Posted on 05/08/2009 7:32:41 PM PDT by Libloather
GOP Has Eyes Fixed on Dodd
By: Scott Benjamin 05/08/2009
State Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy said during an appearance in New Milford this week that U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-East Haddam) is in more political trouble in his 2010 re-election race than U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Stamford) was in 2006 when he lost the Democratic primary and had to win a fourth term running as an independent.
"It relates to his personal conduct and issues of ethics," he said of Mr. Dodd, who has had to respond in recent months to charges that he and his wife, Jackie, received favoritism on the refinancing of a mortgage and that the senator allowed loopholes in legislation that provided bonuses for executives of AIG, which had received federal assistance.
"None of it is true," Mr. Dodd said in an interview in Torrington last month regarding the negative coverage that he has received recently.
"With Lieberman, it was about policies, it was about the war," Mr. Healy said in an interview Monday night before speaking at an event at the John Pettibone School that was sponsored by the New Milford Republican Town Committee.
"I think Lieberman was a lot closer to the grassroots than people gave him credit for, so it sustained him in the long run," he said of the senator, who lost the Democratic primary in 2006 to Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont but then captured the general election as an independent candidate.
Mr. Lieberman supported Republican presidential candidate John McCain in last year's presidential election, even though he still caucuses with the Senate Democrats. "Dodd has been absent without leave," Mr. Healy said of the five-term senator, making an apparent reference to his moving his family to Iowa in late 2007 when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination and his work as the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
"People blame Barney Frank and me, but we only became chairmen 24 months ago," Mr. Dodd said last month, making reference to the role that he and Mr. Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, have had in the instability in the nation's financial sector.
Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Stonington), state Sen. Sam Caliguri (R-Waterbury) and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley of Greenwich are considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll indicated that all three would defeat Mr. Dodd, who has served longer in the upper body than anyone from Connecticut, if the election were held today.
Mr. Healy said he would prefer that the nomination be determined next year without holding a primary in August but indicated that a primary could benefit Republicans by "motivating" their supporters.
On another topic, the party chairman said he disagrees with charges that Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-Brookfield) has lacked leadership.
Critics have said that, although she has the highest poll ratings of any statewide official in Connecticut, Mrs. Rell has failed to enact proposals to eliminate the car tax and increase the income tax to pay for more early childhood education programs.
Additionally, they have said that she announced in her budget message in February that she wanted to restructure the scope of state operations yet recently agreed to a tentative concession package with the state bargaining units that would avoid any layoffs in the immediate future.
"We have to elect more Republican legislators to give her more bargaining power against the Democrats and the public employee unions that control the Democratic Party," Mr. Healy said, in an apparent reference to the Democratic majorities of 24 to 12 in the state Senate and 112 to 39 in the state House.
"Democratic legislators are all about increasing the size of government through higher taxes," he added. Mr. Healy said he disagrees with critics who have called Mrs. Rell an absentee governor.
The Hartford Courant in 2007 and The Fairfield County Weekly in 2008 published stories that indicated that Mrs. Rell maintains a very limited work schedule.
The Fairfield County Weekly reported that after reviewing four and a half months of public records related to Mrs. Rell's schedule it discovered that there were "Loads of drive-time radio chats, bill-signing ceremonies and public events. Not so many meetings with her commissioners, senior staff or serious journalists."
State Rep. Robert Godfrey (D-Danbury), a longtime friend of Mrs. Rell's, said in an interview in January that "it is no secret that Lisa Moody is running the government," a reference to Mrs. Rell's veteran chief of staff.
"I think all of that is an irrelevant point," Mr. Healy said.
"She works hard," he said of the governor, who took office in July 2004. "We don't hire her to do the detail work. We hire her for leadership and vision. She does that.
"If that was the case, it would be reflective in her poll numbers," he said regarding charges that Mrs. Rell has been an absentee governor.
Nationally, Mr. Healy said he believes the Republican Party, which had controlled the White House 28 of the previous 40 years before last November's election, has learned some lessons from its defeat last year and in the 2006 midterm congressional elections.
"If you go to Washington and do the opposite of what people asked for, the voters are going to throw you out," he said.
Mr. Healy said that Democratic President Barack Obama's expensive platform has "galvanized" the party because of the massive debt it will create for future generations.
"Everyone is concerned about their children and grandchildren paying back this debt," New Milford Republican Town Committee Chairman Pat Sherry said in an interview.
"In the last 100 days we have borrowed as much as Ronald Reagan did in his whole eight years in office," said Justin Bernier of Plainville, who is seeking the Republican nomination in next year's race in the 5th Congressional District.
Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson has stated that even when the debt is projected to decrease in 2016 it would be 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). He has written that Democrats criticized Mr. Reagan for leaving office with deficits that were 3.1 percent of GDP.
Mr. Healy said that the recent Tea Party protests were an indication of opposition to Mr. Obama's spending policies.
On another topic, Mrs. Sherry said that she is "sure" that New Milford Republican Mayor Patricia Murphy will run for a fourth term this year and added that the party is formulating a municipal ticket for the caucus, which will be held in July.
And I'm tired of hearing the old argument that "only RINOs" can win in so-called "blue states". That argument got us Arnold and it would have resulted in Senator Dickerson instead of Senator Fitzgerald if Illinois conservatives had bought into it back in 1998.
If Dodd is so damn "vulnerable", we might as well run a decent limited-government free market candidate against him while we have the chance.
Schiff for Senate. RINOs should only be acceptable as a LAST resort.
In December 2008, some fans of Schiff put up a website to encourage Schiff to challenge incumbent Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd.[26]
On January 23, 2009, yet another group of Schiff fans registered a domain, starting a new site with a new logo, to inspire Schiff for a possible run against Dodd. [27]
On February 21, 2009, a moneybomb raised over $20,000 for the grassroots movement.[28]
In May 2009, he said in one of his vlog that he was considering to run for senate.[29]
Looks like this thing still has legs. I just hope he doesn’t pull a Fred Thompson and wait until the 11th hour to announce he’s running. He needs to jump into the race pretty soon.
Yes. That delay killed Thompson’s chances.
It’s regrettable you have to start running so early (for POTUS especially) but the reality is that you do.
Moving all primaries to late summer would be a good idea. CT’s is a late one, in August. But Simmons is already running hard.
“RINOs should only be acceptable as a LAST resort.”
That statement is very accurate. Unfortuately, we’re at our last resort in many of these states. You may recall that in 2006 & 2008, the ‘Rats nominated a bunch of pro-life and pro-gun candidates in conseravtive districts. Those candidates won, yet their party is still promotes a secular entitlement state. By the same token, nominating moderate cacndidates in liberal constituancies will not make the GOP as a whole move to the left.
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