New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Lamont gets cross endorsement, agrees to propose voting change
HARTFORD — Commitments by Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz to propose ranked-choice voting to the General Assembly next year won them the cross endorsement of the Griebel-Frank for Connecticut Party, supporters announced on Wednesday.
He will become the first candidate for governor in at least 100 years to have three lines on the November ballot.
Monte Frank, a lawyer and gun safety advocate who ran as the late Oz Griebel’s lieutenant governor candidate in 2018, collecting 54,741 votes, said that after interviewing all candidates for governor, Lamont and Bysiewicz gained the support of the state central committee of the party, made up of former Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters.
“It was democracy in action because we allowed all voices from all different parts of our community,” said Frank, chairman of the party, which had been affiliated with the Serve America Movement that has recently become the Forward Party. Recalling the 2018 campaign, Frank said that voters were turned off by partisanship, but engaged over public policy challenges, shared values and problem solving in attempt to overcome the crises facing democracy.
“This endorsement means a lot to Susan and me, in part because of the relationship I had with Oz Griebel going back many years,” said Lamont recalling the he and Griebel, a lawyer and Hartford area business leader who also ran as a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, worked together as instructors at Central Connecticut
State University.
“I was sort of a moderate Democrat with a business background and he was a moderate Republican with a business background,” Lamont told reporters outside the State Capitol. “We’d try to come to an issue from two different points of view, but found common ground in moving things forward. I think that’s what this endorsement is about. It’s about strengthening democracy and that’s what we’ve got to do. That’s why we have early voting on the ballot this November.”
Lamont said that in January, if reelected, he would submit legislation for ranked choice voting in federal elections, while providing municipalities the local option for single-office races. Ranked choice balloting allows voters to select multiple candidates by order of priority. “What I love about it is you don’t burn any bridges,” Lamont said. “You always want to maintain a relationship with the other candidates. You’re not likely to attack because you’re more likely to want to be the second or third choice from their supporters as well.”
“It was democracy in action because we allowed all voices from all different parts of our community.” Monte Frank, chairman of the Griebel-Frank for Connecticut Party
Frank called public education “a small learning curve” on the way to ranked choice voting, which eliminates those with fewer votes until a candidate wins 50 percent plus one. Changing other state voting procedures, such as governor and the top-of-the-ticket and General Assembly races, requires an amendment to the state Constitution. Earlier this year, Frank ruled himself out as a potential candidate for governor. Griebel died in the summer of 2020 after getting struck by a car while jogging.
“I think both parties benefit” from ranked voting, said Lamont, admitting that he had not previously supported the measure in public. “I think there’s something in trying to build a consensus. You can run hard left and hard right and attract the base, but maybe that’s not a great way to governor or a great way to run in the general election. The only thing ranked voting does is open up the dialogue. I don’t want to alienate. I’d like to be the second or third choice for some of those folks. I think it makes democracy better.”
“I think it brings civility to the campaign process,” said Bysiewicz, a former longtime secretary of the state who administered state elections for a dozen years. To stay viable in the future, the Griebel-Frank for CT Party line needs to garner one percent of the total votes cast for governor in November.
Lamont will now appear on three ballot lines in November: Democrat, Working Families Party and GriebelFrank for Connecticut Party. A review of state election returns indicates that no other candidate for governor has more than two ballot lines since at least 1922. “We’re excited to be on three lines because it gives voters a choice on what line they want to support us on,” Bysiewicz said.
Republican Bob Stefanowski’s campaign indicated Wednesday afternoon that he was “open” to ranked voting. Coincidentally, Stefanowski lost the recent caucus for the Independent Party endorsement after a rankedchoice procedure, another candidate for governor with just four votes was eliminated, leaving Stefanowski with 79 votes and Rob Hotaling, a Cheshire banker, with 79 votes. Party Chairman Michael Telesca cast a tie-breaking vote for Hotaling. On Thursday morning, lawyers for Stefanowski will appear in Superior Court in an attempt to delete Hotaling from the November ballot.