CTGOP Chairman's Race 2013 - Part I

CTGOP Tagline

Isn't it fitting that we should start off the first day of summer by cranking up the heat a bit on the upcoming CTGOP Chairman's Race?  And what kind of contest would it be without The King weighing in with a little evaluation of the situation at hand?  A morbid foreshadowing, no doubt with maybe a few surprises in store.  Connecticut, being the land of steady habits, will likely see its Republicans clinging to old time politics facilitated by the same old wrinkled faces who have brought them defeat after defeat, year after year.  

Generally speaking, it's the old cliche its not what you know - its who you know which is a song sung loudly in the hallways at CTGOP Headquarters; for it's that practice which has always reigned supreme over Connecticut Republican politics.  The majority of elected delegates who time after time have been so easily bedazzled by cash, favors, and titles eagerly delivered by those elitists who see Connecticut politics as nothing more than a sport; moving state central members and delegates around like pawns on a chessboard for personal gain and entertainment.  All the while, Connecticut residents and businesses suffer catastrophic loses.

Of course, we at The King's View have to take some accountability for what has come to pass. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were cheering the demise of the failed, corrupt tyrant, Chris Healy, as if he had been deposed from his cushy throne in a fashion not seen since France's King Louis XVI.  The final straw which did him in was his mismanagement of the worst series of election cycles that the CTGOP had ever seen.  I distinctly remember him face palmed while statewide Republicans tarred and feather him in the CCSU auditorium in December of 2010.  And we wildly cheered the ascendancy of Jerry Labriola, Jr. for whom we had such high hopes for moving Connecticut's beleaguered GOP forward into an era of victory followed by a period of prosperity.  But we were both misguided and mistaken - for we traded failure and corruption for incompetence and ineptitude (much of it intentional).  The vacuum of leadership is so obvious that we have nearly half a dozen candidates (that we know of) seeking the not-so-high office of CTGOP Chairman.

We now hear rumbles that profiteer State Central Member Mary Ann Turner and other Healy-loyalists have been burning up the phone lines to drum up support and bring back their disgraced leader.  Even old friend Catherine Marx is trying to find relevancy again since sitting by while Nancy DiNardo took us apart in the press. A email has been distributed to State Central Members full of lies and half-truths about Healy's so-called success record and ethics prompting multiple cries of outrage via email to The King's View. (Of course, in fairness, this isn't the only team working the phones for support; so anything could happen post this entry).  Labriola brags of having over 50 followers in line to hand him victory (and you'd need to be a blind follower after this past election cycle which resulted in pure calamity).  Meanwhile, Conservative Wayne Winsley, and Former Tea Party Patriot Ron Wilcox have their own surrogates pushing for support and attempting to siphon off votes from the heavy hitters.

For those who wonder why we are so down on the past and current Chairman, let's examine the recent history of failure:

Connecticut State Central Members
would do well to remember why this
cartoon was drawn
(Credit: Mr. Englehart)

Under both Chairmen, the CTGOP has steadily lost more key elections then ever before.  

Despite his revisionist public relations campaign, under Chris Healy's Leadership, Republicans lost all representation in the U.S. House of Representatives (ending with Chris Shays' defeat), he advanced the cause of the shameful candidacy of Linda McMahon for US Senate (by backstabbing Rob Simmons while his wife was on the McMahon payroll), lead us to a reduced representation in both Connecticut State Chambers, and finally lost the Gubernatorial Race which brought us four years of liberal Dannel Malloy.  Based on the evidence, it's impossible for any reasonable person to make the case that a return to the Healy years would be in our best interest. We can't imagine what tall tale can be told to brainwash state central members into supporting guaranteed failure.  Make Blue Red?  Are you kidding?  This guy left us Black and Blue, and Democrats actually felt sorry for us because of the shellacking we took. 

And if electoral failure isn't bad enough, you need to look the ethics of the Healy regime.  Attached are three documents which are part of the public record in the Manchester Small Claims Court, Manchester, Connecticut which underscore reasons for concern about how the CT Republican Party was financially run by Mr. Healy (to borrow a phrase: We report, you decide):

Federal Election Commission Complaint

Smoking Gun?

Investigation Continues

So the question people are asking is - would you trust Chris Healy with your money? Certainly, some candidates never received donations entrusted to the then-Chairman which were specifically intended for them to receive. We could also provide a list of hotel expenditures and receipts for the outrageous lifestyle of a man who lived large on Republican donors.  Of course, it would have easier to overlook had we actually won anything!!

Make no mistake about it
Jerry "Lewis" Labriola drowned in
irrelevancy.  And we joked about
Obama as an empty chair. Good Grief!

Jerry Labriola, Jr. faired no better - if not worse - at least from a political standpoint.  Besides refusing to speak publicly or distribute press releases on major issues affecting our state including gun control, the bathroom bill, economic issues or in any sort of issue of concern, he allowed Linda McMahon and Lisa Wilson-Foley to run the Republican Party ticket and under-ticket into the ground,  There are few State Chairman across this country who would sit by silently while their Republican Senate Candidate ran television ads promoting Barack Obama at the expense of other Republican candidates (if that didn't take the cake, were not sure what did).  Bending to pressure, Labriola caved in and jumped on-board McMahon's circus in the last week of the campaign.  What a joke! Then we can't forget about the one time Jerry did appear on Television, he took aim not at Democrats, but at the National Republican Party by calling Connecticut Conservatives "bombastic extremists" while he wined and dined himself at the RNC Convention for Mitt Romney.  It's no wonder why Connecticut needed to buy it's own Mitt Romney election signs.  I'm sure when it comes time for the next GOP Convention, the Connecticut Delegation will find itself seated somewhere in the back parking lot after that act.  We saw how the Romney camp skipped Connecticut after receiving such a warm welcome from our Chairman.  There was a point in time when Connecticut was actually in play.

Labriola's surrogates will claim that he raised more donations than the previous Chairman, however this can discounted by the fact that it was a Presidential Election year.  All in all, between giving Democrats the silent treatment, and letting Democrats control the debate, it's not in our best interest to continue forward with this lack-luster style of leadership.  There is just no point.  He's in Cafero's and McKinney's pocket - and he's just not his own man.  There's nothing to indicate he'd ever change

At this point, I don't see where the two upstarts - Wilcox and Winsley have enough star-power to pull enough votes to capture a majority.  Rumors are that if choices had to be made - Winsley will slide toward Healy, and Wilcox would move toward Labriola.  There's always hope that another candidate could trump them all, but it's up to that person to put themselves forward this weekend else we'll end up with the lesser of two evils - Mr. Corrupt, or Mr. Controlled.  And a split caucus that hates each others guts for another two years.

More to come?  We'll see.  Stay tuned....

I AM

THE KING