The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Leaders, residents look past presidential election at coming together
Former Woodbridge First Selectman Roger Harrison has been friends with Joe Biden since 1965 and yet was no longer anxious Friday about the outcome of the presidential election.
“I had confidence in the American people that they were going to pick someone of Joe’s substance,” Harrison said Friday.
But Harrison, who in addition to knowing Biden since they were in graduate school and law school, respectively, at Syracuse University, worked on Biden’s Senate staff from 1973-79, and said there is another powerful reason for his confidence in the presidential candidate.
“I see him as a friend,” Harrison said.
“It’s a moment where I’m happy for him; I look at him as a friend, not necessarily as a presidential
candidate,” Harrison said.
While Harrison retired after years in corporate business and consulting, charitable and political roles, he contributed time to Biden’s run this time “just a bit,” advocating for the candidate’s stances while President Trump was campaigning in “ruby red” Florida, for instance. Harrison and his wife now live in Naples.
“So we tried to do what we can in a place that is very, very pro-Republican,” he said.
But based on the long friendship and working relationship, Harrison said he can tell the American people more than just a bit about Joe Biden.
Biden, for instance, is a man who would come to Harrison’s house in Washington “to tuck in” his then-young sons, Hunter and Beau, when the boys stayed there on occasion after the 1972 death of Biden’s wife, Neilia.
Yet, Biden, who has weathered the “toughest of personal issues,” has “a charismatic way about him that is very, very appealing. You just had a sincerity, grasp of issues. He is a bright, bright guy, One of the most quick studies.”
“For me it’s a culmination of all the hard work and the talent and the relationships he has built over the years,” Harrison said of Biden being on the
likely verge of winning the presidency.
In Torrington, Democratic City Council member Sharon Waagner said she thinks it is “unfortunate that patience as an asset is disappearing.”
“This election has been controversial on its own merit but the complications of a pandemic added to the number of absentee ballots. Calling fraud before any results is disappointing. We used to be proud of the democratic ... process and our country has been the role model for this process in the past,” Waagner said.
Waagner said she is relieved the ballot counting was nearly over. “I have faith in the system and we must move on. As an elected local official, I know we need to put our focus on the future of Torrington. Regardless of party, we are partners as we work together for our community.
In Barkhamsted, First Selectman Don Stein said that he hopes “that when the vote counting is over and the new President is elected, that everyone takes a deep breath and allows the country to come back together.”
“I believe the states are following the law and are looking for any possible misdeed,” Stein said. “I will trust the final results when they are available, and I will be thrilled if the new president is Vice President Biden.”
Carlos Moreno, state director of the Connecticut
Working Families Party, said Friday, “This is a page in our history that is finally turned, and we can get back to a semblance of normalcy and address a lot of the issues that have not been addressed over four years.”
“I think we’re at a moment right now in the middle of a pandemic and things are getting worse in respect to that, and we’re confident with the right leadership in place we can get through it.”
He said that the future of the Affordable Care Act at the U.S. Supreme Court is an issue that all people should be paying attention to, and it will be one of the WFP’s biggest battles.
“If Biden wins we’ll be in a much better position to do something gamechanging with health care,” he said.
“If we reelect one government as it currently is being run, those policies are more likely to extend than if there’s a change in power. (If there is a change) then there’s a chance those policies will be looked at again,” he said.
Other Republican proposals, such as overturning the Affordable Care Act, also would have a negative impact on Dunn and the LGBTQ people on his staff, he said.
“If the Affordable Care Act gets repealed, our entire staff will lose our health insurance,” he said. “It’s things like that that are at stake in any election.
I think the thing we all think about here is there is going to be work to be done regardless of how the election concludes, because at the end of the day we’re fighting a battle for equality and equal rights, and we’re fighting systematic oppressions that exceed any single politician.”
In Middletown, former Republican Common Council majority leader and ex-mayor, Sebastian N. Giuliano, said his biggest concern was “about the process.”
“The president’s team is talking about bringing lawsuits and all of that. Either they have the evidence to prove their allegations or they don’t. That’s why we have trials,” said Giuliano, an attorney.
“A lot of these places
have sloppy voting systems. It gives rise to these sorts of suspicions whether true or not,” he said, although he has faith in Middletown’s handling of elections.
“You take states like Pennsylvania, five days later, they’re still counting votes — that’s going to make people uneasy. I don’t care which side of the question you end up on, it doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence,” Giuliano said. “An election system where people lack confidence is not a good sign for anybody, whether you’re Republican, Democrat, whatever political persuasion, if you think the system is going to be manipulated.”
Giuliano is suspicious of “found” votes.
“When you’re noticing that boxes of ballots are showing up at the last minute, and they all seem to be Democrat ones, I’ve never heard — never heard — after-discovered ballots that were from Republicans,” he said. “God knows we’re not perfect here in Middletown, but we do a much better job.”
Middletown Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Lisa Loomis, a staunch supporter of the Biden/Harris team, said she believes “almost 74 million Americans, a record-breaking number” cast votes