Sunday morning, shortly before the family dance was about to start at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Kim’s cell phone rang. It was Ned Lamont calling. Kim and I became good friends with Ned back in 2006 when we both worked on his U.S. Senate campaign against Joe Lieberman. We haven’t been backing him in his 2010 Gubernatorial campaign for a few different reasons. After living for many years in Stamford, we are also good friends with Dan Malloy, and I believe either of them would be great governors. Also, both between Kim’s work for a non-partisan non-profit, and my writing, and seeking to keep good lines of communications up with all candidates, we felt it was best to stay out of the race.

I have been critical of Ned here, and other places, and Ned responds well to my criticism. We have open, honest, and respectful discussions about important topics. While Kim and I were soaking up the sun, the rain, and general positive experiences of a caring community of folk music fans, it sounded like the wheels were falling off the progressive bandwagon in Connecticut.

I have written repeatedly about how I think both Dan and Ned would be great governors and have urged them to keep their campaigns positive and chastised them when they have not. While we were at Falcon Ridge, Dan apparently launched a new television ad criticizing Ned about Ned not wishing to participate in as many debates as Dan would like. I have not seen the ad, so I am basing my comments about what I’ve read elsewhere.

Personally, I like debates and wish that Ned would be in more of them, but in this case, Dan is being whiny. What is worse is that Dan is reportedly attacking Ned over the way Ned ran his company. Uncool. I remain undecided in the gubernatorial race, but the result of this ad is that I am less likely to vote for Dan than I had been before he ran this ad. I’ve been to Ned’s office. I’ve spoken with people that work there. Just as in politics, you can have differences of opinions on aspects of how a company is run without it meaning that the person is running the company poorly. That said, I do have big concerns about how Tom Foley has run his companies, but that is a very different story.

This has been followed by an article in the Hartford Courant by Jon Lender about a racial bias suit that was filed against Ned’s company back in 2002. Personally, I think Lender is one of the worst publicists for various campaigns pretending to be a journalist that I can think of. He does note that the case involved other issues besides alleged racial bias and that it was settled out of court with an agreement to keep the details confidential. In a press release, Dan has said that Ned “needs to answer the questions raised in today’s Hartford Courant story”. Bull. I’ve left jobs in the past with confidential agreements. I honor those agreements, no matter how much I would like to point out problems with previous employers. People who have worked for me have left companies with similar agreements and I would likewise never say anything about them either.

Dan’s comments in his press release make me even less likely to vote for him.

Now, we shall see how Ned responds. If he spends time harping about complaints filed against Dan while he was Mayor of Stamford, I’ll also becomes less likely to vote for Ned. Who knows, I might end up just voting in the other primary races. Dan or Ned would be fine, but if you want a real contrast, take a look at Kevin Lembo who would be a great comptroller and Mike Jarjura who I would never vote for, even if he hadn’t launched his recent negative ads that make the battles between Ned and Dan seem like child’s play.

I told Ned that he needs to stay on message. Advertisements and press releases about debates and employment agreements of seven years ago are not going to help Connecticut create new jobs. They aren’t going to improve the schools or transportation. If anything, they will perpetuate a broken political system that has elected people like Rowland in the past and created cynicism amongst voters. If Ned can respond with a message like that, and quickly move on to how he hopes to address the issues our state faces, he will come out way ahead, at least in my book.

Meanwhile, things were spinning out of control at the Connecticut progressive political blog, MyLeftNutmeg. I’ve only heard a little of the whining there, and even that much was way too much. I want an open, honest and respectful debate, and it certainly isn’t happening on MyLeftNutmeg. I pretty much gave up reading that site a month or two ago. I was hoping that they would be able to hold themselves together until after the primary, but at this point, I have serious doubts.

Whether or not Ned participates in additional televised debates, we will have the debates. They will take place in television advertisements. They will take place on blogs and Facebook. They will take place at picnics and pool parties. We can argue about what format is best, but the most important point is that they need to be open, honest and respectful. Likewise, the topics need to be meaningful. How will either candidate help Connecticut create jobs and have better schools and means of transportation?

Let’s have an open, honest, and respectful debate about the issues. They are too important to get buried in all this other garbage.