It used to be Bridgeport Republicans were relevant. In the 20 years from 1971 to 1991, Republican mayors occupied the office half the time–Nicholas Panuzio, Lenny Paoletta and Mary Moran. Republicans had representation on the City Council and state legislature.
Now city Republicans hold office only by state-mandated, minority-party representation for school board, city sheriff and registrar of voters.
It appears, based on Donald Trump hijacking the party and feeble followers who cannot run on their own, Connecticut is not far behind, as well as several red-leaning states. Paging Georgia and Arizona.
From Michael Hamad, Hartford Courant:
Those are insane numbers.
Trump made it safe for the racists, bigots, misogynists, white nationalists, demagogues and assassins to deviate from their dungeons. At his command, with a squad of federal GOP elected officials urging them on, insurrectionists sacked the U.S. Capitol courting blood over the lie promoted by their leader, that the election was stolen.
Think about it: four years ago Republicans controlled the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. All gone. Quickly.
Even in Connecticut, in the last GOP gubernatorial primary, the candidates dare not take on Trump, led by demagogue in charge (now gone) party Chairman J.R. Romano. A fringe element still sways party primaries, or at least that’s the fear, in a closed-primary state. Unaffiliated voters in Connecticut are not allowed participation in primaries.
What’s the point of winning a primary if you cannot win the general election?
Connecticut Republicans seeking statewide office might well be castaways with Gilligan, the skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann here on Gilligan’s Island.
Here’s the trap door for Republican candidates embracing Trump’s pathology: they are the Trump demagoguery without the Trump persona. They are different worlds.
Reasonable Republican candidates can embrace Ronald Reagan’s charisma all they want, but can they connect his conversational gift with voters?
Opportunistic GOPists can cuddle Trump’s verbal sewage, but can they sell it in a way it’s safe for followers to enter the lava? Dangerous, all around.
More from the Courant article:
Roughly 4,000 of those who left the Republican Party did so after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. An additional 69 Republicans left the party briefly, only to return during the same time period; they are not counted among the 6,670.
Since then, Republican leaders at the national level have chosen not to rebuke U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has suggested that the shootings at Sandy Hook and Parkland, Florida, were staged. Last month, only 10 out of 211 House Republicans voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection.
If Republicans in Connecticut pine for any statewide footing it becomes worse if they promote prosaic candidates with vitriolic bluster.
Silence means acceptance and Republicans have no one to blame, Republicans knew who the 45th president was and they had no problem with his actions and lies.
As stated above: “Trump made it safe for the racists, bigots, misogynists, white nationalists, demagogues and assassins to deviate from their dungeons. At his command, with a squad of federal GOP elected officials urging them on, insurrectionists sacked the U.S. Capitol courting blood over the lie promoted by their leader the election was stolen.”
“Think about it: four years ago Republicans controlled the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. All gone. Quickly.”
It should be noted that there has been a shift for many years to people registering to vote as ‘unaffiliated’. Democrats appear to have increases in affiliation as part of voter registration campaigns.
Of course, there is also the registration done as a component of the ballot harvesting as seen in Georgia for the 2020 presidential election.
Tom White, as a long time Republican why don’t you pick up the mantle and help with rebuilding the Republican Party here and statewide? It’s important that there’s a loyal opposition in government at all levels.
“Ballot harvesting in Georgia.” Still chugging the Kool Aid Tom? Maybe you should move down to Gooberville and work with MTG to set them straight.
I have been studying our municipal governance for more than a decade or so and met Tom when he was employed by the City as the sole staff members to the City Council at that moment. I had many questions and Tom had more answers. I learned that among other things he had served on the Council, worked for People’s, and was knowledgeable about rules and processes where others were not, but acted as if they were the last word.
I witnessed the actions of Tom McCarthy that resulted in him terminating the position as a savings measure (while taking the same opportunity over to the City Clerk office at the same expense but not the same service to Council members or the public. Two-faced behavior?
I also learned some history about representing neighbors in a zoning fight to keep certain property in his district being developed for another shopping area. Where is the need for that Stop and Shop location any longer. Tom has been a fighter in the courts about his essential dismissal because some on the Council were concerned that the public was asking too many questions about the administration of their Stipends. Interesting area of inquiry and one where the facts of current process and the City ordinance should be consistent and public in my opinion. They are not. Making things public and in sight easily is a form of oversight that is made even more difficult in COVID Time.
Tom has moved to be with family to a community that has a more balanced distribution of party members than Bridgeport where Ds are 90% and Rs are almost 9% of those registered as of recently, but perhaps 40% of total registered are the unaffiliated bloc which must be remembered when evaluating what happens when folks go to the polls locally for electing leaders.
Enjoy the proximity to family in your new home. Get your COVID shot, stay healthy and occupied, and stop in to say hello and share thoughts when you visit. Thanks for you “good citizen activity” through the years.
Why is a two party system important to us at various governmental levels today? Time will tell.
JML, I remember when Tom White and Linda Grace were the City Council where they I believe they had a total of 8 members and they had influence and power. The City had no business eliminating Tom White’s position, he understood the process and was able to provide the members with information besides what they were getting from the City Attorney Office.That was then and this now.
Good point, Ron. We can all look back and say things were so much better then but in the words of Kennedy “some people look at things and ask why, while others look at things and ask why not?”
If the Kennedy’s were still around they would amend that to say “and one person looks at things and just asks.”
Hmmm. Who would he be thinking about…..