Now on with Part 3, the final entry in November Election reviews.
Danbury: One of the biggest percentage wins recorded by Republicans on Tuesday was the win by Mayor Mark Boughton in Danbury who took 71% of the vote defeating Democrat challenger Lynn Taborsak. The Press went out of its way to publicize Republican loses in Waterbury, Manchester, Hartford , Bridgeport, and New Haven but when it came to Danbury - their trumpets fell silent.
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| Mark & Don Boughton Like father, like son, two outstanding people who have served their Party, State, and City with class & distinction |
On a somber note, this win must be bittersweet for the Mayor because of the recent passing of his father, former Danbury Mayor and State Representative Don Boughton. I expect that Mark's father is looking down proudly from the gates of Heaven. Congrats Mayor Mark, and RIP Mayor Don.
Truth: Mayor Mark is a model public executive who's worked in both the private and public sectors and has long established ties with unions, teachers, and private companies. The fact that a City like Danbury comes out 71% in support of him speaks volumes to his appeal as a person and a leader. Show me that anywhere else in Connecticut.
Consequences: 2014 is far away, and I'm sure all the big money candidates like Tom Foley and others have one eye focused on the Governorship, and the other focused on Mayor Mark. Woe to any Republican candidate (attention Tom Foley) who goes negative on Connecticut's Mayor. For the rain of fire and brimstone against thee will be unbearable!
Bristol: For some reason that I'm not aware of, media coverage of Republicans winning Bristol's Town Council apparently isn't a headline worth writing in the mainstream press. The fact that Bristol Republican were able to turn the Council from a 4-2 Democrat majority to a 5-1 majority is a major victory for the GOP. While the Council received a nod of confidence from voters, it appears that GOP Mayoral candidate Mary Alford did not. Alford came close, but lost 49-51% to Democrat and three term Incumbent Art Ward. Ward seemed to give Alford plenty of ammunition to use against him: a pay increase for himself, scandal with police retirement, and poor response to the flooding crisis over the summer should have been reason enough to throw Ward out of office. But, voters didn't see it that way, instead they just didn't want to see Mary Alford replace Art Ward, regardless of his failures.
Fact is that The King is somewhat pleased to see Mary Alford lose her bid. Since she's been a critic of free political thought other than her own, and a stalwart Healy supporter, she deserves defeat and reticule. Bristol Republicans would do well to nominate a candidate with actual political experience who has taken the time to serve on the Council or Board before jumping to the highest office in town.
Truth: Bristol Republicans have successfully managed to take a super-majority on the Council. Mary Alford's lack of personal appeal likely cost the Bristol GOP the Mayor's Office.
Consequences: At the next Municipal Election, Bristol GOP would be best served to choose a better candidate, someone with more experience, and less temperament than Alford. Complete victory in Bristol is clearly within reach for Republicans. It's just time to bring in a more youthful and less divisive person to be at the top of the ticket. Mary can be Chairman of Facebook instead.
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| Mike Jarjura pictured above keroke singing the song "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by The Clash |
It's plainly true that according to official tallies "Republicans" lost Waterbury on Tuesday, but let's not forget that if you take off the masks and costumes, this race was a blood vendetta between Democrat and former Police Chief Neil O'Leary and old Democrat Michael Jarjura. It's The King's View that Jarjura was never really a Republican even though he appeared on the ballot as such - he only joined our ranks when he didn't receive the Democrat Party's nomination. A year ago, Jarjura was full of criticism about Republicans, and suddenly when he was cast out, he found a home. It was as if Jarjura had some ephinay where all the stars aligned and he found himself suddenly at peace with himself in the GOP. Hardly that at all.
Truth: Waterbury is back in Democrat hands and Republicans will need to start over. It's clear that Waterbury residents are not going to buy into a candidate who engages in the whole Party-switching scheme; they would rather vote a guy from either Party up or down without a history of shenanigans, or playing both sides. Truth be told, a lot of Republicans are pretty happy that this chapter is over too.
Consequences: It will be interesting if Jarjura fades into the sunset, or stick around to make CTGOP his true home. It will be also interesting to see how a former police chief deals with his own but this time from the other side of the fence. I'm going to be O'Leary won't be likely life too much in this new role. Civilians at City Hall don't salute and take orders, instead they meddle, gossip, and conspire against officials. Good Luck, O'Leary - in a few weeks you'll wish you were playing Sherlock Holmes once again.
Bridgeport: You have to give Rick Torres credit for giving it his all and trying to make a pitch for Republicanism in Bridgeport which is, after all, Connecticut's largest city. Torres banked on a 30% turnout which he felt might have brought in enough votes to defeat Democrat Mayor Bill Finch, and his citywide machine. Obviously, the key was getting his supporters to the polls under any turnout conditions all the while hoping that Bill Finch's voters stayed home. Unfortunately, Finch's people came out in full force to cast ballots. The numbers in this race were astoundingly lopsided, Finch drew 8435 votes to Torres' 3344 votes. Petitioning candidate Jeff Kohut pulled 439 votes - as to whether those voters would have supported Torres or Finch isn't known but the offset wasn't significant enough to matter.
According to friends who worked on his campaign, Torres worked around the clock giving it his all. One would have also thought that given Bridgeport's clearly minority-heavy population that Rick Torres would have pulled Hispanic voters over to his side to build his numbers. Well that logic was clearly flawed.
Here again we are faced with the same dilemma that has been mentioned earlier in this campaign piece about Republican candidates who happen to be of a minority ethnic group - and the lesson is clear - being a minority is less important to minority voters than wearing the "D" designation on your lapel. In other words, minorities are not interested in minorities draped in the Republican brand. It seems as though there is a huge delta in the minds of minorities who are closed minded to the very notion of Republicanism in any form, sold by anybody. And this is major issue for the CTGOP which will always face the dilemma of how to handle political contests in our major cities. Do you outright stop throwing good money after bad, or do you keep trying to put out a fire with a water pistol?
Truth: Rick Torres did all he could do, and all anyone could ever do to try and win this election. As tired, and fed up as he may be, we hope that he sticks with the Republican Party and finds a place where he can establish a Latino branch of the Republican Party. People will argue that there isn't enough time or money for that, but I disagree and our Party needs to start somewhere, and they might as well start with Rick Torres. Bringing Hispanics into the Republican Party isn't going to happen overnight, but if the effort doesn't start soon - it will never happen.
Consequences: Bridgeport is pretty much a lost cause. There is no rational reason for CTGOP candidates to spend time or money in a city that cannot help itself out of total ruin. Let Bridgeport be Dan Malloy and Bill Finch's problem. Since the City's constituents love them so much, let them deal with it. Republicans should spend their time and energy where they can make a difference. Let Bridgeport burn.
Wilton: Given that we covered Al Alper over the summer during the hotly contested CTGOP State Chairman's race, we thought it might be fun to take a peak at how the town of Wilton did during this year's Municipal Election. From the results we can see plainly that Chairman Alper ran a solid campaign where all Republicans seem to have won not just some of their seats, but all of their seats - including First Selectman William Brennan who ran unopposed - a pretty rare event for a Republican First Selectman these days. Even Al Alper was re-elected to the Board of Finance. Congrats, Al!
Wiltonian turnout hovered around 25% (2,754 out of 11,028) which was still much better than many town in Connecticut. Given the lack of contests and opposition, that turnout is actually impressive when you think about it.
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| I guess they're the last to know what's going on in the world over in Wilton |
Truth: Politically, what can be said? Wilton is a Republican paradise where Democrats don't even show up to compete. You can't beat that. But, the only negative is that if you want to buy beer while you grocery shop, you'll have to travel down the Merrit Parkway to Darien or somewhere else to do your one-stop shopping.
Consequences: I guess it's pretty clear - Wiltonians might want to do their grocery shopping outside of town.
Norwalk: Also under the category of "let's check up on the would-be State Party Chairman" let's see how old friend Art Scialabba made out in the Town of Norwalk. Well it looks darn good! Republican Richard A. Moccia won a solid victory by earning 7217 to Democrat Andrew Garfunkel's 6510. Republicans also won a 3-2 margin on the Norwalk City Council. So all in all, it looks like Art did his job and secured wins for Republicans across the board.
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| New Haven's Capt. Snarl |
New Haven: There is not much to say about New Haven other than it's a replica of Hartford - as most cities are. Mayor Destefano and his Democrats have a stronghold that wouldn't be broken unless a scandal took place which served as a tide wave against a Democrat who refused to withdraw from the race. There is a better likelihood that it will snow in July than such a scenario would ever arise.
East Hampton: I only bring this small town up because of the peculiar win by an obscure Third Party called The Chatham Party which I couldn't really make heads or tales of. It appears that both the Republican Party and the Democrat Party have both suffered as a result of this bizarre style of politics out in the hinterland. I think I mostly taken aback by a population of folks who are so far out in left field that they don't fit it to ordinary society. So its either that its the case that people in East Hampton are crazy, or that the Republican and Democrat Parties are both filled with incompetent people unable to run a simple municipal campaign.
Truth: Both the Republican and Democrat Parties are in sad shape out in East Hampton.
Consequences: Can we expect to see The Chatham Party run it's own Presidential Candidate too? Just wondering.
Colchester: One of the best GOP strongholds in eastern Connecticut is Colchester. First Selectman Gregg Schuster was re-elected to a second term by an overwhelming margin of 64% to 32%. Along with that win, Republicans managed to secure majorities on all boards defeating Democrats all along the way. Reports are that Colchester's RTC worked masterfully to get out the vote by canvassing door to door with candidates, writing press releases, use of social media, signs and ads, and even calling constituents right up through election day.
It's also likely a true statement that Colchester Democrats are an embarrassing lot. They apparently couldn't even manage to unify around a single candidate this time around despite the opportunity to do so. Instead opposition candidates ran as "petitioning candidates" instead of as Democrats (despite that they are registered Democrats). I'm not sure I understand all of this, but it probably lends to the reason that Republicans destroyed their opponents by such large margins.
Truth: Colchester is about as middle of the ground as you'll ever get with Republicans, Democrats and Independents all on equal footing at about 1/3 registered apiece. The fact that Republicans gained 64% clearly shows that Schuster and his GOP are pulling votes from both Democrats and Independent voters in addition to his own base. This is a fitting vote of confidence for Colchester Republicans and speaks to their ability to govern fairly, and openly for the benefit of all taxpayers. The King's sources also claim that improvements to infrastructure, and economic development also played a large part in GOP re-election.
Consequences: Looks like Colchester could be a proven battleground for upcoming races in the second district. It will be interesting if Congressional and Senatorial Candidates make a visit to the Second District's most successful Republican stronghold.
East Haddam-Haddam: It's probably considered rude to group these two towns into one entry, but noteworthy enough to report out (by request) Republican Mark Walter won re-election handily over Democrat Rob Smith 1660-865. And in Haddam Republicans ran the gamut winning all seats over Democrat rivals.
I may make a few modification or additions to this part of the election review. And update it with some overall observations and conclusions.
Proceed to Part 4.
I AM
THE KING
This original entry can be read at http://www.thekingsview.blogspot.com
You left out one of the greatest Republican strongholds in the state, Wallingford.
ReplyDeleteEast Lyme went 85% for R First Selectman Formica in anothger term, and he swept across all boards.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot East Haven.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of Wilton - Beer sales @ grocery stores were defeated in Wilton for 1 primary reason - we strive to bring in businesses, effectively bringing in 4+ liquor stores since passage a year ago. The voters believed that allowing an expansion of venues to grocery stores (from stop & shop to the local deli) would would drive fledgling business from town just as they were getting their feet under them. The 2nd reason, and to a much lesser extent was some residents were mindful that many HS student work at local grocery stores making an already tempting purchase all the more easy.
ReplyDeleteThe Chatham Party won in East Hampton because it opposed a GOP and Democrat sponsored attempt to fire the police chief in the name of saving money and transfer his duties to the town manager. The whole deal blew up and the police chief got his job back ina referendum last year.
ReplyDeleteHi, I log on to your blogs on a regular basis. Your story-telling style is witty, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteAlso see my site: Bristol Business Directory