Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate for governor and his campaign will protest the televised debates between the two major parties Monday, Oct. 9 at the Garde Theatre in New London. Thorton who was asked by Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s campaign to join the debate on Sept. 1 was kicked to the curb on Sept. 22 by both Rell and her Democratic opponent New Haven Mayor John DeStefano. “The only way to address this grave injustice is to protest and demonstrate, loudly and non-violently,” Thornton said in a press release Friday.
“We want peace, so we will work through peaceful means. While the two parties and their servants in the business world have tried to silence our rights to free speech, they cannot obstruct our right to peaceably assemble. So we plan to gather, and gather in the largest numbers the Connecticut Green Party has ever seen.“Thornton has tickets for the debates, and will attempt to enter the Garde Theatre with these tickets. The Thornton for Governor campaign will live blog http://www.votethornton.com/blog/ the debate from the home of a local New London supporter. The Green Party is forming carpools to New London from Willimantic, New Haven, and Hartford.“We respect the institution of the debates,” Thornton said, “but we need to demonstrate to the two party system that we will not take this sitting down. The Republicans and the Democrats have lied and trampled our rights to free speech.”—