Some of you have gotten wind of the story by FiredUpInCA's diary about the white supremacist husband of a local CT probate judge candidate. My diary expands a bit more information about that story.
Sexism and White Supremacy raise their ugly heads in Northeast Connecticut Judge of Probate Primary election
In his July 27, 2014 op ed, Bulletin columnist Ray Hackett, labeled the race to be probate judge in Connecticut’s 27th Probate Court District a “beauty contest based on personality” and the probate judgeship as a “Miss Congeniality” prize awarded to the candidate, who would be considered by ill-informed voters to be the most “kind, caring and compassionate.”
As a feminist, I rebuked Ray Hackett’s sexist attitude and lazy journalism in my August 6 letter to the editor titled Probate court system has safeguards, which was published by the Norwich Bulletin.
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If three men were vying to be probate judge of the 27th Probate Court District, would Bulletin columnist Ray Hackett compare the race to a “Mr. Congeniality” contest?
Connecticut’s Probate Court system has a standards guideline to assist probate judge candidates and a Council on Probate Judicial Conduct created by the Legislature in 1975 to review all complaints against probate judges.
Andrea Truppa has solid educational credentials and work experience to excel at being a probate judge. In addition, nearly all of her community service work is done within the 27th Probate Court District. She worked smart and hard to earn the support of an overwhelming number of delegates to the 27th Probate Court District’s Democratic convention. She’s also working diligently at personally meeting the voters of this district.
Instead of calling the probate judge’s race a “beauty contest”, Ray Hackett could have informed voters that currently only 8 out of 54 probate judges are women. The 27th Probate Court District has 3 women running for the judgeship, 2 Democrats and 1 Republican. After the November 2014 general election the voters of the 27th Probate Court District will increase the number of women probate judges to 9.
Hackett and the Bulletin could have informed voters about the new criteria for probate judges set by the state legislature and Connecticut’s Probate Court system that required new probate judges to be professional lawyers with probate experience, and then they could have reviewed the candidates’ backgrounds and maybe ask retired probate judges what to ask or what to look for in the candidates to help voters make a final decision.
Apparently, I was not the only one to complain about Hackett’s sexist attitude. The Norwich Bulletin had received numerous phone calls and letters of complaints about it. A few days after Hackett’s op ed was published, the Bulletin sent a reporter to do a profile story on Andrea Truppa and her opponent, Anna Zubkova. It was published on Saturday, August 9.
On August 7, the Norwich Bulletin received information from an anti-racist group, One Peoples Project, and published their report, Probate candidate's husband admits to history with white supremacy movement, about Zubkova ‘s husband, Rob Freeman, a.k.a “Andrei Kievsky.”
Since then, this story has gone around the world via the Internet. Below are some more links to this shocking story.
Contrary to Zubkova’s claims that her husband’s political beliefs don’t reflect her own, she has been her husband’s sole financial supporter for most of that duration. Even though she claims that despite her husband’s beliefs, she is an open minded, fair person, his long involvement in white supremacist hate groups puts Zubkova at high risk of violating the Judicial Canon of Ethics.
While Northeast Connecticut has had a despicable history of racism, such as driving Prudence Crandall out of the state and hosting KKK rallies in the 1980’s, we have also had great moments in racial justice and fighting for it.
Killingly was one of the first towns in Connecticut where freed African-American slaves owned land. Many citizens of Killingly and surrounding towns participated in the abolitionist movement. I’m sure many of them travelled to Brooklyn, CT to listen to the famous Grimke sisters hosted by local Unitarian minister Samuel J. May. On October 1, 1851 Samuel May and others in the anti-slavery Liberty Party successfully rescued from police William “Jerry” Henry, a fugitive slave arrested under the draconian 1850 Fugitive Slave Act in Syracuse, NY during the Liberty Party’s state convention. Now, that’s an act of non-violent political courage against a cruel law that most of us didn’t learn in school!
Killingly and neighboring towns sent many of its sons, like Ezra Chamberlin, to fight and die in the Civil War that preserved our union and emancipated the slaves.
Unlike many of the Jerry Rescuers and Civil War veterans, we don’t have to risk death, imprisonment, face heavy fines or flee our country to oppose bigots in positions of government power. As my Lithuanian-American mother, who served in the US Army during World War II, taught me, we just need to exercise our First Amendment rights and citizen responsibilities so that we don’t let today’s bigots undo the good that our predecessors died or suffered to achieve.
Some additional campaign information was recently brought to my attention. As I stated above, at the May 21, 2014 Judge of Probate Convention, 3 out of the 4 towns in the 27th Probate Court District (Canterbury, Killingly, Plainfield and Sterling) agreed with Killingly and unanimously endorsed Andrea Truppa for probate judge. The Plainfield candidate, Anna Zubkova, then forced this primary. While doing that, she quietly gathered signatures to also qualify for the November Ballot, a la Joe Lieberman, as a petitioning candidate should she lose the primary this Tuesday, August 12. Connecticut still does not have a “sore loser” law that would have prevented this strategy.
Long before the shocking white supremacist story broke, I believed that Andrea Truppa is the best candidate to be probate judge of my district. She has solid educational credentials and work experience to excel at being a probate judge. In addition, nearly all of her community service work is done within the 27th Probate Court District. She worked smart and hard to earn the support of an overwhelming number of delegates to the 27th Probate Court District’s Democratic convention. She’s also working diligently at personally meeting the voters of my district.
Andrea Truppa’s campaign web site is www.truppa4probatejudge.org.
Probate Judges do not qualify for Connecticut’s Citizen Election Program funds (public financing of elections program). They have to raise money the old fashion way, but per the Probate Courts’ candidate guidelines, the candidate herself cannot ask for contributions. Others have to do it on her behalf.
For those interested in helping Andrea Truppa win Connecticut’s 27th Probate Court District’s probate judge election, regardless if you can vote for her or not, her web site has an online donation function and instructions for those wishing to pay by paper check. Any contribution you make to Andrea Truppa’s campaign will be greatly appreciated.