Citing her leadership on stem cell research and her work for “abused and neglected children,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy Tuesday threw his support behind Toni Harp’s mayoral campaign.
Murphy’s endorsement took place Tuesday afternoon at the Farnam Neighborhood House at 162 Fillmore St. in Fair Haven. It was the latest of many endorsements Harp has racked up, including from the governor, elected officials, unions and firefighters.
The event came two weeks before Harp faces three opponents — Kermit Carolina, Justin Elicker, and Henry Fernandez — in a Democratic primary for mayor.
Harp, who’s in her 21st year as state senator, has been working with Murphy since he was elected to the state House in 1998. He served two terms as state rep, two as state senator, and three in the U.S. Congress. Now he’s in his first year as U.S. senator.
Melissa Bailey Photo
Murphy and Harp.
Murphy gave three reasons to support Harp.
First, he praised her “visionary leadership” on health care.
Murphy credited Harp’s work on the public health committee at the legislature.
One of the first issues Murphy and Harp worked on together after Murphy joined the state Senate in 2002 was stem cell research, Murphy said. First, the state passed a law authorizing stem cell research in the state but not providing any money. Harp then pushed for a second law that authorized $100 million over ten years for stem cell research. That helped boost the number of labs in the state conducting stem cell research from two to twenty, according to Murphy.
He also credited her work on statewide health care reform.
“Toni Harp, more than anybody else, made the public health committee a place where we debated the big issues of whether or not we were going to allow thousands of Connecticut residents to go to sleep sick at night simply because they weren’t affluent enough to afford health care,” Murphy said.
Second, Murphy praised Harp’s “courage” in fighting to establish the state Office of Child Protection.
“There is no one who has spoken louder or more consistently for the voices of abused and neglected children” than Harp has.
Third, he praised Harp’s “effectiveness.”
“I’ve watched Toni Harp work at the state Capitol,” Murphy said. He said she has a reputation of “being able to reach out to those who disagree with her” to “get things done.”
He said her experience at the Capitol will give her the ability to pass a budget, work with a “diverse and strong-minded board” of city legislators, and to draw on her relationships at the state to support New Haven.
State Commissioner on Aging Edith Prague, Harp, Fair Haven Democratic Co-Chair Celestino Cordova, State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield.
In her own remarks, Harp said she and Murphy share ideals on public health. She ran down a list of legislation they have worked on together: banning smoking from restaurants and bars; clean car emissions; stem cell research; the Office of Child Protection; and ethics reform.
“We have been in the trenches together,” Harp said.
Murphy pledged to send down campaign supporters to knock on doors and make calls for Harp. And he pledged to send an email to his list of 100,000 supporters to urge them to support Harp as well.
“This is not just a paper endorsement,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Harp campaign learned Tuesday that it had failed to persuade the secretary of the state’s office to force a change in the printing of the Stept. 10 primary ballot. (Read about that controversy here and here.)
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/absentee_ballots_mailed_harp_camp_still_seeks_changes/
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/harp_camp_blasts_ballot_display/
Campaign manager Jason Bartlett said the matter will rest there. He said the campaign will not go to court to pursue changes.
“I think that would be too much of a distraction,” Bartlett said. “We need to focus on winning over the next two weeks and keeping our energy positive.”