Colli

In the State of Connecticut, the first chapter in the future of how campaigns will be run and how they will be won is being written as we speak.

2008 brings the first election cycle where candidates have the option of filing for state financing for campaigns. The need to level the playing field in elections and to put the power in the hands of the individual voter and away from PACS, lobbyist and special interests groups has created this program.

This “Clean Elections Program” was instrumental in giving me the confidence to take this step. I am running against an incumbent who has been in office for 8 terms. However, in the last election cycle, he raised only $11,000 from individuals with close to $55,000 coming from PACS, Lobbyists or his state party. The program requires a candidate to meet two thresholds:
1) You must receive a minimum of 300 donations from individuals within the towns in your district. These donations are between $5-$100. No individual lobbyists or state contractors are allowed to contribute.
2) The candidate must then raise a total of $15,000. These contributions can come from in or outside the district, however each donation cannot exceed $100.
3) Once the candidate reaches these two thresholds, the state gives a grant of $85,000 for the general election. This money does not come directly from tax payer dollars but from the revenue from unclaimed property in Connecticut

It is a program that is revolutionizing the political process in Connecticut and I believe will be a model in the future for how other states deal with campaign election reform. It is a program I think many of you will get excited about.
While there are many issues facing my district, I have been focusing on issues surrounding energy, the housing crisis and, what I feel is most important to young people in my state – youth flight.

In Connecticut, there is an alarming amount of young people who go away for college and never come back. The list of reasons for this long, but in my area they revolve around declining job growth, a lack of public transportation and the high cost of living. This is an issue that the Connecticut Young Democrats have been trying to tackle and we are working on getting the state legislature to respond to.

Thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to taking your questions.

Bumped. George will be joining us for a live blog today at 1pm. Please stop by. --Mike

Greetings to the Future Majority!

My name is George Colli and I am honored to be introducing myself as the Democratic nominee to the Connecticut State Senate out of the 7th District. At 29, I am a lifelong resident of a district that consists of seven towns in North Central Connecticut (Enfield, Somers, Windsor Locks, East Granby, Windsor, Granby and my hometown - Suffield). It runs along the border of Massachusetts and is split by the Connecticut River.

I work in a family business as a realtor that includes a small town real estate office, commercial property management, and a restaurant. I graduated with a political science degree from Providence College in 2001 and worked my first year out of school as the Assistant Director of Admissions at my alma mater, Suffield Academy.

I became involved with my local Democratic town committee and several local, state and congressional campaigns over the past six years. It was the campaigns of two candidates in 2006 that inspired me to serve in elected office.

The first was Joe Courtney. Mr. Courtney, now Congressman Courtney, won the closest Congressional race in the country by a margin of 83 votes. He is the definition of a public servant and is an exception to the rule in showing that good people can finish first!

He was victorious by keeping the race about his future constituents and their needs. If there were ever a reminder that every vote counts, this race was it! Even more inspiring was the fact that this was a race that clearly was decided by a significantly higher number of young voters going to the polls. The University of Connecticut alone experienced an 800% performance increase over the prior off-year election. Even more interesting, his best precincts were the ones where college students were located. It was that moment when I realized the power of our generation’s voice.

The second race was that of Derek Donnelly for CT State Representative out of the 61st district. Mr. Donnelly was running against an incumbent who was first elected to the seat when he was three years old. The 61st is a heavily Republican district, one that had not been opposed in years. He ran a race that was both positive and tireless. He knocked on every door in our district and attended every meeting and event. By the time people started to pay attention, Derek had set up an organization of young and lifelong supporters alike that forced his opponent to pull out every stop she could. While he ended up about 200 votes short in the end, he showed that by having drive, energy and a positive platform voters will respond.

What I look forward to sharing with you is a regular diary, from today until Election Day, of the experiences I encounter along the campaign trail.In the five weeks since I received the nomination, I have listened to people in my district talk about the direction they would like to see our state go. I will be sharing these issues with you and would love to open up a debate as to how we can solve them. I am running a campaign based on responsiveness and accessibility. My goal is for my district to expect more out of its state senator.

What I look forward to learning from you is how our generation can continue to make an impact in our political process, in business and in our society as a whole. And, as we are a campaign driven by young people, I’d love to hear your best practices for getting even more young voters engaged in the process and participating.

Our generation is one of great courage, great intellect and great promise. I am optimistic for our future and look forward to giving you all a first hand look into how we are going to show that here in North Central Connecticut.