CT Republicans: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Guest Blog

By Sean Murphy

The August 14^th Republican primary left me quite confused.

In our current environment, only half of Republican voters voted for Joe Markley for Lt Governor.

We elected an actual outsider president who, astonishingly, makes and keeps promises. Americans of all political backgrounds despise double talking politicians. We can see every day how murderously the Swamp in DC behaves towards President Trump.

Why would so many Republicans not vote for a man, Markley, who not only led the anti-income tax Ax the Tax Revolt in 1991 but has always voted against tax increases? All relevant polls indicate that the economy continues to be the number one concern of voters. Here in Connecticut, ever increasing taxes continues to rasp voters of every political persuasion; not surprising since outgoing Governor Dannel Malloy has encumbered Connecticut with the largest and second largest tax increases in state history.

And yet nearly half of primary voters did not support the only politician among Republicans who has a consistent track record going back decades against taxes.

Pause for a second and think about this.

The reason why Republican Party regulars have tuned out on the question of ever increasing taxes and declined sufficiently to support Markley should be obvious to Stefanowski: The Connecticut Republican Party is controlled by people who have no desire to fix anything. These insiders simply want control for their own benefit -- financial power, political status and ego fulfillment. Most of the elected State Reps and Senators in Connecticut are only looking out for themselves. An obvious and irritating proof of this is that legislators get to count their mileage reimbursement towards their pension. Behind the scenes, where much of Connecticut intra-party politics occurs, the Republicans were successful in quashing ameliorative reform.

Previous candidates with a lot of money to throw around made sure they did. Insiders and elected officials (or their immediate families) were given jobs and/or their businesses were hired for campaign reasons. As the well-known WWF wrestler The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase said in his entrance song “Everybody’s Got A Price.”

If Republicans were interested in winning, they would lead and offer solutions to problems.

Bob Stefanowski will win the general election if he runs a true outsider campaign. He must repeatedly expose the corrupt system that has economically destroyed this state. This will require him to demand changes that negatively impact the pocketbooks of his fellow Republicans. He will find out that he will face a lot of resistance from his supposed “own party.”

To turn Connecticut around, there have to be massive structural changes to business as usual. The fat cats make a lot of money off the current system and will fight this tooth and nail (just like they have in Washington DC). It truly is them against us.

Sean Murphy is a Connecticut political activist.

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