Terry Cowgill

Pancake Circuit: Murphy Dines In Sharon

July 9, 2006 on 6:44 pm | In Local, Main, State |

In a rare foray into the Northwest Corner, Democratic state Sen. Chris Murphy, brought his message of Medicare reform, energy policy reform and opposition to President Bush’s Iraq war policy to a Sunday morning breakfast crowd.

Murphy, who is challenging longtime incumbent Republican Nancy Johnson for Connecticut’s 5th district seat in Congress, came to the firehouse in Sharon this morning for flapjacks and an informal campaign session. In the photo above taken by yours truly, he is seen making a point with a couple who attended the Sharon Fire Department’s pancake breakfast.

With two young campaign aides trailing him and handing out photocopied campaign flyers, Murphy, a second-term state senator, worked the crowd like an experienced pol, shaking hands with everyone in sight and giving his spiel to anyone who would listen.

I counted about 70 people in the sweltering rec room of the Sharon firehouse, although Betsy Hall, who ran the cash box, said later there was a total turnout of 250 diners. There was a rumor (which I was not able to confirm) that the Johnson campaign had sent out an email encouraging (or perhaps pleading) with local Republicans to appear at the breakfast to offset the show of strength of the Democrats.

But I didn’t notice any prominent Republicans. Michael Lynch, who challenged state Rep. Roberta Willis for her seat two years ago, was serving griddle cakes and sausage patties. Lynch, however, is a member of the fire department and serves often at these functions.

As you might expect, the place was crawling with Northwest Corner Dems, including Liz and Tony Piel, Malcolm Brown, Charlie Vail and — of course — Willis herself.

“I hired him for his first job,” Willis told me as she watched Murphy rub elbows with the guy who was serving the bacon. “I think he’s a wonderful candidate — smart, articulate and thoughtful.”

Willis was working in 1996 on the campaign of Charlotte Koskoff, the last challenger to give Johnson a serious run for her money, when she hired Murphy, who had just graduated from Williams College, to work with her in defeating Johnson. With Murphy managing the campaign, Koskoff lost by only 1,587 of the 227,165 votes cast.

Later, after Murphy was elected to the state House of Representatives, his office was just two doors away from Willis, so the two got to know each other well. Willis sees a parallel between the serious challenge faced not only by Johnson, but by U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman as well.

“People are talking about wanting a change,” said Willis, now in her third term and running for a fourth. “And it’s the direction in Washington they’re looking at.”

[For a an incisive Lakeville Journal editorial written May 18 on this very same subject, click here]

For his part, Murphy, who chairs the senate’s public health committee, told me one of his major beefs with Johnson is Medicare Part D, the federal prescription drug plan for the elderly passed three years ago, which he characterized as “overly complex.” He proposes to “allow Medicare to run the program,” which he said would reduce the number of insurance companies involved from 40 to six or seven. He is also unhappy with a provision of Medicare Part D that prohibits the federal government from negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower prices.

“It’s amazing that she hasn’t proposed any reform on it yet,” Murphy said, adding that her ties to drug companies are a liability. Murphy also talked about the need for alternative fuel sources and the “flawed” energy bill passed by the current Congress. And, of course, there is the war and what he termed as “Johnson’s unconditional support for the president’s policy in Iraq.”

Murphy talked comfortably about every topic I asked him about — save one: Lieberman.

“I’ve supported Lieberman from the beginning,” he said tersely after I asked him whether he was a fan of Joe foe Ned Lamont. “I will support the winner of the primary.”

Asked if he approved of Lieberman’s proposed independent candidacy if he loses the primary, all Murphy would do is shake his head from side to side. It was clearly not a topic he was interested in talking about.

Wilis, however, did not hesitate to answer the same question: “I supported Lamont at the convention.” I guess that means Willis and Murphy will be on the same page if Joe gets his head handed to him by Lamont on Aug. 8. Stay tuned …