DECEMBER 1, 2004
NUTMEG CONSERVATORY FOR THE ARTS
58 Main Street, Torrington, CT 06790

Good Afternoon. I'd like to thank you all for coming.

Before I continue, I'd just like to take a moment to recognize my husband Matthew and my children, as well as my mother Dolores and her partner Gene, and our office staffs and my paralegal Jane, and thank them all for their love and support throughout the years.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank our current Secretary of the State, Susan Bysiewicz, for her outstanding public service. She is a true and dedicated devoted public servant in every sense of the word, and I wish her all the very best of luck in her new campaign endeavor seeking the Governorship of our great state.

Today I am announcing my candidacy for the office of Secretary of the State for the upcoming 2006 state elections. I could not think of a better or more wonderful place to be making this announcement than in this beautiful ballet practice room. We all know politics is no ballet these days. In order to get going, we all have to do some steps, and this is the first one. I believe that if we do this together and do it well, we might all get a better tune out of Hartford. Don't get me wrong, our Democratic constitutional officers are all doing excellent jobs. However, the tune that's been played by our Republican governors is a tune that's been played way too long, and one we very much hope to change in 2006. For the last 25 years, in addition to raising my children and practicing law full-time, I have been actively involved in public service on the local, state and national level. I have always believed that we have an obligation to give back some of what we have been given. I am very grateful for the support both my husband and I have received from the residents here in the Northwest corner, both personally and professionally, for the last quarter century.

State Representative Roberta Willis-64th District and State Central Committeeman Nicholas Paindiris from Glastonbury joined Audrey for the announcement on December 1, 2004.

I am also very fortunate to have been mentored by some of the best people ever. My real start in politics began with Doris Sweetman, who guided, supported and encouraged me for many years until she passed away. Many of us would not be standing here today without the wisdom and mentoring we all received from Doris and her beloved husband George.

Make no mistake, the journey we are about to undertake is a challenging one. It's not an easy task for someone from our part of the state to undertake a statewide campaign. It's going to require a lot of dedicated hard work and we need to raise a lot of money.

But let's take a look around us. Who would ever have believed that right here in Torrington, there would be such a wonderful theater with Broadway shows and Broadway stars? Who would have believed that there would be an internationally renowned school of ballet here in Torrington? Who would have believed, after a decades' long struggle, that a new countywide courthouse finally stands poised to be built, ready to energize and invigorate a newly renovated and revitalized downtown Torrington center? Yet, thanks to the dreams of people who believed it could be done, here we are.

I now feel ready to take my message-our message-statewide, and follow in the honored footsteps of the last state constitutional officer elected from Litchfield County, former Chief Justice John Speziale, who was elected State Treasurer in 1958. My upcoming campaign is not just about me. It's about all of us here in the Northwest Corner who see us as a vibrant and growing part of our state.

Let me explain why I want to run for Secretary of the State. For many years, I have been a consistent and strong advocate of promoting democracy and our citizens' right to vote. In the many issues facing the Litchfield Board of Selectmen over my decade of town service, I worked as hard as I could to encourage local voter participation and help protect the rights of the public to be heard.

In the past presidential campaign, the number one issue among voters nationwide was values. There is no greater value in our Democratic society than our right to vote, in a free and fair election process, the very foundation on which our society was built.

Former State Central Committeewoman Joyce Krinitsky from Terryville joins Harwinton Democratic Town Commitee Chairwoman and State Central Commiteewoman Myrna Watanabe.

As your Secretary of the State, I would continue to advocate and support every aspect of voter participation, particularly among 18-25 year olds. Both of my sons were registered to vote on their 18th birthdays. I believe in taking this message statewide as your Secretary of the State by visiting all our high schools in the state after I am elected. As a former Selectman, I know the issues facing our small towns. Our town meeting form of government is democracy in the truest sense of the word. It's important for all voices, from our large cities to our small and rural towns, to be heard statewide on a fair and equal basis. It's also important to remember that politics is about people, not about money. We need to continue to promote campaign finance reform to avoid the perception that we only have the best government that money can buy.

We also need to continue our support of services within the Secretary of the State's office for small businesses, something I advocated for many years as a member of the Litchfield Board of Selectmen. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and we must do everything we can to encourage, support and help our small business owners, as well as protect the public from unscrupulous and predatory business practices. We must also continue to keep all corporations accountable in upholding their legal and ethical obligations to keep their information current and in tune with the letter of the law.

One of the most important jobs of any Secretary of the State is to insure that every vote is counted. We need to listen to, and work with, our local registrars and town clerks. In addition, we need to do everything we can to help them preserve the integrity of our voting system, while making sure that they are given the resources and support they need to do their jobs in the most efficient way possible, without undue burdens or mandates. We also need to continue to develop ways to keep our voting process open and accessible, without compromise or fraud, and to do so in a manner that respects not only the rights of the citizens, but those local officials and volunteers who toil tirelessly on behalf of our democratic rights and values.

We are now facing a great dilemma here in our state and nationwide. Congress has mandated that voting be done on electronic machines. But, as the controversies over the past two presidential elections have shown, electronic voting machines are fallible in ways that are much more insidious than mechanical voting machines, which can just plain break.
As your Secretary of the State, we will continue to maintain the highest standards of voting possible, and no new or different type of voting machine will be certified for use until each and every one of our rigorous voting standards has been met and maintained. Every voting machine must be auditable, its code must be 100 percent safe from hackers, and it must faithfully record and tally the votes of our voters.

The volunteer work that my husband and I have done over the years in Nicaragua has had a great influence on my devotion and dedication to the meaning and value of our right to vote. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America, and the real tragedy we see there year in and year out is the utter poverty and despair of a society torn apart by decades of war, civil unrest and dictatorships, along with an almost total lack of education and health care. The Nicaraguan people have not had the luxury of our freedoms of democracy and the value of our right to vote, and they can only look in our eyes and dream of what we so often take for granted in our everyday lives.

Look above me and see the words "Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport". We are not made to sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by. I deeply value and cherish this belief in our democracy, and I will carry these beliefs forward throughout our great state.

Thank you again for being here today, and God Bless America and our great State of Connecticut.