Finances matter for state pols

With polls showing 80 percent of the voters disgusted or angry with Congress and the 20 percent not disgusted or angry apparently in a heat-induced coma, Connecticut voters will have only Democratic congressmen to blame next year. As a result, we may see stronger and maybe even better financed Republican challengers seeking to replace these Democrats in the 2012 election, leaving their congressional monopoly in some danger. By failing to put the country before politics and their re-election, both parties deserve to be punished for what a former Republican congressman aptly calls “playing brinkmanship with our credit rating.”Connecticut Republicans mistakenly thought 2010 was a Republican year even in purple Connecticut but they were shut out in the Senate and five House races and today, only one of their candidates is even remembered by most voters. That’s Linda McMahon, who showed us all you need are the desire and $50 million and anything is possible in Connecticut politics, except maybe winning. To paraphrase Lowell Weicker, a Republican must run as a moderate, but preferably a moderate with money. To run for a House seat, you must be able to compete financially with incumbents, who get lots of money from corporations that don’t particularly like them but are willing to invest in the opportunity to influence their votes year after year.John Larson’s opponent in the 1st District, which last elected a Republican in Eisenhower’s 1956 second-term landslide, was a perfectly respectable candidate named Ann Brickley, a self-employed engineer who spent $311,000 while Larson spent a mere eight times more, $2.4 million. In 2008, Larson outspent Joseph Visconti 10 to 1 and in the three elections before that, opponents didn’t raise enough to make a report to the Federal Elections Commission. Brickley proudly noted on her campaign website that she worked a long time for United Technologies, which, by coincidence, was Larson’s top donor, giving him $87,000. Brickley’s top donor was Brickley herself, who gave her campaign more than $200,000. In the second-most-Democratic 3rd District, which actually elected a Republican as recently as 1980, DeLauro outspent opponent Jerry Labriola $1.3 million to $196,000. Things weren’t much better financially for Republican candidates even in the 2nd District, where Joe Courtney defeated Republican Rob Simmons in 2006 and where the GOP has been known to win an occasional election. But Courtney was able to outspend Republican anchorwoman and novice candidate Janet Peckinpaugh nearly nine to one. His biggest contributor was General Dynamics, which makes submarines in his district. United Technologies was only fourth.It is no coincidence Republicans performed the best where they were financially competitive, and that was in the 4th and 5th districts. Jim Himes, who ended a long Republican reign in the 4th, in 2008, raised $3.6 million and outspent Dan Debicella, who raised $1.9 million. In losing, Debicella did better than any other Republican running for Congress, getting 46 percent of the vote, seven points behind Himes. (The 4th was once the “safe” Republican district, the GOP’s answer to the 1st and 3rd, but no more.)Also doing decently, thanks to the $1.2 million he raised to Chris Murphy’s $3 million, was Sam Caliguiri, who got 45 percent of the vote to Murphy’s 54 percent in the 5th. Each of the financially unopposed incumbents, Larson, Courtney and DeLauro, won by more than 30 points. It’s kind of ironic that the Republican Party is opposed to public financing of elections. In Connecticut, they would be helped the most.Congress, especially the House, is a disgrace. The Democrats have been too slow to compromise but the Republicans have been thoroughly irresponsible, so adding to their House majority is hardly a solution. Connecticut’s Democratic incumbents don’t necessarily deserve to be defeated but they deserve better competition — and a good scare.Simsbury resident Dick Ahles is a retired journalist. Email him at dahles@hotmail.com.

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