You're known by the company you keep...

This morning's Republican-American has a good story about our newly-assembled campaign team. Yesterday we announced that four prominent Republicans in our district have agreed to be co-chairs of our campaign. State Representative Arthur O'Neill, Bethlehem First Selectman Jeff Hamel, Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry and former Oxford Selectman Dave Haversat have agreed to serve as co-chairs of our campaign. I am very honored that these well-respected leaders have agreed to serve on my campaign team.


Kane picks former foe to lead campaign


BY MATTHEW O’ROURKE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN



WATERTOWN — Republi­can Town Councilman Robert J. Kane selected a former oppo­nent in the race for the 32nd District to work on his cam­paign Wednesday. Rep. Arthur J. O’Neill, R­Southbury, has agreed to serve as a campaign co-chairman for Kane in the upcoming special election on Jan. 15. In a statement, O’Neill said he was honored to be offered the leadership position. “Rob understands the needs of this district and stands for the values we all cherish,” O’Neill said. “I look forward to working with him as the next senator from the 32nd District.” Earlier this month, Kane edged out O’Neill 34-30 at a Re­publican convention to receive his party’s endorsement. Kane is running against De­mocrat Kenny Curran, chair­man of the Democratic Town Committee, for the seat vacated by former Sen. Louis C. DeLu­ca, who retired in November. Curran is the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee in Bethlehem and has worked on political campaigns for Hart­ford Mayor Eddie Perez, U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and former Democratic congress­man James Maloney. Three other area Republi­cans — Bethlehem First Select­man Jeffrey Hamel, Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry and former Oxford Selectmen Dave Haversat — were also ap­pointed as cochairmen of Kane’s campaign. Henry said Kane will give a voice to small towns at the state capitol. “He will win because small­town voters are behind him and know he will work tirelessly on our behalf,” Henry said.

The most important meal of the day

During the past week, we have been making the early morning rounds to local diners and coffee shops in the 32nd District talking to voters about the important issues of this campaign. Last week we visited Patti's in Thomaston and joined George Seabourne and company for cup of coffee and ran into, among others, former Thomaston First Selectman Eugene McMahon (D). As luck would have it, Eugene and I are distantly related. Small world!

We also visited Fritz's in Oxford with former Oxford Selectman Dave Haversat, a popular public figure in Oxford who opted not to seek re-election to the Board of Selectmen this year. And our most well known stop was to Nick's in Bethlehem where First Selectman Jeff Hamel organized a group of voters to talk about the issues with me. The Waterbury Republican-American covered our visit in their "Brass Tacks" section on Monday:

Not his hometown

Republican State Senate can­didate Robert J. Kane ventured into his opponent’s hometown Friday, seeking to learn more about the people he hopes to represent. Kane, a 40-year-old Water­town councilman, met with about 15 Bethlehem residents during breakfast at Nick’s Country Kitchen on Flanders Road, discussing taxes, con­cerns about the regional school district and the need for leaders to provide small-town repre­sentation in Hartford. “I’m not a career politician,” Kane told the group in the restaurant’s barroom. “I’ve been out there with a real job making something. I think peo­ple are receptive to that.” First Selectman Jeffrey Hamel introduced Kane, who will face off against Democratic candidate Kenny Curran of Bethlehem in a Jan. 15 special election for the right to fill Louis C. DeLuca’s vacated seat. “When you get to Hartford, remember where you are from,” Hamel told Kane. “We’ll be supporting you, and we’ll be watching you. We need you.”

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! Take the time to enjoy the company of family and friends, and to rest up for the next few weeks of the campaign!

Making history

Yesterday our campaign became the first State Senate campaign in state history to qualify for the Citizens' Election Fund under the new campaign finance reform law. While I am opposed to the use of taxpayers' money to finance, special interest money has been removed from State Senate campaigns - and that's a good thing.

Below is the press release that we sent out yesterday:


Kane Qualifies for Public Financing

Watertown, CT – Rob Kane, Republican candidate for state Senate in the 32nd District, today became the first state Senate candidate to qualify for public campaign financing when the Elections Enforcement Commission certified that he has met the threshold for private campaign donations. Under new campaign finance laws, a candidate for state Senate in a special election must raise at least $11,250 and receive donations from 225 district residents in order to qualify for public financing.

Kane won the Republican nomination on December 4th and in less than two weeks raised a total of $14,200 – most of it ($11,495) from 362 residents of the 32nd District. As a result, he will receive $63,750 dollars from the Citizens Election Fund to communicate with voters during the 32nd District special election.

“Reaching this milestone puts my campaign on good footing for the race ahead,” said Kane. “I’m grateful for the groundswell of support my campaign is receiving. The fact that we met this milestone in spite of the approaching holidays and difficult weather is testament to the hard work and dedication of our grass roots organization.”

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney complimented Kane on his accomplishment.

“The fact that Rob Kane was able to qualify in such a short period of time is telling of just how committed 32nd District Republicans are to getting him elected,” said Senator McKinney. “Rob has put together a strong leadership team. He is focused on the right issues –fiscal prudence, public safety and education. And he has demonstrated he has the grass roots support necessary to win his race.”

Kane said that while he is fundamentally opposed to financing political campaigns with taxpayer dollars, he is pleased the new campaign finance laws have taken special interest money out of our elections, allowing candidates more time to communicate with voters.

The Elections Enforcement Commission certified that 393 donors have contributed a total of $14,200 to Rob Kane’s campaign. Of that total, $11,495 were contributed by 32nd District residents.

The 32nd District special election will be held January 15.

The most important meal of the day

The last few mornings have been very exciting as we have hit the road to speak with voters and listen to their concerns. Earlier this week we visited Patti's Place in Thomaston with local attorney and Republican Town Chairman George Seabourne and had a cup of coffee with a few Thomaston residents who were getting ready to start their day.

Also this week we traveled to Oxford and stopped in at Bobby Fritz's Snack Bar with former Selectman Dave Haversat, who is also one of our campaign Co-Chairs.

This morning we visited Nick's in Bethlehem with our good friend, Bethlehem First Selectman Jeff Hamel. Jeff introduced us to a number of local residents and we had a great discussion about the issues facing working families, seniors and small businesses.

Fundraising success

I am VERY happy to report that today our treasurer will be delivering our campaign finance filing to the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC). As I posted earlier, we needed to raise $11,250 from 225 in-district contributors in order to qualify for public financing. The report we file today will show that we raised approximately $14,000 from close to 400 contributors (approximately 360 of whom live in the 32nd District). We were incredibly successful in raising our qualifying funds in a very short amount of time and I can't thank you all enough for your early support.

This is going to be a very short campaign and the fact the Christmas and New Year's are right in the middle of it makes things even tougher, but we have a great team in place to ensure a victory on Election night (more on our campaign team to come later today).

Remember to remind your friends, family and co-workers to vote in the Special Election on January 15th.

Campaign financing

Good morning everyone! Yesterday's snowstorm forced us to cancel our fundraiser in Oxford with Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele, but instead of sitting around roasting chestnuts on an open fire, a few of us got to work getting on the phones and asking for small donations from people in the 32nd District which was more successfully than we could have imagined given the wicked weather outside! We have now collected enough checks to qualify for the Citizens' Election Program and we will be filing our application on Monday.

As a Republican I certainly have some concerns about the use of taxpayer money to finance political campaigns, but these are the new rules and we are going to play by them. It certainly will be interesting to see how the new campaign finance system shakes out in this election, which is history making because it is the first State Senate election under our new campaign finance rules.

Anyways, all indicators are that we have another snowstorm on the horizon this weekend, so be safe everyone!

Welcome!

Welcome to our campaign blog. The past week has been an incredible success. After winning the convention last Tuesday, we have been busy setting up our campaign operation. We have received so many phone calls and emails of support and I just wanted to take the time to thank each of you for your incredible support....it's really touching.

This week our goal is to get the campaign qualified for funding from the Citizens' Election Program (CEP). As you may know, our new campaign finance laws are set up so that if we raise $11,250 in contributions of between $5 - $100, the campaign will qualify for approximately $60,000 from the CEP. We need 225 people from within the 32nd District to write check to us in order to qualify but so far we have been very successful. People from all over the district have been sending us their contributions and last night we had a very successful (despite the threat of an ice storm) fundraiser at the Watertown Golf Club. We need to get some more checks in order to qualify for the CEP, but we hope to have that done by the end of the week.

We will be updating this blog regularly with news from the campaign trail and interesting stories from around the 32nd Senate District, so check back often!