According to the Caligiuri campaign, they were alerted to push polling allegedly directed by the Zoni staff after a complaint by Southington attorney and fellow Republican John Nugent.
Nugent claims he received a phone call last night (Tuesday) from a man who identified himself as an employee of a polling firm based in North Dakota. The questions began normally, according to the Caligiuri staff, but when Nugent revealed he intended to support Caligiuri in the November election, “the questions took a different turn.”
“He started asking questions that I knew were a distortion of [Caligiuri’s] record,” said Nugent. “One question was, ‘Did you know Sam sent the city into bankruptcy?’ That is so far from the truth it’s a joke…The questions got worse from there.” (Southington Live)
A push poll in a state senate race? In July? Wow.
Good reporting by Southington Live.
Source
Southington Live Staff. " Caligiuri slams Zoni for “shameful” polling." Southington Live 26 July, 2006.
17 comments:
It figures that Zoni's people would take the low road.
He's got a ranking Wtby Firefighter raising money for him.
Apparently it's business as usual for the Dems in Waterbury
Take a look at the number of subordinates that suddenly "have seen the light" as it regard donating to Zoni.
push polls in senate races are not unheard of. Just ask Sen. Andrew McDonald - a vicious push poll was used against him when he ran against Fedele in the Stamford Senate race. (note to the best of my knowledge Fedele disavowed the poll and McDonald has indicated that he does not believe Fedele was involved.).
True. But in July?
Guess who else is a contributor to Mr. Zoni? David McCluskey!
Care to comment on the ethics of push polls, Representative?
Anonymous (9:10) said...
Guess who else is a contributor to Mr. Zoni? David McCluskey!
I figure we'll see Joe Ganim, Jimmy Hoffa and at least one of the Gotti's on the next report.
Caligiuri's filing reads like a list of Boy Scouts.
Figures - he's a straight as a Nevada highway.
As I said yesterday re: charges that Malloy was doing push polls, I think contrast is fine, trashing is wrong. As far as ethics, do you want to ask about Caligiuri working high up in the administration of ex-con John Rowland and saying nothing? Or the ethics as Council President when Giordano was doing dirty contracting deals?
Why use push polls when mass media (especially AM radio in Waterbury) is a cheaper way to broadly disseminate garbage?
Calling people up one at a time is inefficient.
This is a tough one, Consitutionally, to regulate. The best way to expose it is through a sunlight brigade- but does a sunlight brigate reach those who have been spoiled by a push poll?
If you have 17 hours to spare, a legal education, and a tolerance for boredom that rivals Canadian bureacrats, read Buckley vs Valeo and curse it- as it is the right ruling, but the ultimate foundation for a lot of trouble.
Echo on Caligiuri, whatever your politics, the guy is a mensch.
David said...
when Giordano was doing dirty contracting deals?
Don't look now; Sam's credited with fixing most of that.
Look into the towing mess before and after Sam.
Caliguri's so straight the Wtby Dems are quietly backing him.
Sure Zoni shows up they'll all say whatever's expected; you might visit Wtby or Wolcott and have a coffee with some ranking Dems and see what they say in private.
What the Southington Dems did to Corky didn't play well either.
Caligiuri is a putz and once the press has a field day with his past ethical issues,he is toast. We don't need another Rowland hack.
David,
First of all I think Caliguri was gone when the Rowland stuff hit the fan. Also, you have served with people in the legislature that have done some pretty bad things and you yourself said NOTHING!!!
Jefferson Davis? You "said nothing" when he was accused of his deplorable crime..that he later pleaded guilty to, does that mean you supported his actions? C'mon. Just admit it the only time ethics are an issue with you is when it happens to Republicans. That's why you have little credibility.
Why have people suddenly gotten so push-poll accusation happy. Like Malloy may have been if the call originated from his campaign, Zoni testing a message. When Chris Murphy ran for the same seat at Zoni is pursuing now, I got a call around this time of year that I could have called a push poll against Murphy.
Not in so many words, questions like "Would you be less likely to vote for Chris Murphy if you knew he was a tax-raising, smoker-discriminating, baby killer?"
But it was research being done by Murphy's campaign, to see what messages might resonate for and against him. These are all legitimate polls! Karl Rove now has everyone paranoid to the point where campaigns can't do their normal research. Of course it's done in July, because they're testing a message to use this fall. I'm shocked at how truly ignorant a lot of people here are about the ins and outs of a campaign.
Dear Rep. McCluskey: You are throwing a lot of rocks from a very big glass house. Ethics in CT or a lack thereof has been bi-partisan, with neither party winning. Before you question the ethics of others, perhaps you can explain to us how long you knew your former colleague State Rep./ State Sen. Ernie Newton was taking bribes, drugs (which he has publicly admitted to) and engaging in corrupt practices. Weren't you in the same caucus? Were you not colleagues? Did you ever call for hisresignation? Perhaps these are not fair questions. My point: let's talk issues, not ethics.
Rep. McCluskey - Perhaps you can also tell us how your No-Show union job is working out for you? You are a full time legislator with union backing - or perhaps the state employee union has offices in the House Dem caucus...wait, they do.
So. Jim it's ok to smear people as long as the right people get smeared.
Thanks for clearing that up for us
Any one remember the $1 million dog pound? Sammy was large and in charge for that debacle.
amazing how some Democrats can't tell the differnece between "Caligiuri" and "Giordano"... their reading skills must be even worse than I thought
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