Higher education (co-chair), Education, Internship, Judiciary
Bloomfield, Burlington, Farmington, West Hartford
Educator, consultant
$92,228. Bye participated in the state's public campaign financing program.
| Joseph Merritt (R) | 15,183 | (37.7%) |
| Beth Bye (D) | 24,032 | (59.7%) |
| Beth Bye (WF) | 1,053 | (2.6%) |
| 0 | (0%) |
Bye was elected to an open seat in 2010, succeeding state Sen. Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, who did not seek re-election.Bye won an open House seat in 2006, succeeding 13-term Republican Robert Farr, who was tapped by Gov. M. Jodi Rell as the GOP nominee for attorney general.
Bye is an early childhood educator who formerly served on the West Hartford Board of Education. Before becoming director of early childhood education at the Capitol Regional Education Council, she was director of the St. Joseph College School for Young Children. She also has taught at Trinity and St. Joseph.
She had a rare pair of endorsements: the conservative Connecticut Business and Industry Association and the liberal Working Families Party. The WFP cross-endorsed her, even though she voted against their top issue, legislation mandating that private employers of a certain size provide paid sick days.
Personal: Bye and her wife, Tracey Wilson, were the first to be married once Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage. Bye has two daughters and two stepsons. They reside in West Hartford.
Bye, who also has a consulting business, reported outside income from CREC, the Bloomfield schools, Trinity College Community Child Center and the Connecticut Association for the Education of Young Children. Her spouse, Tracey Wilson, reported income from the West Hartford schools and St. Johnsbury Academy.They own various retirement accounts and mutual funds.Bye voluntarily reported debts of more than $10,000 to Citimortgage.A note on financial disclosure: Every spring, officials are required to disclose the ownership of real estate, the source of any income exceeding $1,000 in the previous calendar year and securities worth more than $5,000. They also are required to file an addendum in which they report any debt of more than $10,000; this may by law be kept confidential.
Letters from the Editor and Board of Directors
Jim Cutie
No one has done more in the four years since The Connecticut Mirror's conception to build and strengthen it.
As publisher and CEO, Jim has done outreach, fundraising, publicity, and an unfathomable number of etceteras. And all were done with grace, humor and, most important to us, a sense of the vital importance of deep, unbiased journalism when, too often, the term "journalistic standards" is considered archaic or oxymoronic.
He is undertaking a new challenge - as Content Director of the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network. This means he will move several floors up from The Mirror's Hartford offices at 1049 Asylum Ave., but out of our daily orbit.
We wish him the best, virtually and otherwise.
Jenifer Frank, Editor
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The Board of Directors of the Connecticut News Project commends James Cutie for his work as publisher of this electronic newspaper. He will leave the CT Mirror April 19 to join the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network.
His guidance of the news site, along with that of Editor Jenifer Frank, has met the highest standards of journalism, a fact recognized in the many state, regional and national awards won by its reporters. The depth and objectivity of CT Mirror's news coverage have captured the attention of policymakers throughout the state.
Jim Cutie has put his heart and soul into developing a model nonprofit newspaper that has earned the respect of the political and business communities, but more important, the admiration of the reading public who want to keep informed about Connecticut issues.
The board is sorry to see Jim leave but knows that he will continue to develop good journalism in our state. We look forward to working with him as projects develop of mutual interest to CT Mirror and Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network.
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