Connecticut Politics and Elections: Coverage, Analysis, Maps and Commentary
Friday, August 12, 2005
Open Forum
What's on your mind?
7 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Where is the outrage about Ernie Newton? Seems like the press and most Democrats have been very muted so far...is this a double standard? Taking a direct bribe is a lot worse than anything Rowland did.
Re: Newton. Innocent until proven guilty. Anything else is anarchy. Take pride in that standard. Until such time as he is proven guilty, let the outrage come from the nattering nabobs on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.
I've been on a rampage over the Newton case over at my site and although I agree with deanfan84 that he's innocent until proven guilty, the mounting evidence against him (including the wiretap) one can say that he's in big trouble real soon.
To say that this Newton's situation is worse than the Rowland scandal (which cost this state millions) is just wrong and besides Chris Shays, not only did we not hear anything from Republicans during the scandal, there was a good deal of foot dragging which cost taxpayers millions of dollars. If the republican leadership would of just denounced Rowland and forced him to resign, the people could of been sparred alot of heartache.We're still paying the price for the Rowland's corruption with the closing of the 57 million juvenile school.
We'll have to see how this unfolds but with the feds investigating Newotn's 2004 re-election campaign, things might get too hot for Ernie and he might be forced to resign for the good of the party and the people he represents.
It does look pretty bad for Newton, but Democrats are apparently taking action. The Connecticut Post reported last week that he was quietly demoted from his leadership position (he was the #3 guy in the senate), and that Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams said that "If [the allegations are] true, Sen. Newton should resign." This is the right position to take.
I agree Genghis, that Williams has taken prudent action....you can't call on someone to resign with just allegations.
However, I think that the "innocent until proven guilty" argument is one for the courts-- not the court of public opinion. The press found John Rowland guilty well before any charges were even pressed against him. Why not the same for Newton, when in today's CT Post three people admitted he ASKED them for bribes.
This guy is 10x worse than Rowland, and Democrats should feel just as ashamed as the Republicans were last year. I think they should privately urge this guy to resign.
The link to the article anonymous references is here.
I don't think we can say that Newton is "10x worse than Rowland" until what he has actually done is made clear. I agree, however, that it looks pretty bad.
Rowland was a different case in that he was the Republicans' leader, and really the only prominent state Republican who wasn't in Washington. Newton isn't a statewide figure, nor is he in as prominent a position as Rowland was. Therefore we can expect the outrage to be a little less.
That said, I'm a bit surprised that the press hasn't picked up on this story more than it has.
7 comments:
Where is the outrage about Ernie Newton? Seems like the press and most Democrats have been very muted so far...is this a double standard? Taking a direct bribe is a lot worse than anything Rowland did.
Re: Newton. Innocent until proven guilty. Anything else is anarchy. Take pride in that standard. Until such time as he is proven guilty, let the outrage come from the nattering nabobs on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.
State Representative Melody Currey is running for Mayor of East Hartford.
The East Hartford Democratic Town Cmte has info on upcoming Currey events on their events page and newsletter.
anonymous republican,
I've been on a rampage over the Newton case over at my site and although I agree with deanfan84 that he's innocent until proven guilty, the mounting evidence against him (including the wiretap) one can say that he's in big trouble real soon.
To say that this Newton's situation is worse than the Rowland scandal (which cost this state millions) is just wrong and besides Chris Shays, not only did we not hear anything from Republicans during the scandal, there was a good deal of foot dragging which cost taxpayers millions of dollars. If the republican leadership would of just denounced Rowland and forced him to resign, the people could of been sparred alot of heartache.We're still paying the price for the Rowland's corruption with the closing of the 57 million juvenile school.
We'll have to see how this unfolds but with the feds investigating Newotn's 2004 re-election campaign, things might get too hot for Ernie and he might be forced to resign for the good of the party and the people he represents.
It does look pretty bad for Newton, but Democrats are apparently taking action. The Connecticut Post reported last week that he was quietly demoted from his leadership position (he was the #3 guy in the senate), and that Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams said that "If [the allegations are] true, Sen. Newton should resign." This is the right position to take.
I agree Genghis, that Williams has taken prudent action....you can't call on someone to resign with just allegations.
However, I think that the "innocent until proven guilty" argument is one for the courts-- not the court of public opinion. The press found John Rowland guilty well before any charges were even pressed against him. Why not the same for Newton, when in today's CT Post three people admitted he ASKED them for bribes.
This guy is 10x worse than Rowland, and Democrats should feel just as ashamed as the Republicans were last year. I think they should privately urge this guy to resign.
The link to the article anonymous references is here.
I don't think we can say that Newton is "10x worse than Rowland" until what he has actually done is made clear. I agree, however, that it looks pretty bad.
Rowland was a different case in that he was the Republicans' leader, and really the only prominent state Republican who wasn't in Washington. Newton isn't a statewide figure, nor is he in as prominent a position as Rowland was. Therefore we can expect the outrage to be a little less.
That said, I'm a bit surprised that the press hasn't picked up on this story more than it has.
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