New Haven Independent

Reed, a three-term member of the Representative Town Meeting and current chair of the RTM’s education committee, is seeking the 102nd House District seat now held by fellow Democrat Peter Panaroni.

The Republican Party in Branford is not expected to put up a candidate for the November election. An intriguing sub-plot emerged late in the day. The buzz centered on whether the Democrats might be able to obtain bipartisan endorsement of Reed.

The idea came not from Reed but from Frank Carrano, the chair of the Democratic Town Committee, who also serves as the chairman of the Board of Education. He told the Eagle he planned to ask his counterpart Joe Coguillo, the chair of the Republican Town Committee, to consider taking the steps necessary to cross-endorse Reed if she becomes the Democratic candidate at the DTC nominating convention May 20.

“It would be perfect to rally around her; she would be the best representative given the work that has to be done up here,” he said.

Carrano also spoke with Frank Twohill, the minority leader of the RTM, who attended the Reed gathering. Twohill told the Eagle that he believed Reed was the best candidate to represent Branford in the Assembly.

“Currently our party does not have a candidate; I don’t think we are going to have a candidate. Personally I would like to endorse Lonnie,” he said.

And would the Republican Party consider endorsing her? Twohill said: “I think we should consider endorsing her. We ought to have a competent candidate who will do a good job for the entire town of Branford. And that is Lonnie Reed. I have been on the RTM with her for many years and I know,” he said.

The implication is that Peter Panaroni, the Democrat who has held the 102nd Assembly seat for 12 years, is unlikely to run. If Panaroni fails to get the DTC endorsement, a development that would give any incumbent pause, he will have to challenge her in a Democratic primary this summer.

Carrano said in an interview that “Panaroni has not told me he will not run. I think there is a possibility that he won’t.” Still dealing with the recent death of his wife, Sandra, Panaroni told the New Haven Register last week: “I’m not sure yet. There’s a good chance that I’m not going to run.” He said he still had until the 20th of May “to figure out whether I want to or not.” His recent legal problems will be a factor in any primary run as will his attendance and voting record in the Assembly.

Pam Fowler, another Republican RTM member, attended the event. “Lonnie knows how to reach across the aisle,” Fowler said, speaking of her ability to achieve bipartisan support on issues. Bob Babcock, the president of the Branford Education Foundation, a Republican who has worked closely with Reed on educational matters, was also there. So was former Republican RTM member Jim Walker.

They joined more than 125 people who attended the event at a supporter’s home. Many wore green Lonnie hats. There was a standing room only crowd of family, friends and many fellow Democrats, including RTM Moderator Sandra Reiners and RTM Majority Leader Anthony Giardiello, who is also Reed’s treasurer.

First Selectman Unk DaRos, (pictured) wearing a Lonnie hat, introduced Reed. He said he was supporting her candidacy. It was time for a change, he said. It was important to have someone with Reed’s ability up in Hartford, he declared, obviously breaking rank with Panaroni.

Reed, an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and former television anchor and investigative reporter, said her campaign would be clean because “we’re running a clean money campaign—no PACS, no special interest contributions. We were among the first candidates to sign up for the new public financing program. We are running on people power.

“Green because we champion policies that enhance communities, protect the environment and view taxpayers as another threatened resource deserving of our attention.

“And not mean, because this is going to be a positive campaign. No personal attacks, no scorched earth politics. Nothing that takes our focus off the real issues or distracts us from the task at hand.”

There was excitement in the air as Reed thanked her supporters and an unpaid staff that has helped her put together her campaign. They include Tootsie Laske, former town clerk and now her campaign chairman, Penny Bellamy, former town counsel, Bill Horne, Stephanie Farber, Pam Roy, Joan Merrick, Victor Cassella, Ainsley Highman and others. All were key to DaRos’s election.

Reed outlined her key issues. First and foremost was property tax reform “because our whole funding system is broken and it imperils everything it touches and everything we care about—education, economic development, transportation and the environment, our ability to pay for health care or Stay in our homes—our whole quality of life.

She said kids deserve the best education but “we are actually paying twice. That’s because we send a fortune up to Hartford and then are forced to dig deeper into our pockets once again because Branford School are funded 96 percent with property taxes. That’s fast approaching 60 percent of our Town’s budget. That is not sustainable.”

The broken property tax system, she said, “attacks the environment because it puts pressure on communities to loosen up their zoning and allow reckless development in a frantic search for new revenue. We need to make smart growth choices that make Branford better. Not desperate choices that gobble up precious open space and threaten our sense of place—our town’s very identity.”

An early advocate against Broadwater, she urged the group to think about Broadwater when challenged by issues that are overwhelming. “‘Remember Broadwater!’ can inspire us to confront the unbeatable and achieve the impossible” Reed declared.

One of the guests in the audience, an old friend of the candidate, was Gloria Schaffer, (pictured) former State Senator and former Secretary of State and a powerhouse politician in her day. Reed and her family lived near Schaffer in Woodbridge, where Reed grew up. Reed recalled that as a kid she would help Schaffer in her campaigns.

Schaffer was beaming.
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