Does Connecticut Finally Have an Opposition Party?

April 1, 2010

As difficult as it is to believe, it’s happening: Many of the candidates pursuing Republican nominations for Connecticut’s state and federal offices want smaller government.

No race better exemplifies the shift away from squishiness than the competition for the GOP nod for U.S. Senate. A year ago, RINO robot Rob Simmons assumed nothing stood in his way. Linda McMahon thought otherwise. Her pro-entrepreneur, anti-Washington messages, contrasted with her opponent’s record of fedpork, environmental extremism, and militant pro-unionism, have dealt the Simmons campaign a potentially fatal wound. A few weeks ago, Quinnipiac University pollsters found that political neophyte McMahon had opened up a ten-point lead. (Peter Schiff, once a promising candidate, started too late to establish himself as the anti-Rob, and has yet to register in double digits.)

GOP establishmentarians can’t be happy that McMahon is refusing to step aside for their guy. But they must also be distressed that her campaign has exposed the uselessness of the Republican playbook in the Nutmeg State.

For decades, party hacks have followed a simple formula: me-tooism. See, we Connecticut Republicans aren’t anything like those buck-toothed, Bible-thumping hillbillies from South Carolina or Texas. Really, we’re not much different than Democrats! More spending on schools is essential. Public-sector employees deserve annual raises, regardless of performance. Carbon dioxide is pollution. Connecticut doesn’t have enough open space. Government restriction of political speech is good. Sometimes tax hikes are necessary.

How’d that approach work? There are zero GOPers in the congressional delegation, and Republicans are superminorities in the legislature. (The situation is so bleak, the party can’t be considered a statewide entity -- its elected officials are clustered in western Connecticut.)

At some point, bright folks were bound to wonder, “Hmm … maybe a strategy that fails every time it’s tried isn’t such a good strategy.”

Has that day come? Possibly. McMahon isn’t an aberration. In the 4th Congressional District, Rob Merkle praises the right-leaning grassroots activists who have stood up for “our conservative principles of freedom and liberty.” (Merkle openly declares his admiration for Ronald Reagan. Mercy.) Rick Torres, another Republican looking to represent Fairfield County in Washington, endorses the abolition of not only D.C.’s death tax, but the federal levies on capital gains and dividends. (He also favors the repeal of Sarbanes-Oxley.) In the 5th Congressional District, Sam Caligiuri wants “enforceable spending caps for the federal budget.” Daria Novak, running to challenge Joe Courtney is the 2nd Congressional District, is no fan of Obamacare: “Delivering lower quality, socialized medicine that places cost ahead of individual lives and the government in control of allotting the type and amount of care you receive … is the wrong solution.”

Tom Foley, the GOP gubernatorial frontrunner who like McMahon, has no previous political experience, has pledged “to reduce the cost of state government by at least $1 billion” in his first year. (Not as much as needed, but hey, it’s a start.) Unlike incumbent RINO Jodi Rell, Foley says he will “veto any attempt by the legislature to raise taxes.”

Many of the usual Republican retreads are back to contest slots for the legislature. But newcomers who are unafraid to reject Big Government nostrums are everywhere.

In the 41st House District, Tim Plungis dares to differ from incumbent Elissa Wright, a darling of the eco-alarmist Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. Plungis supports “increasing energy exploration,” as well as “using nuclear power and other sources” to “create sustainable jobs in the state.”

Kathy Lauretano is taking on uber-liberal Roberta Willis in the 64th House District. One of Lauretano’s key platforms won’t draw much praise from bureaucrats: “Freeze hourly pay rates, salaries and benefits as contracts expire to bring them into line with pay rates for comparable work in the private sector. This includes freezing non-union management pay.” Stopping earmarks and an all-departments spending cut of 10 percent are also on the challenger’s agenda.

Republican Chris DeSanctis, running in the 132nd House District, advocates “across the board tax cuts enabling [Connecticut] citizens to keep more of what they earn so they can pay their bills, save and invest.” The privatization of “non-core functions” is another DeSanctis priority.

RINOism dies hard. So it’s tough to predict how many gutsy, principle-driven GOP nomination-seekers will prevail. The ones who do will face down a formidable Democratic political machine.

Voters deserve clear choices on election day. In Connecticut, they haven’t had any in a very long time. This year’s crop of candidates offers reason to believe that the days of a stand-for-nothing state GOP might be over.

D. Dowd Muska is a writer, commentator and lecturer. His website is www.dowdmuska.com.

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