To the Editor:

Joe Lieberman's gratuitous attack on Ned Lamont's wealth is just another Rovian technique that ignores the real issues. And before Joe makes that attack again, I would like to see a complete list of the contributions he has received from Washington's lobbyists.

From what I have read of the Lamont family, they have earned their wealth through four generations and have been philanthropic contributors to several major causes, usually related to higher education. Ned is a successful entrepreneur himself, hardly a dilettante.

Both  accusations against Lamont strike me as rather ludicrous given Lieberman's support of an administration that blatantly serves the super rich and has appointed to various positions an unprecedented number of dilettantes, often very incompetent ones at that.

Lieberman's claim of 18 years of congressional experience isn't a recommendation for the job anymore. The system is broken, and we as a nation are beginning to break with it. We need a new generation of  men and women willing to roll up their sleeves and fix it. We need people who have not become so disconnected from real life, so insulated and comfortable with power that they feel entitled to keep it no matter what the public thinks.

This particular primary may be a bellwether for the November elections and that is the reason the whole nation will be watching Connecticut on August 8th. It is not just about the Iraq War, although that is a significant factor that affects us and the world in myriad ways. It is also about whether business as usual is good enough. Looking at where we are and are likely to be in the near future and given the record of this Congress, business as usual is destroying our working and middle classes.

Connecticut Democrats can get out in droves for the August 8th primary, and vote for a better future. (Don't forget absentee ballots if you are on vacation.) We can send Ned Lamont on his way to the Senate where he will bring the energy and foresight that made him a successful business man and his promise to work for the public good, a concept little heard or understood in the Halls of Congress for a very long time.   

Kathleen Amoia