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Every newspaper and news outlet in Connecticut should be screaming from the rooftops in favor of multiple -- far more than two – debates between Governor Ned Lamont and his Republican challenger Ryan Fazio. Multiple debates between the two would reveal, however imperfectly, the strengths and weaknesses of both candidates.
Debates -- the more, the merrier -- cut across the grain of modern political perceptions. Should Lamont be re-throned for a third term as governor in the absence of serious campaign debates, he may rightly credit an indifferent “business as usual” state media for his uncontested victory. Lamont’s handlers, we know, will be advising him to maintain a low profile and use his dazzling record in office as a blind hiding his imperfections in plain sight. Lamont has so far relied on his millions to purchase anonymity from a variety of sources that over the years have produced an artificially, highly attenuated public persona, the result of choreographed public appearances.
Lamont is perfectly content to let TV ads, campaign spokespersons -- cheaper by the dozen – and Connecticut’s obliging left of center Democrat controlled General Assembly do his debating for him, provided his carefully crafted political persona remains pristine and unchallenged by Connecticut’s left of center media. Lamont might make a serious error in an unmanaged debate, but prearranged media appearances usually go off without a damaging hitch. These appearances are political melodramas whose scripts are usually determined by Lamont and others whose business it is to shape his public persona. Debates are much different presentations -- to be avoided at all costs. Running out the campaign clock is a perfect way to escape unscripted public scrutiny. Lamont may already have won this battle. So far he has agreed to only two debates with Fazio.
In recent days, Lamont has been running away from unscripted debates – and costly administrative scandals.
Democrat functionaries have recently decided that a cursory investigation into the resignation of Connecticut Central State University (CCSU) President Zulma Toro by Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) should be safely shelved. An earlier possible impeachment of Marissa Gillett, PURA’s Czar, was also shelved following her resignation. (See here for more on PURA.)
The shelf space in the Lamont administration is getting mighty crowded.
Sam Norton, spokesperson for CSCU tells us, “In light of President Toro’s resignation and retirement, continuing the investigation to a final report is no longer necessary. The information shared during the investigative process will continue to inform how we establish and maintain a culture of respect. That is where the resources need to go… A prolonged employment dispute would have created continued uncertainty and a distraction for the university at a time when our students, faculty and staff need clarity and stability.”
“Toro’s resignation,” Hartford Courant reporter Livi Stanford reminds us, “follows the scandal-plagued departures of two Connecticut State Colleges and Universities chancellors. Last week, an independent review examining Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system’s response to sexual harassment allegations against former interim Chancellor O. John Maduko found ‘serious failures in how CSCU responded to concerns about sexual harassment and gaps in the Board’s process for selecting the former interim chancellor, according to an announcement Board of Regents Interim Chair Ari Santiago sent to the CSCU community.”
Two “eyes wide open” Republican leaders -- Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding and Senator Henri Martin, the Republican ranking member of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, found the decision to bury the accumulating scandals “absolutely unacceptable… So this all magically ‘goes away’ because President Toro resigned? That isn’t going to fly. What about the abuse allegations? The meat cutting? The dog watching? The verbal assaults on staff? What about the whistleblowers and the victims? What about the people whose lives have been derailed? Where’s their justice?”
West Hartford Democrat and co-chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee Senator Derek Slap rose to a defense of those shelving necessary public information that might easily be brought forward through a serious legislative investigation -- were it not for Derek Slap. The Grand River Solutions independent review, Slap told reporters, “provides a pretty good roadmap for some of the changes that need to take place… I don’t think it’s fair to say there hasn’t been accountability. We’ve had two chancellors and one president who have all left. I hope that nobody’s trying to use this as an opportunity to score political points six weeks before an election.”
Stanford tells us in her report: “Grand River Solutions, the national consulting firm conducting the review of the CSCU system’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against Maduko, recommended CSCU should “cease the actual or perceived general practice of not conducting an investigation whenever a respondent is no longer affiliated with the system (emphasis mine)” according to its independent review.”
Slap crowned his statement with the following diadem, both hypocritical and misleading: According to Stanford “He said if Republicans have a list of tangible things that are not known yet and warrant an independent investigation, he is open to it, but in ‘all fairness I have not seen that.’”
Sure, sure – in all fairness, it would not be possible for Republicans, or anyone else, to offer Slap “a list of tangible things that are not known yet” in the absence of investigations snuffed by Slap, Lamont, Democrat gate keepers in the General Assembly and incurious members of Connecticut media, given to chastising loudly pro-open-government Republicans. The arrogant Lamont administration appears to have an “invincibility” problem.
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I doubt Ned Lamont is in control of anything. He's a figurehead, likely indictable. The look on his face is resignation. He even sits with a slouch. He's a man not there.