Proto, Stefanowski oppose RNC resolution on Jan. 6 riot
Top Connecticut Republicans say they oppose the Republican National Committee’s resolution calling for the censure of U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for their role in investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the nation’s Capitol, a probe the committee described as “a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Ben Proto, the head of the state’s Republican Party, and one of Connecticut’s three members on the national committee, and Bob Stefanowski, the main GOP candidate for governor, both condemned the move, which came during a RNC meeting in Salt Lake City last week.
The state’s other two RNC members, John Frey, a former longtime state representative from Ridgefield, and Leora Levy of Greenwich, a wealthy GOP donor who is considering a run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Richard Blumenthal, DConn., did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Proto said the language in the resolution referring to the events of Jan. 6, 2021 as “legitimate political discourse” was “very bothersome” and “poorly written.”
“I don’t think storming the Capitol was legitimate political discourse,” he said in a phone interview Monday.
Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, sought to clarify the language after the fact and make a distinction between those who stormed the Capitol and those who protested outside.
“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line,” McDaniel said in a statement. “They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democratled persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”
Proto said he disagreed with the decision to censure Cheney and Kinzinger, the two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the deadly insurrection at the Capitol.
Both have been outspoken critics of former president Donald Trump and voted to impeach him following the attack. Kinzinger has announced he is not seeking reelection, and Cheney, who is planning to run again, has a primary challenger.
“My position is the Republican voters in Wyoming will decide whether they want Cheney,” Proto said, adding that he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for the RNC to censure her or Kinzinger.
“That’s what elections are for,” he said.
The resolution to censure the GOP members was taken up with four unrelated resolutions and taken up as a package. “I voted no even though I supported other four,” Proto said of the voice vote.
Stefanowski, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor in Connecticut, said the “RNC statement is wrong.”
“I condemned the acts of violence at our Nation’s Capitol on the day they happened and feel the same way today,” Stefanowski said in a written statement Monday. “The RNC statement is wrong and it takes the focus away from real problems closer to home like rampant inflation; high taxes, increasing crime and getting to the bottom of the multiple allegations of corruption in Governor Lamont’s administration.”