On Sunday afternoon, Aug. 28, Democrats from across Connecticut traveled to Ridgefield to join First Selectman Rudy Marconi and the Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee (DTC) at a reception honoring Susan D. Cocco on her 16-year tenure as DTC chair. Earlier this year, upon the completion of her 8th successive 2-year term, Ms. Cocco chose not to seek reelection as DTC chair.
Following opening remarks by Mr. Marconi and Ridgefield DTC Chairman Tom Madden, Ms. Cocco was praised for her transformative impact in successive speeches by Senator Dick Blumenthal, Congressman Jim Himes, Attorney General George Jepsen, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, Connecticut Democratic Party Chairman Nick Balletto and Vice Chair Nancy DiNardo, former Board of Education member Bob Opotzner, and Ms. Cocco’s daughters Francesca and Gianna Capodilupo. Susan then delivered a rousing, crowd-pleasing speech extolling the virtues of “audacious action” to advocate, educate and register voters, recruit candidates and engage at every level of the political process in order to make better our town, state, country and world. Prominent attendees included Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee representatives Barbara Reynold and Ted Hoffstatter, Connecticut 111th assembly district candidate Joe Dowdell, Connecticut 138th assembly district candidate Jeff Tomchik, Judge of Probate candidate Sharon Dornfeld, and many, many others.
Taking advantage of a gorgeous late summer afternoon, the reception was held in the shaded garden at Bernard’s Restaurant / Sarah’s Wine Bar.
Some photos from the event (hover your cursor over image to pause slide show):
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