November Election: Truth and Consequences Part 4

If you've stumbled to Part 4 accidently then read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 first...

I want to thank everyone for their emails and tweets.  Of course, I never planned on covering all 169 towns; I originally planned to cover about a dozen.  But after prompting from a few loyal readers, I expanded to include places that were nice wins for the CTGOP.  If I didn't cover your town, and you think it's worthy being included in this review - send along the town, and give me the background for a good story, and I'll add the detail to Part 4.  If you live in a place where you win every year because Democrats are either an endangered species, or legally hunted with regularity, I'd ask that we forego the parades and fireworks for now. Have something special to report? Email me at thekingsview@gmail.com .

Wolcott:  First, the Town of Wolcott should get a special gold star because 46.7% of it's registered voters actually turned up to vote.  Sure, that's less than half of those registered, but if you compare Wolcott with most of Connecticut towns and cities, that's a mammoth achievement.  Imagine how much different election results could be if we could motivate folks to actually go to the polls and express their discontent over lack of progress in so many Democrat-controlled towns and cities?  This is sort of what Rick Torres was trying to get to when he voiced disappointment about voter turnout in Bridgeport.

Wolcott Mayor Tom Dunn (I)
turns red and shoots laser
beams from his eyes when
angry or bothered by
Democrats.

Wolcott Mayor Tom Dunn crushed his Democrat opponent Steven Olmstead, 4180 to 803.  And from the reports on the scene Wolcott Republicans won 15 out of 16 seats which is an incredible record to behold.  As a side note, in the race for Town Treasurer, Dennis Cleary, lost to his Democrat opponent, but I've heard from several RTC members that "no one is crying about that". As you'll recall Cleary, a Republican State Central Member, was embroiled in major controversy for giving money to Democrat John Larson a few years ago instead of the challenging Republican. Whoops, there it is!  (Note: Tom Dunn is technically an Independent however there is a cross endorsement between himself & GOP).

Truth: Wolcott Republicans romped their Democrat challengers.
Consequences: Life is good in Wolcott. And for at least one "Republican Lobbyist" the Ironic Boomerang of Fate seems to have delivered him a fitting, final blow that he so justly deserves.

Cheshire:  (Home of the Fiscally Responsible and Constitutionally Guided Citizens of Cheshire):  Once again Republicans in Cheshire ran a near perfect campaign with outstanding results giving themselves a clean victory on Tuesday.  Prior to this election, Republicans held a 7-2 majority on the Town Council.  We held off on reporting on happenings in Cheshire until there was a little more detail regarding one contest in the 4th District.  As of this writing counts show that Republican Steve Carroll lost to his Democrat rival by only two votes.  Ouch!  Someone tell Steve to get back in the game in 2013, and finish the mission. Still, Cheshire RTC can be proud of it's 6-3 majority win.

Truth:  Looks like RTC Chairman Adam has a solid Grippo on what needs to get done in Cheshire.  And it also looks like Cheshire residents are keenly focused on what to approve and what not to approve given that they overwhelmingly rejected a $30 million dollar water treatment plant upgrade.  I wonder what it's like to live in a town where residents are trusted to make their own economic decisions instead of a chosen few liberal elitists.
Consequences:  Solid leadership brings solid results.  If the next two years is anything like the last two years, Cheshire Republicans should be in great shape. Just do The King a favor - please keep the pressure on Cheshire Police Department - the Joshua Komisarjevsky trial has reminded all of us of exactly how incompetent Cheshire Police was - particularly on one summer evening in 2007.  Sadly, the events of that evening will forever be remembered; may justice be served - Death for Komisarjevsky.

Paul Formica & ELGOP have great taste!
Flanders Fish Market in East Lyme
One of The King's favorite haunts
for great seafood

East Lyme:  A reader mentioned that I missed East Lyme from my reporting, so I thought I'd take a peak at this election to see what the big deal was.  And I have to say that you have to be quite impressed with East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica who managed to win re-election for what will be his third consecutive term.  Three times is a charm!  And for Formica, he hammered his Democrat challenger 3,580-622 within a 33% voter turnout.

Formica's tenure is a case study for Republicans state-wide because its an excellent example of how to win when there is a key issue floating around that your opponents could use against you (had they been even partially effective).  East Lyme goes through a water rationing crisis during the summer season, which creates an annoying hardship on residents each year.  Formica believes he will have this issue resolved in 2012 when he connects up East Lyme to a New London-owned reservoir. 


Truth:  Formica is known for a collaborative leadership style that is fitting for East Lyme and it's residents.  Not every contest needs to be an out war filled with hate and brutal attacks.  East Lyme Republicans recipe serves up a majority win and solid leadership as appreciated by her residents.
Consequences:  Winning two terms is challenging but three terms is a sign that a First Selectman isn't just liked, but rather preferred.  The only think I'm wondering is if the 303 acre land purchase by East Lyme will be used for other uses by the public.

The first order of business for
Joe Maturo is to upgrade
election technology in
E. Haven before there's a
lawsuit by the Dems

East Haven: Here is some news is worth waiting for... Congrats to Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. who defeated his Democrat rival in a recount nail biter, 4025 to 3994.  But even though Maturo pulled out the win, even The King is wondering what the blazes is going on down in East Haven.  I'm not claiming that there is anything fishy going on but the manner in which votes are tallied are certainly not in keeping with what should be expected in the 21st Century.  Although the author of http://easthavenpolitics.blogspot.com/ is clearly a liberal hack, she makes a valid point that East Haven could tidy up their act a bit. Covering up cameras during recounts and doing anything that falls below respectable practices fuels liberals cries of conspiracy and ballot-tampering.

Truth:  East Haven used to be more of a Republican stronghold but when its Mayoral Candidate only wins by 30 votes, they have a bit of a problem.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are additional legal challenges by Democrats based on what is being said about the recount process. Another truth is that according to Town Hall 52% of East Haven residents went to the polls on Tuesday, 8054 out of 15452. 
Consequences:  East Haven GOP might want to really urge town officials to examine their practices and find out how it can be modified to appear above par.  This is the kind of thing that generates outrage among independent voters who could easily turn against the GOP in 2013 unless improvements are made.

Wallingford:  We end with Wally-World, former home of a dance club formally known as Shaharazod which The King had visited once or twice when he was merely a Prince (few would admit to clubbing in Wallingford).  The reason we aught to examine Wallingford is that it is the home of CTGOP Chairman Jerry Labriola, Jr. who was witnessed driving around town personally helping his local candidates campaign.  I will save my commentary about the Chairman for later.
It's pretty clear to anyone who knows this town that Wallingford is a safe haven for Republicans.  Mayor Bill Dickenson is entering his 15th term (no that's not a misprint) as Mayor.  He demolished his Democrat opponent 6,213 to 3,558.  Wallingford Republicans also enjoy a 6-3 Council majority, and retained the Board of Education with a 5-4 margin.


Truth:  Bill Dickenson makes it look easy.  Normally, I wouldn't have bothered to print an update about a RTC that just keeps on winning, and winning, and winning, and winning. *Yawn*
Consequences: One thing is for sure, Chairman Labriola can't hide beyond the Dickenson campaign and use campaigning in Wallingford as excuse for the lack of press releases and radio appearances that his critics are always belly-aching about
. 
Defending Labriola - partially.


I want to focus a bit on a commentary that appeared in the Republican-American web-edition entitled Feckless GOP Maybe:

The key paragraphs worth discussing are as follows:


"....the state Democratic Party's email server was furiously spitting out gloating news releases about Democratic gains in mayoral and first selectman's races. We received three such blasts Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. This is what state political parties do, and Connecticut Democrats can rest assured their professional staffers are doing the job they're being paid to do."

and...

"Mr. Labriola's mention in the news media of Republican gains in Harwinton and the Naugatuck Valley towns of Beacon Falls, Oxford and Seymour, among others, was too little, too late. State Republicans need to demand the party and Mr. Labriola do a lot better than this."

Labriola - R-A says, should
have been spammnig 
email inboxes all night
instead of celebrating like
it's 1999. Screw that.

Ok, so let's break this criticism down.  On the surface, the Republican-American editorial board believes that Chairman Labriola isn't doing enough to support his Party's election day cause.  Ok, well there may be valid point to be taken here.  Even The King expressed disappoitment to those in charge at the lack of public enthusiasm and press releases from the Chairman's Office.  However, for those of us in the know about a few things, let me try to provide a little clarity on the reality of the situation as it stands.  This is NOT The King carrying water for Labriola - he'll have to answer to his friends (and enemies) at the State Central Dinner Club next month. And all in all, it would be a very different discussion had Connecticut Republicans not emerged 5 towns ahead when compared with their pre-election standing.

Chairman Labriola inherited a mess from your media darling, former Chairman Chris Healy.  A bare-bones office located in a hell-hole, an empty bank account, staff members resembling children, missing donor files, a deleted computer database (intentional hateful revenge), reimbursement requests for utter nonsense, swindlers trying embezzle and threaten the Chairman to get a piece of the action, an angry, self-serving bunch of State Central members who have formed a half dozen mini-coalitions against the Chairman and against each other; trying to mend bad feelings, angry feelings, hurt feelings, and everything possible dysfunctional behavior you could possibly think of - and that's only the start.

In addition to being the CTGOPs psychologist and babysitter, Labriola has spent the greater part of his days transcending the state - going town by town, visiting RTCs, candidates, and attending and arranging fundraisers.  He's been out trying to convince wealthy donors that his CTGOP is going to spend donations wisely (unlike his predecessor).  He's been working to unify a severely fractured Republican Party - which by the way roared back on Tuesday Night and delivered solid results in 104 towns out of a possible 145 or so elections. 

Oh, and because there isn't a dime in the bank, he's doing this alone.  Sorry R-A, we don't have a paid professional staff of dozens because we don't have the money to blow to pay them; we are lucky to have one or two part timers with overinflated titles who can barely answer the phone. Labriola is a one-man-show. And oh - if you didn't know - Jerry has an actual full-time job, is married, and has children that he'd like to see once and a while.  


So while he didn't sit behind a fax machine on Tuesday Night sending out a million BS press releases to make media cretons happy, he instead savored victories with winning campaigns, in same way that Dan Malloy and other Democrat Leader did.  So what's the problem?


You see - the real story is not about Chairman Labriola, it's about the collective state of Journalism today.  All of you guys sit back in your offices, with your lattes and tofu waiting for both the Connecticut Democrat and Republican State Committees to do your jobs for you.  Whatever happened to the days when bright reporters went out into the field, monitored the situation and then went back to the press room to compare notes (and numbers) and drew their OWN conclusions before writing news stories?  Most of what came out on Wednesday morning was largely spin from Dan Malloy and Democratic Operatives (who obviously have more resources to run their non-stop propaganda machine).  So the editors at the Republican-American are incensed that the CTGOP didn't send enough faxes so they could cut and paste all the pieces together.  What a shame!

Ann Nyberg told me last year, "I can't believe what has become of the state of journalism today."  And boy, Mrs. Nyberg is right.  The news is barely that.  On election night I personally witnessed newspaper reporters coming in late to post-campaign celebrations asking questions better meant for someone who had just won their high school class election.  I couldn't get over the lack of depth.

The Connecticut Media had it's
Dewey moment on Wednesday
morning.

If the media were even partially honest, they would admit that their anger should be pointed at themselves for the reason that on Wednesday morning, without fact checking and doing the Dewey diligence expected, they got the entire night wrong.  So perhaps CTGOP Chairman their scapegoat for a job poorly done makes them feel better.


Instead of telling Jerry Labriola how to better do his job, perhaps you people in the paid media all should reflect upon how you can do your jobs better, or all.  Why don't you get out from behind your computers, smart phones, and fax machines and learn how to become journalists!


Conclusion:  Great job by Connecticut Republicans overall.  Storm or no-Storm, we did fantastic in places where we haven't won in some time, we held ground where expected, and - yes, of course - we gave back a few that we don't usually win anyway - those were longshots to begin with. Regardless of the spin Democrats try to put on the night, we are well-positioned for a great 2012.  Consider this a practice run for our next election when we start to take back the Connecticut Legislature - and return Connecticut to it's true Yankee Republican roots.

I AM

THE KING 

The original blog entry can be viewed at http://www.thekingsview.com