How some CT towns have become battlegrounds for GOP membership
As the state Republican party prepares for its quadrennial convention for governor and Congress on May 7, several recent meetings of suburban town committees have been the site of contentious membership challenges, with moderates ousted by conservative GOP voters.
Town committees in Greenwich, Easton, Guilford and Woodbury have seen surprise votes from conservatives fired up by Donald Trump’s grievances, along with face mask fatigue and school controversies.
Ben Proto, state Republican chairman, said the town committee votes were fairly run.
“At the end of the day, Republicans came out and voted for the people they wanted to represent them on the local town committee,” Proto said. “I believe in the election process. Whether or not there will be primaries will be up to the folks who were defeated. I support the elections. I support the primaries. There will be town committee members who will elect chairmen who will work to advance the Republican agenda and principles, and work together to elect more Republicans in 2022.”
But a political scientist at Sacred Heart University who is an expert on Connecticut Republicans, believes the conservative takeovers in recent caucuses are a sign of a shrinking state Republican party that is being taken over by a faction that will not help the GOP in the long run.
Gary Rose, chairman of the Department of Government at Sacred Heart University, said louder, moreconservative voices have been taking over the state Republican party even as the voter ranks have decreased sharply over the last 20 years.
“Their influence becomes more pronounced as the party gets smaller,” said Rose, in his 40th year at Sacred Heart.
In Easton and Greenwich, Trump-aligned conservatives took over the majority of those town committees, ousting longtime moderate members in surprise maneuvers. Some of the defeated members in Easton are pursuing petition campaigns to possibly force a townwide Republican primary in March.
In Woodbury, a mask mandate at a town committee meeting exploded into a noisy confrontation that preceded the removal this week of several longtime town committee members, including Louis C. DeLuca, a former state Senate minority leader.
Guilford’s inter-party squabble appears to be an extension of the local school board battle over how race is taught in schools and the so-called critical race theory that led to major Democratic and independent victories last November in the voting for the Board of Education, Proto said.
The Easton uprising was the product of organizing among the conservative local Citizens for Responsible Government.
“The ERTC membership for the next two years reflects a new group of equally talented and diverse backgrounds with a shared purpose of serving Easton,” Wendy Bowditch, the Easton RTC chairwoman, said in a diplomatic Facebook post after the votes. “They will work together to further the cause of important Republican issues here in our town.”
But according to the Easton Courier, the petition effort among the ousted is already underway in the party division.
“I wish the new Republican Town Committee good luck,” said Adam Dunsby, a former Easton first selectman. In an interview on Thursday, Dunsby who also served in the state House of Representatives, said he will not seek to regain his seat on the town committee, although he supports the petition effort.
Shortly after the reelection of Republican Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo in November, Dan Quigley, chairman of the GOP town committee, wrote that it was time to “move on,” past Trump. Quigley narrowly retained his spot on the committee.
“Congratulations to all the newly elected members of the Greenwich RTC,” Camillo tweeted Wednesday night. “I look forward to working with you. For all those who ran, thank you being a part of the democratic process, and for being willing to serve. Thank you to all who served this past term. Job well done!”
The Waterbury Republican-American reported that 90 local GOP members met in the Woodbury firehouse on Monday, and after an argument over mandatory masking, a majority defeated some longtime committee members, including DeLuca, who in addition to being a leader in the General Assembly, was a former moderator of the local town meeting.
“What we are seeing is a faction that in the past would have been balanced by moderate factions, or even more liberal leaning town committee members, who don’t exist anymore. It’s not too surprising, but it’s not a formula for winning a statewide campaign,” said Rose, whose school hosted Connecticut’s only Trump appearance during the 2016 presidential campaign.
While more right-wing proponents may win local party control and town council or first selectman seats, the victories are small and isolated, Rose said.
“The party needs a big tent,” Rose said. “The proTrump element of the party doing this is not consistent with long-term success. Certainly, it doesn’t lend itself to coalition building.”
But Proto predicted that the 2022 election season “is going to be a very good year” for Republicans in Connecticut. “We have the momentum and enthusiasm to elect more Republicans in the General Assembly and more Republicans in our congressional delegation.”
Nancy DiNardo, Democratic state chairwoman, said she is concerned about the rise of ultra-conservatives.
“The Connecticut Republicans have moved farther and farther right, so it’s troubling, but not surprising that far-right candidates are taking over local town committees,” she said. “The question is, how far are they going to go? It’s one thing to be a fiscal conservative, but are the Republicans going to embrace these sexist, racist, anti-LGBT, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant agendas? Their leadership seems to shrug it off, so it looks like that’s a yes.”
Nationally, Republicans on Thursday were widely reported to be planning to require future GOP presidential candidates to reject participation in forums sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The move reflects Trump’s long held grievances against the commission. In a letter to the commission, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel voiced frustration with its response to a long list of complaints, according to the Associated Press.