Talk of Klarides Taking the Bysiewicz Trail in ‘22 Distracts State Republicans.
Tuesday night provided a reminder that nothing distracts Republican state party committee members from their party-building duties like the approach of a gubernatorial election. Last night’s meeting took place as members buzzed about the prospect of former state Representative Themis Klarides running for lieutenant governor on a ticket headed by Bob Stefanowski.
Klarides formed a committee for a self-financed bid for governor earlier this year. Stefanowski, the 2018 Republican nominee for governor, is expected to launch a second campaign this fall. A Stefanowski/Klarides ticket would avert an expensive primary, according to insider analysis.
The hothouse speculation fails to address the immovable object likely to doom any ticket with Klarides on it: Eversource. Klarides is married to Greg Butler, the unpopular utility giant’s executive vice president and general counsel. Stefanowski has seen the same Club for Growth poll Daily Ructions shared with readers.
in 2018, Ned and Ann Huntress Lamont decided to save millions in primary spending by offering rival Susan Bysiewicz the second spot on the Democratic ticket. Bysiewicz’s third campaign for governor would have become an expensive annoyance if she qualified for the primary ballot and public financing.
Bysiewicz was known for turning the secretary of the state’s office into her permanent campaign headquarters during three-terms in that office. Her unsuccessful campaigns for governor (2006, 2010, 2018), attorney general (2010), and U.S. Senate (2012) made little impact. Nevertheless, the Lamonts know state Democratic primary voters are susceptible to unforeseen stampedes.
Eversource is in its own category of campaign poison. However much it costs the wealthy Lamonts’ to honor their hazy pledge to donate profits from a state deal with “patient-centered health intelligence company” Sema4, there’ll be plenty left to convince voters Republicans want to hand the state over to Eversource. When you’ve dipped into your vast fortune of generational wealth to spend $50 million on three campaigns, another $20 million for one more may seem like a trifle. Making Eversource a synonym for the Republican ticket by spring could make the typical Lamont tidal wave of spending unnecessary.
The Klarides/Eversource connection illustrates one more example of contemporary Republican taste for delusions. Some party leaders refuse to contemplate the toll tumultuous weather and Eversource’s record of inadequate responses could inflict on their ticket. Tenth year retrospectives on 2011’s paralyzing October storm will remind them and Stefanowski that memories of Eversource’s epic failure remain vivid.
An alliance with Klarides and Butler, an ambitious veteran of Republican politics, would cause irreparable fractures in the campaign organization Stefanowski has been building.
Posted September 29, 2021.