Bliss: Finch’s Joke Wasn’t Funny
by Christine Stuart | Oct 15, 2012 5:00am
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Posted to: Congress, Election 2012, Election Policy, Town News, Bridgeport
Corry Bliss, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon’s campaign manager, isn’t laughing at the self-deprecating remarks made by Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch Friday at a campaign stop in his city.
In the video captured by McMahon‘s tracker, Democrat Chris Murphy asks Finch if the city will have a “big turnout” Nov. 6. Finch replies: “We may come in a couple days late; you can be guaranteed you’re gonna get the vote.”
Finch was referring to what happened in 2010 when his city bungled the voting process first by failing to order enough ballots, then by having to count and recount them as the two gubernatorial candidates waited for the results in one of the closest statewide contests in recent history.
Bungled until the very end, the final tally from Bridgeport boosted Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to victory over Republican Tom Foley.
“After hand-delivering the governor’s office to Democrats in 2010, Finch’s brazen disregard for a valid and secured election result has been captured on video for the whole world to see,“ Bliss said Sunday. “For his part, Congressman Murphy should be ashamed of himself for laughing along at Mayor Finch’s suggestion.”
Election fraud or even the allegation of voter fraud is no laughing matter, Bliss said.
To that end Bliss has hired former Republican Party Chairman Herb Shepardson, to spearhead the McMahon campaign’s Election Day monitoring activities.
One of his first official duties was to write a letter both to Finch and Murphy.
In the letter to Finch, Shepardson, reminds him that “conducting fair elections is the hallmark of our democracy and the specter of irregular vote counting and ‘holding votes‘ by a municipalities is a very serious issues that cannot be ignored.”
“Even an offhand discussion of such tactics brings into question the guarantee to all voters that their votes will be counted in a fair, consistent manner and that their votes will count the same as their neighbors,” Shepardson wrote.
A spokesman for Finch did not respond to requests for comment Sunday afternoon.
The polls shows the U.S. Senate race in a dead heat, but Democrats hold a registration edge over Republicans in the Park City.
In 2010, McMahon received 4,030 votes to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s 16,180 votes.
(2) Comments
posted by: Paul Passarelli | October 15, 2012 9:41am
LOL, Even I accept that the line was a joke—a bad joke, but a joke nonetheless.
That said, why aren’t there penalties for interfering with the voting process? Severe penalties? *Appropriate* penalties? Like termination from public office? Like fines proportional to the number of ballots involved? How about barring the people involved from any and all contact with politicians, lobbyists, and groups of 4 or more people in a non-restaurant setting. Yeah, none of those solutions work either—but something has to be done. The political class has definitely figured out that *CRIME DOES PAY*
