Connecticut for Lieberman
Encyclopedia
Connecticut for Lieberman is a Connecticut
political party created by twenty-five supporters of Senator
Joe Lieberman
. The party was created to enable Lieberman to run for re-election following his defeat in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic primary
. In the succeeding general election
, Lieberman received 49.7% of the vote, defeating Democrat
Ned Lamont
and Republican
Alan Schlesinger
.
in case Lieberman did not win the Connecticut Democratic primary
. On August 8, 2006, Lieberman lost the Democratic primary to Lamont. The next day, over 7,500 signatures were filed with the Secretary of State's office in support of Lieberman's candidacy. On August 23, the Secretary of State announced that the party had filed enough valid signatures and would appear on the ballot in November.
The party's formation is similar to that of A Connecticut Party
, created for Lowell Weicker's 1990 campaign for Governor under its label.
On August 9, 2006, the day following the primary, Lieberman supporter Stuart R. Korchin changed his party registration to Connecticut for Lieberman. The change was not entered in the state's electronic voter database, however.
On November 15, 2006, John Orman
changed his party registration from Democratic to the Connecticut for Lieberman Party, having been told by the Secretary of State that there were no registered party members. Orman, a professor of politics at Fairfield University
, had briefly challenged Lieberman for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in 2006.
Party rules were filed with the Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz
on December 21, 2006 by Orman. According to Ted Bromely, a state elections attorney who works for her office, then said, "If someone wanted to challenge it, they'd have to go to court."
On January 12, 2007 Korchin filed a different set of party rules with the Secretary of the State, which were also accepted.
In response to an inquiry, Korchin received a letter from a lawyer in the Secretary of the State’s office on January 17, 2007 stating that the state had "very limited jurisdiction" over intraparty battles, and was not taking a position over just who was in charge.
In March, Korchin changed the Wikipedia
article about the party to reflect his role and in response to Orman's claims.
In Milford
in January, 2007, at what was billed as an "organizational meeting" of the party, Orman and Korchin appeared, each claiming to be the party chairman. Korchin announced the annual party meeting would be held in August and left, after which the Milford gathering elected Orman as chair, by a 5-1 margin.
On July 10, 2007, Orman wrote to Bysiewicz and Jeffrey Garfield, executive director of the Elections Enforcement Commission. He asked them to have the state attorney general's office investigate the petitioning done by Lieberman in 2006. Orman's contention was that Lieberman had violated state law by knowingly circulating false petitions, in that he had no actual intent to join or form a new party.
The next month, Korchin told the Hartford Advocate that he had held another party meeting on August 9, although he refused to say where it had occurred. Orman said he had not been informed of any such meeting. Korchin responded that Orman had been notified but had "declined to attend in an e-mail."
On March 6, 2008, there was a statewide party caucus organized by the faction that had chosen Orman as party chair. With Orman declining to run for re-election, Dr. John Mertens was elected to succeed him.
Lieberman himself is not a member of the party; he is a registered Democrat. The Senate website lists him as an Independent Democrat
.
As Orman expressed it in 2007, "What we said was that if the state was going to allow a fake institution to exist, we were going to turn that fake institution into a real party to hold Joe accountable."
Korchin, however, stated: "Connecticut for Lieberman is a new political party that carries on what used to be the ideals of the Democratic Party: A liberal approach to domestic issues coupled with a strong commitment to a robust foreign policy. New members who subscribe to this platform are welcome."
in 2010. Mertens is an ardent critic of Senator Lieberman, and during an interview with Monmouth University
's student newspaper, he said: "[In 2012] the party will run a candidate against Joe Lieberman
!" Lieberman, however, announced he would not seek re-election to his Senate seat in January 2011.
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
political party created by twenty-five supporters of Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
. The party was created to enable Lieberman to run for re-election following his defeat in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic primary
Connecticut United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman lost the August 8th Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Lieberman formed his own third party and won in the general election to a fourth term.-Democratic primary:The...
. In the succeeding general election
Connecticut United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman lost the August 8th Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Lieberman formed his own third party and won in the general election to a fourth term.-Democratic primary:The...
, Lieberman received 49.7% of the vote, defeating Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Ned Lamont
Ned Lamont
Edward Miner "Ned" Lamont, Jr. is a businessman and heir and most recently an unsuccessful candidate for the 2010 Democratic nomination for Governor of Connecticut. On May 22, 2010, Lamont received more than fifteen percent of the vote at the state Democratic convention, and appeared on the...
and Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Alan Schlesinger
Alan Schlesinger
Alan Schlesinger is an attorney, former Derby, Connecticut mayor, former Connecticut State Representative, and three-time unsuccessful Congressional candidate who received the Republican nomination for the seat representing Connecticut that is currently held by U.S...
.
Party origins
The party was established on July 10, 2006, and began collecting signaturesBallot access
Ballot access rules, called nomination rules outside the United States, regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is either entitled to stand for election or to appear on voters' ballots...
in case Lieberman did not win the Connecticut Democratic primary
Connecticut United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman lost the August 8th Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Lieberman formed his own third party and won in the general election to a fourth term.-Democratic primary:The...
. On August 8, 2006, Lieberman lost the Democratic primary to Lamont. The next day, over 7,500 signatures were filed with the Secretary of State's office in support of Lieberman's candidacy. On August 23, the Secretary of State announced that the party had filed enough valid signatures and would appear on the ballot in November.
The party's formation is similar to that of A Connecticut Party
A Connecticut Party
A Connecticut Party was a political party formed by former Republican Senator and gubernatorial candidate Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. in 1990. Weicker subsequently won the election and served a single term as Governor of Connecticut...
, created for Lowell Weicker's 1990 campaign for Governor under its label.
Post-election dispute
After the election, contention developed between two different groups, one supportive of Lieberman and one critical of him, with each faction asserting that it controlled the party.On August 9, 2006, the day following the primary, Lieberman supporter Stuart R. Korchin changed his party registration to Connecticut for Lieberman. The change was not entered in the state's electronic voter database, however.
On November 15, 2006, John Orman
John Orman
John Orman was a politics professor at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. He was the 1984 Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. Congress seat in Connecticut's fourth district, and briefly challenged Senator Joseph Lieberman for the 2006 Democratic Senate nomination...
changed his party registration from Democratic to the Connecticut for Lieberman Party, having been told by the Secretary of State that there were no registered party members. Orman, a professor of politics at Fairfield University
Fairfield University
Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the...
, had briefly challenged Lieberman for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in 2006.
Party rules were filed with the Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz
Susan Bysiewicz
Susan Bysiewicz served as Secretary of the State of Connecticut from 1999 to 2011. She was briefly a candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2010, before dropping out to run for Connecticut Attorney General. She was disqualified from running for the office by the Connecticut Supreme Court and...
on December 21, 2006 by Orman. According to Ted Bromely, a state elections attorney who works for her office, then said, "If someone wanted to challenge it, they'd have to go to court."
On January 12, 2007 Korchin filed a different set of party rules with the Secretary of the State, which were also accepted.
In response to an inquiry, Korchin received a letter from a lawyer in the Secretary of the State’s office on January 17, 2007 stating that the state had "very limited jurisdiction" over intraparty battles, and was not taking a position over just who was in charge.
In March, Korchin changed the Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
article about the party to reflect his role and in response to Orman's claims.
In Milford
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in southwestern New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between Bridgeport and New Haven. The population was 52,759 at the 2010 census...
in January, 2007, at what was billed as an "organizational meeting" of the party, Orman and Korchin appeared, each claiming to be the party chairman. Korchin announced the annual party meeting would be held in August and left, after which the Milford gathering elected Orman as chair, by a 5-1 margin.
On July 10, 2007, Orman wrote to Bysiewicz and Jeffrey Garfield, executive director of the Elections Enforcement Commission. He asked them to have the state attorney general's office investigate the petitioning done by Lieberman in 2006. Orman's contention was that Lieberman had violated state law by knowingly circulating false petitions, in that he had no actual intent to join or form a new party.
The next month, Korchin told the Hartford Advocate that he had held another party meeting on August 9, although he refused to say where it had occurred. Orman said he had not been informed of any such meeting. Korchin responded that Orman had been notified but had "declined to attend in an e-mail."
On March 6, 2008, there was a statewide party caucus organized by the faction that had chosen Orman as party chair. With Orman declining to run for re-election, Dr. John Mertens was elected to succeed him.
Lieberman himself is not a member of the party; he is a registered Democrat. The Senate website lists him as an Independent Democrat
Independent Democrat
Independent Democrat is a term occasionally adopted by American politicians to refer to their party affiliation. Several elected officials, including members of Congress, have identified as " Independent Democrats."...
.
Party mission
The two competing factions have differing views of the party's mission in the wake of the 2006 election.As Orman expressed it in 2007, "What we said was that if the state was going to allow a fake institution to exist, we were going to turn that fake institution into a real party to hold Joe accountable."
Korchin, however, stated: "Connecticut for Lieberman is a new political party that carries on what used to be the ideals of the Democratic Party: A liberal approach to domestic issues coupled with a strong commitment to a robust foreign policy. New members who subscribe to this platform are welcome."
Future
Activist John Mertens was nominated as the party's candidate for United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 2010. Mertens is an ardent critic of Senator Lieberman, and during an interview with Monmouth University
Monmouth University
Monmouth University is a private university located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States.Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956, and later Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter....
's student newspaper, he said: "[In 2012] the party will run a candidate against Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
!" Lieberman, however, announced he would not seek re-election to his Senate seat in January 2011.
External links
- "Official Connecticut for Lieberman Party Website/Blog" (by the party members hostile to Lieberman)