There’s a dark and nasty undercurrent in the campaigns of some prominent Republican Party candidates for major office in Connecticut this year. And if primary voters don’t recognize it and reject it Aug. 10, it could doom the GOP’s chances in the general election.
Let’s stipulate first that, while not toeing one party line over another, this newspaper endorsed John McCain over Barack Obama two years ago. We agree with the broad traditional themes of Republican candidates such as McCain that bigger government and higher taxes won’t ultimately fix our economy or improve society.
What we cannot stomach, however, is mixing that message with campaign rhetoric that appeals to hateful backlash against the immigrant population in our state.
Lets just say that when it comes to the subject of immigration, the Register-Citizen didn't have anything nice to say about ol' Mayor Mark.
Also on the Aug. 10 Republican primary ballot in Connecticut will be Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who is running for lieutenant governor as a runningmate to gubernatorial candidate and current Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele. Boughton has been praised for his down-to-earth grasp of the issues facing the state and articulate vision for solving them. He hasn’t been scrutinized — but surely will be come the general election — for pursuing a similarly racist targeting of the immigrant population of his city.
And Boughton’s stripes haven’t changed since the controversies and lawsuits those policies generated a few years back. Of all the issues facing his city and state, he chose recently to have police crack down on “excessive honking” and “flag waving” when Brazil was playing in the World Cup. Didn’t see that crackdown for the Red Sox World Series, did we?
From his flip-flop on what constitutes impromptu celebrations, and his misleading statements regarding the city's role in the Danbury 11 case, to the tactics used by City Hall against organizations that opposed his anti-immigrant policies (attacks on former Hispanic Center chairwoman Maria Cinta-Lowe, de-funding of the Hispanic Center, threats made against Association of Religious Communities (ARC) over their objection to ICE ACCESS, lies about ethnic newspapers misreporting on ICE ACCESS), the Register-Citizen is correct when it states that Boughton's record on immigration (and truthfulness) have yet to be scrutinized (Lord knows you can't find it on his campaign website).
Once the statewide media look beyond the mayor's rhetoric and talking points and start examining the last honest man's REAL record on immigration, the REAL Mark Boughton will be exposed...and the general public won't like what they see.
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