Pay Attention East Haven: Vote for Linda Monaco

UPDATE: With the election of a new Governor, Mike Lawlor has been appointed to something or other and there is a special election being held February 22, 2011

Yes, this is another East Haven, CT post.

It may seem I have been strangely obsessed with East Haven this year given the amount of space dedicated to blog posts regarding the shenanigans going on in the small Connecticut town. There is a reason however, and that reason is I believe East Haven to be a great metaphor for the United States as whole, as far as abuse of power by the Government goes. I am not going to re-hash those shenanigans; you can read about them here:

http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-police-chief-bad-mayor.html

http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/05/and-then-there-were-three-arrested-that.html

East Haven is the perfect example of why voters need to toss out the offal that creeps throughout the halls of our Capitals, both at the Federal and State levels. Like the United States, East Haven is wildly patriotic, proud, and has one of the strongest senses of community you will ever find.

East Haven is a town of real, hard working, family oriented people who have been hit hard by the crumbling of the economy and the tyranny of its local government. Like the rest of the country, the problem stems from the stagnant pool of politicians the town is burdened with. Like the US of A, East Haven needs a change.

For the last 22 years, Representative Michael Lawlor (D) has represented the town at the state level for the 99^th Connecticut General Assembly District. Lawlor is kind of East Haven’s prodigal son. He’s been through the system so to speak; attended the town’s public schools, was awarded a law degree, became a prosecutor, and all the other boring regimental stuff you do when trying to become a career politician. There is nothing wrong with that, and I honestly don’t have a lot of bad things to say about Mike.

The problem with Mike is he’s played out like a bad banjo string. He has been indoctrinated to go along with whatever whim the Connecticut legislative Democrats conger up. Lawlor has become a de facto part of the problem by not formulating original and productive ideas predicated on the wants and needs of his constituents. Instead he votes along with a body of career politicians, so fat, happy and stupid, it’s embarrassing.

The Connecticut legislature hasn’t had a significant turnover in so many decades it is astounding to think about. The reasons could be varied and I personally have no idea which ones are valid, but my theory is voter apathy, the result of which has been ridiculously high taxes, an ever-increasing amount of brain drain, and the exodus of much needed jobs. The state has been blessed with a great Governor whom could have been even greater if she had a reasonably intelligent group of legislators to deal with.

This year, East Haven has a fabulous candidate challenging Lawlor, a candidate who has a very good chance of winning and would be a major boon to East Haven.

Linda Monaco is the real deal.

Born from good hardworking Pittsburgh stock, Linda’s route to politics was not a straight line like Lawlor’s. Linda didn’t wake up one day during her formative years and say; hey, I think I want to be a politician, so I’ll map out my life path to make sure I get there. No, Linda’s route was more circuitous, and along the way she picked up the kind of experience, education, and values that make the now elusive American Dream seem possible again.

Linda has run the gamut of a true American life. She’s worked hard, been a single Mom, realized the achievement of higher education later in life could only benefit her family, and has an attitude and personality not often seen in modern politics. In other words, she’s likable and not in a “she’s better than the alternative kind of way”. You can’t help but be taken by her verve and energy. There is no syrupy, sickeningly sweet political lubricant with Linda. The intrinsic feeling you get is that she is for real and can be trusted. That is what Government needs today. Real people who have been through the trials and tribulations of real life.

She is not a party hack either, and that is one of the things I like most about Linda. (As should be abundantly clear, I have been majorly disappointed with the choices the CT GOP has made this year.See: http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/05/connecticut-gop-needs-enema.html) It doesn’t matter what political party you are registered as, if you believe in capitalism, small government and liberty, you can feel good about a vote for Linda.

What we have in this country and the State of Connecticut and the Town of East Haven, is a crew of political Methusalahs who need to be taken out because as we all know, they won’t just bow out gracefully. Linda Monaco would be a good start towards achieving that goal.

What the United States and East Haven needs now is jobs, jobs and more jobs. Linda Monaco understands that and more importantly…she gets it. As a small business owner who has had to tighten her own reigns while at the same time making life easier for her clients by creating a sliding scale payment system, she not only knows how to create income, she knows how to help other people create it as well. This is the kind of simplicity that will save this country, the understanding of supply and demand and not living beyond our means while also helping out our own by buying their goods and services and keeping it within our own community families.

Linda is whom we need in Government. What we don’t need is a bunch of Mike Lawlors whose idea of job creation is to go along with his myopic brethren creating Government growth. It will be a long, long time before you see me write this line again about anyone seeking public office:

It would be an honor for East Haven to be represented by someone like Linda Monaco and not the other way around.

The cavalry is coming in November and if you live in East Haven, CT, be a part of change for the good. Vote for Linda Monaco.

Check out Linda’s website:

http://www.lindamonacopeoplefirst.com/

Tom Foley: Sociopathic Politician?

In my mind there are two types of politicians. The ones cut out to be public servants and the ones who enjoy the spotlight and act from a pseudo political pulpit enjoying the recognition whilst staying safely away from getting their hands dirty.

The former are usually thrust into politics at the behest of people who have been impressed with the future candidates verve, intelligence, and ability to lead. This normally occurs after a successful career that showed real tenants of leadership. Unfortunately, few politicians of this genre exist in government today.

The second type of politician is your basic sociopath of which we have in abundance in this country. (Just check out the White House, Congress, & the Senate)

The sociopathic candidate does whatever they can to get into office typically without actually knowing what the job really entails, because the job doesn’t matter. What matters to these whack-jobs is to feel accepted by a large number of people (usually duped by their glib charm) who by their votes give the candidate the feeling of self worth they so desperately clamor to attain.

To me, the perfect politician and public servant has done their time in a job or business that has flourished due to their leadership abilities and not just because they had a blank check from Daddy and Mommy. A person who has worked their way up through the primordial slime and are now able to give back to the public.

This year Connecticut has provided a perfect example of both types of politicians in a couple of races. The most prominent of which is the Connecticut Gubernatorial.

Connecticut is fortunate to have enjoyed the reign of M. Jodi Rell, in my book, the gold standard of public servant. Jodi is the type of person who never forgets who she just talked to 30 seconds ago whether they are a janitor or possible big campaign contributor. And, if the conversation called for some kind of action, you can bet she will get it done and tell you about it either with a card or a phone call.

Jodi got her job when she was Lieutenant Governor and Former Governor John G. Rowland got carted off to the pokey after a colossal witch-hunt, which really didn’t turn up anything significant. However, Jodi was faced with a mess of a public relations nightmare to deal with and had to regain the State’s trust, which she did so well, she got elected in her own right for a second full term. Unfortunately, for Connecticut, she is not running again.

Enter about a dozen candidates for Governor as would be expected, especially in this political climate of throw the bums out.

After some card shuffling and soul searching by potential candidates the deck has shaken out to two top runners for the Republican ticket, (I think there are actually 3 or 4 candidates from the R side, but these are the only two I care about) who will face off in a primary in August.

Mike Fedele is the current Lieutenant Governor of the State of Connecticut under Jodi Rell and he is of the good variety of politician I spoke of earlier. I would vote for him on the sole fact that Jodi picked him as her running mate. Her endorsement is enough for me, but I am biased, I know Jodi and I personally know how great she is.

For those who don’t know her and would require a more comprehensive bio of Fedele, here is a quick run down. Fedele is a first generation immigrant who is self made, spent time in the CT legislature and has never been a spot light seeking kind of guy. He is a family man who happened to adjust very well to public service and has done a top quality job wherever he goes. He is unburdened by any skeletons in his closet and has chosen, admirably, to run his campaign with public funds.

His opponent? Egads, if ever there was the perfect example of the sociopathic variety of politician this dude is it. I believe this to be one of those guys who probably talks to himself in the car, shower, hyperbolic chamber, whatever, just to enjoy his own rhetoric. (He is also probably the type most often found at 2am in a dark corner, naked in the fetal position, sucking his thumb, while shaking and crying.)

Tom Foley is one of those pieces of junk you can watch on TV, hear on the radio, see in the paper or a brochure and feel like you need to not just take a shower, but douse yourself with gasoline like a Buddhist Monk, in order to forever rid yourself of the ridiculous tripe that comes out of his mouth.

Foley has some impressive achievements under his belt; he has bankrupted a company, smacked his wife around, spent time in jail (let’s be fair though only a night) and is an impressive storyteller. The man is an amazing master of hyperbole and is able to manipulate the truth like a Kennedy or a Clinton. (Read that: liar)

His time spent in politics and Government consists of being Ambassador to Ireland, which allows him the title of diplomat, and some ambiguous gig in Iraq that has lead to great (albeit embellished) stories about his war service. I imagine he and Dickie Blumenthal must have great convos at Veteran cocktail parties.  

Check here for fun info on Dickie. http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/05/gi-dickie.html

Ambassador to Ireland? I’d like to be rich enough to buy that job too! Foley’s job in Iraq was some hare-brained thing where he was tasked by Bush to help develop plans for State owned businesses to re-establish and strengthen their economy. Uh…yeah…

Then there are his legal wranglings. When it came to light Foley may have had an er, uh, disagreement with his ex-wife that involved the local gendarmerie, he came forward and said he would allow full disclosure of the case to the public. Likewise, some vehicular malfeasance in which he “rammed” another vehicle completely freaking out the occupants, and resulting in an attempted assault charge.

Now, watch the shiny ball people… He never really fessed up the details and there were apparently some efforts to expunge the records or otherwise “lose the files” so to speak.

This is kind of a fun factoid. In 2002, Governor John Rowland appointed Foley as co-chair of some special committee on divorce and custody. Foley’s ex-wife wrote a letter against the appointment. That insolent cow! How dare she, you know, after the guy beat her and everything!

Now check THIS out. As I mentioned, Fedele has chosen to use public funding for his campaign. This disallows any special interest groups or any one contributor the ability to donate boatloads of money with the idea there may be some favors to repay. THAT my friends, is a sign of integrity.

Foley has challenged the Constitutionality of Connecticut’s Campaign Finance Rules not once, but three times all the way to the Supreme Court in an effort to keep Fedele from collecting the money he is entitled to in order to campaign for the primary. Luckily, this hat trick failed miserably. He has lost (thankfully) all three times. The guy isn’t even elected yet and he is spending tons of taxpayer money on frivolous lawsuits!

These are the forensics of the sociopathic politician. Someone who buys their way into political posts without the burden of having to serve at any quantifiable capacity, a person who uses their purchased, not earned, political capitol to satisfy their own need to be recognized. It is actually pretty sad, not just for Tom, but for the public as well.

So, I beg you CT GOPers to please vote for Fedele in the Primary on August 10^th. I would much rather be writing posts on those other two sociopathic politicians Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy.

Connecticut GOP Needs an Enema

 It should be blatantly obvious I support Rob Simmons in his Senate campaign to replace epic thief Chris Dodd in Connecticut. I’ve stated pretty strongly I think, my opinion on his opponents.

Sadly, the Connecticut GOP in a move both embarrassing to real Republicans and insulting to someone like Simmons who has given his entire career to public service, voted to get behind WWE former CEO Linda McMahon as their Senate candidate. On the surface, I can claim to be completely shocked and appalled by this horrific misstep, but I understand how it happened.

McMahon has the dough, plain and simple. She is a shiny new penny and Rob is the tried and true gold standard. Unfortunately, shallow people fall for the wiles of a shiny new penny almost every time. It is wrong and it’s disgusting when applied to politics, but it is fairly predictable. And, although there is a plethora of things I would like to say about the delegates that get sent to these conventions and allowed to vote, I am going to keep my mouth shut and just rant on other topics.

I say it was predictable because after all it was McMahon’s $16 million bucks of research money which turned the spotlight on Dickie Blumenthal’s (the Democratic challenger), lies about being a Vietnam Veteran when he wasn’t. That was a pretty serious blow to Blumenthal’s campaign and whilst Republicans should be grateful for it, it is no reason to get behind someone who is even more despicable than Blumenthal.

Blumenthal is a sneaky little weasel that has been able to keep his shenanigans from being uncovered by the liberal press. He is a master at staying under the radar screen as far as his actions go. However, he is also brilliant at staying in the spotlight by attending ceremonies and innocuous events. That’s a politician not a public servant. Held to his actual record, Dickie would look pretty evil, ineffective and an amazing waster of taxpayer dollars.

McMahon, well, her character is displayed right out in the open with no filter whatsoever, and she is arrogant enough to believe people will toss aside the image she portrayed as the CEO of a violent, deviant sex promoting and vulgar company in favor of a more caring obsequious Senator-type visage. Those millions are obviously serving her well in this image makeover she has been crafting over the last 18 or so months. She has been able to dazzle the Republican delegates and intends on doing the same for Connecticut voters.

Where the GOP really F’ed up is in buying into the money over message principle. Yes, money does win elections. However, tactically speaking, when you have a candidate with both the ability to raise a considerable amount of money from his potential constituents and has the right message and ability to deliver on that message, then you have a real winner. McMahon may have the personal dough to throw at this thing, but she lacks the integrity, knowledge and ability to empathize with real people.

As the man says: you can’t fix stupid and although this is a blaring injustice on the part of the Connecticut GOP, there is hope.

Simmons has spent virtually nothing getting his message out and the result is he only lost to this scumbag by just over 100 delegate votes. That’s impressive and should serve as a harbinger of how Simmons does business. It also means that he has a campaign fund large enough to merit a primary. That is good for Connecticut voters. I am willing to bet Rob’s message will sink in more with real voters over the types of political hacks that vote in conventions. (Oops, I let my opinion slip there. I will do a post on delegates sometime in the future.)

Primaries kind of suck. They cost a lot of money and cause hard feelings within their respective parties. Time and time again, allies who could be productive in congress with each other working on real issues, become enemies and the whole Democratic process becomes more screwed up. In this case though a primary is warranted as I and many others believe the duped delegates do not represent what real voters want in a candidate.

Simmons will have to pull out all the stops in fighting McMahon in a primary, but he can do it. His people are going to have to put together the right kind of message delivery in terms of serious content mixed with a little mud slinging. What Simmons has in his favor is the fact the mud is for real when it comes to McMahon and not just a bunch of low blows thrown out there to garner support.

I urge all Connecticut Republicans tired of the systematic belittling of our wishes by this Government to go out and vote for Rob and toss this piece of garbage, attention seeking jackass out of the political ring and back into the gutter where she belongs. That way we can start working on punting Dickie Blumenthal into retirement and save us all a lot of dough.

G.I. Dickie

Here’s a tip: If you are going to run in a Senate race and one of your opponents is a decorated War Veteran, don’t falsely claim you served in the same War, you know, unless you really did.

Back in my home state Connecticut; the race is really cooking for Master Thief Chris Dodd’s soon to be vacant Senate seat. I love this race because the comedic value is gigantic. Two of the candidates are amusing as hell.

We have a horrendous purveyor of sex, violence, and all manner of depravity in Linda McMahon, a Republican and part owner of the WWE. Then there is Attorney General Dick Blumenthal, a Democrat who has a penchant for suing and bullying small businesspeople because he doesn’t have enough game to stand out on the National playing field, and has darkened the doorway of the Attorney General’s office since Christ was a Corporal in the foot guard. 

Fortunately, in Connecticut there is an anomaly to political races all over the country; a candidate people can actually get behind with confidence. Republican Rob Simmons. From all the words I have committed to Simmons you would think I was working on the campaign, or was just otherwise kissing his ass. Well, I am not a campaign worker and I have no need to brown nose the man, it is just so rare that a real public servant throws their hat in the ring.

Seldom do I get to showcase a solid and committed candidate. I know in these times it isn’t en vogue to get behind a successful, older white male, considered to be part of the “establishment”. But, there are a few good ones left and Rob is one of them.

I said it before and I will state it one more time, it is almost insulting that Simmons has to suffer battling two such candidates for a seat he is so obviously more qualified to have.

However, this post is not about Simmons qualifications, you can read about that here: http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/search?q=simmons&updated-max=2010-02-09T20%3A25%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20

What I want to talk about is Dick Blumenthal falsely claiming, or at least having alluded to serving in Vietnam. The New York Times recently published an article explaining what Dick Blumenthal’s time spent as a Marine really looked like in opposition to what he says at ceremonies and campaign stops.

Par example. Here is a quote from a 2008 address to Veterans and Senior Citizens in Norwalk, CT:

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam. And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

The Times claims the truth is Dickie did everything he could to avoid Vietnam and he did, successfully. Dickie received five deferments, so he could attend Harvard, which on its face isn’t really a big deal, a lot of soldiers did the same thing. However, when it looked like the last deferment might not happen, Dickie worked hard to land himself a far less dangerous gig with the Marine Reserve. You know what those guys do? Arrange perilous local activities and events like organizing Toys for Tots campaigns.

Here is the Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18blumenthal.html

Dickie is pretty disgusting at baseline in the way he manipulates and uses ambiguity in his speeches in order to speak out of two sides of his face. He would like you to think he is Joe Lieberman-esque only without Joe’s ability to give frank, honest assessments that may not be popular with his constituents. Dickie wants to make everyone happy even though he has no intention of doing that in actual practice. He will smile at you while twisting the knife up under your rib cage. Oh wait, he’s not trained to do that, but I bet he can wrap up a toy GI Joe nice and pretty.

Using ambiguity or flat out mis-truths when speaking of time served in the Military is particularly disgusting. I don’t care if as a politician you play fast and loose with facts when it comes to shoring up your platform, that’s SOP and people will either see it for what it really is, or not. But, when you claim to have served this country overseas in the line of fire when you haven’t, well, that is particularly despicable and steals away a little piece of valor from all those who have given their lives, limbs, or sanity to make sure we all deservingly or not, get to enjoy the lives we do. 

We reap what we sow in this life and I am glad that FINALLY someone has exposed Dickie for what he really is; a brilliant user of language as power, media savvy about his image and more importantly a dishonest, egotistical, hypocrite whose time in public office should have run out years ago.

Ironically, it was not the NYT that came up with the research, which led to their article. Big surprise, it’s not like they would ever have said anything negative about Dickie on their own. It was Linda McMahon’s crack research team that provided the leads for the NYT to run with. Her campaign likes to brag that they have $16 million to toss at tactical research avenues in order to discredit her opponents. I see this as good for Simmons as he has nothing to hide or run from. For Blumenthal, all I can do is laugh. McMahon’s money is exactly what was needed to expose him for what he really is.

As I finish up this post, it is T-minus 9 minutes until Dickie gets on TV and explains himself. This should be good. Expect an update.

Rob, I hope you sent a nice Thank You note to Linda. She just may be the best thing your campaign has seen yet!

UPDATE:

And, this is his reply:

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/connecticut/blumenthal-admits-he-misspoke-about-vietnam-era-service

Lame.

Well, you can't defend the indefensible. There was a great moment during the news conference during the introduction where the presenter referred to an event for veterans where Dickie stood in the rain giving a speech for 4-5 minutes. This was supposed to show Dickie's true commitment to his country and Veterans and diffuse the issue at hand. Damn, that's good stuff right there!

Good Police Chief, Bad Mayor

Nestled between New Haven, CT to its West, and Branford, CT to the East is a town called East Haven. It’s a unique kind of place. It’s not a destination point you will see in any travel magazine, nor is it particularly famous for anything outside of the immediate area.

The town has characteristics reminiscent of both its book end neighbors. New Haven has graced the place with its urban influences on the West side and Branford; a beautiful coastal suburb with lots of money, history, and tourist attractions give East Haven an interesting confluence of culture and population towards it’s West. It even has a beach area; think Jersey Shore only a little poorer.

What East Haven lacks in sights, culture, and history it makes up for in the proud people who live there. The town has become a caricature of Italian American stereotypes due to its once largely Italian American population, a demographic that has been changing over the last 20 or so years. Unlike most of the towns around it, East Haven has been slow to gentrify and proudly so.

The citizens seem to almost relish in the guido and mob jokes set upon them by morning DJ’s even to the point where there is a traditional song parody called Christmas time in East Haven played during the Holidays. Check it out, it’s funny as hell and gives you a great perspective on the place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCd1HHLVY5g

I said it has been slow to gentrify, but for a while it had been attracting a wealthier crowd during the late 1990’s on up until a couple years ago. People interested in locating deeper into New England either from New York or what is known as the “gold coast” of Connecticut saw East Haven as a more economically feasible place to land than the wealthier towns to the East.

This was thanks to a Mayor who was the perfect embodiment of the essence of the Town itself. Joe Maturo was a former firefighting, master electrician, working class guy who served the town for six terms. He was wildly popular and worked tirelessly to get his town as much attention as he could. It was easy for him because he had no problem getting the attention of people with his easy charm and ability to do exactly what his constituents wanted him to.

When Joe was elected, he put together a crack team of Town officials committed to the same goal he had; making East Haven a place people wanted to come to while maintaining it’s proud heritage. He was a force.

Enter Lenny Gallo, veteran police officer retired from the New Haven Police Department. Lenny became Joe’s Police Chief. Lenny is old school for sure and in East Haven, CT that is the only kind of cop to have.

Joe and Lenny became almost legendary. They worked their asses off and they played their asses off too. They were as popular out on the town as they were in the town. Even when they socialized they were talking about initiatives and how great the town was and what they were going to do next and so on and so on. They lived and breathed East Haven. The dedication was like none I have ever seen.

The amazing thing was; beyond the cursory need to belong to a party, Joe really didn’t play politics much. Of course, he played it a little; everyone in Government has to, but not to the point of any real scandal. Like any successful politician Joe had friends on both sides of the aisle.

Why am I talking about some guido town in Connecticut from my comfy home in San Diego? I’ll tell you why.

21 votes booted Joe out of the Mayor’s office in 2007. 21 votes. Hardly a mandate, although you would think it was by the way the winner of those 21 votes acted.  The victor, a nobody, known as April Capone Almon is a truly despicable human being who upon winning the Mayor’s office by such a slim margin declared Joe to have been a demon sent from Hell, and the people who worked for him his minions.  She made no secret that she would disband the “old boy’s club” that Joe had allegedly formed including Lenny Gallo. Of course she would be an expert on such things given her experience as a part time disc jockey and salesperson at Verizon, the extent of her life experience. Sounds like a President I know!

Fast-forward a year into her term.

One fine day at the beach aforementioned, one of Lenny’s officers was ticketing cars to be towed away that were parked illegally. It is important to note this officer is a Republican; the Mayor is a Democrat. The Mayor happened to be in the area (hopefully not in a swimsuit) and took issue with the officer having the cars towed. She got on the phone with the police dispatcher and asked to speak with Lenny. Lenny wasn’t available so she basically lost it using language any sailor would be proud of, (or me for that matter) and demanded that the cop call off the tow trucks stating she was the Mayor and her power superseded the Chief’s. Can you say “power trip”?

Well, the Mayor got arrested for that little incident and the true war began. She alleged the Chief arrested her based on purely political motivation since the officer was a Republican and this happened to take place during an election year. I honestly don’t know what party affiliation Lenny is. The police and prosecutor who issued the warrant maintained the Mayor was arrested because she broke the law by interfering with an officer. To the right is her mug shot. Purdy isn’t she?


Here is the dispatch audio tape. Great Stuff!


http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_haven_cty/news_wtnh_easthaven_exclusive_mayor_recording_200909032252_rev1

The charges were eventually dropped but you can imagine the outcry on both sides and she did win her re-election. What a fiasco. The woman is so clearly into aggrandizing herself it is unbelievable. Her speeches and media manner are so transparent it is painful to watch. Seeing her makes you want to shower, but then listening to her, or reading her quotes makes you want to pull your skin off altogether. 

Hell-bent on revenge, Capone Almon took advantage of an incident that happened on the Chief’s watch where his officers were accused of racial profiling. The Department of Justice was brought in due to a complaint lodged by the folks alleging the profiling. Capone Almon was more than happy to oblige an investigation into Lenny’s department.

Any small town police department investigated by the DOJ is going to suffer some scalding critiques. There is just not enough money in the budget of any town in this country to have a perfectly systematic police department. Ok, maybe that is a generalization. In some towns where there are new agey renaissance chiefs, more effort may be put into sensitivity training, but East Haven ain’t one of them.

East Haven’s police department is run just fine and the town is not subject to anymore or less crime than a town of equal size and demographics. In other words, Lenny does the kind of job you would expect from a 40-year police veteran and he is perfect for East Haven. The Mayor however, is not.

Consider this; the DOJ sends the Mayor a preliminary report stating very predictable deficiencies in the department. In fact, it could have been a form letter sent to just about any department in the United States. Read it here: 

http://media2.wtnh.com/_local/documents/DOJ.pdf

Upon reading the preliminary report, this dirt bag Mayor puts Lenny on paid administrative leave, the first disciplinary action in his career. Police Chiefs are protected by State Statute and cannot be fired or suspended without cause. There was no causality stated in this report; there is no cause to discipline Lenny. However, the Mayor and her equally stupid Town Attorney decided this was the best course of action. Any guesses as to how much this is going to cost East Haven taxpayers to litigate?

On the very same day, there is a story in the paper about the Mayor donating one of her kidneys to someone she doesn’t even really know from Facebook. Aw, isn’t that sweet? Want to know when she started chatting with this dude? Right after the incident at the beach. Interesting. That is probably one of the most twisted publicity stunts I have ever heard of. It seems farfetched, but not for this person.

The bottom line is; it is a sad state of affairs when a person is so insecure she has to run for office to get acceptance and then recklessly drag down people who actually care about what they do. I wish Lenny all the luck in the world. And, to that thing that calls herself the Mayor; karma is coming to get you.

And, here is a little tip Mayor; if you want to be in the public spotlight so much, spend less time on Facebook and more time with a stylist.

Politician vs. Public Servant

The biggest problem in government today is career politicians. I know, that statement is so obvious it borders on the ridiculous, but sometimes we need to hear it in very simple terms to realize how screwed up something is. Being masters of the obvious is not something we Americans do well. We overanalyze and think far too much and way too often lose sight of what the core problems are.

If you have been reading this blog then you know I have a serious distaste for Government. Again, maybe too obviously, my disdain stems from the idiots running Government. These morons have no idea what the term “public servant” means. They believe that just by virtue of the fact they have somehow received the label “politician” that they are automatically qualified to run for any office their pea brains take a fancy to.

There is a perfect example of this happening right now in Connecticut.

Susan Bysiewicz is this repulsive creature that has darkened the office of Secretary of State for three excruciatingly long terms after having been a State Representative. Susan is a serial candidate in that in every election she seems to want to become something else. In the last two Gubernatorial Elections, the Creature announced her candidacy and then withdrew. Both times.

Her latest quest is for Attorney General, as the current Attorney General is running for Senate. This is of course after she originally announced running for Governor and once again backed out.

The Creature is a lawyer by trade but spent little time practicing law and absolutely no time in the courtroom. In Connecticut, as would be prudent, the rules are that an Attorney General must have at least 10 years of private law experience under their belts, or horrendous tweed skirt in this case.  

Susie as is her custom, believes she is above the rules and is trying to claim her time spent as Secretary of the State should be considered an appropriate substitute for private practice experience. Dick Blumenthal our current Attorney General would not rule on that question (because he is a little pussy when it comes to people in his own party) and referred the case to the Connecticut Superior Court (great use of our resources) and the Creature has stated that should she lose, she will sue again claiming the rules to be unconstitutional. Really? I mean, really Susie?

She also used a software program purchased by the State of Connecticut and used to gather information on voters for official business, as her own personal database for campaign fishing. Nice, huh?

This is a fun read:

http://connpolitics.tv/index.php/2010/04/07/bysiewicz-transcript-released

This repulsive, beady-eyed little weasel will do anything to advance her career. For some reason, which I cannot even on my most objective days figure out, this idiot has fans! I don’t know if maybe she just has a large extended family, or if by some weird cosmic twist, the Secretary of State actually has some power to offer special interest groups in exchange for support. She is certainly not popular because she has achieved anything besides a reputation for wanting to run for anything that happens to come along on any given day.

The Creature is a perfect example of the difference between the mindset of a politician vs. the mindset of a public servant. She couldn’t care less about being qualified to be the Attorney General and is willing to question the constitution and cause a major ruckus just to get on the ballot. A ruckus that will cost taxpayers hundreds, and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A politician is in it for himself or herself, they don’t really care about the people or the greater good. They have some kind of psychological defect that makes them crave attention, or the need to line their pockets because they can’t make it in real life.

A public servant is someone who wants to help. From my own experience I got involved in politics to govern, not to be a politician. In fact, I got out because of the lack of Governing that actually goes on. I felt I had been lucky in life and wanted to pass on what little knowledge I had to help the greater good. In retrospect, apparently those were the wrong reasons!

To separate the politicians from the honest to goodness public servants, you must listen to their language.

Recently, that weirdo Elliott Spitzer has been popping up all over the media saying he wouldn’t mind getting back into “politics”. He didn’t say “Government”, he said “politics” and while waxing philosophical about his situation with an interviewer he made the statement: “I love politics” and that he “is in agony over not being where he would like to be”.

The Whoremaster goes on to say that although he isn’t actively running for anything that the Comptroller of New York is an underutilized government office and he may like to use it to “force corporate reform in ways the legal system and regulation cannot”. He would do it by using the billions the government holds in public pension funds to power his way into a voice of force against business. Yay, that’s just what we need.

The point here again; he hasn’t mentioned anything about wanting to help the people of New York, all he wants is a chance to wield power again. He needs that fix. It’s politics not government.

Read about it here:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/07/news/eliot_spitzer.fortune/index.htm

Lord Falderal through Obamacare has given us the biggest example of politician vs. public servant. The public didn’t want Healthcare Reform but he jammed it down our throat anyway. The public wants job creation. He has yet to work on that and instead has just wandered on his merry way forcing his own personal agenda items. And, out of the three people mentioned here in this post, he has the LEAST amount of experience for the job he has been elected to do!

Until we start electing people who understand what it is to be a public servant and realize politics is just the vehicle to get there, this country is going to continue down the slippery slope to ruin.

Introducing Connecticut Senate Candidate Richard Blumenthal

This is the first of a series of posts on Connecticut Attorney General turned Senate Candidate, Richard Blumenthal.

Ah, the case of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), or as I refer to him, “Dickie”. I have studied the dance of Dickie for years and years, wondering exactly where he would land after wearing out the AG’s lair. He is by far the smarmiest of political figures in the great State of Connecticut.

For those of you unaware of Dickie and his dastardly doings as Attorney General of Connecticut, let me scribe a little tome that is both entertaining and disgusting all at the same time. Dickie’s story is possibly one of the best political tales in modern American politics.

Dickie is an amazing politician, but not an amazing public servant. He has served (I use that term loosely) the State of Connecticut as its Attorney General since 1991, gaining such popularity as to be considered by most people in the political know, a gubernatorial candidate in the last four Governor’s races, although he never did commit to running in any of them. Popularity is not the only thing he has had all these years, he also has the chops needed to stay relevant. 

Dickie is the perfect example of consummate career politician. He’s a Harvard Law grad, big surprise I know, and has some pretty good legal tutelage under his belt including a stint as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. He was voted into every office he ran for at a very young age, eventually rising up from State’s Attorney to State Representative to his present position. Now, the good Attorney General is gunning for the Senate seat being vacated by long term Senator and master thief, Chris Dodd.

His latest maneuver is a magnificent illustration of just how Dickie plays the political game so successfully. In an effort to look “independent” of the currently unpopular Falderal (Obama) Administration, Dickie has squawked about distancing himself from the President during his Senatorial campaign. This is interesting given he received a congratulatory phone call from Falderal and Gaffemeister Biden about five minutes after announcing his run, which he was quick to bandy about to every news agency willing to listen, very proud of his Presidential approval apparently, at least at the time.

This latest development is sure to piss off the Falderal Administration given their relief at Dodd’s retirement announcement.  Dodd was facing a very tough run indeed; given his past scandals were beginning to catch up to him. Falderal et al, cannot afford to lose any more seats in the Houses than already projected in the mid terms. Certainly they must see Dickie as a safer bet than Dodd, however being frozen out by the darling of the Connecticut Democratic Party doesn’t bode well for them, it could bode well for Dickie, though.

This “independent” strategy is something Dickie has always found useful in order to promote his own political agenda. See, Dickie gave up caring about such small things as constituents’ years ago. He knows how to use the power of popularity, and if you happen to be a politician within his particular orbit experiencing popularity challenges when Dickie is trying to achieve something, consider yourself persona non grata until you clean up your house; even if you happen to be the President of the United States!

There is always a little bit of a wink, wink with Dickie when it comes to members of his own party. He’ll look you in the eye while stabbing you in the back with wild abandon, yet even the ones being stabbed seem to forgive him. Dickie is on the ultimate of power trips and he masterfully navigates his way through by clinging to what has been a good run, lacking any semblance of scandal in his career. Well, none that has made the news anyway.

AG Dickie is the master of making minutiae seem big. He can blow up a headline like no one’s business, and it is oft said amongst Connecticut politicos that the most dangerous place to find yourself is between Dickie and a TV camera! Especially, if the topic at hand has hit a hot button somewhere.

(This example is obviously an exaggeration, but the meat of it is actually a fair illustration of Attorney General Blumenthal’s modus operandi.)

Example: A puppy has been hit by a GM car in Podunk, CT. Expect to see a dark Crown Vic with CT Plate #3 prowling around somewhere in the vicinity whilst Dickie holds the bleeding carcass in his arms vexing not only the driver of the car and the owner of the dog, but GM for designing a car with engineering flaws disallowing unencumbered views of wayward Chihuahuas underneath the bumper line. And, he will sue everyone involved. The cases will never make it to court because all Dickie wants is the headline. What happens after that, means nothing while the risk of losing a case in court and looking bad is not an option. Settling is what Dickie wants because he can do it by using fear.

Dickie is famous for using the might of the AG’s office to smack down his targets in favor of making himself look like the savior of the State’s taxpayers. And, it is a heavy sword he carries. No businessperson wants a beef with the State and their formidable resources.

The AG’s office has claimed hauling in many millions of dollars in settlements for the State of Connecticut during the reign of Dickie however questionable it is as to how that money made its way into the State’s coffers and how much taxpayer dough it took to realize those settlements. I can’t prove this because the available numbers are nebulous at best, but I would be willing to bet the taxpayers are getting a pretty good screwing when all is said and done.

There is one very telling example of Dickie’s work, which has garnered some serious media attention lately and proves that at the very least the AG may cost the State an $18 million jury award sometime in the future.

Here is the whole story: http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/464453.txt

The short story is; a small computer company who had contracts to deliver Dell computers to Connecticut State Agencies was accused of selling inferior units. Dickie stepped in and launched an investigation in which the owners were given the whole of four, that’s 4, days to comply with an court order to account for the specifications of thousands of computers sold over many years. That’s like tying your hands behind your back and being told to build an Ark in four days. When the company couldn’t comply, their owner was arrested and charged with larceny. Then Dickie sued the company for $1.75 million, three times what he figured the actual amount due to the State could have been… if proven.

The computer company, as aforementioned not a big business, fortunately had the wherewithal to countersue the State of Connecticut and were awarded $18.3 million by the jury, who stated many different reasons for why they reached that verdict including the conclusion that Dickie overstepped his bounds. The company surely won’t see the whole 18 mil, but they will get something, indeed the company should get something as they lost dearly over the years it took to dredge through this case. A smart State Attorney General would settle this thing and go fishing for some other innocent sucker. Not Dickie. Nope, Dickie has avowed vengeance and will spend many more hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of taxpayer money appealing the verdict. Because of course, Dickie cannot be made to look bad!

I like to use Dickie’s hair as a metaphor for his career. Yeah, it’s mean but hey, you want a friend in politics? Get a dog.

Dickie has some extreme follicular challenges. There is a base of hair on which to work with, but it ain’t much. I am certain however, that when let down, at least one portion of it must hit the floor at some point. Through some miracle of modern science he is able to coax the remaining veteran hairs into a magnificent piece of sculpture that gives the appearance of covering almost all of his Harvard educated dome. It has to take some real aplomb to achieve such majesty. From the front it is a facade of something almost normal in the hair lifecycle of the average man, if not a bit heavy on the axle grease. But, from behind, well, that is where the real beauty is. The rear view of Dickie’s head strongly resembles the stern of a classic Christ Craft day cruiser with the perfectly shellacked swooping lines coming back from the ears and colliding into a marvelous dovetail. The stuff is even Mahogany colored!

Yes, the more I think about it, the more ol’ Dickie’s career resembles that mop of amazing hair. Even though there is not much to work with, the appearance of a solid base never truly realized, is able to carry through and lift up to amazing heights of perceived achievement. Just watch out when the wind starts blowing.  

Rob Simmons vs Linda McMahon Smackdown!

The Real Linda McMahon

Well, I guess if you live long enough you really will see everything.

Political theatre is always entertaining until it becomes disturbing and perverse. I love my home state of Connecticut because it is small enough that I have been fortunate to meet most of our State government officials and political operatives over the years, thus enabling me to make personal determinations of who has the best interests of the state at heart and who is really just gunning for their own piece of posterity. I also get to know who the real hypocrites are.

I was gratified beyond belief the day Chris Dodd announced he was hanging up his Senator suit and sliding into private life. His is a career that would make any corrupt politician blush. If ever there were an argument for term limits, Dodd should be the seminal example. I was further gratified to learn that Rob Simmons a former Congressman, military man, CIA employee and Republican was willing to throw his name in as a candidate for Dodd’s seat.

Rob Simmons

Rob is a guy with the right amount of political polish, life experience and a clear understanding of what voters expect of their elected officials. Despite having lived and worked in Washington, Simmons is not a DC insider, which became obvious when he was voted out of office in favor of a political shill, who only won after being coddled and supported by Dodd and other useless Connecticut Democrats who have darkened the halls of Congress for seemingly eons.

I had two very small dealings with Simmons, which he wouldn’t even remember I am sure, but they struck me. I called his office for help on a business matter and even though I was outside of his congressional district, Simmons instructed his staff to jump on my issue and run with it. I called him because the representative in my district, one of the people who supported Rob’s Congressional opponent, never answered my repeated correspondence. Even though Simmons had no idea who I was and regardless of the fact I lived outside of his voting arena, he helped me out.

My second encounter with Simmons occurred at the State Capitol after he was voted out of office and our Governor Jodi Rell appointed him as the very first Business Advocate for Connecticut, a job he dove into and performed extremely well. I was impressed by his willingness to listen to any and all businesspeople with their varying problems while delivering honest, frank and sometimes brutal answers to their queries.

What really impressed me was that at the announcement of his appointment, Simmons had yet to be assigned an office, or even a telephone. Hell, they hadn’t even given him business cards yet. So, what did Simmons do? He handed out his own personal cards with his personal cell phone number written on the back to everyone and anyone who had an issue to discuss. That’s pretty damn cool. Rob’s particular brand of experience coupled with the ability to effectively communicate is rare.

As would be expected just about every yahoo wannabe senator has crawled out of the political muck to try and grab the much coveted seat being left by Dodd this year, especially Republicans. The smell of blood is in the air and anyone with the slightest red tint is ready to pounce.

One of those people ready to pounce is Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Yes, you read that right, the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Now, we shouldn’t pass judgment here just based on the fact the company McMahon runs happens to be a joke to most of us. After all, regardless of their end product, the WWE is wildly successful and we should give the devil his or her due. McMahon is obviously a capable businessperson but that doesn’t make her a good potential public servant.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, as much as I love political theatre and this situation really could be entertaining; there is a twisted and troubling aspect to this affair.

Linda McMahon popped out a series of beautiful glossy mailers, all depicting smiling attractive women in different positive lights as a very obvious and determined attempt to court the female vote. Admirable. Well, under normal circumstances, but not so much in this instance.

McMahon’s company thrives and ultimately exists on violence and in particular violence involving women. Whilst she may be correct in the idea that women fake fighting women and men fake fighting women may be titillating to a certain demographic, this philosophy really doesn’t lend to the idea of empowering female voters. Not to mention the message it sends to women in general, especially young women. How does she qualify this bizarre dichotomy? How does she justify wanting to represent the people of Connecticut in one of the most austere offices of our Federal government, while supporting the ideal that violence against women by men is morally acceptable?

To be fair, yeah, it is all fake and one does have to make a living somehow, but really this is not the platform from which to launch a career in the Senate. This is a person who by her everyday actions supports the degradation of women for profit. Women on WWE programs are routinely referred to as hos, bitches, sluts, what have you and are portrayed in the very worst possible light. Imagine your daughter emanating this piece of garbage?

Voting this person into office would be like voting in a President whose only job experience was working for an organization that pushed using taxpayer money for housing deals for pimps and pros-t-i-t-u-t….whoops…

Anyway, the idea that a guy like Rob Simmons has to suffer a pre-primary, or possible actual primary campaign against someone of this caliber makes my teeth hurt. I hope this obstacle goes away for Rob so I can start commenting on the pathetic lot that awaits him on the Democratic side! They are not quite as colorful as Linda McMahon, but they do make for good fodder!


Check out this video to get an idea of what Linda McMahon and her company profit from.