RTC 'Listens' for Votes for Now and 2010

Town Republicans have been clogging up the sidewalks around New Canaan's coffee shops the last couple of weekends. Ostensibly, the balloons and free cups of coffee are an effort to get out the vote for their party's slate during the election on Nov. 3. But the conversation on the sidewalk last Saturday was as much about house-cleaning and teenage behavior as politics.  

"It's a listening tour. They're listening to us babble," joked coffee-drinker John Holland outside Bruegger's Bagels, noting that he does think the town Republican officers are generally attentive and responsive to constituent concerns.

Republican Town Committee chair John Ponterotto says the listening tour—which continues at Rosie from 9-10 a.m. this Saturday—is really about laying the groundwork for 2010, when the party will be fielding candidates to challenge Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Jim Himes, as well as trying to keep the governor's office.

The RTC wants to have its say as to who those candidates are, and wants to make sure the they have enough support to get elected.

"There's nothing more frustrating than putting up a light weight," Ponterotto said.

When the state Republican party convenes to choose its candidates for state and national office in May, the number of delegates New Canaan gets will be based on how many votes were cast in town for Governor Rell in 2006 (one delegate per 750 votes), with a bonus for holding on to the First Selectman's office (1-3 based on population).

If that convention results in a primary, registered Republican voters will then decide the party's slate.

Ponterotto calls 2009 an "off off" year—there's no presidential, congressional or gubernatorial race, there are not even state assembly races. Voters will only be casting ballots for municipal officers.

Without the media attention that statewide and national campaigns bring, Republicans say the most common question they've been getting at their weekend coffee hours is, "there's an election?"

"A quiet election reflects that people are generally happy with the way the town has been run over the last two years," Ponterotto explains.

That's certainly true for Trish Messina who offered an endorsement last Saturday for incumbent First Selectman Jeb Walker, who's running again in the town's only contested race.

"Last fall when the world financial system was completely cratering, I was worried that the town wouldn't take action," Messina said. "The courage that it took for Jeb and the council to say we are not going to be one of the municipalities that's going into a deficit , and make it happen—he's got my respect forever, he's got my tax dollars forever."

Meanwhile, local Republicans have been exasperated by state lawmakers. Connecticut was the last state in the nation to pass a budget when the General Assembly finally did so in September. Then, in an Oct. 1 letter to Gov. Jodi Rell, Democratic state Comptroller Nancy Wyman questioned nearly $500 million in "unspecified savings" in the budget and expressed concerns that savings shortfalls and weak revenues could still make for a deficit in 2010.

Ponterotto says the RTC has contrasted budget management in Hartford to the local approach in its newsletters, which he says go to about 2,000 e-mail addresses belonging to Republicans and another 1,000 belonging to unaffiliated voters.

"I hope that will translate in some way into unaffiliateds thinking, 'the Republicans have done a much better job in New Canaan than the Dems have up in Hartford, so I'm going to vote, or register Republican,'" Ponterotto said.

As of Nov. 4, 2008, 6,341 New Canaan voters were registered Republican, 2,732 Democrat, and 3,716 unaffiliated.

"We're not expecting 500 new people to register to vote," Ponterotto said, but he hopes to get a few dozen unaffiliated voters to register as Republicans because they like what Town Hall is doing.

"The RTC is always beating a drum to have voters register in a party," he said.

That's a particular challenge in an "off off" year, as unaffiliated voters are much less likely than their Republican or Democratic counterparts to participate in a purely local election. During the 2008 presidential election, more than 80 percent of unaffiliated voters went to the polls along with nearly 90 percent of Democrats and Republicans did so. In 2005, when former Republican First Selectman Judy Neville was running again, about a third of Democrats and Republicans showed up to cast a ballot, but less than 15 percent of unaffiliated voters did.

Ponterotto hopes a little campaigning will get voters to the polls, and to the registrar's office.

In addition to some cups of coffee, ads in both local papers and on New Canaan Patch, the RTC chair says he's compelled First Selectman and Republican candidate Jeb Walker, to buy a few lawn signs.

"New Canaan has a proud tradition of not relying on yard signs," he said, "(but) nothing says election better than yard signs."