Democratic mayoral primary winner Art Ward said Wednesday he’s ready to lead his party to victory at the polls in the Nov. 6 municipal election.
Ward, who is dropping the independent mayoral bid to hold only the Democratic line on the ballot, was hailed by city workers who applauded the veteran city councilor as he glad-handed with employees who helped secure his victory.
Republican mayoral contender Ken Johnson said he always figured it would be a one-on-one general election, no matter who won the primary.
Johnson said he figured either Ward would win, or if city Councilor Ellen Zoppo did, that there would be “a meeting of the minds” and Ward would agree not to pursue an independent bid rather than risk splitting the Democratic vote.
“They’re smart enough they would have avoided the scenario,” said Johnson.
Republican Mayor William Stortz, who is stepping down in November, said Wednesday he doesn't plan to get involved in the campaign between Ward and Johnson."I have plenty of work on my table, or on my desk, to keep me totally occupied," Stortz said.Stortz, who won the mayor's office two years ago, said he plans to "leave a clean desk" by tackling as many of the open issues as he can before handing over the job to Ward or Johnson in November."I want to leave as few loose ends as possible," the mayor said.He said he has no plans to campaign for anyone other than perhaps city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, an old friend and ally."I don't go where I'm not welcome or invited," Stortz said.
Republican council candidates Ken Cockayne and Joe Geladino, who are running in the 2nd District, said they haven’t reached out to Stortz. But they said they see opportunity in the Democratic disarray in the district.
Several city department heads, and a handful of employees, said that Zoppo’s defeat lifted a cloud of tension that surrounded the race.
Several department heads said things have been kind of somber in the corridors of government in recent days as the primary approached, but after Ward’s victory created an almost giddy mood."It's like someone took weight off their shoulders," said Comptroller Glenn Klocko.
Ward cleared up one issue that remained murky on election night. He said that Zoppo did, in fact, phone him to concede – but she did it at 8:35 p.m. by calling his home rather than his cell phone.
He said he hasn’t yet spoken to her.
Al Cianchetti, a resident who strongly backed Ward, said that Zoppo is “going to make a hell of a mayor someday” when she learns to treat people better.
He also criticized Democrats for a lackluster primary turnout that saw 31 percent of registered Democrats turn out, more than 20 percent higher than the 2003 Democratic primary.
“I’m really ashamed of the Democrats for the low turnout,” Cianchetti said.
Johnson said the Democratic Town Committee spoke when it nominated Zoppo, but rank-and-file party members had the final say in the primary when they picked Ward.
“It’s fascinating that the people spoke otherwise,” said Johnson.
Grinning, Johnson said, “There’s going to be another opportunity to do that in November.”
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
21 comments:
Does Johnson actually think he has a chance to win after Art just beat Ellen? Johnson has no govermental experience, no board or committee experience and has only gone to about three council meetings in his lifetime. Not to be rude, but he is simply another Rep default candidate because no one wants to run. After he looses, his energy consulting business will get quit-claimed right back to him. Does he think we are all living on Saturn?
I recently heard a rumor that Ellen may be interested in going after the chairman position of the DTC. Talk about destroying a political party. This would be a mistake. This Dem will become a U or an Indy real quick. Anyone else hear this?
Some of these comments are totally inappropriate for City Council meetings. Especially the Al Cianchetti comments to Ellen. Even if he is correct, that stuff has nothing to do with city business, it's personal. But Al has a big mouth, always has (and Steve, that is printable because Al makes himself a public presence with all his talk and letters), if Al can tell Ellen her people skills suck, then people can say Al has a big mouth.
I heard a rumor that Bruce Lydam will step down as running for council so Ellen can be appointed to run. Anyone else heard this?
Where has the
chairman of the DTC been since the election started. He never spoke up for Ellen who I am sure he supported. I also hear that is no person to be in charge of the DTC and just sits back and does not make any kind of decisions and that he somewhat of a whimp.
I hope that Art Ward will screan all the dems who come forward to work for him in the future. They were not there for him then so why should he be there for them He had a few real good workers for him and I only hope he uses them again. I hear they worked very hard. These kind of people are hard to find. Artie keep this in mind please.
I see a lot of people calling for the heads of any Democrat that supported Ellen. I would really just like to point out that is not the point of a primary, after a primary the party is supposed to come together not separate further. I understand that it was pretty personal and some nasty things were said. However there are a lot of people that supported Ellen that are willing to support the winner of the nomination. I also find it pretty ironic that some people aren't willing to give these people a chance especially when the Ward supporters said before the results were even in that if their guy didn't win they would stick with him through an independent run. However I do agree the chairman is pretty weak but I don't think he'll be around too much longer.
So much for Barbara Doyle's "Strong Woman!"
The manager serves at the pleasure of the city council.If the manager performs poorly the democratically elected council can fire the manager at any time.
This came off of Ken's website. I don't like the way that he portrays the role of the City manager. It appears to me, by his description, that the City Manager is just a hired Mayor, not an elected Mayor. Why take on the salary of a person to do what the Mayor is supposed to do and pay the Mayor as well? The council still has to vote on the issues.
I don't think it's a role the City should take on.
Moving for- ward
Ward has not moved ahead on any of theprojects he's been involved with
Can we please stop refering to this as a "primary". This was an attempted political coup masterminded by Zoppo and played out by the DTC, Nicastro,McCauley and Minor. This was an attempt to overthrough a powerful political figure (Art Ward) that failed miserably. By the way, is anyone going to hold Minor to the fire for his comments in the Courant about the Dems who voted for Artie?
Minor wasn't quoted in the Courant.
Sorry, did I say Courant, I meant the Bristol Press and Bristol Blog. Keep up the good reporting Steve.
The ignorant comments just keep coming, don't they. A political coup? The DTC chose Zoppo and the rest, including Bruce Lydem, Cliff Block and the third fella whose name I always forget, to be the slate to run for the Dems ... not Ward. If anyone pulled off a coup, it was Ward. By the way, this was a primary, because Ward decided he wasn't going to sit back and not run because the DTC, again, the DTC chose Zoppo and not him. Don't forget that if he had lost, he would have run as an independent so he was determined, which is his right, to go after the mayor's position regardless. Let's not be so melodramatic about what happened here. These one-sided comments can be seen coming a mile away.
Already working hard to help Mr. Minor return to Cromwell full time.
Those DTC votes for Ellen were bought and paid for. My inside sources tell me she had been working on this for along time. Recruiting people to be on the DTC in case she needed them down the road. Once she had enough yes votes in place on the DTC, she decided it was her turn to run for mayor. What she failed to realize was that the DTC endorsement means nothing anymore in politics and may actually work against you. People are more educated now and are tired of insider politcal games. At any rate, the Dems in Bristol have spoken. Artie did the right thing. He is the people's candidate not the DTC candidate. The unaffiliated voters are loving this and will show Artie how much at the polls in November. P.S. Don't be surprised if Ragaini running as an Indy gets elected because of all the games.
Let's face facts here, the entire leadership of the DTC should resign. They endorsed a candidate that got smoked. How embarassing. They dropped the ball on this one. They make our party look very divided and weak. Someone needs to clean house on the DTC.
House cleaner has been contracted. Happy days are here again.
The City Employees and their families run the DTC, it's very hard to change that.
You people are bitter and should let it go. It's called a democracy, because people can endorse whomever they want, but at the end of the day the people have spoken so Art is the Dem's chosen candidate and most people are ready to move on. Art has taken the high road and has embraced the endorsed candidates unlike those of you who can't let go of your hatred. The party will never heal until the rifts are mended and that won't happen if we keep replaying the primary over and over. Let's not let the Republicans gain a foothold. I'll bet some of these postings meant to sound like Dems are really the Republicans adding fuel to the fire. Stop the bickering. Pride must be swallowed on both sides. Let's get on with it. Art has. Let's follow his lead.
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