Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, the Republican candidate for state treasurer in 2014, announced on Wednesday the formation of TIMPAC, a political action committee in support of competitive legislation races as GOP operatives try to break Democratic control in the State Capitol. Attorney Christopher Russo of Bridgeport, who managed Herbst’s 2009 first selectman victory over Democratic incumbent Ray Baldwin, will serve as deputy treasurer to Loretta Chory. Russo is the younger brother of former Republican State Senator Rob Russo.
“As Connecticut continues in a downward spiral, if we are going to stop the bleeding before the end of Governor Malloy’s reign, it is of critical importance that we make Len Fasano the President of the Senate and Themis Klarides the Speaker of the House,” said Herbst in a statement. “We are four seats away from winning the State Senate and twelve seats away from winning the House of Representatives. With a Governor that has an all-time low job approval rating of 24%, there is a tremendous opportunity to restore balance to state government.”
Herbst worked for Klarides as a Trinity College undergraduate sixteen years ago.
“Having lost a statewide election by a razor slim margin in 2014, I know better than anyone how every vote counts in Connecticut,” said Herbst. “Several legislative races in the last cycle were decided by fewer than 300 votes or less. We need to focus on these districts and get out the vote like never before. Once we restore balance in Connecticut government will we be able to launch Connecticut’s comeback. I intend to do everything I can help.”
This campaign cycle is expected to include sizable independent expenditures aiding both Democrats and Republicans. The Connecticut Business and Industry Association recently announced it will launch a $400,000 campaign aimed at helping Republicans win a majority in the Connecticut Senate and narrow the Democratic majority in the House.”
Little Timmie Herbst. The best customer at TESTO’S RESTAURANT.
A little off topic, BUT I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THESE ALIASES. I read the fine print about joining OIB etc. etc. etc. I think we should have a vote. KEEP THE ALIASES, OR GET RID OF THEM.
KEEP! You have no idea what it would cost this blog in information dollars if they were to cut out all handles. This blog and the readers and posters. No idea. No brainer. KEEP.
Aliases are worthless.
I would love to see ANY post from an alias that tells us important information. What I see is ALIASES give people license to say nasty things without any proof. Every alias has been a waste of time.
Frank, I totally agree. It is a license to make nasty, degrading, unnecessary embarrassing comments. What is sad is when you find out who these people are it is almost shocking. When you get disgusted enough you take a break and stop responding. There is no good reason anyone has a ghost handle. Everyone who contributes has the same concerns of retribution and loss of job or friends. The fact alias bloggers take advantage and feel empowered to say what they want just gives me chuckles with my morning coffee before I catch the train.
I think aliases can be okay if the user accepts the responsibility of being anonymous, meaning they do not engage in name calling or any other “mean-spirited” posts while under their alias. If used responsibly, I feel it can give the user “plausible deniability” and allow them to vent while giving us insights not easily obtained. If people abuse this privilege, Lennie ought to revoke it.
Frank, I agree a post means more when you know who the person is, it’s more genuine. However there are probably good reasons why some prefer to use aliases.
Yeah, but the information they provide is not worthless.
Those who choose to not post under their real names lack conviction, lack integrity, and are cowards.
I didn’t choose. I was chosen.
PAUL GRIFFIN
Maria Pereira, I’m in total agreement with you.
Frank, sorry to hear about the blight notice and fine you received. Perhaps from this you might have a bit more understanding of why people use handles and not their real name.
No fine, just scared my 82-year-old mother.
I too am sorry about this, Frank. If you need help, reach out on one of the BR FB pages. I am sure there would be a small army of people offering to help you. But from my experience, it was a “message” to you to pipe down. Horrible.
Frank Gyure, when you post on OIB, you’ve entered the winner’s circle. I hope you have what it takes to stay here.
So Local Eyes, you are an alias. What important information do you have to share tonight?
None.
I’m the king of the piranha pool. What do you call a piranha without teeth? Answer: Maria Pereira.
><}}}*< – – – –
PAUL GRIFFIN
Frank, I’m in total agreement with you and I strongly suggest people not reply back to anyone who doesn’t use their real name. Let them say what they want and with no one giving them credibility, they become nobodies.
Disregard his foolishness. Ron Mackey has violated his own value system by repeatedly responding to my posts–even if they weren’t aimed at him. He must think I’m a fantastic addition to this blog and a real somebody.
PAUL GRIFFIN
PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN, PAUL GRIFFIN.
AND WHAT EXACTLY IS THE CBIA DOING? I thought they were supposed to stay out of politics. $400,000 is not chump change in a small state like Connecticut.
CBIA is up to their eyeballs in politics. Stop diluting the OIB content! $400,000 is chump change in Connecticut.
PAUL GRIFFIN
Frank, you need rest. You have had a tough day. You just told me on a FB post that $180,000 was “chump change” in Bridgeport. Now you say “$400,000 is not “chump change” in CT. Relatively speaking, UUUMMM?
The final filing for independent expenditures by the two charter school PACs was filed on the 11th.
On election day alone, they spent $2,800 including paying 15 canvassers $150 each at 10 hours each.
That brings their total expenditures to well over $30,000 in just 28 days.
Ralph Ford’s East End PAC has still not filed in violation of state law.
Looking forward to my appointment with one of the attorneys who was instrumental in convicting Rowland. He specializes in election law.
Looks like we will be pursuing the illegal primary activities on two fronts.
Go Maria! I think you are awesome!
🙂
Good to see CT Republicans finally getting involved to make races competitive.
Can one reasonably expect a sizable amount of this new PAC money will be spent on Moore v Hammer?
The CBIA web site lists the races and candidates they are backing. Moore is not listed. So either the PAC will join forces, or go after their own agenda. A couple of Republican operatives in Trumbull have said Moore has already won, based on the pro-Moore piece written by Herbst a couple of weeks ago. Their exact words were, he cut Hammers’ throat two weeks ago. I would vote for Moore if I were in CT.
For the record, got tired of the RINO label, so am officially unaffiliated. Open primaries here so no need for party affiliation.
The 22nd isn’t the focus of TimPac. This is all about Herbst’s plans to run for Governor.
Donald,
You can be sure that money will be spent pushing Elaine Hammers’ campaign. She has led the rubber stamp Republican supermajority Board of Finance and approves Tim’s desires.
There is no one more partisan than Tim Herbst. If he is not allowed to appoint a Republican, he makes them resign from the party and appoints them as unaffiliated. He pulled this shit with the deacon of his Church on Park Avenue in Bridgeport. Thirty years a Republican, needed a member of Tim’s Unethical Commission who could not be a Republican so Sami Bal resigns and becomes unaffiliated and is appointed to Tim’s Kangaroo Court.
With State legislative races funded by taxpayers, there is no need for PAC money.
Marshall Marcus misunderstands the fiber of politics. Sometimes Elaine Hammers and Tim Herbst are on the same page. That’s called “agreement.” It happens.
In addition, your claims are easily falsified, which means they can be proven incorrect. I encourage you to upgrade your political firepower because if you’re the competition, I look forward to our next encounter.
Local,
I’m not in competition with anyone, especially you. I have no camera watching Bridgeport.
The BOF, Town Council and BOE in Trumbull are rubber stamp supermajorities that bend to Tim’s will regularly.
Tim regularly leaves boards and commission seats empty rather than appoint Dems as required. OR he gets a clergyperson with no ethics, Sami Bal to resign from the Republican party after decades of membership to be appointed as an Unaffiliated member of the Un-Ethics Commission, otherwise known as Tim’s Kangaroo Court. The only Dem Tim seems to be getting along with is Joe Ganim, and the Ganims’ father brought Tim’s parents and grandparents into the Republican party in Bridgeport. Ganim(s) left the GOP, Herbst family left Bridgeport.
Can you please expand on the issues in Trumbull, taxes? The schools get great ratings, the sewer issue is settled, and the amount owed Bridgeport was reduced, Other than you don’t like his style, would the Democrats like to change some things in the city which is stopped by Tim? I can certainly understand wanting a seat at the table when I was a Republican in Bridgeport. I am being serious, from the outside looking through that fence, Trumbull seems to be in very good shape.
I can see why you would think things look okay from the outside, but the view from the inside is much less appealing. The problem goes much deeper than Tim’s “style.” Much of what goes on today in Trumbull town hall is done in secret with no regard for what the people of Trumbull actually want. People who oppose this are regularly attacked by character assassination and in some cases have actually had their employers contacted in an effort to threaten their livelihoods. This is why the Democratic party in Trumbull is growing so rapidly with many unaffiliated citizens and even more than a few former Republicans, some getting involved in local politics for the first time in their lives. I was one such person a couple years ago when I could no longer ignore the abuse of power that was going on. It’s hurting Trumbull in more ways than poor morale, as well. Some of the boards and commissions do not have the proper representation to serve the town, and some have been left idle leaving important work undone. Changes are coming to Trumbull, but in the meantime there are many of us who do not want to see these same things done to harm all of us at the state level.
PAUL GRIFFIN
“Tim Pac.” Do they also sing rap music on the weekends?
LOL. Mary Filo, that was a good one. You finally got me to smile. THANK YOU.
Marshall Marcus going after a man of the cloth? Remember that op-ed from last week talking about the people who have hijacked the Democratic Party in Trumbull? Marshall is on the first string.
Any person who goes after a man of the cloth is a nasty person.
Welcome to the blog, Tim!!!
Timothy Herbst, a man of integrity, conviction and courage. 🙂
Bullshit. Move to Trumbull, birds of a feather should be together.
Tim,
Sami Bal did an unethical act by resigning from the Republican party so you could appoint him as an unaffiliated voter on the Ethics Commission.
I didn’t know him or of him before that act, but definitely lost any respect I might have had for his position in your church.
As for you Op-Ed piece, it was about disgruntled FORMER Republicans you accused of hijacking the Trumbull Democratic Party. I have NEVER been a Republican. I have been a registered Democrat since 1972, more years than you are alive. I only became active in Trumbull politics because of your actions. Hell, I even voted for you in 2009. I was willing to give you a chance; I soon learned that was a mistake.
I could call you many things worse than nasty, but I don’t need to resort to name-calling. Sami Bal did a reprehensible thing, I don’t care if he’s a deacon or a sanitation worker, my opinion of his action stands.
If a man of the cloth comes into the public arena, so be it. Why would he get special treatment? Read the name of the blog.
Congratulations, Tim. Good work.
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Trumbull-earns-AA-credit-rating-9171583.php
Tim,
I didn’t illegally appoint Sami Bal to the Ethics Commission, you did. Trying to make an end-run around the party affiliation requirements, Bal dropped his membership in the Republican Party. BUT, that didn’t meet the requirements of the statute, seems you conveniently ignored the WAITING PERIOD required by law to appoint him:
The so-called “minority representation” statute reads in part: “a person shall be deemed to be a member of the political party on whose enrollment list his name appears on the date of his appointment …, provided any person who has applied for erasure or transfer of his name from an enrollment list shall be considered a member of the party from whose list he has so applied … for a period of three months.” This three-month waiting period appears designed to prevent these types of last-minute switches. It did not occur here.
This is not the first time in your administration you’ve had Trumbull Republicans serving illegally on Boards and Commissions, I had to force the issue with an FOI to get Joe Peddle off the Trumbull EMS Commission a year and a half after he was serving illegally after sworn in as a member of the Board of Education. I turned down your offer of an appointment to the Civil Service Board, because the Town Charter prohibits its members from serving on Party Town Committees. That didn’t stop Anna Maresca, a member of your TRTC from serving in violation of the Charter. When I brought that up to your assistant Barbara Whetstone (also a member of TRTC) in my rejection of your offer, her reply was, no problem, in March we won’t reappoint the offender to the TRTC. What should have happened was an immediate resignation. BUT somehow, rules and the Town Charter don’t seem to apply to Tim Herbst and his administration.
So, when I call out those serving in violation of statute or Charter, you see fit to call me a nasty man. This has nothing to do with religion, it has to do with your disregard for the rules. You conveniently forget what a great Republican leader said about Government being by, for and of the people. You think Trumbull Government is a personal fiefdom.
Tim, I’m sure a man of the cloth will tell you, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Thanks, Donald.
The act was reprehensible and an insult to fair play. Not the sort of person who should be on an Ethics Commission.
A man of the cloth would never say those words when speaking to the General Assembly in Hartford and I doubt he’d ever say those words when speaking about politics during a sermon.
Politics is all about sinners casting stones.
(wink)
Marilyn Moore’s handlers try to portray her as an executive. That’s not true. As a legislator, she has a thin record. Moore has many supporters but few achievements.
It’s not all her fault, but the General Assembly left behind a debt that won’t be addressed until next year! Bridgeport needs a faster-speed culture. Here’s what’s developing:
It started small but now Democrats for Hammers is scaling to the point of including all zip codes within the 22nd Senate District. This once tiny movement is gathering speed. It’s all about momentum, which has shifted towards Hammers. The electorate is pivoting and Hammers has the experience to capitalize.
If you’re a Democrat supporting Moore, I wonder what would it take for you to change your mind.
Voters do not recognize the advantage of having a Republican as part of the Bridgeport delegation in Hartford. During her entire term, Moore has hovered over a Connecticut that cannot reduce debt. Two parties can get the job done.
It’s a value-driven world. I am unconvinced Moore has added value; I am convinced Hammers can.