Memo To Team Malloy: There Will Be Dissent.

It wasn’t long ago that Democratic and Working Families Governor-Elect Dannel Malloy was reminding voters that felonious former Governor John G. Rowland ran a criminal enterprise out of his office.  That was a powerful and true charge for Malloy to make as his lead in the race for governor evaporated.

Anyone possessed of a reasonable mind might then have been startled to learn that Rowland’s defender of the last ditch Ross Garber has been given a place on Malloy’s transition team, as has Gary O’Connor, a longtime Rowland Waterbury ally. O’Connor, you may recall, co-founded a political action committee called Connecticut First Coalition. It spent thousands aiding Rowland’s off-campaign political needs, though O’Connor is a Democrat.

Malloy has portrayed himself as a reformer on every front.  A tiny plurality of voters agreed.  Garber and O’Connor are not reformers.  Garber is a political courtesan. O’Connor is making a return to the establishment party.  People are going to notice the dissonance between candidate Malloy and the governor-elect.

Democrat Jonathan Pelto noticed the incongruity between campaign rhetoric and post-election choices.  He commented.  Team Malloy’s disproportionate response startled observers.  Belittling critic Jonathan Pelto must have seemed like a good idea yesterday. It backfired.  Pelto as asking a reasonable question.  It’s the ugly answer that’s causing derisive comments today–about the Malloy operation, which is reminiscent of Rowland. We hope this is not the start of a trend.