Election 2014 – Major State Races

There are 3 races I want to cover here… State Senator, US Rep, and Governor.  These should be fairly straight-forward.

State Senator

Okay, so this is a 2 way race between incumbent Steve Cassano (D) and challenger Whit Osgood (R).  So we all know Steve Cassano, who was Mayor of Manchester for, like, a hundred years.  Steve never really understood his role here – see, Manchester is a “council/manager” type of local government where our Board of Directors appoints a Town Manager and everyone who works for the town (but not the schools) works for him.  Steve thought somehow that because he was Mayor, everyone, INCLUDING the Board of Directors as well as the Town Manager, along with the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools worked for Steve Cassano.  I remember watching him chair meetings, and his idea of Robert’s Rules of Order is that the Board member speaks, and then he speaks, then another Board member speaks, and then he speaks, etc. 

Anyway, seemed like he’d be a good State Senator because he wouldn’t be able to pull that kind of crap in the Senate.  But he has managed to worm his way into the Uconn stuff, and now he’s complicit in the scandal associated with the Uconn Foundation and the graft and corruption that is taking place at Uconn, all while he touts more money for the institution.  Now remember, I’m a Uconn grad, twice over, my oldest daughter currently attends Uconn, and my sister also is alumni.  So I’m pretty pro Uconn.  But a quarter of a MILLION dollars to have Hillary Clinton talk to a few hundred students?  Really?  Oh, Steve will explain that this is the FOUNDATION, not Uconn, and that the money was given and earmarked for Hillary and it’s all above board and all.  Tell us Steve… suppose a donor to the Uconn Foundation put up the same money to have Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, or maybe even Sarah Palin come and give a speech?  Would you be so accommodating then?

Meanwhile, there is Whit Osgood.  I don’t know much about him, but I had an Uncle Whit, and I liked him very much… And “Osgood” just reminds me of the Wizard of Oz, and the word “good”.  So…  Recommendation:  Whit Osgood

Congressional Representative

This is a 3 way race between incumbent John Larson (D), and challengers Matthew Corey (R) and Green Party candidate Jeffrey Russell.  So John Larson is a reliable Obama-man.  If you like Obama, you’ll love John Larson.  When gas topped $4.00 a gallon, he and DICK Blumenthal were out there yelling about the collusion and speculators in the oil markets.  Today… what’s that sound?  Oh right… crickets.  Apparently with gas looking to dip under $3.00 a gallon, that collusion and those speculators are all better now.  And by the way, if you want to know why gas ISN’T below $3.00 a gallon here in CT like it is in other states like New Jersey (hint, hint), it’s because of CT’s crazy high gas tax.  But hey, that’s Democrats helping the common man again.  

So bottom line, here is the recommendation:  Recommendation:  Democrats who would have voted for Larson in a 2 way race should vote for Jeffrey Russell – he totally agrees with you that gas taxes are too low.  Everyone else who has had enough of Obama should vote for Matthew Corey.  Let’s face it, this is his only way to win.

Governor

Well, the one you’ve all been waiting for… GOVERNOR.  There are three candidates for the office, incumbent Dan/Dannell/Dimwit/Dumbass/D****bag Malloy (D), and challengers Tom Foley (R) and Joe Visconti (R – Petitioning).  So let’s run these guys down… based on the advertising, Tom Foley is a ruthless, working man hater, uber-rich, yacht driving, man who will poison your children and make sure everyone ends up living in the mill housing and having to buy food at the mill store.  Meanwhile, Dan Malloy is a bungling, plan-less, tax raising, gun grabbing, union toady liar who will tax us into oblivion, abolish common sense, and force all your choices to be made by the government.  Joe Visconti doesn’t exist as far as the advertising world is concerned.

So where lies the truth?  Tom Foley isn’t my favorite choice.  I don’t have one in this race, but the closest guy to that would be Joe Visconti.  He opposes the gun control legislation, but this is a moot point as the GA will never send a bill relaxing those standards.  Joe at least acknowledges that state spending is out of control.  And that pension obligations are totally underfunded.

But Joe is a non-starter.  He can’t win.  All he’s really doing is syphoning votes away from Tom, or at least in greater measure than from Dan.  And that is not good given how close this race is.  And Dan CANNOT win re-election.  He will raise taxes again, having survived the first round.  He will be a Governor without any responsibility to the taxpayer, and the truly hard work of making choices will never happen.  Not until a completely Democratic state government has turned us into Detroit.  But there is one critical difference between a city going bankrupt and a state going bankrupt.  The difference is that states CANNOT go bankrupt.  All they can do is raise taxes and cut services at the same time.  They won’t be able to borrow anymore, as the bond markets will not lend.  Maybe the feds help.  But probably not.  So for my children, and everyone else’s…. Recommendation:  Tom Foley

P.S.  The last Governor who made a promise like Dan did in 2010, “I won’t raise taxes unless I have to”, was Lowell Weicker.  Lowell is counted by the JI as a Republican, but if there ever was a RINO, it was Lowell.  This is a guy who led the charge against Richard Nixon.  And after losing his Senate seat, he ran for Governor mostly as an independent.  The first thing he did was declare that things were much worse than he knew before the election, and then signed the Income Tax into law.  Ella Grasso, a Democrat who will have my undying respect, didn’t put in an income tax.  But we have to have one, cried the spenders… relying on the sales tax makes state government too dependent on economic cycles!  As if the income tax would fix that!  How’d that work out for you all?  So far, it’s cost me 10’s of thousands of dollars since it was put in.  Regardless, the important point to remember is that Lowell was a one term Governor.  We threw him out, and subsequent Governors were much more careful about tax increases from then on.  Now, we’re faced with essentially the same situation.  If we don’t throw the bum out, what becomes of Connecticut?