Forty-three delegates from three towns in the second Senatorial district gathered at the Bloomfield Senior Center last Thursday to nominate both a man and a woman to represent them in May at the Democratic Party’s statewide convention.
The group of Democrats also nominated three other delegates to participate on various organizing committees for the convention—where the party will endorse Democratic National Committee members and make changes to state party rules.
Minutes after convening last Thursday Leo Canty of Windsor was appointed to chair the meeting and without objection the 43 Democrats in the room nominated Larry Pleasant of Bloomfield and Helene Shays of Windsor to be their representatives to the convention.
Three delegates from Hartford were nominated to the three organizing committees for the statewide convention in May. North end powerbroker, Abe Giles, was nominated to the credentials committee, Mark E. Ojakian, Deputy Comptroller, was elected to the rules and resolutions committee, and Al Lafava was elected to the permanent organization committee.
Canty said the rules and resolutions committee will be crafting bylaws for Democrats who say inappropriate things. The resolution is related to the Patsy Papandrea incident last May, in which Papandrea, a member of the state central committee for 27 years circulated an email titled “Proud to be White.” Click here for more background on that.
Shays and Pleasant will now be responsible for organizing the nominating conventions for the state House races in the second Senatorial district, which includes Hartford, Bloomfield, and Windsor.
In the upcoming weeks, Shays will organize a meeting of six Democratic Town Committee members from Windsor Locks and six from Windsor to endorse a Democrat from the 60th House District currently held by Rep. Peggy Sayers.
Sayers is being challenged by Democratic Windsor Board of Education Chairman Adam Gutcheon. Two Republicans are also vying for a chance to challenge Sayers in the fall.
