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FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2002

Congressional hopeful and tribal critic Jeff Benedict is coming under fire by the leader of his own party in Connecticut.

State Democratic leader John Olsen said the party need unity not division. He criticized Benedict for planning a challenge to front-runner Joe Courtney at this weekend's convention.

"This guy has failed at every contest he's faced and he will come into this convention and fail again, so I have to question what his objective is here," Olsen told The New London Day.

Olsen in a Hartford Courant report also said Benedict in a recent book unfairly blamed former Congressman Sam Gejdenson, a Democrat, for the recognition of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. "Maybe his book belongs on the fiction shelf," Olsen told the paper.

Benedict, if elected to Congress, plans to revive the termination policy and apply it to the Pequot Nation.

Get the Story:
Benedict ready for a floor fight Saturday (The New London Day 7/19)
Simmons targeted by foes (The Norwich Bulletin 7/19)
Benedict Is Looking For A Fight (The Hartford Courant 7/18)

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