NORWALK, Conn. – There’s a better way to spend state money in a campaign for the legislature, according to Norwalk legislative candidates Warren Peña and David Watts, who say they are making an impact in the community with their Citizens Election Program (CEP) grants.
State Rep. Bruce Morris (D-140) is using the $27,500 grant for high-priced consultants and mailers, but the Peña campaign is investing in youth, said Peña, who also said that if anyone is making the campaign about race it isn’t him.
“I’d rather invest our $27,500 into our community, the youth of our community to go out there and learn and see what we see as candidates,” Peña said. “When I walk down South Main Street and by the shelter you have a pile of dirt that you are breathing in, that folks that live in that area are continuously breathing if they have their windows open. They’re learning that those areas are full of blight. They’re learning that those areas smell like urine and marijuana when you’re walking down those streets and they’re walking down those streets with me. They’re seeing what I am seeing, so I think they are getting educated.
“There is nobody out there doing what we are doing, paying attention to the things we are paying attention to and making a difference in people’s lives the way we want to,” Peña continued. “When I say ‘we’ I mean Dave (Watts) and myself in this campaign and in this candidacy. There’s a lot of buzz out there within the politicos, I would say, and certainly it has carried over to some folks within this community that there is this perception of a black v brown divide. I believe that it is just a bunch of nonsense.”
Kevin Coughlin, campaign manager for the re-election campaigns of Morris, and Watts’ opponent, state Rep. Chris Perone (D-137), declined to respond to Peña’s comments.
Last Tuesday, drivers leaving Interstate 95 at exit 16 at about 7 p.m. were serenaded by a young woman chanting “Vote for Dave, vote for Dave.”
Watts said that was an “ice-breaking” activity. He had about 30 young Norwalk residents working for him and was giving them a break from going door to door, he said.
He said the campaign headquarters he shares with Peña at 39 Harbor Ave. was formerly occupied by a liquor store that closed some time ago. Now Watts and Peña are there, patronizing local businesses and bringing energy to the area, he said. “We’ve taken a neighborhood approach,” he said. “The neighbors have been happy to have us as neighbors.”
The pair held a block party at their headquarters Saturday. The Morris/Perone campaign headquarters are in the same Van Zant Street building in which Mayor Harry Rilling based his campaign last fall.
“We are the unity ticket,” Peña said. “David and I are out there showing and demonstrating how black and brown can work together and accomplish great things. We are breaking barriers, we are investing into the community. Let me tell you this: I have never heard of our opponents going out there and doing the things that we are doing here, working with the types of youth and kids we are working with. That is change. That is a different mindset, how to approach campaigns, campaigning, building relationships in the community, than I believe our opponent has done.”
Peña slammed Morris.
“He has mentioned to some of my friends that this is an African-American seat,” Peña said. “I beg to differ. I beg to differ with that. I believe that this is the seat of the person who wins the minds of the voters. I believe that this is the seat of anybody who can win at any point in time, that any person of any color can win, as long as you do the legwork, win the voters over and put in the type of work that is necessary to win a campaign. I resent things like that, but that’s the black v brown rhetoric that he speaks about.”
Coughlin said Saturday he would get a response from Morris to that comment. Nancy On Norwalk has not received one yet.
“I know they are furious with me, but I want to break up that mindset of entitlement,” Peña said. “This is not a black v brown situation, this is about who will do the work that is necessary to bring change and make an impact in people’s lives.”
Watts said he had no prediction about what will happen in Tuesday’s primary.
“It’s in the people’s hands,” he said. “I don’t know what my chances are. I always run scared. … People are being supportive, so you never know. It’s all about turnout.”
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