Lamont campaign seeks to cast Stefanowski as too extreme
While the focus of late in Connecticut's governor's race has been on the economy, namely 40-year-high inflation, Gov. Ned Lamont's re-election campaign has also ramped up its efforts to cast GOP challenger Bob Stefanowski as aligned with “extremist” views on issues such as abortion rights and gun control, which have taken center stage in the national political debate.
In recent weeks, Lamont's campaign has sought to tie Stefanowski to the major donor of a new super PAC in Connecticut, who is known for his opposition to same sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. The campaign has also targeted Stefanowski over a fundraiser he is hosting next week with Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, chair of the Republican Governor's Association and one of staunchest anti-abortion advocates in the U.S. Ricketts supports abortion bans with no exceptions for incest or rape.
Parents Against Stupid Stuff, an independent-expenditures group formed in March, has vowed to spend more than $1 million on the governor's race, focusing on issues such as the curriculum in public schools and the state's policy on allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls' sports. On its Facebook page, the group defines itself as “defending parent's rights in their children's education.”
The super PAC came out with its first digital ad earlier this week – reviving a controversy that erupted at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Enfield earlier this year over an assignment mistakenly given to eighth graders that sought to use pizza toppings as a metaphor to teach students about consent. At the end of the 30 second clip, a male voice asks: “Gov. Lamont, why won't you protect our kids?”
Lamont's campaign fired back, issuing a written statement the same day the ad was released, characterizing the PAC's donors as “extremist allies” of Stefanowski's. “Time and time again Bob is earning the support of the most extreme of the extremists, and yet still tries to pretend he is not one of them,” Jake Lewis, spokesman for Lamont's campaign, said in the statement.
The PAC's chair and major financial backer is Sean Fieler, a Stamford hedge fund manager and a top conservative donor to anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage groups, and more recently against transgender rights. Fieler personally donated to Stefanowski's campaign when he ran for governor in 2018.
“Fieler has spent millions fighting against protecting LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights. He has spewed hateful rhetoric and outright lies about same-sex marriage and abortion access and he is excited to support Bob for Governor,” Lewis said in his statement, calling on Stefanowski to “disavow the support of this hateful group.”
State election rules prohibit independent expenditure groups such as Parents Against Stupid Stuff from contributing directly to or coordinating with a candidate — a point made by Liz Kurantowicz, senior adviser and spokesperson for Stefanowski's campaign, in response to the attacks from Lamont's campaign.
“Ned Lamont is desperate to turn people's attention away from inflation and the lack of affordability as a result of his high tax policies,” Kurantowicz said in a written statement Thursday. “He knows full well that our campaign cannot control outside groups, but clearly with FBI investigations and scandals swirling around his Administration, adhering to ethical standards is not common practice for him and his administration.”
Stefanowski's critiques of Lamont have largely focused on an FBI investigation into school construction projects in the state. He's accused the Lamont administration of corruption and a lack of transparency.
He's also called for an investigation into the treatment of top appointees in the administration following the resignation of the governor's budget chief, Melissa McCaw earlier this year, and Lamont's firing of the state's public health commissioner, Renee Coleman-Mitchell in 2020, both of whom are Black women.
Lamont's campaign has often cited Stefanowski's positions on national political issues such as abortion and gun rights to assert he is out of touch with Connecticut voters.
With Congress once again debating gun control following a mass shooting at an elementary school Uvalde, Texas, Lamont's campaign has pointed out the “Aq” rating Stefanowski received from the National Rifle Association when he ran for governor in 2018. The rating is the highest grade a candidate who has never been elected to state office can earn.
With Gov. Ricketts the featured speaker at a fundraiser for Stefanowski's campaign in Canton next week, Lamont's campaign has drawn attention to comments the Nebraska governor and RGA chair made following the tragedy in Uvalde.
At a press conference after the mass shooting in Texas, Ricketts called gun control measures red herrings and said the focus instead should be on mental health. He also voiced his support for 18-year-olds being able to buy military-style rifles. The gunman in Uvalde purchased two AR-15s just after his 18th birthday, one of which he used in the massacre.
“Governor Ricketts words are callous in the wake of the horrific events in Uvalde,” Lewis said in a written statement earlier this month. “Voters should demand to know if Bob Stefanowski shares these views.”
At a press conference in Meriden Wednesday, Stefanowski accused Democrats, including Lamont, of politicizing the mass shooting in Uvalde and inaccurately characterizing his views on gun control.
“Within 24 hours of that massacre in Texas, Governor Lamont put out an attack out on me with a grainy video from four years ago .... that was cut and spliced by the Democratic Party,” he said. “Where has the empathy gone in our state?”
During his 2018 run, a leaked video showed Stefanowski saying the he state's post-Sandy Hook gun control law "is not a good bill” and that he would veto “any legislation that makes it tougher on gun owners.”
On Wednesday, he reaffirmed his commitment to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners, but he also said he would not change the Sandy Hook law and that Congress should adopt some of its “principles” such as universal background checks.