Saudi Bob criticizes Connecticut’s policing from the United Arab Emirates.

Bob Stefanowski forgot to block his Twitter location feature. The two-time Republican nominee for governor commented Saturday on Connecticut’s policing laws—from the United Arab Emirates. Stefanowski, who spent much of the 2022 campaign declining to reveal Saudi Arabian interests were paying millions to his one-man LLC.

The former payday loan executive chose to unleash his dismay with Connecticut laws from one of the world’s most oppressed nations Saturday. Stefanowski was prompted to share his views with a free people by shootings in Hamden. Stefanowski’s 2022 rematch against Democrat Ned Lamont saw the Madison Republican highlight support from police unions unhappy with Lamont for signing 2020 police accountability legislation. Lamont defeated Stefanowski by 153,000 votes, more than three times the Democrat’s 2018 margin of victory.

The UAE, Freedom House reports, subjects “the the civil liberties of both citizens and noncitizens, who make up an overwhelming majority of the population, are subject to significant restrictions.” The Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index ranked the UAE ranked 153rd worldwide for personal freedom. Torture is not unknown in UAE interrogations and prisons.

Stefanowski was likely not in the UAE to urge the authoritarian government to release human rights Ahmed Mansoor, who the regime has held in prison since 2017. Mansoor previously offended the government with his blogging, a pursuit Stefanowski as a candidate both disdained and cultivated.

Stefanowski’s location was no longer included on his tweet late Saturday afternoon in EDT.

Published May 21, 2023.