ICYMI: Esty, Roberti Tangle At 5th District Debate

LITCHFIELD–At the Democrats’ 5^thCongressional District debate this weekend, Chris Donovan found himself in a place he has rarely been the past few months: out of the spotlight.

The House speaker’s campaign has dominated headlines since Donovan picked up his party’s convention endorsement in May and then found his campaign embroiled in a federal investigation into alleged influence buying aimed at killing a state tobacco tax bill.

But Donovan found himself sitting in the crossfire of a final-question clash between the race’s other two candidates: former state Rep. Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire and public relations executive Dan Roberti of Kent.

Fireworks erupted in the debate’s final minutes during a question about which government programs candidates would propose to help struggling homeowners. Roberti called the recent ending of a debt forgiveness program for homeowners a “tragedy” and said Congress should do more to encourage lending by community banks and also larger banks with branches across the country.

Esty pounced on Roberti, hammering him for having a partial stake in a firm, Roberti Associates, run by his father, Vincent, a former Connecticut state legislator who is now a powerful Washington lobbyist.

She also knocked Roberti for a sparse professional resume and for the Super PAC that has spent more than $270,000 on television advertising to help Roberti and take swipes at his rivals — even though Roberti says he opposes the involvement of such groups in elections.

Candidates had been allowed to offer rebuttals to each other’s answers on previous questions. But the housing question was the last one asked before the 10-minute period reserved for closing statements, and Roberti was unable to rebut.

Instead, Roberti used most of the time allotted for his final remarks to answer Esty’s charge.

Click here to read more.