her campaign is being driven by her roots, and community involvement. You can read the article here.

Abrantes questioned Boughton's leadership on the issue of illegal immigration.

By calling attention to the influx of illegal immigrants in the city several years ago, he has polarized the city and embarrassed its residents, Abrantes said.

According to former Mayor gene Eriquez, Abrantes is not making the mistakes that the last Democratic candidate for Mayor, Dean Esposito made.

"She's been knocking on doors. She's been going to community events.
She's been in front of people. She's been doing radio ads. She's been doing mailings. Those are the ingredients you need," Eriquez said.

Abrantes herself said that she's running because she enjoys making the community better.

"I've always enjoyed doing things for the community. It's done in a
quiet way. I'm not one to be out in public with the things I do," Abrantes said.

Incumbent Republican Mark Boughton said that this year's campaign is different than any other, as his father is very ill. You can read the article here.

Boughton says the campaign has not gone as planned, and he has faced many different challenges.

"It's been a different campaign," Boughton said. "There are some things you just can't focus on. You have to manage the city until 4:30 p.m., and then you have to knock on doors, and then you have to make sure the mail is getting out," Boughton said. "It's hard to do that when you're talking to doctors about a medical crisis."

Supporters say Boughton will easily win re-election.

"The mayor is going to win. He will have an overwhelming majority. He will have his strongest showing ever," Custumpas said.

Boughton says leadership is very important in being Mayor.

"You need a plan to lead. It isn't enough to say, 'We need a change.' Anybody can knock down a barn. It's a lot harder to build it," Boughton said.