Westporter Taking On Veteran Lawmaker

By JARED NEWMAN
Hour Staff Writer

WESTPORT — Taking Connecticut's 26th District Senate seat has never been easy for Democrats. John Hartwell, a 61-year-old business management consultant, is the latest Democrat to try. State Sen. Judith Freedman, the 11-term Republican incumbent, only saw opposition in the last two elections, and she enjoyed eight uncontested years before that.

Hartwell lives on the campus of Greens Farms Academy in Westport with his wife Janet, who is head of school there. He was the treasurer for Ned Lamont's failed U.S. Senate campaign in 2006 and the district coordinator for Howard Dean's presidential run in 2004, but he has not previously been a candidate himself.
"I think anybody's nervous when you run for public office," he said in an interview at his home Sunday. "You're putting yourself out there."

Freedman could not be reached by phone Sunday. She hasn't announced whether she will run again, and she hasn't filed registration papers with the state.

Hartwell got his first taste for politics as a child. His mother was a liberal Democrat and his father was a conservative Republican, and in addition to absorbing their fueled debates, he was an avid reader of Time magazine.

In 1968, Hartwell worked as an "advance man" — a kind of political event planner — for Eugene McCarthy's first presidential campaign, but he left politics to teach English in the Middle East for 11 years. Upon his return to America, he studied business and nonprofit management at Yale University and eventually became an executive for Chase.

"I know the life of the commuter very well," Hartwell said of his days at Chase, when he took the train to Manhattan from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. He said transportation through Fairfield County is a mess and little is being done to fix it. "Too often what happens is, we study things to death," Hartwell said. "We have consultants, and we do reports and nothing really changes."

Transportation is one of Hartwell's marquis issues, and while that's hardly different from most assemblymen in the area, Hartwell said his affiliation with the majority party could be enough to make a difference.
"I would actually bring to the table a voice in the caucus when the decisions are made," Hartwell said. Unlike Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, Hartwell agrees with Freedman that a "Super 7" highway connecting Norwalk and Danbury should not be built.

Hartwell's other main concerns are education, health care and issues of smart growth. He applauded efforts to redevelop the former Gilbert &  Bennett wire mill site in Georgetown into a mix of residential and commercial uses, and especially liked plans to add a train station there. But Hartwell said that project, too, isn't progressing fast enough, and he called for mediator between the government and property developers to speed the plan approval process. "If we're going to have public and private partnerships, we have to be mindful of the needs of the private side," Hartwell said.

Other ideas he's kicking around are free community college tuition for public school students with good grades and a mandatory health care requirement similar to one that's being tried out in Massachusetts. Full of ideas but short on experience, Hartwell chaffed at having to learn the realpolitik of the Senate. "That would actually be the fun part," he said.

Under the Citizens' Election Program, state Senate candidates who raise $15,000 through 150 donations of $100 or less qualify for an additional $85,000 from the state. Hartwell is one of seven Senate candidates who have signed up so far. "Whoever wins the elections this year, the landscape is fundamentally changing in Connecticut," Hartwell said.

In the 2006 elections, Freedman spent $26,204.64 according to campaign finance records — far less than what the state now offers but more than what candidates have to raise on their own.
Hartwell has spoken with other local Democrats about running for state General Assembly seats in the area. He felt strongly that more challengers would arise, but he offered no further comment.

Staff writer Jared Newman can be reached at (203) 354-1045 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it