Chris Donovan: “This is big trouble.”
Chris Donovan: "This is big trouble."
In case you missed it, after four days of deafening silence hiding behind a spokesperson Chris Donovan addressed the public yesterday. As the federal probe surrounding the Democrats’ endorsed candidate for the 5th District consumes his campaign, their chances of winning this November are sinking like a rock.
Rick Green’s latest column in the Hartford Courant sums up the Democrats’ increasingly dismal outlook:
NOTE: “The problem is there’s little he can do or say now that his campaign has been smeared in the opening round of what is certain to be a widening FBI probe into corruption in the state house — particularly since he’s unwilling to comment on the specifics of the ongoing probe… For a candidate facing an August primary – and Democrats worried about how Donovan’s troubles might affect them in the general election in November – this is big trouble.”
Donovan Speaks, Corruption Cloud Lingers
by Rick Green
June 3, 2012
Hartford Courant
http://courantblogs.com/rick-green/donovan-speaks-corruption-cloud-lingers/
Give the guy some credit. House Speaker and Fifth District candidate Chris Donovan stood before the cameras and stood his ground, finally. On a Meriden sidewalk Sunday evening, Donovan was feisty, emotional and denied all accusations that his office was for sale. Pretty good, and actually rather believable.
“It was like getting punched in the stomach,” Donovan said, before declaring the he regretted the day he ever hired the three campaign staffers connected to the ongoing FBI probe of government-for-sale in the House Speaker’s office. “No one bought my involvement, my position or my influence on the roll-your-own legislation or any other. Period.”
The problem is there’s little he can do or say now that his campaign has been smeared in the opening round of what is certain to be a widening FBI probe into corruption in the state house — particularly since he’s unwilling to comment on the specifics of the ongoing probe. The reality is that this investigation, and the troubling suggestion that the legislature can be bought, will remain like a black cloud, hovering over the General Assembly and Donovan for weeks to come. For a candidate facing an August primary – and Democrats worried about how Donovan’s troubles might affect them in the general election in November – this is big trouble.
How long before Linda McMahon or Chris Shays starts running ads featuring Donovan and Ray Soucy, the labor union leader identified as the lead co-conspirator in the criminal scheme to funnel money into Donovan’s campaign in return for political favors? Imagine the gift this scandal is for the four Republicans running in the Fifth, any one of whom right now has to be considered a better shot than the former front runner Donovan. State Republican leadership could parlay this into something unthinkable not long ago — capturing the state senate, perhaps.
To be sure, the FBI isn’t after a minnow like Robert Braddock, the Donovan campaign’s finance director or a small-time labor activist such as Ray Soucy, who has been identified by the media as one of the co-conspirators in the scheme to disguise contributions to Donovan.
Sunday night, Donovan told us he is ”not finished fighting.” The FBI isn’t either.