At Convention Kennedy Targets Purchases Of Medical Practices

With hospitals gobbling up private medical practices, patients are stuck paying higher bills, a state Senate candidate proclaimed this week. He promised to do something about that if elected.

The candidate was Ted Kennedy Jr. (pictured), who is running for an open seat on the Shoreline. He made the remark at a convention at which the Democratic Party officially nominated him to run for the open 12th state Senate District seat being vacating by retiring Sen. Ed Meyer.

Kennedy was one of three Democrats endorsed unanimously in separate conventions held this week for state legislative seats in districts including Branford.

Kennedy won the nomination at a convention held at the American Legion Hall in Madison. Kennedy, 52, a health care advocate and attorney, has worked with the Legion on the U.N. treaty on the rights of people with disabilities, he said. The 12th District is made up of six towns: Branford, Durham, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison and North Branford.

Incumbent state Rep. Lonnie Reed was nominated last night at a convention held in the community room at Branford police headquarters, and first-time state representative hopeful Sean Scanlon was endorsed at a pizza shop that faces the historic Green in Guilford.

The Republicans held their conventions last week. Bruce H. Wilson, Jr., from Madison, a businessman and member of the Madison Board of Education, will face Kennedy; Cindy Cartier, an attorney and a member of the Guilford Board of Selectmen, will run against Scanlon. And Paul Cianci, a civil engineer new to politics will run against Reed. Click here for a story on their slate.

Elections Are About Choice

In accepting the nomination, Kennedy told an enthusiastic group of supporters that elections are all about choice and he is proud to run on the Democratic line. ​“I believe in standing up for working families, continuing the fight for social justice, for political and economic fairness and for a living wage for an honest day’s work,” he said.

In the six weeks since he first announced that he would enter politics, Kennedy said, he has learned a lot in talking to residents and business men and women across the district.

During a 20-minute acceptance speech, he listed a number of concerns, primarily in health care, that he said the legislature should grapple with, including the need to test for children’s mental health status, the need for stipends for nursing home care at home instead of nursing home placement, and the need to the cost impact on patients when doctors sell their practices to hospitals.

“I don’t think it is right for patients to have to pay three times more in their doctor’s offices than they did the year before for the same exact services only because the hospital recently acquired the practice and now there is a new sign on the door and a new rate,” Kennedy said. With each statement the audience applauded its approval. 

Kennedy, a cancer survivor whose professional life has been shaped by his disability (he lost part of his leg to cancer when he was 12) said he knows well ​“the inefficiencies involved in health care that impact every single person in this state.” He told the delegates, ​“One of the reasons I became a lawyer is because I believe people with disabilities and chronic illnesses should be afforded the same rights as everybody else.”

He told a crowd of about 60 supporters: ​“I know where the health care waste is in this system. I know where we can cut costs without impacting quality care and patient access.” 

He spoke of his father, the late U.S. senator, saying he would fight to the death for a cause he believed in but also believes in ​“consensus building and bipartisanship. To him the word consensus and compromise did not mean capitulation. In his political vocabulary, they were not dirty words.

​“He believed that if somebody can’t respect another person’s point of view and the politician is unwilling to accommodate another’s concern he should not be in political office because that is the essential skill of every legislator. Because getting along with people, respecting other people’s point of view and learning how to come together around specific problems is the essential skill.”

He said he has that skill set and he will use it. 

Several people provided ​“seconds” for Kennedy’s nomination, including his wife, Dr. Kiki Kennedy.

“Ted works incredibly hard at everything he does. When he sets his mind to something, he always does his homework and takes the time to fully prepare. He is a real problem solver, often thinking outside the box and then working very, very hard to make those ideas a reality. He is organized, persistent and won’t give up, whatever it is he is working on. He never sweats the small stuff,” she said.

Reed Touts Record

Rep.Reed, who is now seeking her fourth term in office representing the 102nd District, chairs the energy and technology committee and co-chairs the bipartisan Long Island Sound caucus. She was appointed this term to serve on the House Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. 

Adam Hansen, who is clerk of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), nominated Reed, terming her ​“Branford’s own Renaissance woman,” a legislator who has been instrumental in bringing major bio-tech companies to the state and the town, and a legislator ​“whose positive energy makes her who she is.” Hansen also seconded Kennedy’s nomination the night before.

Hansen and Bill Horne, one of the town’s best-known environmental and land trust leaders, seconded Reed’s nominations two years ago. Horne said she has a stellar list of accomplishments. But what he wanted to tell the audience was how accessible she is at the state Capitol, he said.

In her acceptance speech, Rep. Reed criticized the Republican mantra, voiced in recent weeks, that Connecticut is a bad state for business.
​“This is a total bogus lie that keeps getting spun that we are not doing anything for business. But they are coming here; we are making them come here and we are making them stay here.” 

She said she keeps on hearing ​“the same old tune being played … We have been up there for several years, and we are not doing anything, people are leaving the state, and business doesn’t like the state and all that.”

She said she ​“went over my stats today,” noting the number of companies new the area and to Branford specifically. She mentioned her work with Durata Therapeutic Inc., a bio-pharma firm now located in Branford at 322 E. Main St.

“We had to compete for it,” she said of Durata, ​“and we got it.” Then there were several companies that wanted to leave. ​“And we said no, you need to grow that idea here. Grow it in Branford.” 

She listed business across the board that have applied for grants, got them and are open for business in Branford – a gluten-free bakery, a shellfish company, a dental ceramics company. She spoke of Airborne Industries, Inc., a Branford-located supplier and manufacturer of U.S. military aircraft components and accessories. ​“Boeing paid a visit to Branford two weeks ago in connection with cockpit development, she said.

Reed recalled her days as a member of the RTM, saying she reached across the aisle often on various issues. ​“I have been able to continue that at the capitol. I feel honored to pull together coalitions. I got all eight of my energy bills out, most of them almost unanimously because we negotiated, negotiated, negotiated and made sure it happened.”

When she arrived in Hartford in January 2009, she said the state was in fiscal meltdown. ​“We were facing a $3.4 billion deficit and that is what we started with. We were on the brink of depression. The whole country was that way. We worked. We dug in. We did what we had to do to really re-imagine our future. We had to restructure the budget. We have transformed the state. We are still not there but we are trending there.” 

A Slice Of Scanlon

In front of a packed audience, Sean Scanlon accepted the Democratic nomination for the 98th Assembly District, promising to first and foremost to listen to anticipated constituents.

The tables at Centro’s Pizza in Guilford all had to-do Lists, which Scanlon, 27, encouraged people to fill out and return to him by Labor Day. After analyzing them, he said he would bring the results to the public as he campaigns for the seat held by longtime State Rep. Pat Widlitz, who is retiring.

“I’m asking people what should go on this list regardless of whether their ideas are liberal or conservative or right down the middle… if I am elected this fall, I will tape the list on the wall of my office and I’ll fight like hell to cross off as many as I can throughout my term in office.”

Sen. Meyer, who attended Scanlon’s convention, described Scanlon’s nomination as ​“passing the torch to the new generation.” He stressed the importance of Scanlon’s having roots in Connecticut and praised his efforts at helping to build the new Guilford High School and instituting all-day kindergarten. Here he is pictured with Rep.Widlitz.

“Chris Murphy wouldn’t be where he is without Sean Scanlon,” Meyer said, describing him as Murphy’s ​“eyes and ears in Connecticut.” Scanlon is U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s director of community affairs, working out of the senator’s Hartford office. 

Scanlon acknowledged that Meyer gave him his start in public service at age 17. He also praised Ted Kennedy Jr., who is running for Meyer’s seat as a ​“killer running mate.” And he described running for Pat Widlitz’s seat as having ​“big shoes to fill.” Here they are greeting a resident.

Scanlon said, ​“It all starts with listening. You don’t have a sense of what’s going on unless you listen.

“Confidence is at an all-time low in government and I believe candidates from both parties have a responsibility to try and restore that confidence.”
It doesn’t have to be big things, he added later, but it’s the little things that matter to people. He plans on holding town hall meetings, coffee hours to connect with the people in his district.

Scanlon also said he would ​“pass legislation and fight for the people of his district.” He said by knocking on 1,000 doors, he has already heard that people want new voices and said he plans to work across party lines to get thing done. He said, ​“People are hurting … they need a helping hand … they’ve lost faith in people running for office… and sick of nothing getting done and negative campaigns.”

Scanlon said his efforts at building the new high school and all-day kindergarten were successful because he built a coalition across party lines and the referendum passed with 70 percent of the vote.
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