Former Sen. Chris Dodd Campaigns For Union Activist Leo Canty In State Rep Race In Windsor

WINDSOR – With a whirlwind travel schedule in his new job, former U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd doesn’t get back to Connecticut much.

But he made a special trip this week to campaign on behalf of a candidate running for a state legislative seat. Dodd, the former chairman of the national Democratic Party, plays politics at a high level, but he traveled to Windsor to help longtime union activist Leo Canty in a three-way Democratic primary for the state House of Representatives.

It marked the first time, Dodd said, that he came back to a political event in the past 18 months in Connecticut – ever since he left the U.S. Senate after three decades of service. 

“Leo and I are great pals. We’ve been friends for a long time,” Dodd told The Hartford Courant and others outside a community center in Windsor. “I’d go anywhere in the world for this guy.”

“Aside from the issues — jobs and taxes, healthcare, education — the issues are important, but they do come and go. What you want is a quality individual who will listen to everyone, whether it be in Windsor or the North End of Hartford,” Dodd said. “And you couldn’t have a better advocate than Leo Canty. We’ve known each other for 30 years – ever since he first got involved with the American Federation of Teachers and other organizations. So, I’m not here tonight because of some political obligation or a debt or a partisan thing. I’m here because I have such respect for this guy that he’d be a great asset for the General Assembly.”

Dodd added, “I’d go anywhere in the world for him, including a long drive today from New York City. You owe me, Leo. You owe me.”

Canty, standing nearby, started laughing. ”I wasn’t in London or Singapore or anywhere like that,” Canty said as Dodd laughed, too.

While talking in detail about Canty, Dodd refused to be drawn into a discussion about the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate – the body where he served for decades. He declined to comment about the ongoing battle between U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy and former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who are squaring off in the August 14 Democratic primary.

“I’m in a new world now,” said Dodd, who is the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America. ”Having spent 38 years in public life in Connecticut, I’ll pick and choose my races. I’m here for Leo Canty. That’s all I want to talk about tonight.”

Inside the community center, Canty introduced Dodd to fellow Democrats and described him as “one of my heroes.”

When he is asked for his favorite Senator, Canty said, “There’s no doubt in my mind my favorite Senator is Chris Dodd.”

Canty is running against Windsor Mayor Don Trinks and 28-year-old Democrat Brandon McGee of Hartford in the August 14 primary. Within the newly redrawn district, about 60 percent of the Democrats are in Windsor and about 40 percent of the Democrats are in Hartford. Insiders said that the Windsor turnout will be crucial because the voter turnout in the Hartford portion of the district was only about 12 percent in 2010 after hitting a peak of about 19 percent in the 2006 U.S. primary between longtime incumbent Joseph I. Lieberman and newcomer Ned Lamont. 

As he did during his final speech on the U.S. Senate floor, Dodd called for civility in politics.

“Nothing makes me sadder, as a person who was in public life and grew up in a family in public life, than to watch the bitterness and the demeaning of people who run for public office,” Dodd said. “I don’t agree with Mitt Romney. I don’t agree with some of these candidates. But I admire the fact that they’re willing to stand up and run for public office – to hold themselves out. We need to celebrate people like Leo Canty, who are willing to stand up and subject themselves to the ridicule and criticism. … Regardless of your party or your views, we ought to be outraged when someone we disagree with is demeaned or denounced in some way that isn’t fair.”

While making speeches around Connecticut for 38 years, Dodd always thrived on campaigning. He seemed to come alive Monday night as he delivered a speech that mentioned  former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, former President Teddy Roosevelt, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision that upheld the individual mandate in President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

“I don’t want to get into a filibuster here,” Dodd said as he had become increasingly animated while talking about the healthcare law that he helped craft as the committee chairman after Kennedy became ill. “I have to be careful about that. I haven’t done this for a while.”