Letter To The Editor: CT Independent Party Has Little Substance

Dear editor:

"Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising."

— Mark Twain

Where would Connecticut be without Mark Twain? He is the bite to our bark, the reflection on our actions, the humorist to our travails. Running for state-level elected office is a serious thing — we live in a time of big issues and real concerns — where people put forth their best ability to rise to the occasion. Serious candidates vie for trusted organizations' endorsements as validation that some vetting of candidate qualifications has occurred.

Last month the Connecticut Independent Party endorsed candidates. Are you a member of the Independent Party? Did you know there is such a thing?

Mark Twain would love this party. Seriously.

According to a recent NBC news story, many people who are part of the Independent Party don't even know they are in it. They thought they were staying independent from a party by writing in the word “independent” on the party affiliation line.

The Independent Party claims to be the state's third-largest political party. That's big, right? Nope. To provide a sense of scale, there are 2.1 million registered voters in the state — 890,000 unaffiliateds (that means not part of any party), 798,000 Democrats and 458,000 Republicans. There are so few registered Independent Party members that the Secretary of the State doesn’t even report them as their own line item. They get lumped together with 33 other minor parties — totaling 33,702 voters all together. Statistically, a rounding error.

Well, maybe they are small but significant — like the Working Families Party with its widespread, energetic and grassroots organization and contact lists. Nope. The chair of CT’s Independent Party has admitted that the majority of its members don't know they are registered to it, believing instead they are party-free. If you are wondering how they decide what criteria they use to endorse candidates — let alone who from their party endorses them — as I did, don't bother. There's nothing on their low-budget website or available by an internet search that will help you. Want to find a list of all their endorsed candidates? Can't find that either. I guess they want to be independent from a local citizen's desire for oversight, transparency or knowledge too.

Why is this important enough to call attention to weeks ahead of the election? The Connecticut Independent Party has a line on the upcoming ballot. It endorses candidates. When you see the Independent Party on that ballot line, it seems to me that you are getting a lot of advertising and very little substance. Don't fall for it.

Carolyn Trabuco