Bysie Plays Hill, & Elliott Plays Bernie

The woman who dreamed of becoming the governor of Connecticut got a chance to run for president – at least for an evening.

Susan Bysiewicz, a former Connecticut Secretary of State and 2010 candidate for governor played Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State, when she recently engaged in a mock debate between the two Democratic candidates for president before some 60 people, mostly Bernie Sanders fans, it turned out, at the Orchard House in Short Beach. 

Clinton’s mock opponent, Josh Elliott, an organizer with the CT Progressives group in Hamden and other parts of the state, played Bernie Sanders. He wore a white CT Progressives T‑shirt. ​“Hillary” wore a suit.

The CT Progressives, wearing T‑shirts advertising their organization, included a score of Sanders volunteers and their friends, who set up a Bernie shop at the back of the room. They were young, enthusiastic, and approachable. They came with boxes of T‑shirts, a life-size Bernie poster, Bernie stickers, and Bernie sign-up sheets. They filmed the debate, which was lively, engaging and elicited lots of applause, especially when the topics dealt with guns and changing America’s tax system. 

The mock debate, which took place this past Tuesday night, was sponsored by the CT Progressives along with the Branford Democratic Town Committee, specifically the Third District DTC. The Third District covers Short Beach; its chair is Curt Johnson, executive director of the Save the Sound organization. His communications director, Sarah Ganong, has been working as a district spokesperson for the Sanders campaign.

Guns & Super PACs

Ray Andrewsen, general manager and morning show host of WQUN AM, moderated the debate Each ​“candidate” was required to know where the actual candidate stood on the issues. Audience members wrote questions for the candidates on cards.

Andrewsen started off with a question on guns that drew strong support for Hillary: ​”Are you in favor of giving victims of gun crimes, such as those from Sandy Hook, the ability to sue gun manufacturers and sellers of guns in the United States?”

Hillary/Bysiewicz responded: ​“Yes, absolutely and this is perhaps where Sen. Sanders and I differ. For instance he and I have different votes on the Brady bill. I have supported the Brady bill at every opportunity and he has voted against the Brady bill five times. I have supported measures to allow people to sue the manufacturers of guns for liability. So, for example, the parents of the victims of Sandy Hook are trying to sue some of the gun manufacturers for the role their guns played in those devastating shootings. This is a real policy difference but I think an important difference. I do support manufacturers bearing liability.”

“Bernie” responded: ​“If somebody kills somebody else with a hammer, does the hammer company get sued? If somebody gets murdered with a plank of wood, does the lumber distributor get sued? Guns are dangerous. But if you allow a system where gun manufacturers get sued you will essentially be putting them out of business. If that is what you are intending to do, then yes, you can do that. You are killing an industry … Now if the question is whether the industry should exist in the first place, that’s a completely different issue.”

The campaign financing issue got to the heart of campaign economics and economics in general. Elliot, who is 33, portrayed this presidential campaign as a referendum on the nation’s tax policies over the past 30 or 40 years. ​“It used to be the top bracket is paying at the top in taxes, 90 percent, 75 percent. Now they are paying 35 percent or in some cases less than 15 percent. They stash it overseas so it is not taxed or they are flooding our political system with money to make sure that more laws are enacted that help them and not everyone else. It gets worse and worse. For me and my generation we see some big structural problems with the way the system is working.

“I recognize that Hillary is a leader and is strong, but for us this is about a platform and about making sure we have structure that works for everybody and right now it doesn’t. …The reason we have a democracy is to get rid of the idea of all the power in a few hands. We need his platforms to change this country.”

“Bernie” went on to discuss the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, which equated corporations with people, eliminated limits on their campaign spending, and essentially said that ​“money is speech and that if you are limiting the amount of money that goes into campaigns you are limiting free speech.” He concluded by saying that regardless of who wins, he or Hillary, one has to remember that ​“major civilizations fail when the power is in the hands of the few.” The audience applauded loudly.

“Hillary” responded, saying, ​“How can it be that we have the Citizens United case that says corporations are people? It needs to be overturned. We must overturn Citizens United. We have to stop super PACs and end money and politics where you can have a very wealthy individual giving an unlimited amount to support candidates, to oppose candidates, to do all kinds of things. I support ending super PACs. I support what we have in Connecticut, where you have a small donation matching program to get special interests and big money out of politics. That is what we need to reform our finance system,” she declared.

“Bernie” had the last word. ​“There is a fundamental difference in the way Secretary Clinton and I are funding our campaigns. My opponent is raising money from banks and the health care industry and if you want to know who is going to represent you all you need to do is look at who is getting you elected. Let’s go back to FDR. He realized you can’t be friends with everybody.” The audience burst into applause.

Where’s the Hillary Ground Campaign?

While the Progressives turned out in force to the debate, Hillary Clinton’s ground campaign was nowhere in sight. Not even a Hillary button or a sign was visible. Nor were there many DTC members from Branford’s six other districts although they had been notified of the event. The current DTC chair, Mike Leone, was there, thanking Johnson for pulling the event together.

“I see a lot of faces I haven’t seen at meetings before,” he said, as he scanned the room filled with young people. ​“I am happy you are here. I want to continue to reach out to bring in more and more Democrats. Welcome to Branford. And for those who don’t live here and please reach out more often.”

The Dems have yet to formally endorse either of the Democratic presidential candidates. The Connecticut primary takes place on April 26.

Chris Sullivan, former DTC chair, was there, wearing a red Bernie Sanders T‑shirt. Asked if he would be involved in a Bernie for Prez campaign in Branford, Sullivan said, ​“Yes, I would definitely be involved in that. As much as I can. Bernie is bringing in people who have been on the sidelines in politics. We need to bring in more young people, get younger people involved, and rebuild the party with …. Bernie folks.”

Elliott told the Eagle afterwards that the Progressives ​“spun ourselves off as Connecticut Progressives because we wanted to make sure that when Bernie gets elected there is a structure in place to make sure he gets progressives in the legislature.” The CT Progressives are a relatively new political organization; a number of members come from the former Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Whether or not Sanders wins or loses, we are making sure people are knowledgeable about what is happening in government,” he said. 

The literature accompanying the debate stated that the DTC and Johnson’s Third District sponsored the debate. But it looked like the CT Progressive movement, with Elliott heading the charge, stole the show. Maybe that’s how it should be since Sanders has run for public office in the past as an avowed socialist, not a Democrat.

The Progressives, some from across the state, attended the event in order to learn how to prepare their own mock debate. One young woman came from Stonington, eager to learn how to put on a debate, she told the Eagle. 

We caught up with Bysiewicz after the debate ended. ​“It was fun,” she said of the debate. The person playing Sen. Sanders was very passionate, and I appreciate that. It is going to take candidates being engaged and engaging in a debate on important policy questions.”

And might Bysiewicz be thinking about running for public office again, sometime in the future perhaps? She is now practicing law and she is helping Hillary to raise funds in Connecticut.

“Right now I am helping Hillary. I have to say I love public service, so perhaps in the future I might consider it. And it was nice to engage in a very lively debate, in a great, passionate debate.”

At the end of the debate, Johnson asked the audience to hold their neighbors’ hands. Sarah Ganong, the Progressive organizer, stood on a chair and snapped away.
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