Yesterday afternoon, I climbed in my little white Prius and drove off to the Sage American Bar and Grill in Chester for a candidates forum. It is a lovely place and I recommend the popcorn shrimp if you want to grab a bite before a candidates’ forum.

On the radio, I listened to the news. The lead story was about W. Mark Felt coming forward to let the world know that he was in fact ‘Deep Throat’. I remember being a teenager during the final years of the Nixon presidency and discussing with classmates who we thought ‘Deep Throat’ really was. It struck me that some of the folks working on campaigns today weren’t even alive when the Watergate Hotel was broken into.

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The radio program played the famous clip from the movie ‘All the President’s Men’, where Deep Throat tells the young reporters to ‘follow the money’. Commentators wondered what Deep Throat’s coming forward has to say about politics today. Issues of government secrecy and the role of the press were discussed, as were issues of campaign finance reform. For local news, they spoke about a rally by http://www.cleanupconnecticut.com/ to support campaign finance legislation working its way through the state house.

All of this provided a great backdrop for the evening’s candidates’ forum. Like the previous gathering, the event was cordial and there were many points of agreement. There was some discussion about why we are having candidates’ forums seventeen months before the election and what role does all the fundraising have in who will lead us in what way.

Mayor DeStefano spoke about how all the money sends a message to many people that their participation doesn’t mean anything, about how the problem with our current political system is that people aren’t given a chance to talk back. Because of this, people become apathetic.

While we need to bring about meaningful campaign finance reform, we also need to find new ways of getting people more involved. Candidates’ Forums, especially last night, this blog, and house meetings are all ways that people can become more involved and start getting their voices back even as we work towards meaningful campaign finance reform.

Afterwards, people commented to me about the energy and excitement that DeStefano supporters brought to the event. It is a start. We still have seventeen months to go. Were you at the forum last night? What was important to you about what was said? Are you going to the DFA Meetup in Torrington tonight? What do you want to talk about? Do you want to host a house meeting? What can we do together on this blog to get people more involved in the political process?