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Deborah Noble, who ran as the Working Families Party candidate for the 16th Assembly District in this year's elections against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Linda Schofield and others, was one of five minor-party candidates this year to qualify for campaign financing grant funds administered by the state Election Enforcement Commission. However, sources with the commission confirmed that the relatively new political party will not be automatically eligible for the funds in the next 16th District race.

Schofield won the election this year, securing about 56 percent of the total vote (see related story).

"She was running on the Democratic ticket," said Noble. "If you look at the votes Obama got, its almost equal to the votes, she got."

She said the problem was that many voters affiliated with the two major political parties tend to arbitrarily vote on a partisan basis.

"That's the problem a third-party candidate faces," said Noble. "People don't look further down the ballot."

She has not decided whether she will run for office again, she said. "It all depends on how well Schofield does this time around," she said earlier this week. "We are hoping that I garnered enough votes so that next time, petitioning won't be needed for campaign financing."

Noble submitted a petition with 1,644 signatures, which represents 15 percent of the registered voters in the district, and qualified for more than $16,600 in funding from the grant that represented two-thirds of the total $25,000 grant. Ten percent of the registered voters, or 1,094 signatures, would have made Noble eligible for a portion of the grant equal to one-third of the total grant. She would have needed signatures from 20 percent of the registered voters to be eligible for the total grant.

The commission stated that for the Working Families Party to bypass the petitioning process in the district and apply for the funds directly, Noble would have needed to secure 10 percent of the vote in this year's election - she only received 2.5 percent of the vote, according to the town of Simsbury.

Beth Rotman, the commission's Citizens Election Program, said this was the first year that the grant was implemented. She said the program was established in 2005. Eligible candidates are still required to raise at least $5,000 in increments ranging between $5 and $100 from 150 people to qualify.

"I was one of the first third-party candidates to qualify," Noble said in reference to the petitioning process that both she and Cicero Booker, another Working Families Party candidate running in the 15th Senate District, participated in to receive the funding. "I am hoping we have broken new political ground because of it. We are the only civilized country with a two-party system. That just is not right."

She anticipated that different groups would step forward during the next two years seeking to make the campaign financing process more understandable and accessible for candidates regardless of party affiliation.

Noble ran for elected office twice as a candidate for the party while living in Windham. She ran in the 29th Senate District in 2002 and was also elected to the Windham Board of Selectmen in 2003.

The Working Families Party, which was formed in New York in 1998 and branched into Connecticut in 2002, is known for often cross-endorsing candidates during elections after it has earned enough votes with its own candidates to qualify. The party previously endorsed Linda Schofield in 2006 and qualified to cross-endorse candidates in the 16th District in 2004.


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