We shall soon be heading for the Green Mountains, for two blessed weeks away from work. Before I leave I feel it is incumbent upon me to tell everyone out there how to vote.
Let me say first, that we have, for the most part, a fine roster of candidates. Whoever wins will have my support, with the exception of one candidate. See if you can guess which one. By the way, since I’ll be away, I’ve already put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. My absentee ballot is safely ensconced in the Town Clerk’s office.
Governor: Ned Lamont. I support Ned for a number of reasons. One is purely emotional. I feel like we owe Ned big time. He’s the guy who stood up when no one else would. Dick Blumenthal would be senator now if he’d done what Ned did. Ned lost in 2006, but he showed Democrats that they had to deal with the Iraq war issue, and he arguably helped save the party from itself, since before he came along every Democrat in Congress was running from the issue.
I also think that Ned would actually be more capable of dealing with the legislature than Malloy, though I think it will be a daunting task for either. He also seems prepared to make the hard choices that need to be made, some of which I know I may not like, to get this state moving in another direction. It’s an unfortunate fact of modern political life that after the Republicans destroy a governmental entity-and make no mistake, in this state it’s the governor that rules- a Democrat (or independent, e.g., Lowell Weicker) has to come in and clean things up, at the risk of being a one term governor (or president, or what have you). It’s an unfair world out there. I think Ned is more willing to follow in Lowell’s footsteps and do what needs to be done.
One final point: I had hoped that both candidates would operate on the premise that the need to get a Democratic governor was more important than that they personally get the nomination. I had hoped, but of course knew better, that they could keep the debate positive. Malloy was the guy that turned it negative, forcing Lamont to do the same. That’s a strike against him in my book.
Lieutenant Governor: Mary Glassman. Strictly because I think the governor should have the lieutenant governor of his or her choice.
Secretary of State: I voted for Gerry Garcia on the first ballot at the convention, but switched to Denise Merrill on the second. Something about Garcia’s attempt to switch his supporters to Jonathan Harris didn’t sit well with me. Only later did I realize that there had been an even more objectionable part of the deal, which gave New Haven’s delegate block to the loathsome, repulsive, Jarjura of Waterbury. I like Garcia personally, but anyone who had a part in easing Jarjura’s path to the primary should have to pay a price, if not in this life, then in the hereafter. Since I don’t believe in the hereafter, I’m going with Merrill here below.
Comptroller: Kevin Lembo. Kevin is a decent, honest and honorable guy. He would make an excellent comptroller.
Being no Shakespeare and incapable of adequately expressing my contempt for the guy, I will leave it to the bard to describe his opponent. He is:
A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir to a mongrel bitch: one whom I [would] beat into clamorous whining if [he] deni’st the least syllable of [his] addition.
Gosh, that guy could write, couldn’t he? (The foregoing, by the way, is merely an expression of opinion, no factual assertions are either expressed or implied, and of course it’s all in the spirit of constructive criticism.)
I understand that negative campaigning is a feature of political campaigns, but any decent person knows some limits, however difficult they may be to define. This is especially true in a primary. Jarjura’s fact free slime leaped over that line in a single bound. Besides, the guy is not even a real Democrat, given that he’s holding those tea-partiers so close (among other things).
Finally, there’s the fact that 1) he’s Mayor of Waterbury, and 2) he saw fit to hire John Rowland for a cushy job. Neither fact is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but either would constitute probable cause to believe that he’s not someone you want anywhere near your money.
So, there you have it. Now, go out and vote for the candidates of your choice, so long as you are voting for the candidates of my choice. Or, at least, don’t vote for the person I can’t support in November, if you can figure out which one that is.
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