National Parties Hope For Gains In Connecticut

By Melissa Robinson

Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. — National Democrats are hoping to pick up a congressional seat in Connecticut in 2002 by defeating freshman Rep Rob Simmons, a Stonington Republican. The national GOP is counting on Rep James Maloney, a Danbury Democrat, to take a the fall instead.

Fourteen months before the congressional elections, the national political parties are raising money, organizing supporters, recruiting candidates and evaluating redistricting maps to see where they’ll be most competitive.

Democrats stress that the Republicans’ House majority – now at six seats – has been in decline ever since the GOP took control of the chamber in the historic 1994 elections. They are combing the country for opportunities to pick up a few crucial seats.

“We feel very, very positive about our chances,” said an aide to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who did not want to be identified. DCCC is the arm of the party that focuses on House races. “Redistricting gives you more competitive races,” the unnamed aide added.

Republicans, who hold a narrow 221-to-210 majority, hope to gain 8 to 10 seats. Two seats are held by independents and there are two open seats in the 435-member House.

One point in favor of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the DCCC’s counterpart, is money.

As of June 30, 2001, NRCC reported $5.5 million in cash and no debts, compared with $704,226 in cash and $4.1 million in debt for DCCC, according to Federal Election Commission records.

In Connecticut, much will depend on just how the state’s new congressional map is drawn.

The state’s six congressional districts, now evenly split between three Democrats and three Republicans, will be pared to five before next year’s elections. If the state Legislature cannot agree on a plan by a two-thirds vote by September 15, a nine-member commission has until November 30 to agree.

If that fails, the state Supreme Court will decide. A new district system must be in place by February 15 at the latest.

Several leading state Republicans believe the simplest and fairest thing to do is eliminate the 5th District – now held by Maloney – and dole out its towns to surrounding districts. They say the district borders all five others already, and this plan would cause the least disruption.

“My best guess is that the fifth will be divided between the fourth and the sixth,” said Connecticut Gov John Rowland, a Republican who represented the 5th District in Congress from 1984 to 1990, Friday.

But Democrats, including Maloney, have said that plan disregards the fact that western Connecticut’s population has grown more than eastern Connecticut’s.

Carl Forti of NRCC said the committee will keep an eye on Simmons’ position but it’s “less of a concern” than it might otherwise be because Maloney’s district is likely to be eliminated. In that case, Maloney might have to face either Rep Christopher Shays of Stamford in the 4th District or Rep Nancy Johnson of New Britain in the 6th District – both senior Republicans with strong profiles.

“If it’s Maloney-Johnson,” he said, “obviously, the edge goes to Johnson.”

Betsy Arnold, Maloney’s spokesman, said there are so many possibilities that, “It’s premature to speculate as far as what campaigns are going to come out of this, or who’s going to run against who.”

Meanwhile, DCCC is preparing a campaign of issues against Simmons, who could face Maloney or another Democratic opponent. Some argue that the 2nd District should be kept more or less intact because it unites 54 mostly smaller towns that are tied by common elements such as one Roman Catholic diocese.

“There’s a rural dimension to them, there’s an agricultural dimension, and subsequently there’s a commonality,” said Simmons’ top aide, Michael Blair.

Part of DCCC’s strategy against moderate Republicans in the Northeast is to make them appear less than moderate by criticizing votes they’ve taken in support of Republican White House proposals, including drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and weakening the standards for arsenic in drinking water.

Simmons voted against the arctic drilling and the weaker arsenic standards. He has supported the White House on other issues, voting, for instance, for a bill that gives patients a limited right to sue their HMOs. He also voted for final passage of an energy bill that included the arctic drilling provision.