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| Samson |
It’s a pretty straightforward news account, written by longtime reporter Chris Keating in the Hartford Courant and carried by the paper on its front page above the fold on Thursday, October 24 – “Senator claims election not secure.”
“Ariana Hernandez, who is a permanent resident but not a
citizen,” the paper disclosed, “said in a sworn affidavit to the state
Elections Enforcement Commission that Bridgeport city council member Alfredo
Castillo came to her house in 2023 and said that he could help her with voting.
‘He told me to sign the voter’s registration application,’ Hernandez said in
the affidavit that is dated October 4, 2024. ‘I did not fill out the form. I do
not know when it was filled. I did not indicate on the form that I was a
citizen. He told me that I would not have a problem if I voted as a permanent
resident.’… He told me to sign the voter’s registration application,’ Hernandez
said in the affidavit that is dated October 4, 2024.”
The form was signed by vice chairwoman of the city’s
Democratic town committee Wanda Geter-Pataky who, according to Hernandez,
falsely stated she helped Hernandez fill out the form.
All of this is illegal.
“In a separate case,” Keating noted, “Castillo and
Geter-Pataky have been arrested and charged along with two other campaign
workers in a Bridgeport Democratic mayoral primary election controversy. They
were among those charged in a high-profile case brought by the chief state’s
attorney’s office regarding the misuse of absentee ballots.”
There will always be a Bridgeport, a Democrat Party urban fiefdom
whose last Republican mayor left office in 1991. Connecticut is a deep blue
state, and its larger cities are Democrat Party strongholds.
It is by no means outrageous to conclude that unchallenged
dominance in cities invite political corruption. When no one has been looking
at political malfeasance for more than 30 years, politicians will be
politicians.
WBur has provided a brief overview
of politicians being politicians in Bridgeport.
Enter State Senator Rob Samson, a student of moral and
political corruption, and an annoying gadfly to those Democrats whose
consciences have not been worn thin by decades of political control and
corruption in Connecticut’s larger cities.
“And by the way: it’s not just a ‘Bridgeport Problem,” said
Samson. “You can bet it’s been happening in other municipalities. We need
reform in Connecticut’s absentee voting process. Republicans and I have been
shouting from the rooftops about this for a long time prior to the viral
Bridgeport ballot stuffing videos which made Connecticut a national
embarrassment. Now, we have this news. Are you sick of seeing it?”
In response, according to Keating, “Senate President Pro
Tempore Martin Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff called on Sampson to
retract his statements.”
Without visibly blushing, the two issued the following obiter dicta, managing to squeeze into
their tortuous statement all the usual themes concerning democracy and leading,
according to many polls, Republican candidate for President Donald Trump:
“Republican Senator Rob Sampson’s Trump-playbook, dishonest claim that voter
fraud is occurring in various Connecticut cities and towns is a direct threat
to our democracy. Falsely asserting there is widespread voter fraud in our
state is nothing but a desperate attempt to sow doubt regarding the integrity
of our elections. This Trumpian falsehood serves as a local version of national
rumors and baseless accusations from the Republican Party. It’s the same
rhetoric that led to the events of January 6, 2021, and it’s the same rhetoric
that’s been circulating nationally for months, well before any voter even cast
a ballot, to lay seeds for another attempted overthrow of the American
government.”
Sigh…
Sampson responded: “Retract my statement? Hell, no.
Connecticut Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for accusing me of
undermining election officials. I could not have been more clear: My issue is
with Democrat-backed policies. Connecticut Democrats continue to undermine our
American values and culture, making our state less affordable and less safe,
and undermining the sanctity of our election process.”
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