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City Voters Back 6 Democrats

By JEFFREY B. COHEN And DANIEL E. GOREN, Courant Staff Writers

November 07, 2007

Hartford voters Tuesday elected six endorsed Democrats, one incumbent Republican and two new Working Families Party candidates to the city's Court of Common Council, according to unofficial results.

With incumbent Mayor Eddie A. Perez winning re-election, all six of the endorsed Democratic candidates also won re-election, unofficial results show. They include incumbents rJo Winch, Kenneth Kennedy Jr., James Boucher, Pedro Segarra and Calixto Torres, as well as newcomer Matt Ritter.

Republican incumbent Veronica Airey-Wilson also secured a seat on the council.

Newcomers Luis Cotto and Larry Deutsch of the Working Families Party also secured seats, although the final outcome was not clear until after midnight. With some absentee ballots still being tallied late into the night, Deutsch and independent candidate Paul Mozzicato were separated by only a few hundred votes.

The current council has faced a great deal of criticism for too often acquiescing to the agenda established by Perez. But Ritter - son of former House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter - said Tuesday night that he thinks the new council will grow into its own.

"What I think will happen is a council continuing to find its focus under a new form of government," Ritter said, referring to the city's relatively new "strong mayor" charter. "We're going to have new people on the council. With new people come new ideas and new energy."