New Haven Independent

About 25 students and faculty, mostly Malloy supporters, gathered in a campus lecture hall to ask Malloy questions and sign up for his campaign. The SCSU College Democrats, which organized the event, said they invited the other Democratic challenger for governor, New Haven’s John DeStefano, too: But he couldn’t make it until May 1.

After a host of easier questions (What is your stance on healthcare?; What do you think of the NCLB act?), one student in the back of the room raised her hand. Lorraine Reed comes from Stamford’s inner city, the west side. “When was the last time you went into that neighborhood?” she challenged Malloy, who is that city’s mayor.

“Yesterday,” he replied.

“Do you have offices there so people can get information?” she asked. Growing up on the west side, she said, people didn’t have access to the information that would make them politically involved.

Malloy said he has Mayor’s Nights Out in different parts of the city. The problem is widespread, he said: only 50 percent of people who can vote, register, and only a third of those come out to the polls.

“Don’t you think that’s concerning lack of information?” charged Reed. Malloy didn’t seem to agree: Instead he focused on the public’s need to be proactive.

“When the federal government takes back rights, when a woman’s right to choose is under threat,” and when the nation struggles with debt, what more impetus do people need? Malloy asked. “If really bad, bad government doesn’t entice people to vote, what will?”

Reed wasn’t convinced. People who aren’t from affluent or politically aware backgrounds need to be helped into the political process, she countered. She wanted more: Local offices, for Malloy’s campaign and city services, in her neighborhood. “My thing is there are people who wanna know more.”

Why not go down to City Hall, where most of government happens? encouraged Malloy. “You probably lived half a mile from the City Hall. How much closer can government get?”

“It’s not geographical” — cut in a woman in the audience who said she teaches at SCSU and works at Yale. There are other socioeconomic reasons that make that half-mile feel much longer, she said.

Others jumped into the debate. James Reinhardt, a student from Fairfield, said it’s not just lack of access that keeps young people out of politics. “There’s a lot of disheartening things about Connecticut politics.” Political favors, insiders and corruption. Even if he tried to get involved, he said, “I can’t do it legitimately because there’s corruption in government.”

In front of an audience now fully awake, Malloy searched for a response. “I don’t mean to be harsh, but the founding fathers didn’t think democracy was easy… I don’t think corruption is an excuse not to participate.”

Reinhardt leaned forward in his seat. “I see people being treated unfairly because there’s favors being done. There’s no way for me to change that as a single person. This sucks — the political system sucks, and I don’t want to participate.”

Malloy kept his composure but looked dismayed. “President Bush is counting on that,” he said. There’s a whole party counting on that disconnected, non-voting outlook.

With that, the debate returned to talk of immigration and higher ed.

Malloy seized the moment to pump a few higher ed ideas. One, a five-year freeze on college tuitions, with compensation from the state, during which legislators will reflect on how to invest more money in, and bolster, the state’s universities. A second idea brought applause: Malloy proposed that every student who graduates from a state university in four years with a B plus average will get $1,000 back on graduation day, as an incentive to “get you out of there” and open up space for others.