Curry Shares His Advice For Rell With Local Democrats

Bill Curry has a message for Governor Jodi Rell.

“There’s a chance here to transcend all the old categories and get some real work done. The next year could be just this precious opportunity if people take advantage of it,” Mr Curry said at a meeting of the Newtown Democratic Town Committee at Edmond Town Hall on July 8.

Mr Curry said he was not addressing his remarks just to the new governor.

“None of this has anything to do with partisanship or ideology, this is a system that went down,” he said.

The erstwhile Democratic contender for the top job in Hartford was referring to the departure of John Rowland and the Democratic leadership in the State Legislature.

“For many years I was not shy about criticizing the collaboration of both parties,” Mr Curry said. “In our Legislature we had a two-party system, but not Democrats and Republicans; incumbents-challengers. And people on the inside were so bought into the spoils of the system that debate stopped, and enforcement stopped, and accountability stopped.

“The root of our system has become a kind of legalized bribery; an exchange of money for influence over public policy, and it’s killing us,” he said.

Mr Curry, according to the New Haven Register, is reportedly considering another run for office, although he is not saying how much truth there might be to that rumor. He contends he can be forgiven for not revisiting the 2002 campaign, in which he said he was heavily outspent and the issues he raised were underreported.

When he made charges about corruption, no one paid attention, he said.

“All that’s come out on this, to the best of my knowledge, came out of a press conference we did on September 24 [2002]. And when I woke up the next morning and not a single newspaper had an editorial on it I knew we were beaten. Apart from the election day itself, it was the hardest day of the race,” he said.

Mr Curry expressed considerable optimism that new leadership will take control of the Legislature in January, and said the time is right for issues he has championed since his first run for governor and his tenure as Connecticut’s comptroller. In addition to campaign finance reform, Bill Curry has advocated for property tax reform, antisprawl measures, mass transportation, and education reform.

Mr Curry served in the Clinton White House as a policy advisor. He was leaving the morning after his Newtown appearance to participate in the Democratic National Committee platform committee meeting in Miami, Fla.

His remarks at the Newtown Democratic Town Committee meeting can be viewed in their entirety on Charter Communications Channel 21 at noon on Friday and again at eight on Tuesday evening, for the next two weeks.