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Connecticut's Green Party revs up with Cliff Thornton's bid for the
governor's chair on a drug decriminalization platform

Derek Slap, spokesman for John DeStefano's bid for governor, said he
hadn't paid much attention to Cliff Thornton's campaign.

The New Haven mayor is considered more progressive than Stamford
Mayor Dan Malloy--his rival for the Democratic Party's gubernatorial
nomination--and I thought DeStefano's campaign might be watching
Thornton, the Green Party candidate for governor.

Slap noted, positively, that Thornton is the first African-American
to run for governor in the state, and said that after looking at
Thornton's website, he had a sense of deja vu.

"On the major planks here, I think there are a lot of similarities
between what the Green Party cares about and what John DeStefano
cares about," Slap said, noting that the campaigns line up on health
care, election reform, death-penalty opposition and medical marijuana.

But Hartford native and Glastonbury resident Thornton, a long-time
drug legalization advocate and first-time political candidate, saw a
clear distinction between his campaign and the campaigns of DeStefano
and Malloy.

"I'm not insane. They're insane," Thornton said. Their insanity, he
said, stems from support of drug prohibition.

"DeStefano and Malloy are applying the same tactics that have been
employed for almost a century, in and around drug prohibition. We
have had almost a century of the war on drugs," Thornton said. "Yet
there are more drugs selling for cheaper prices on our streets than
ever before. Would you say it's time to look at something different
than what we've been doing?"

Through the organization Efficacy, which Thornton ran with his wife
Margaret until he accepted the Green Party's nomination in April,
Thornton clocked in a decade advocating drug legalization in the
U.S., Canada, England and New Zealand. He bristled at the notion that
he was a one-note candidate, though.

"There are a lot of other things. I'm against the death penalty, I'm
for the estate tax. I have a universal health-care plan," Thornton said.

Thornton's race is part of the Green Party's first bid for statewide
office. New Haven activist Ralph Ferrucci, who ran for New Haven
mayor in 2003, is running for Senate, and officials within the Green
Party said they are looking for candidates for all state offices.
With approximately $20,000 in their campaign war chest, the Greens
have more resources than ever before. But they still have work to do.

"We're a party that's in the process of rebuilding, quite frankly.
We've had an office we haven't had a chance to fully staff," Tim
McKee, Thornton's campaign manager, said. In order to get Thornton on
the ballot, the Greens need 15,000 signatures by Aug. 9. McKee said
they currently have just under 1,000.

Meanwhile, the party is still reeling from defections and from a
divisive 2004 election.

"I think people know that the 2004 presidential race split us quite a
bit. Locally, people like [New Haven Alderman] Joyce Chen switched
and became a Democrat. [Hartford City Council member] Elizabeth
Horton Sheff left because she thought we were talking too much about
international issues like the war. Quite frankly, this is the first
time we've had to talk about statewide issues," McKee said.

Thornton was optimistic about the race.

"We're going to win. We're not going to place or show. It's not about
how Rell is untouchable or how we're taking votes away from the
Democrats. But if we do, so be it. They're not doing shit anyway,"
Thornton said.