Jewett City Party gaining momentum for May elections

Our view: More Choice on Ballot

Norwich Bulletin - Editorial published January 21, 2007

Some folks in Jewett City are unhappy with the "good ole boy" political network they perceive among Democrats. Ron Ward has founded the Jewett City Party to counter that, and he intends to fill a slate of candidates for the May 7 election.

Since Jewett City is small -- a community within a community -- Ward has a shot, although, historically, such efforts do not fare well at the state or national level.

Democrats long have been the party in power and Republicans had little influence. The recent exception is Republican Anne Hatfield, who was elected Griswold first selectman in 2005, surprising townspeople as she defeated five-term incumbent First Selectman Paul Brycki.

Jewett City is a borough, a section of Griswold. It is run by the Board of Warden and Burgesses, similar to a town board of selectmen. Cynthia Kata is the warden. She began working for the borough in 1983 as treasurer; she was elected warden in 1999.

Borough residents own the sewage treatment plant and the electric company (which buys electricity at wholesale rates from Connecticut Light & Power and resells it to borough residents). Jewett City Department of Public Utilities is run by appointees of the warden and burgesses.

Unhappiness among borough residents has emerged on three fronts: the police, the sewage treatment plant and electric rates.

Ward intends to challenge Kata as a member of the Jewett City Party because he lacks confidence in the Republican Party. He is convinced the borough has been dominated by Democratic leadership for so long the leadership is unresponsive to the borough's best interests.

Ward's platform includes these planks:

• Plan to reduce electric and sewer rates.

• Create "Consumer Board of Utility Control."

• Initiate specific road and sidewalk improvements in the borough

• Improve SEAT bus service, which has undergone three reductions in service in the past year.

• Bring light manufacturing -- as opposed to service jobs -- to the former Triangle Wire property.

• Review and implement recommendations from the 1994 National Main Street study of the borough.

• Create new opportunities for residents as appointees to boards and commissions.

Half of the borough's budget -- $254,000 -- pays for police protection. That pays for two resident state troopers who work the first and second shifts, but there is no third-shift coverage.

The sewage treatment plant was built with an eye to future needs -- nearly 20 years down the road. As a result, it is operating now at only 50 percent capacity. While capacity may be 100 percent in 20 years, the current shortage led the Jewett City Department of Public Utilities' Sewer Authority to increase rates 44 percent on the last day of fiscal 2006, an action that infuriated some residents.

The Jewett City Department of Public Utilities Electric Division retail rate per kilowatt hour is 13.13 cents -- 16 percent higher than CL&P charges retail customers. Norwich Public Utilities charges 12 percent less than CL&P.

At a minimum, Ward's candidacy is stirring interest. Party candidates must submit to the Secretary of the State's office petitions bearing the signatures of at least 1 percent of the number of voters who voted for the same office in the 2005 borough election. The top voter getter in the 2005 elections was Kata with 75 votes.

Candidates will need just two signatures, that of one voter and their own, so Ward probably can fill a slate of candidates for the May 7 elections.

The record shows keeping a third party together can prove nettlesome.

Six years ago, Richard Mackin formed the Griswold Independence Party. He thought Griswold government was controlled by a clique of Democrats. The Griswold Indep-endence Party lasted about one year.

Nationally, in 1968, George C. Wallace ran for president as a member of the American Independent Party; in 1992 Ross Perot ran for president with the Reform Party.

In Connecticut, Lowell Weicker was elected governor in 1991 as a member of A Connecticut Party. None of these parties survived longer than the involvement of their founders.

That said, nearby Canterbury First has proved successful in Canterbury, but that party evolved for about three years; it was not founded overnight. According to party Chairman Bob Noiseux, unhappiness with the Republicans running the town led to Canterbury First.

The Democratic Party had been ineffective since the 1970s and provided little in the way of an alternative, according to Noiseux.

The 2005 election in Griswold revealed a chink in the armor of Democrats when Republican Hatfield defeated Brycki. There are no guarantees, of course, but in his platform, Ward has identified issues that resonate with voters.

The Jewett City Party is gathering steam, and there is no reason that should not continue through Election Day, less than four months away.

Where the relatively unknown Hatfield pulled an upset in Griswold, Ward just may do the same in Jewett City.