Dr. Mertens, Vows To Fight Media Bias Toward Independents

I wanted to share a story about this: the two media outlets that deliberately and premeditatedly excluded any mention of Tom Marsh’s participation in the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities debate on October 6 in their coverage were the Hartford Courant and Channel 8, the ABC affiliate.

Here’s the print story that ran in the Courant on Oct 7:

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ccm-gov-candidates-1007-20101006,0,195356.story

Channel 8 set up cameras at the debate so that they could carefully shoot it without ever having Tom in any shot, and during their TV coverage, they never mentioned that Tom participated (despite the fact that I’ve heard from attendees that Tom won the debate).

These facts have made me more angry at the media than any of the rest of their actions this year. So, here’s my story: I was at an event on Saturday that included a presentation by the news director of Channel 8. It was a one hour interactive presentation and discussion of news and media coverage. Half way through he started talking about the importance of trust in media. I interrupted, and told the story of what Channel 8 did. This resulted in a passionate discussion for the remaining 30 minutes about ethics in journalism. The news director defended Channel 8 strongly at first, but the crowd beat him down. At the end of the session, the news director told me that he would investigate, and “if we blew it, I’ll be as upset as you are.” We’ll see about that.

I’ve been talking about this at every campaign event since: the fact that Tom Marsh has essentially been invited to every debate EXCEPT the televised debates, and that many of the major media outlets have made a point of not mentioning his participation in those he’s been invited to, has caused audible gasps in the audiences. We need to hammer this beyond the election. I’m planning op-ed pieces to all CT newspapers (they won’t print op-eds from candidates, so I have to wait until after Nov. 2), detailing what has happened, and I encourage others to do the same. Mike Telesca and I have discussed the possibility of a lawsuit as well, to raise awareness. This is our biggest problem; the media is complicit in the degradation of our democracy, and we need to fight to repair it, beyond November!

Best,

Dr. John Mertens
Professor of Engineering, Trinity College

League of Women Voters Cancels Debates Chester Marsh Miffed

League of Women Voters Cancels Debates The League of Women Voters notified the Marsh campaign on Wednesday that they have canceled their 3 planned gubernatorial debates. When at least one of the major candidates declined to participate The League canceled.”This is an unfortunate development for Connecticut’s electorate” says Marsh. Marsh has been invited to participate in 11 debates and forums (now 8) around the state though he is excluded from two of the major televised debates.”My exclusion was prompted by the major party candidates’ refusal to share the televised stage, and the media sponsors caved to their demand. If I am off base, then I encourage both Mr. Malloy and Mr. Foley to publically request my inclusion. If that happens I will apologize for my assertions.

Tom believes that the focus on money, over message, has resulted in several of the major party candidates being weak debaters. Marsh contends “if you have the cash it is easier to lob 30 second grenades at your opponent on radio and TV than debate the issues.” The knock against me is that I don’t have the funding. “A Lack of money is different than a lack of message, and that makes me problematic in a debate”.

Marsh does understand the reality of politics and minor party exclusion is nothing new. Campaign strategy focuses on winning and if it is not in a candidate’s best interest to debate then other tools are used. “We saw however, what happened to Ned Lamont when he refused to debate” Marsh notes.

Finally, to Malloy’s credit, Marsh points out “Dan seems to be willing to participate in the non-televised debates and forums that I am included in. “For example we are both scheduled to participate in the ConnCAN forum on education this coming Monday in Middletown. As far as I know Foley has not responded”. Perhaps the Republicans let the wrong Tom get away.

Amann Dream's He is Governor LOL!

The December 6Th edition of the Milford Weekly was quite amusing, as Rep. Amann is featured smirking on the front page and aspiring to become our state Governor. This delusion of grandeur was a shock, especially since I thought his "crush" comment was about as arrogant, grandiose and over the top as he could get.

Some of the locals I spoke with in town, have been chuckling about Mr. Amann's unconventional way's of leadership. Bafoon style leadership that separate him from the masses. I have heard all kinds of stories about Mr. Amann from how he plans on fixing up our Johnathan Law High School to how he started a fire there as a kid.

The amount of diverging opinions about our overzealous, and yet very generous (with your CT tax dollars) leader is almost too much to think about. While the last election for mayor was somewhat of a political carnival, with guest appearances from Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont, and a host of hypocritical endorsements I certainly promise not to subject the already disenfranchised voters of the 118th with anymore carnival like political theatrics.

Mr. Amann having run unopposed in the last election has not even a clue what people think of him. It has been four long years since his last contested election, and I imagine that the sprawling growth of Milford combined with its aggregate cyclical turnover has left him quite exposed to a new breed of voters.

If these voters are likened to the ones I read about on the web, Mr. Amann may be in for an upset come the 2008 election. I can can imagine nothing more embarrassing than to announce you will "crush" any "idiot" who runs against you, then announce your bid for Governor and lose your election to a Computer Repairman who recently arrived to Milford from Westport.

Mr. Amann if you are reading this, than you must know how my loss for words must amuse you. Should that smirk I always see on your face be indicative of your signature as our representative, than I look forward to 2008 where I can seriously bring to the table my Independent non partisan leadership. Smirk free leadership that will address our community problems free from the grandiosity, tyrannical remarks and delusions of grandeur.