Any doubts about whether House Speaker Chris Donovan is going to be a candidate for Congress were dispelled tonight, when Donovan showed up at a Democratic fundraiser with a pile of guitar-themed stickers proclaiming his candidacy for the 5th District.
Donovan, a Democrat from Meriden, says he isn't quite ready to formally enter the race yet. He said he expects to do so once the legislative session is over in early June. But the Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner at the Connecticut Convention Center was as good a place as any to make his soft entrance into the race.
"There's a nice splash here at the JJB,'' Donovan said. "I probably will be announcing shortly [but] I wanted to wait until the budget was done and I'll probably to wait until after the session, but the JJB falls right now so we had a presence now.''
Several other Democrats, including Dan Roberti of Kent, Mike Williams of New Preston and Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire, have already announced their intention to run for the seat. It is currently held by Democrat Chris Murphy, who is running for U.S. Senate in 2012.
Donovan has already heard questions is some quarters about how he will balance his candidacy with his role on the committee charged with redrawing legislative district lines based on the most recent census.
He scoffed at the idea he would not be able to fulfill that role as a candidate for Congress, who's political fate will be closely linked to the shape of the district.
"Everybody on [the] redistricting [panel] is running for something,'' he said. "That's the way the process works. State senators, party leaders, the minority leader of the House--everybody. We're all running. That's the way the system works.
"We know what our districts want. When people run for governor you don't say they should step down as being governor. They're still governor while they run for governor."
Such criticism, he added, "shows a lack of respect for the people who hold office.''
The guitar on his stickers, by the way, is a reference to Donovan's hobby: he plays in a rock band called the Bad Reps.