Meanwhile, the Stafford Republican Town Committee endorsed two DIFFERENT Republicans for P&Z...

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The Democrats of Stafford, Connecticut, introduced their slate of candidates for the 2025 municipal elections back on July 23rd, and much to the surprise of a number of folks in the community, the Democrats endorsed two Republicans for Planning & Zoning: David Palmberg and Richard Shuck.

Yes, you read that right.

The Stafford Democratic Town Committee ("DTC") endorsed, for Democrat seats, two registered Republicans.

The DTC even further clarified in a post a few days ago that their endorsed P&Z candidates had not suddenly changed parties or anything, they were still Republicans.

"That's why this year, we endorsed two longtime Republicans," boasted the DTC. "Not because they suddenly changed parties. They didn't."

And the pair plan on remaining Republicans, too.

It's worth mentioning that the Stafford Republican Town Committee ("RTC") endorsed two different Republicans for the P&Z commission, not Palmberg and Shuck.

The Centinal contacted the State Election Enforcement Commission ("SEEC") and the Secretary of the State ("SOTS") to determine if it was legal for the DTC to endorse registered Republicans to run on the Democrat party line, and to find out whether it was misleading and/or deceptive to Democrat voters who may have an objection to their donations to the DTC potentially being used to support Republicans.

Nobody cared.

Both the SEEC and the SOTS indicated that it didn't matter from their perspective who the party endorsed, even if the candidates came from the opposing major party.

Interestingly, according to the CT Dems' party rules, at least for state and federal level candidates, it says, "the only requirement to participate as a candidate in a convention shall be that the candidate is a registered Democrat in the applicable district."

But that rule evidently does not carry through to municipal elections.

SEEC and SOTS didn't bat an eye at the Centinal's questions.

Even when we reiterated how upsetting it might be for Democrats who donate to the Stafford DTC to find out that their money perhaps might be used to finance campaigns for a couple of Republicans.

So, while the DTC's endorsements are not illegal, they sure do feel unethical and set a rather interesting precedent.

This is also how you know you have a uniparty swamp operating in your town—when the Republican party declines to nominate a couple of small "r" republicans, so the Democrat party offers to do it instead.

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