My interview with Chris Shays

It hasn't happened yet, but I'm working on it.

For several months now I've been going back and forth with the Chris Shays (CT-4) people to try to set up a video interview with the congressman. I'm currently trying to interview all of our state's representatives, having already taped Chris Murphy (CT-5), and I've been in touch with Rosa DeLauro's (CT-3) staff about scheduling an interview.

Chris Shays offered to sit for an interview with me after one of his 4th District "town meetings" in Bridgeport last April, when he mistakenly accused CT Blogger and myself of being paid video "trackers" for the Jim Himes campaign. In fact, we're both independent "People-Powered Media", but that doesn't preclude us (or Fox News, for that matter) from having opinions or favoring one party over another.

But Chris was gracious when we corrected him and afterwards he made it a point to apologize to me and CT Blogger personally for singling us out and making his comments, saying that he normally would never do something like that. He seemed genuinely sorry, so I asked him if he'd be willing to do a one-on-one interview with me. He immediately agreed and invited me to come to his Bridgeport home as soon as he could schedule it. I exchanged email addresses with one of his staff and thanked him.

Over the next several weeks we exchanged emails trying to find a time slot that was mutually convenient for the both of us. Chris of course was busy with Congress being in session, and I had professional and personal commitments that made it difficult for us to sync up. Eventually I think we both sort of put the interview on a back burner.

Then last week at Jim Himes's Bridgeport "town meeting", I noticed to my surprise that there was a video tracker there from Chris Shays's campaign. So I went over and introduced myself. The camera operator's name I didn't get, but his supervisor's name was Sean and he took my card and said he'd try to have someone get in touch with me.

When I got home that night, I looked up the email exchange I'd had several months ago with the Shays people and found the name of Dave Natonski, Shays's press secretary, and I renewed my request for an interview. I'm waiting to hear back from him.

Hopefully we'll manage to schedule something later this month, because after Labor Day all the campaigns will kick into full swing and it'll be much more difficult to schedule an interview. I understand that Chris might be somewhat reticent to be interviewed by someone who runs such an obviously left-leaning blog, but he can rest assured that I'll be fair and play this one straight. Despite what some may think, I truly believe that democracy is best served when people know as much as possible about the candidates.