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| Juliana Simone |
Voltaire, one of Thomas Jefferson’s heroes who was driven
from country to country by the victims of his stinging wit, thought that if
states wanted to take a proper measure of freedom of expression, they should
ask what cannot be said. Many are the ways of clipping freedom of
speech.
The modern world offers unique possibilities. Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) does not paste gags over the mouths of its victims or lay them on racks,
pre-enlightenment methods much too crude for modern, refined sensibilities. But there is
a small, valiant number of contrarians in Connecticut who believe that PURA has
not been responsive to their justifiable pleas.
One of them is Chairman of the Barkhamsted Republican Town
Committee Juliana Simone – obviously a Republican and as obviously
conservative-leaning. Simone has been the Host/Producer of "Conservative
Chat", operating undisturbed out of a studio in Winsted, Connecticut for 14
years. Some notable guests she has interviewed over the years include: former
Republican congressmen Rob Simmons and Chris Shays; economist Peter Shiff, when
he was running for the U.S. Senate; U.S. Congressional candidates such as Matt Corey,
Dan Carter, and Brian Hill; First and Fifth District congressional
candidates Mark Greenberg, John Decker and Ann Brickley; Secretary of State candidate Peter Lumaj, as well as many
Republican State Senators and State Reps, including Kevin Witkos, Andrew
Roraback, Michael McLachlan,
John Piscopo, Selim Noujaim, Richard Ferrari, William Simanski, and many others
including this political writer.
The Winsted public access studio, which broadcasts to many strong Republican towns, is closing its doors.
Simone, not a fly-by-night political operator with shallow roots in Connecticut,
has been told by PURA, the court of last resort in matters such as these, that
a final decision to eliminate the studio from which she operates has been made
and it is useless to protest.
“You know,” she wrote to me from a wounded sense of deep
frustration, “they didn't televise our Republican state convention in full in
2018 for the first time ever that I've been a delegate, and that's been since
2008. I was on stage as a featured candidate in 2006 with Bob Ward. They had
always shown the convention in full, at the very least on CT-N. And 2018 was
a vital year for our state governor’s race.” The coverage that year was
abbreviated.
Unlike Democrats in Connecticut, Republicans have not yet
fallen into the progressive vortex. It is no secret that both political power
and the means of communication in super-blue Connecticut lie in the hands of seasoned and
very comfortable Democrats, many of whom
sit in the same political pew with Alexandria Occassio Cortes (AOC), the
socialist bartender from Queens, New York. Public access television shows like
“Conservative Chat,” provide an alternative political voice, and the studio in
Winsted also provides necessary informational programming for seniors and others
in its service area. Not so long ago, it used to be thought that the principal
mandate of good journalism was to afflict the comfortable and comfort the
afflicted. It will be far less possible, even for the traditional media, to
afflict comfortable Democrats in the state when conservative outlets have
been eliminated.
One need not wonder what a disturber of the peace such as
Voltaire might make of all this clipping of tongues for the purpose of harvesting
votes: “Another long-time PA cable host from Winsted called me and wants all of
the hosts to file complaints with PURA, as only one has so far, but [according
to a report in the Republican American], Charter's spokeswoman says PURA has
already said no to any hearing on their closing of the studio, without waiting
for any opposing letters. Unbelievable! This, to me, and I AM going to write
about it, and we can talk about it on the show, is purposeful censorship of conservative
voices to grassroots viewers and voters pre 2020 election.”
The members of the PURA board, each of whom earn $145,948 in annual salary,
are appointed to their posts by the governor of Connecticut, presently
toll-friendly Ned Lamont. By statute, the membership of the PURA board “shall
consist of three electors of this state, appointed by the Governor with the
advice and consent of both houses of the General Assembly." The
General Assembly has been controlled by Democrats for the last 30 years. PURA’s
FY budget is a generous $25,314,215,
according to Ballotpedia. And it is
no stretch to suppose that PURA’s decisions trickle down to members of the
board from Democrat governors and leaders in the Democrat dominated General
Assembly who provide PURA’s budget from tax dollars.
So, is PURA, at the behest of the Democrat Governor and Democrats in the General Assembly, attempting
to silence Republican voices in preparation for the upcoming 2020 campaign,
as Simone fears? What Voltaire, the
champion of free speech, said of books is true of any mode of speech: “It is with books as with the fire in our
hearths; we go to a neighbor to get the embers and light it when we return
home, pass it on to others, and it belongs to everyone.”
When the fire goes
out, all journalists should be discomforted.
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