As a witness to the Republican State Convention this weekend I left utterly disappointed and uneasy about the chances for our Republican party come November. At the convention I saw a sea of delegates, the party faithful turn their backs on those who have carried the party, towed the line and fought in the hard years for our state and party. We turned our backs on them for new candidates whose only qualification is a pocket full of cash.
The party leaders clearly had their preference for the candidates that can write their own check and any semblance of fairness was thrown out. While I watched Rob Simmons and his staffers being pushed off the floor no effort was made to remove Linda McMahon and her entourage from blocking the aisles. I understand that raising money is hard and tedious but it is the foundation of campaign work, it is where you find the true believers and the foot soldiers that knock on doors, make calls and stand at the polls on a cold November election day.
Chris Healy has chosen the easy route by picking the candidates that have never been tested or vetted. Mr. Healy has chosen the candidates that still have the shine and glimmer like all of those glossy mailers that have choked my mailbox. He has chosen the path that will let him be the sound bite man for our party, the go to guy for the one-liner and not the party leader who has to organizer chicken bakes and pancake breakfasts. Chris Healy has sent the message loud and clear and that message is "if your rich, your welcome to run, if your not... well then the train is full".
I am sure that if Mr. Healy were to read this blog he would say it was not him but the delegates who have spoken, and to this I say bullshit!!! The favoritism shown to Linda McMahon knew no bounds, it was obvious to anyone who watched, from the way Mr. Healy's staff cleared the Simmons people off the aisle, or Mr. Healy deciding which delegations made it to the podium in time to switch their votes. I talked with a delegate from Seymour who said that Chris Healy himself turned them away when they attempted to switch their votes from Schiff to Simmons. They were told they were too late, it did not matter they had been delayed by Linda and her entourage of WWE superstars or her personal film crew that was blocking the aisle. If the Seymour delegation had been breaking for Linda would they still have been to late??? Or that Mr. Healy and his staff supplied the video of Dick Blumenthal talking about "his service in Vietnam" to the McMahon campaign so they could claim credit for the hit.
Interesting how Mr. Healy can even claim to be objective while his wife is making over $120k for work on Linda's campagin!!
In the end we as Republicans will get what we ask for. We will get a candidate that will spend millions of dollars on a carefully crafted message of its time for something different. Well in the end neither Linda McMahon or Dick Blumenthal offer anything different than Chris Dodd. Connecticut will simply get another Senator with a glaring lack of character and integrity. In putting forth untested candidates that have never shown loyalty to the party we should not be surprised when they are exposed for what they are, self-serving opportunists.
John Gault
