So even though I can only vote in one of them, there are actually 4 assembly districts that Manchester residents can vote on. I'll look at each of the 4 races, who the candidates are, and why you should vote for one or the other.
11th District
Mostly this is an East Hartford race, but there are some Manchester residents who get to chime in on it. The candidates are Jack Jacobs for the Republicans, and Jeffrey Currey for the Democrats. Jack has never won an election other than the one for East Hartford Republican Town Committee chairman. Jeff won a seat on the East Hartford Board of Education in 2009 and is now the Chair. His surname will be very familiar to East Hartford voters as his mom was mayor and his dad the chair of the Democratic Town Committee. In this race, you get to select between an establishment Democrat who supports the Common Core, or a "Ron Paul" Libertarian leaning Republican who opposes that. If you like Common Core, vote for Currey. Me? Well, I've got it on very good authority that the Common Core, well, sucks. Recommendation: Jack Jacobs
12th District
This is the race that I'll be voting in. It is an open seat race, sort of, as Geoff Luxemberg is not running for re-election. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family. Then, Democrats, including Mike Pohl, the chairman of the committee, focused on John Sullivan to run for the open seat. Now John is a guy I REALLY like... I know him personally... he's a reasonable man who is very bi-partisan. I was excited the Dems might pick him to run. But then he did the unthinkable. He backed a compromise on a, frankly, silly squabble about the Board of Directors. And Mr. Pohl was not amused. All of a sudden, KELLY Luxemberg, Geoff's wife, and one term Board of Education member, was now running for the seat. And Mr. Pohl enthusiastically endorsed her for the seat. So much for John Sullivan, a stand up Democrat who's been waiting his turn patiently for years for the Dems to tap him for a position. No word on why Geoff wants to spend more time with his family, but his wife has decided not to! Anyway, Rusty Meek is the Republican running against Mrs. Luxemberg. It wouldn't matter if it was Satan himself with the Republican endorsement. Tell Mrs. Luxemberg that she too should spend more time with her family. Recommendation: Rusty Meek
13th District
This is a rerun of the 2012 race for Jack Thompson's old seat. Mark Tweedie for the Republicans, Joe Dominico for the Democrats. Mark is a good guy, having served on the Board of Directors for years now, and he was on the SMARTR Committee (did I mention how much I HATE that name?) Joe is a life long Democrat, and often votes with Gov. Malloy's agenda, but did break ranks on the minimum wage legislation. That makes Mark's life harder as it is more difficult to paint Joe as a "typical" Democrat. I'm also not a big fan of what the SMARTR committee came up with for Manchester's Schools. Bottom line is that I like both of these guys, and either would be a good pick to send to the General Assembly. But alas, I must make a recommendation here, and I give Joe the edge simply because he was able to see through the blind Malloy/Obama minimum wage thing... Recommendation: Joe Dominico
14th District
This is an interesting race as the Republicans have chosen not to put up a candidate. Jason Rojas, the Democrat, is running against Richard Lion, the Libertarian! Now I've met Jason Rojas, and I liked him when I met him. He was new to his seat, and I asked a question that none of our other Reps would touch. I said "Would you like to hear an idea that would save Boards of Education money, without costing the State a dime?" Since Jason was new, he was the only one that took the bait. And when I gave the idea, the other reps jumped to his rescue and explained in great detail how my idea wouldn't save local Boards of Education any money and that "Studies have shown" this. Now, I was on the BoE, so trust me, I know what "Studies have shown" means... bupkas! But I digress. I have no doubt that Jason has learned the error of his ways, and I still like the man, this is actually no contest. You MUST vote for a Libertarian whose last name is "Lion" (If for no other reason, this is one of the best porn names I've ever heard!) Recommendation: Richard Lion
That's it... tune in later for another installment of "Moose Makes His Picks"
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