Newtown attorney Monte Frank succeeds the late Oz Griebel at election reform movement; group endorses two Connecticut Republicans, two Democrats

A nonpartisan election-reform group has endorsed four candidates for the Connecticut state legislature, including two Republicans and two Democrats.

The Connecticut branch of the national Serve America Movement, known as SAM, pushes for terms limits for the governor, all statewide constitutional officers and all 187 state legislators in the state House of Representatives and Senate. The group also wants primaries to be open to all voters, along with a permanent "vote by mail'' option in federal and state elections that is currently not available in Connecticut.

Newtown attorney Monte Frank has succeeded his friend, former gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel, as chairman of the Connecticut affiliate of SAM, known as SAM CT.

The group has endorsed Sen. Paul Formica, an incumbent Republican and former first selectman of East Lyme who represents eight communities in southeastern Connecticut, including New London. He is running against Democrat Martha Marx in a rematch of their 2018 race that Formica narrowly won by 52 percent to 48 percent. Marx supports the recent two-day strike by nurses at Backus Hospital in Norwich and attended a pro-strike rally outside the hospital.

SAM also endorsed Rep. Patrick Boyd, a conservative Democrat from Pomfret who represents five towns in the state’s northeastern corner. Boyd traditionally votes with his Democratic colleagues on most issues, but he sometimes breaks from the party on fiscal and other matters along with state Rep. John Hampton of Simsbury.

During the 2018 race for governor, Boyd accompanied Griebel in the northeastern district and said he did not view Griebel as a spoiler in the three-way race against Democrat Ned Lamont of Greenwich and Republican Bob Stefanowski of Madison.

Saying he was not endorsing Griebel, Boyd said it was a courtesy to introduce a prominent candidate to local farmers and then students and faculty at Woodstock Academy. He said that major gubernatorial candidates did not often give much attention to Windham County.

SAM also endorsed Rebekah Harriman-Stites, a Democratic school board member who is running in the 106th district in Newtown against four-term Republican state Rep. Mitch Bolinsky in a rematch of their 2018 race that Bolinsky won by only 120 votes.

The group endorsed state Rep. Brian Farnen, a Republican from Fairfield who won a special election earlier this year and is facing a tight rematch against Democrat Jennifer Leeper.

SAM sent a questionnaire to all legislative candidates, seeking their responses on four issues of major importance to SAM, including term limits, voting by mail, and open, nonpartisan primaries. The endorsements were made after interviews with an elections committee.

“SAM CT supports candidates who are committed to transparency, accountability, electoral reform and cross-partisan problem-solving,” Frank said. “Those core values are represented in the SAM Pledge we asked all candidates to take as part of our endorsement criteria. The endorsed candidates not only embraced the pledge, but they each demonstrated a proven commitment to the SAM principles.”

Frank succeeded Griebel, a Hartford resident who died in late July after being hit by a tractor trailer truck near a highway exit ramp off Interstate 80 in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, according to a police report. The truck had a green light and was exiting the highway as Griebel was jogging, police said. Griebel was seriously injured and was air-lifted to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Altoona. Earlier reports that Griebel had been struck by a car were incorrect, officials said.

Known for his early morning jogs, Griebel had crossed into the intersection at about 5:25 a.m. in the morning twilight hours on July 21 when the accident occurred.

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