People of conscience across the world are joined in grief over the June 12 Orlando massacre in which scores were killed or grievously injured in the worst mass shooting in US history. Victims of the attack were celebrating Gay Pride Month, openly and freely celebrating and asserting their own and each other’s human dignity. Until recently, such open […]

HISTORIC! Tuesday, June 7, was a day long in coming. Hillary Clinton became the first woman in United States history to be nominated as a major party’s candidate for president, when she clinched the Democratic Party nomination after decisive victories in the California, New Jersey and New Mexico primaries. Hillary’s achievement is but the latest in her long, distinguished career of service

On January 21st, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old high school student from the south side of Chicago, marched in President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed. Orange is the color a group of Hadiya’s friends chose to wear to remember her life. They chose orange because that’s what hunters

By Tom Madden I marched in the Memorial Day parade for the first time with the Boy Scouts in 1958.  I was eleven.  There were veterans of World War I in the parade.  I thought they were the oldest people in the world, and it’s sobering to think that they were younger then than I

Convening in the large meeting room in Ridgefield Town Hall, Democrats from Ridgefield, Bethel, Newtown and Redding on Wednesday evening, May 18, unanimously nominated highly regarded attorney Sharon Wicks Dornfeld as Democratic candidate for Judge of Probate for District 45 (Northern Fairfield County), which covers those four towns. Ms. Dornfeld and her family have resided

The recent town hall forum debate on economic issues was extraordinarily enlightening.  The forum was part of a series of events that have been sponsored by Ridgefield’s Democratic Town Committee.  The forums are free of charge and open to the public.  The goal is to inform voters and to raise the level of debate.  The

  The Ridgefield town budget, school budget and various referenda were approved by voters on May 10, 2016. Click to see the sample ballot.

Coverage of primary and caucus results by reporters, pundits, and on-line bloggers tends to focus on the candidates who get the largest totals or are newsworthy in some other way. In the New Hampshire primaries in February there were 28 candidates on the Democratic ballot and 30 on the Republican ballot.  They weren’t write-in candidates. 

On Tuesday, April 26, Democrats voted in Connecticut’s presidential primary. Majorities of Democratic voters in the Town of Ridgefield, and across the entire state of Connecticut, identified Hillary Clinton as our choice to serve as the next President of the United States. In contrast to the vulgar spectacle taking place in the other party, the Connecticut Democratic Party

Much has been made of GE’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, with GOP opportunists denouncing Connecticut as high-tax and anti-business. GE moved to Massachusetts, which is NOT a low-tax state. Though Massachusetts officials offered $150M in enticements, the main reason GE moved was because Fairfield no longer serves a business

WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE DEBATE A capacity crowd packed Ridgefield Library’s fully-extended Dayton Program Room on Thursday evening, April 7, to hear a spirited, substance-filled, and frequently humorous debate between nationally acclaimed economists Jared Bernstein and Larry Kudlow. Contrary to the subject’s reputation as “the dismal science”, the economics-focused discussion was informative, lively, and kept

In the law, finance, and diplomacy, words matter. They’re as critically important as numbers — to an engineer, a scientist, or an IRS auditor. We’ve seen the stump speeches, the bite-sized Sunday morning show phone-ins, the televised town halls, the anything-to-juice-up-the-ratings debates, and the post-debate spin zone self-acclaimed victories. Thanks to the editorial board of

Ridgefield’s Board of Education (BOE) has adopted a budget request of $91 million for 2016-2017, an increase of +$4.9 million (+5.7%) compared to last year. The Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved an operating budget of $34.7 million, an increase of +$0.7 million (+2.1%). Including debt service of $12 million and $1.9 million for roads, spending

The caucus, like jazz and baseball and the cowboy movie, is an American invention.  The term was used in New England in the 18th century to describe a meeting where a small group of people would make decisions about filling political offices before the people were asked to vote.  The origin of the term is

It’s easy to think of the presidential primaries and caucuses as something less than serious. The run-up to the actual voting seems to take several years. The procedures are complex. The rules are arcane. The schedule of events gives voters in some states the opportunity to eliminate candidates before voters in other states can weigh

Fear-mongering for electoral advantage is nothing new in US politics.  Judging by statements of the Republican Presidential candidates, fanning the flames of fear will be a central tactic in 2016 campaigns. While fear-mongering about terrorism is bad enough, many of the GOP candidates’ policy prescriptions (carpet bombing, banning Muslims) would actually make Americans less safe.

A long-overdue constitutional amendment for transportation funding will come before the Connecticut General Assembly this year and it deserves strong bi-partisan support. The proposed amendment would create a “lockbox” for protecting transportation funding and bar the General Assembly from raiding it to help fill whatever holes emerge in future bi-annual budgets. Gov. Dannel Malloy is