The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Pelosi speaks to state Dems
HARTFORD — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not use any variation of the word “impeach” Friday night before 1,000 state Democrats, but she promised to fight President Donald Trump in Congress and in the courts over issues that she charged shame the memories of the nation’s founders.
From denying science and climate change, to Trump’s “criminal cover-up” illustrated in the Mueller report, to the recent candid, controversial admission that he would accept Russian help in a 2020 reelection campaign, the feisty California representative said her majority caucus will take its time and do a thorough job to hold Trump accountable.
“We have a president who dishonors the Constitution of the United States,” Pelosi
said. She defended the country’s need to welcome immigrants. She warned that the Republicans’ 2017 legislation gave 83 percent of the tax cuts to the top 1 percent and will cost the next generation $2 trillion and likely lead Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to soon attempt to cut retirement benefits.
“We do understand the urgency of now,” she said, “and that we must fight this fight and win it for our freedoms, for our people, for our country, for our land, for our values,” Pelosi said during a 34-minute speech in which her voice sounded strained after a long week on Capitol Hill. “Everything is at stake.”
Amid scattered shouts of “impeach” around the 100 sold-out tables in the Connecticut Convention Center, Pelosi promised to engage Trump.
“Perhaps we’ll send a strong message, urgently needed, to the Senate that when we get the facts and we present the facts, we will honor our oath or office,” she said. “We will hold the president accountable. We want the public to understand what the Senate is doing, should they choose not to honor their oath of office. It has to be clear and that is the clarity we must have as we go forward.”
“It’s a very, very serious thing and we must have our strongest hand,” Pelosi said, praising several House committee chairmen who are “silently exposing the full extent of the president’s wrongdoing and corruption” in preparation for continuing court battles over the “criminal coverup.”
The long-scheduled speech came at the end of a day in which Trump admitted to nearly bombing Iran, and when growing numbers of fellow House Democrats announced support for an impeachment investigation. Pelosi, in measured remarks — some read and some spontaneous, quoted Revolutionary era political scientist and founding father Thomas Paine.
“The times have found us,” Paine said of the eventual fight for freedom from England. “Well, the times have found us now. Everyone in this room. Everything is at stake,” Pelosi said. During the party’s annual fundraising dinner, she pointed to the 2020 presidential and congressional elections as the goal. “We have a lot to protect and defend.”
While the event is usually a cheerleading affair, it came Wednesday at the end of a week when Pelosi still smarting from not being informed by President Donald Trump that the nation was 10 minutes away from attacking targets in Iran.
She hit the stage at about 8:15, starting slowly, praising Connecticut’s congressional delegation, but alluded to the over-arching reason for government.
“Our three most important issues are our children, our children our children,” she said.
During the cocktail hour, Democrats from throughout the state seemed to took a wait-and-see attitude, doubting that Pelosi, 79, with Democrats back in control of the House after the 2018 midterm elections, would pick Friday night to trumpet support for impeachment.
Even if the House were to make a political vote for impeachment, the Republican majority in the Senate would likely ignore it, just like Democrats in the Senate protected President Bill Clinton after he was impeached in 1998 over two sex-related cases, including a relationship with a White House intern.
The dinner this year was named in honor of longtime Democratic leader John Bailey. It was formerly called the Jefferson Jackson Bailey dinner until Democrats dropped the presidents because they held slaves. The sold-out, $200-a-head stuffed-chicken-breast dinner included sharply escalating prices to thousands of dollars for tickets at tables with party luminaries.
“She is the most powerful woman in America,” said Nancy Wyman, the former lieutenant governor and the current state party chairwoman.
In what was called “The Night of the Nancys,” Nancy DiNardo, of Trumbull, received the party’s highest award for service. It is named for the late Gov. William A. O’Neill.
DiNardo, 70, a retired Bridgeport school psychologist, was a five-time chairwoman of the state party and now, as a member of the Democratic National Committee, is chairwoman of the DNC’s eastern regional caucus. She was among the state leaders who thought up the award and inaugurated it. She’s surprised she’s getting it now.
“We made it to recognize people who have worked hard for the party, whether it’s local or state,” DiNardo said Friday afternoon. “I’m very excited. From the time that it began we always recognized people who were dedicated to making the party better than it was. To be considered among those people, I am truly honored.”
Those in attendance included former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the state’s congressional delegation including U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, U.S. Reps Jahana Hayes, Jim Himes, Rosa DeLauro, John Larson and Joe Courtney.
DeLauro, from the New Haven-centric 3rd District, danced out to the podium to introduce Pelosi, and announced how relieved she is to be among the House majority. “She has a spine of steel, my friends,” DeLauro said, calling Pelosi one of the most important and dedicated public officials in the nation at a time when the Trump administration is “lawless.”
Gov. Ned Lamont, during brief remarks, told Pelosi that state Democrats are proud of her work standing up for party values. He asked for Pelosi’s help in the national gun-safety effort, including an expansion of Connecticut’s recently approved ban on so-called untraceable ghost guns.
“What’s with Donald Trump and his boorish attitude toward women?” Lamont said. “We’re not going to let that happen in Connecticut.” Following attempts by Southern states that recently passed antiabortion measures, Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz invited women-owned businesses to come to the state.
“You know what?” Lamont said. “We got some answers.”