This afternoon, I received a phone call asking if I would accompany State Senate Candidate Marilyn Moore to the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee meeting. Having worked with many campaigns, I’m used to these sorts of calls. Candidates should not attend meetings unaccompanied, and I’ve accompanied several different candidates to all kinds of different meetings.

I had not met Marilyn before, at least to the best of my memory. However, my wife Kim has spent a lot of time talking with Marilyn on various subjects and she speaks very highly of Marilyn. In addition, many other friends have spoken very highly of Marilyn, so I agreed to go along.

Marilyn is running in a primary on August 12 to be the Democratic nominee in the 22nd State Senate District, which covers parts of Bridgeport, Monroe and Trumbull. Her opponent is the Town Treasurer for Trumbull so the meeting had the potential to be interesting.

There were around 18 people attending the meeting, which started off with approving the minutes of the previous meeting and a brief treasurer’s report. Marilyn was given a chance to address the DTC and she spoke about working for the phone company, her role as head of the Witness Project which provides culturally competent community-based breast and cervical cancer education programs, and then her role as an assistant to State Senator Ed Gomes from Bridgeport.

After she spoke briefly, State Representative Tom Christiano asked her about her ability to serve constituents of both Trumbull and Bridgeport. She spoke about how her service with the Witness Project has helped her work with people from all across Fairfield County and how she looks forward to serving not only the constituents of Trumbull and Bridgeport, but also of Monroe which is the third town in the district.

After she was done speaking, a representative from the Himes campaign spoke about the listening tour that Jim Himes is doing across the Fourth Congressional district. When the speakers were done, they were offered to opportunity to stay or leave. Marilyn and I decided to stay and we were glad we did since subsequent topic was the resolution by the DTC calling on the State Legislature to pass the health care bill. Marilyn’s background in health care with the Witness Project makes her a particularly strong candidate to address these issues.

Other standard DTC issues were addressed, including nominating people to various committees and discussions about fundraising. Nonetheless, it was a quick meeting, even with the speakers, and it was soon over. Afterwards, Marilyn spoke with various people about the issues in the town before it was time to leave.

I spoke with her briefly afterwards. It seemed as if the evening went very well for her. I’m not surprised. She is bright, articulate, caring and an all around great candidate. I am glad I received the opportunity to accompany her to the Trumbull Democratic Town Committee meeting and got to know her much better. She will make a great State Senator.