Election 2014 - The Lesser State Races

Let’s get the ball rolling with some State offices that will appear on the ballot this year.  Specifically, we’ll take a look at the races for Attorney General, Comptroller, Treasurer, and Secretary of the State.  

Attorney General

There are three candidates running, Kie Westby for the Republicans, George Jetson Jepsen for the Democrats, and Stephen Fournier for the Green Party.  Let’s cut to the chase here… Jepsen looks good, mainly because, well, he’s the only one I’ve ever heard of, and after DICK Blumenthal, the single WORST A.G. the State of Connecticut has ever seen, was promoted to the US Senate, anybody, even Jepsen would look good.  Recommendation:  Jepsen

Comptroller

What does the Comptroller even do?  Well, I looked it up.  He’s basically the guy who provides accounting and financial services, as well as administering employee and retiree benefits.  Got it.  So who is running?  Sharon McLaughlin for the Republicans, Kevin Lembo, the incumbent Democrat and Rolf Maurer for the Greens are the candidates.  And this one is no contest.  Lembo administers the retiree plans, which are ridiculously under funded.  Does he tell that to the public?  Nah… That would make our Governor look bad.  Can’t have that.  And although Sharon McLaughlin shares the same last name as a girl I was sweet on in high school, that isn’t enough to make me overcome the obvious answer here.  You have to vote for the Green Party candidate!  His name is Rolf for crying out loud.  How can you not vote for Rolf!  Recommendation: ROLF Maurer

Treasurer

This one is also easy.  The treasurer is responsible for the Teacher’s Retirement Fund.  Denise Nappier has done NOTHING to close the incredible gap that exists there.  Right now there is a HUGE i-owe-u in there from the State because they’ve pissed the money away on things like the Colt redevelopment project and any other pet project the General Assembly had at the time.  So Nappier is out.  That leaves the only other candidate, Timothy Herbst.  So hold your nose, vote for the Republican.  After all, it’s for the CHILDREN!  Recommendation: Timothy Herbst

Secretary of State

Well this is an interesting one.  Peter Lumaj for the Republicans, Denise Merrill for the Democrats and S. Michael DeRosa for the Greens.  Well, this is too important a position to leave to the Greens so DeRosa is out.  The most important thing the Secretary of State does is elections.  That makes the remaining task simple.  Democrats want to make voting so easy that illegal immigrants (Yes – they are immigrants.  They are here illegally.  Therefore they are Illegal Immigrants, not “Undocumented Workers” as many don’t work, and documents makes it sound like there was a clerical error or something)… as I was saying, Democrats want illegal immigrants to vote for them.  I want to make sure that Voter ID laws are passed and enforced.  There is NOTHING more important to our democracy than ensuring that voters get to vote once, and once ONLY per election.  The choice is clear.  Recommendation:  Peter Lumaj

Well, that’s it for this round.  Stay tuned for updates on the higher races, the ballot questions, and my overall prediction of how the races will go.