CORNWALL -- A first-of-its-kind Democratic Party regional forum on activism drew more than 150 people here Sunday, despite the steamy 90-degree heat.

The event was the first staged by a newly formed Democratic Coalition of Northwest Connecticut. Town committees in the region say they aim to join in "rebuilding the party at the grassroots" in the six towns of the Region 1 school district. The turnout of party rank-and-file from Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon pleased organizers.

"It's wonderful, especially on one of the hottest days of the year," said Cornwall Democratic Chairman Steven Senzer. Fans placed throughout the United Church of Christ in Cornwall Village helped move the air, if not to cool it much.

Speakers including Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, "Stop The Plant" organizer Sam Pratt, State Democratic Chairman Nancy DiNardis and Jim Dean, brother of Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean, had helped draw the crowd.

Other prominent Democrats took advantage of the occasion to make an appearance. These included State Controller Nancy Wyman, who worked the crowd before the forum, two candidates for Secretary of the State in 2006, Audrey Blondin of Litchfield and Rep. Andrew Fleischman of West Hartford; and Waterbury Alderman J. Paul Vance and Sen. Chris Murphy of Meriden, both seeking the party's 5th District congressional nomination next year.

Those attending -- Rep. Roberta Willis of Salisbury called them "the usual suspects if you want to get anything organized in Northwest Connecticut" -- seemed eager for the party to take a more activist role.

DiNardis drew some pointed questions. One man wanted to know what the state party was doing to prevent gerrymandering in future legislative redistricting. A woman asked why the party couldn't do more to get lawn signs and other aid out to local campaigns. And another drew applause by demanding to know when the state organization was going to instruct Connecticut's Democrats in the House and Senate to speak out far more forcefully against the war in Iraq.

To the last, DiNardis responded that the state organization would be talking with representatives and senators in coming months. But "we know," she added, "that while our senators may take positions that are unpopular with some, they remain very popular" with the public at large. This drew no applause.

The forum's speakers focused, however, not on Iraq but on how citizen activists could be effective on issues that mattered to them, citing examples in health, environment, education and economic justice.

Pratt, a Democratic activist in the small city of Hudson, N.Y., cited labor leader Caesar Chavez on his key to organizing grassroots campaigns. "I just talk to one person, and then I talk to another person," Pratt quoted Chavez as having said.

Essentially the same person-to-person activism was the key to success in the recent six-year struggle against a huge coal-fire cement plant proposed on the Hudson River, Pratt said.

From a core group of 40 citizens in Hudson, the Friends of Hudson organization expanded to 40,000 people spread across state lines into Connecticut and Massachusetts and an alliance with other groups and state officials throughout the Northeast.

It all begins with a commitment to work with local people, Pratt said.

"One thing the big corporations with all their PR and money can't do," he said, is to go knock on doors, meet with neighbors, meet in church halls and community centers and spread the word in person."

Dean, national chairman of Democracy for America, formed after the Bush victory last year, urged people to get involved now, not to wait for the next congressional or presidential elections.

"There's no off year any more," he said.

Activists need to be involved in continuous organizing and support of candidates in every election at all levels of government.

Blumenthal, responding to a question about the usefulness of boycotts in dealing with business malpractice or corporate greed, said there certainly are instances in which "consumers should consider their choices." He cited as an example Wal-Mart, which he said has repeatedly violated child labor law and environmental standards in Connecticut. Citizen groups, he said, are beginning to ask whether it's wise to spend their back to school dollars with such stores.

Blumenthal said his own experience as attorney general has been that there are a growing number of opportunities for active nonprofit groups to form alliances for reform with elected officials.

He cited the "Stop The Plant" campaign and the fight against the proposed Sempra power plant in New Milford as successful examples.

©The Hartford Courant 2005