Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

It was one of those pictures, courtesy of CTMirror , that says more than a thousand words. The old Democrat Party chairman, Nick Balletto, credited by most progressives as having produced two of the most successful winning campaigns of any prior chairman in recent memory, is being tenderly embraced by the new chairwoman, Nancy Wyman, Governor Dannel Malloy’s Lieutenant Governor, while Governor elect Ned Lamont caresses Balletto's back, no knife visible in his hand. Lamont’s Lieutenant Governor, the personable Susan Bysiewicz, lips tightly sewn, looks on diffidently. Why did Lamont think it necessary to stiff Balletto?

Sometime after Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lee Whitnum was dragged from a debate stage in Brookfield and arrested – apparently for being Lee Whitnum – Connecticut Democratic Party Chair Nick Balletto issued the following directive to Fox News: “We’re a big tent party, we invite people from all walks of life to participate in our Party and the electoral process. But based on Lee Whitnum’s behavior tonight, and based on her behavior in the past, it’s clear that Lee Whitnum should not hold elected office and does not represent the Democratic Party, nor should she participate in Party functions at the local or statewide level.” There will be multiple versions of the event, Whitnum’s and everyone else's. Going forward, the standard among gubernatorial Democrats for dealing with disgruntled declared candidates for governor appears to be -- call the cops. The "big tent" party of law and order is on the prowl, and Brookfield obviously is not a sanctuary town in w...

The broad outlines of a Democratic Party campaign strategy begin to appear on the horizon. As may be expected, the strategy is a witch’s brew that includes artful attempts to escape any responsibility for inept policy decisions and awkward attempts to shuck off the disastrous consequences of poor policy on past opposing party predecessors who, fortunately, are now out of business and silent as tombs. Ducking responsibility is a cagey business involving at least four steps: 1) Decline to accept ownership of the pressing problem; 2) trace the origin of the problem to your predecessor ONLY if he is a member of the opposing party; 3) assert that the roots of the problem are beyond your reach -- i.e. declining revenues in Connecticut are an outgrowth of the national recession, and there is very little we can do about it; 4) transfer ownership of the problem to inept members of the opposing party.