Ned Lamont
Edward Miner "Ned" Lamont, Jr. is the Democratic nominee for the
United States Senate in the
Connecticut United States Senate election to be held on on November 7 2006. He will face Republican nominee
Alan Schlesinger, incumbent Senator
Joe Lieberman and Green Party candidate Ralph Ferrucci in a four-way general election in November, having defeated Lieberman 51.8% - 48.2% among Democratic voters in a primary election on August 8, 2006. =Background
Lamont grew up in Syosset, New York, and is an heir to the fortune of his great-grandfather,
Thomas W. Lamont, who was a partner of the banking and finance firm
J. P. Morgan & Co. After graduating from
Phillips Exeter Academy in 1972,
Encyclopedia
Edward Miner "Ned" Lamont, Jr. is the Democratic nominee for the
United States Senate in the
Connecticut United States Senate election to be held on on November 7 2006. He will face Republican nominee
Alan Schlesinger, incumbent Senator
Joe Lieberman and Green Party candidate Ralph Ferrucci in a four-way general election in November, having defeated Lieberman 51.8% - 48.2% among Democratic voters in a primary election on August 8, 2006. =Background
Lamont grew up in Syosset, New York, and is an heir to the fortune of his great-grandfather, Thomas W. Lamont, who was a partner of the banking and finance firm J. P. Morgan & Co. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1972, Ned Lamont earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1976 and a Masters of Public and Private Management from what is now known as the Yale School of Management in 1980. He began his career working for a small newspaper in Ludlow, Vermont.
Lamont then entered the cable television industry, managing the startup of Cablevision's operation in Fairfield County, Connecticut. In 1984, he founded, and is currently president and chairman of, Lamont Digital Systems, a builder and operator of advanced telecommunications networks for college campuses and residential gated communities, with over 150,000 subscribers. The company's finances are private, though it currently has 35 employees, down from 100 in 2001. His most recent salary was reported as $546,000 per year A trade publication reported Lamont and his partners tried unsuccessfully to sell the firm two years ago.
Before running for the U.S. Senate, Lamont was elected and served as selectman in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, for eight years , chaired the state investment advisory council, and served on many civic boards. Lamont unsuccessfully ran for a state Senate seat in 1990, finishing in third place.
Family
Lamont and his wife, the former Ann "Annie" Greenlee Huntress, a venture capitalist, have three teenaged children. Anne Lamont seconded her husband's nomination at the Connecticut Democratic Convention in May 2006. Their 19-year-old daughter, Emily, Harvard class of 2009, has campaigned frequently for her father across Connecticut, introducing him at various events. Her effort to vote for her father in the primary failed, as her ballot was rejected since she had not registered as a Democrat. This fault turned out to be one on the part of the Greenwich Registrar. Emily was registered as a Democrat. Her younger siblings, sister Lindsay and brother Teddy , have generally remained out of the spotlight.
Lamont's 2005 state tax returns indicate he is an art enthusiast as he paid $64,311 in sales tax on art purchases, including a piece worth over $1 million. The tax returns also show that he and his wife donated to a family philanthropic fund that donated over $213,000 to charities, schools, and organizations. Lamont also donated over $10,000 in cash to other charities, but his campaign manager says he donated more, just chose not to deduct those donations. His self-reported net worth lies somewhere between $90 million and $300 million.
His father, Ted , was an economist who worked with the Marshall Plan which helped reconstruct Europe after World War II. He later served in the Nixon administration in Housing and Urban Development. Ted Lamont is now an unaffiliated voter, having last voted for a Republican in 1988. Since then he has voted Democratic. He told The Hartford Courant that "Eastern Moderates no longer have a place in the GOP."
Ned Lamont contributed to one Republican as late as 1998, when he contributed $500 to the re-election effort of Congressman Chris Shays, but since 1999 has contributed over $57,000 to Democrats, including $1,500 to Joe Lieberman.
His mother, Camille Buzby "Buz" Lamont, was born in Puerto Rico, the daughter of an American salesman and a Catholic missionary. She is of French and U.S. descent and she studied at the George School in Pennsylvania, Middlebury College in Vermont, and at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. She speaks fluent Spanish but never taught Ned.
2006 U.S. Senate campaign
Democratic Primary Results| Candidate | Results | Percent |
| Ned Lamont | 146,587 | 51.79% |
| Joe Lieberman | 136,468 | 48.21% |
Lamont began looking into a potential run against Lieberman around February 2005. In March 2006, Lamont officially announced his campaign for United States Senate against Lieberman.
As of July 19, 2006, Lamont has spent over $2.5 million of his own personal fortune on his campaign. It was reported that as of September 11 Lamont had spent another $1.5 million of his own money on the campaign, with two months yet to go. .Also, Lamont pledged not to take money from lobbyists. Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, is however a registered lobbyist with the state of Connecticut. In early 2006, Lamont received the backing of former independent Connecticut Governor and Republican U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker, who was unseated by Lieberman in 1988.
Lamont has portrayed himself as a more progressive alternative to Lieberman. His campaign is mostly supported by progressive activists, including
MoveOn.org, which donated $251,156 from its contributors to the campaign.
On July 6, 2006, Lamont faced off against Lieberman in a 51-minute
televised debate which covered issues ranging from the war in
Iraq to energy policy to immigration. Lieberman argued that he was being subjected to a "litmus test" on the war, insisted that he was a "bread and butter Democrat" and on a number of occasions asked, "Who is Ned Lamont?" Lieberman asked Lamont if he would disclose his
income tax returns. After the debate Lamont did release his 2005 tax return and financial details about prior years. Lamont focused on Lieberman's supportive relationship with Republicans and criticized his vote for the "
Bush/
Cheney/Lieberman energy bill." Lieberman stated, in response to Lamont's assertion that he supported Republican policies, that he had voted with the Democratic caucus in the Senate 90% of the time. However, Lamont argued that the three-term incumbent lacked the courage to challenge the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war. Early August polls, however, showed Lamont increasing his lead significantly, and many speculate on the effect of the primary outcome on the general election. The initial post primary poll showed Lieberman holding a narrow lead in a general election, however.
On July 30, 2006, the London
Sunday Times reported that former president Bill Clinton is believed to have warned Lieberman not to run as an Independent if he lost the primary to Lamont. Many Democratic leaders pledged to support the winner of the Connecticut Democratic primary. Most Democratic leaders, however, supported Lieberman's campaign for the Democratic nomination, and some, including Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid, allegedly asked Lamont not to run.
Lamont resigned his membership in a Greenwich country club shortly before his campaign began, as the club was "too white and too rich and he did not want it to become a campaign issue." It became an issue, however, following the release of a flier from the Lieberman campaign questioning Lamont's record on race.
Lamont criticised
Wal-Mart during the campaign and lambasted Lieberman for previously receiving campaign contributions from Wal-Mart, which he later returned. On August 4, 2006,
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet [i] newspaper [i] published in Washington, D.C. [i], United States [i] ...
reported that Ned "Lamont, his wife and a dependent child own as much as $31,000 in Wal-Mart stock. Mr. Lamont and his wife jointly own two accounts containing as much as $16,000 in Wal-Mart stock. Their Wal-Mart holdings spin off as much as $3,500 in annual dividends. In addition, a trust fund he set up for one of his children contains as much as $15,000 in Wal-Mart stock and spins off as much as $1,000 in dividends."
Time magazine reported on August 4, 2006, that Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, said the candidate was not actively controlling the investment. "He does not own any stock directly, it's not a direct holding," he said. Part of the Wal-Mart stock is held in a
Goldman Sachs "Tax Advantaged Core Strategies managed account", according to a letter released Thursday by Swan. He said the account is designed to track the S+P 500 index, and that Goldman Sachs makes the investment decisions for the account."
On August 21, Lamont distanced himself from the demands of some supporters that Joe Lieberman be purged from the Democratic voter rolls
References
External links
-
- March 21, 2006 In These Times is a politically progressive [i] monthly magazine of news and opinion published by th ...
article by Sam Seder. -
-
-
