During the last year, Danbury has been ground zero for the anti-immigrant movement, but the Latino and other immigrant communities and their allies have successfully organized opposition in numbers far greater. Now a new anti-immigrant organization has been formed in Danbury, and it is holding a public forum this Saturday, February 25. They have brought in Terry Anderson, an African-American radio talk show host from LA, whose specialty is the claim that African-Americans are being "forced out" by "illegals." While the organizers of this group are themselves vilely racist, they are happy to bring in a person of color to preach that Latinos and African-Americans should be enemies.

The local immigrant rights group DACORIM, that organized last year's unity march in Danbury, and the Regional Coalition for Immigrant Rights are calling for a peaceful protest outside this hate-fest. The details are in English and Spanish in the email below. It is vital that we not allow this sort of divide and conquer mentality to take hold in Connecticut. This event also shows plainly that it is not enough to say -- as some have done -- that we favor immigrant rights because "they do the work Americans won't." It's time we all took a stand for decent jobs and fair treatment for all working people. We have to come out for immigrant rights as human rights -- the right to live without police harassment and intimidation, the right to work without exploitation, the right to be treated with dignity and respect.


Saturday, February 25, 2006, 7pm
Rogers Park Middle School, across from Danbury War Memorial

People who need a ride from Hartford please call Latinos Contra la Guerra at 860-538-3921. People from New Haven please call Unidad Latina en Accion at 203-606-3484

We want to show them that Danbury is a united community, without room for hateful and divisive agendas. We NEED your presence there! Signs are welcome! MEETING PLACE FOR PEACEFUL PROTEST PARTICIPANTS: We will meet around the Rogers Park Soccer fields, by the pond, at 6:00 PM.

William E. Curry Jr., the former state comptroller who twice ran unsuccessfully for governor, said Tuesday that he would not force a Democratic primary and seek a rematch with U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-5th District.

But Curry declined to rule out another run for a different elective office.

"I have no plans to seek public office at this time," he said. "But I don't feel as if I'm done with electoral politics. There's just a lot going on in my life right now that requires my attention."

Curry's denial came in response to an unusual challenge from Republican State Chairman George D. Gallo, who had insisted in a statement that the Democrat finally "come clean" about his political intentions.

Gallo, who did not return a telephone call seeking further comment, referred in his statement to a report by a Danbury News Times political columnist who wrote that Curry had admitted he had "intentionally avoided" talking about a potential rematch with Johnson.

Curry squared off against Johnson in 1982, when she won 52 percent of the vote to win her first term in Congress.

The columnist, Fred Lucas, wrote that Curry had refused to either confirm or deny speculation that he planned to get into a primary contest, challenging state Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Southington, and J. Paul Vance Jr., the president of the Waterbury Board of Aldermen.

Lucas concluded that it was "a general rule of thumb that if a politician isn't strongly considering running for something, he'll just say no."

Murphy's bid for his party's nomination appears secure, especially since Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who serves as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, agreed to join him today for a campaign announcement in Hartford.

Vance, meanwhile, said Tuesday that he was ending his bid for Johnson's seat and would support the Democratic nominee.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell escaped injury Tuesday morning when the car in which she was riding collided with another in Brookfield.

A vehicle driven by a 17-year-old girl struck the driver's side door of the governor's Cadillac sedan on Long Meadow Hill Road just after 7 a.m., said Brookfield Police Chief Robin Montgomery.

"The other car drifted over the center line and basically clipped the governor's vehicle," said Montgomery. The driver's side of Rell's car was damaged in the accident.

Rell, the girl, and the state trooper driving Rell's car all escaped injured, Montgomery said. Rell was transferred to another car and continued on to a morning campaign event in Fairfield, according to her office.

"She put her arm around the young driver and reassured her the important thing is everyone is OK and cars can always be repaired," said Judd Everhart, Rell's communications director. "The girl apparently told her that she had hoped to meet the governor someday, but not under those circumstances."