Latest news with #JoeLieberman
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Mark Davis, longtime Connecticut TV political reporter, dies at 76
Mark Davis, a television news journalist who covered Connecticut politics for three decades for a local ABC affiliate, has died. He was 76. Davis died on Monday, WTNH-TV announced on Tuesday. He worked at the station for 36 years and retired in 2020 as chief Capitol correspondent. The cause of death was not disclosed. He had surgery last year for bladder cancer, the station previously reported. Known for always beating out other reporters to ask the first question at news conferences, Davis covered the most high-profile political stories in the state including the 2000 vice presidential candidacy of U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who ran with Al Gore, and the 2004 resignation of Republican Gov. John Rowland during a corruption scandal. 'The thing I like the best about the job is … when someone walks up to me on the street and says, 'I like you, Mark Davis. You're a plain talker,'" he said in a 2017 WTNH video celebrating his 50th anniversary in broadcasting. 'I mean that's our job, is to be plain talkers.' Davis worked at Boston radio stations in the 1970s before moving to Connecticut in 1980 to take a radio job in Hartford. He moved to television in 1984 when he joined WTNH. He held various jobs there, including anchor, before becoming a political reporter in 1989. He retired in 2020, citing worries about contracting the coronavirus at his age. Condolences poured in from political leaders across the state on Tuesday. 'For decades, Mark Davis provided the people of Connecticut with valuable news and information about what was going on in their state, giving them insight into their communities, their government, and their neighbors," Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. 'Mark Davis is a Connecticut icon, and his passing is a loss for our state.' Davis' death came nearly four months after the death of another longtime Connecticut TV political reporter, Tom Monahan, who worked at NBC affiliate WVIT-TV for 45 years. Monahan, who was 84, retired from the station in 2010.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Mark Davis, longtime Connecticut TV political reporter, dies at 76
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Mark Davis, a television news journalist who covered Connecticut politics for three decades for a local ABC affiliate, has died. He was 76. Davis died on Monday, WTNH-TV announced on Tuesday. He worked at the station for 36 years and retired in 2020 as chief Capitol correspondent. The cause of death was not disclosed. He had surgery last year for bladder cancer, the station previously reported. Known for always beating out other reporters to ask the first question at news conferences, Davis covered the most high-profile political stories in the state including the 2000 vice presidential candidacy of U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who ran with Al Gore, and the 2004 resignation of Republican Gov. John Rowland during a corruption scandal. 'The thing I like the best about the job is … when someone walks up to me on the street and says, 'I like you, Mark Davis. You're a plain talker,'' he said in a 2017 WTNH video celebrating his 50th anniversary in broadcasting. 'I mean that's our job, is to be plain talkers.' Davis worked at Boston radio stations in the 1970s before moving to Connecticut in 1980 to take a radio job in Hartford. He moved to television in 1984 when he joined WTNH. He held various jobs there, including anchor, before becoming a political reporter in 1989. He retired in 2020, citing worries about contracting the coronavirus at his age. Condolences poured in from political leaders across the state on Tuesday. 'For decades, Mark Davis provided the people of Connecticut with valuable news and information about what was going on in their state, giving them insight into their communities, their government, and their neighbors,' Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. 'Mark Davis is a Connecticut icon, and his passing is a loss for our state.' Davis' death came nearly four months after the death of another longtime Connecticut TV political reporter, Tom Monahan, who worked at NBC affiliate WVIT-TV for 45 years. Monahan, who was 84, retired from the station in 2010.
Fox News
16-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Learning from Joe Lieberman to repair the American breach
This March 17 will be the "yahrzeit" of Sen. Joe Lieberman's unexpected death in 2024, a time in Jewish tradition when family members recite the mourners' kaddish prayer and light candles in memory of their loved one. Those of us who knew Joe Lieberman continue to mourn his passing and miss his smile and decency. When we have gathered at memorial services and early screenings of "Centered," a new documentary which chronicles his life, we always express the wish that there were more leaders like him in today's harsh political environment. ("Centered" will be in Regal Cinemas nationwide on March 18 and 19.) That yearning for comity was accentuated by the partisan atmosphere in the House of Representatives for President Donald Trump's recent address to a joint session of Congress. We could debate which party or its leaders are more guilty of polluting the public square these days, but that would defeat the purpose of arguing for better behavior from both sides. The political divide (a worrisome "gulf of America") leaves us inches away from stalemate, and mere feet from chaos. While Joe Lieberman can no longer speak up on behalf of civility in politics, he left us plenty of examples: When he gave the Democratic response to President Ronald Reagan's last radio address in 1989, Lieberman did not abuse the opportunity to settle political scores. "Your love of this country and your fervent devotion to freedom inspired us all," the new Democratic senator said of the Republican president. In 1991, rather than join most Democrats to oppose the use of force after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, Lieberman became the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the resolution authorizing the first (and successful) Gulf War. Working across the aisle with senators like John McCain, Lieberman advocated for the 9/11 Commission to investigate the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and Arlen Specter for creation of the Department of Homeland Security. He often joined with Republican Sen. Bob Dole in urging both Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to take a more active role in defending Bosnia from Serbian aggression. And Lieberman collaborated with leaders in both parties to speak out against the plight of inappropriate content in video games, music and television programs, which helped lead to the creation of ratings systems that give parents more power to discern what is best for their children. Throughout his life, Lieberman's advocacy of harmony and good will found expression in his fervent support for civil and human rights, from traveling to Mississippi as a student advocating voting rights to his leadership in ending the discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military and to his commitment to a cleaner environment (the latter two efforts also involved cross-party cooperation). The senator's many public expressions of cordiality towards people of either or no political party were matched by his behavior in private. As staffers who worked with him beginning more than 45 years ago, through many crises and controversies (rarely of his own making), we can testify to his humor, equanimity and good will. We never heard him raise his voice, even in the most tense and tumultuous of circumstances. Joe Lieberman's calm demeanor should not be mistaken for a milquetoast career, however. In the course of the work cited above, and many more, he was friendly, but forthright; decent, but determined. Thanks in good measure to his faith in God and fervent religious beliefs, he had a strong moral compass that almost always pointed him in the right direction for the betterment of society. If he fell short on rare occasions, it was never from base motives or weak principles. He was, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, a "repairer of the breach," not a source of division. As nearly lifelong believers in the leadership of Joe Lieberman, we cannot help but feel that America and the world would have been better off if he and Al Gore had succeeded in the 2000 election. But even in the wake of that enormous – and enormously disappointing – setback in his life, Lieberman showed the same kind of grace and optimism that characterized his whole life: "America is a great country," he said on the floor of the Senate the day after Vice President Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. "I do think that every one of us should be grateful this morning that here in America we work out our differences not with civil wars, but with spirited elections." "It is time now for all of us to come together in support of these United States and the shared values that have long sustained us," he continued. "Psalm 30 assures us that weeping may linger for the night, but in the morning, there are shouts of joy." Our sorrow over the loss of Joe Lieberman has lingered through the long night of his absence from our lives and politics – never more than at this yahrzeit of his passing – but we are encouraged by his stirring words and sterling example to find hope for shouts of joy once again.. Jim Kennedy is a former spokesman for Joe Lieberman, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, the Clinton Foundation, Sony Pictures, Sony Corporation of America and News Corp. He publishes occasional columns on Substack.
