Coutu Enters U.S. Congressional Race

The late Bill Buckley announced the mission of National Review Magazine, a publication he started and still the best conservative nursery bed of ideas, when he pledged that NR would stand “athwart history, yelling STOP, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”

Then as now, much of the nation – and nearly all of Connecticut – was a bastion of a fervent but mischievous liberalism. So, at National Review, there was much yelling of STOP over the years. Mr. Buckley, surely the most prolific conservative in the nation, lived for many years in Stamford, Connecticut in house nestled in a quiet cove but painted shocking pink. When his wife Pat, every inch Bill’s competitor in wit, was asked “Why pink?” she responded – “to attract the sailors.”

Although not always the case, Connecticut’s congressional delegation is, some people will have noticed, now entirely made up of liberals. Present U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy styles himself a progressive, but progressivism is little more than armed liberalism.

Former U.S. Reps. Nancy Johnson, Rob Simmons – who lost to his Democratic opponent Mr. Courtney by a scant 86 votes -- and Chris Shays, all defeated by unapologetic liberals, were styled by Connecticut’s left of center media as “moderate Republicans,” and the big Republican enchilada, Sen. Lowell Weicker, the father of Connecticut’s income tax, had “Republican Maverick” emblazoned on his escutcheon for much of his career. Mr. Weicker obviously did not subscribe to National Review Magazine, nor was he much inclined to place himself athwart the leftist current of his time yelling STOP.

The last moderate New England congressional Republican, Chris Shays, was turned out of office three years ago, and his defeat left Republicans in New England without representation in the House for the first time in 150 years. The national debt – really, just the tip of debt obligations visible above the surface of the water – is now $14 trillion. The entire national debt – including all state, federal and municipal obligations – is about $140 trillion. The current national administration and left of center Democrats in the Congress propose to dig their way out of this debt hole by removing economic seed money from the economy in taxes, hoarding it in Washington D.C. and parceling it out in the form of grants or tax dispensations to industries they have tagged as winners. Here in Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy is aggressively following the same path to insolvency.

If anyone in Connecticut’s left of center media is inclined to look favorably upon conservatives who boldly stand athwart the state’s most recent history yelling STOP, it is not obvious from recent stories and commentaries. It is a given of the times in which we live that Chris Coutu, a state Rep. from Norwich who has announced plans to run against current U.S. Rep Joe Courtney in Connecticut’s sprawling 2nd District, cannot expect objective and fair treatment from the state’s establishment media, which has always operated on the principle that there is no enemy to the left – which, come to think of it, is part of the reason why the road ahead had become so clotted with job killing regulations, high taxes and ruinous ideas.

Most of Mr. Coutu’s supporters feel, as their state and nation approaches the edge of the abyss, that it is long past time to yell STOP.

Mr. Coutu, at the time of his election the only Republican state or federal legislative official in Southeastern Connecticut, is not at all discouraged by the odds facing him. Indeed, through a combination of right messaging and hustle, he was able to defeat popular 14-year incumbent Democratic incumbent Jack Malone in the state’s 47th district and has successfully fended off challengers ever since.

Frustrated by Connecticut’s rampant spending and the air of inevitability in the Democratic dominated General Assembly, Mr. Coutu in 2009 established the Common Sense for Connecticut Coalition, a group whose mission is constructed on four pillars: aggressive deficit and debt reduction through spending cuts; holding elected officials accountable; increasing government efficiency by prioritizing, consolidating and outsourcing some services; and ending budget gimmicks designed to mask state government's fiscal irresponsibility – all goals that would pay rich dividends in Washington’s Beltway .

The CSCC has promoted candidates that subscribe to its mission and was partly responsible for bringing into the General Assembly the greatest number of newly elected officials within one party since the party lever had been removed in 1986.



Perhaps more than his considerable energy, Mr. Cuoto’s message may resonate well with voters as he engages present U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney in a 2nd District battle – and that message almost certainly will include yelling STOP.