If Democrat Ned Lamont fails in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, some of his supporters are prepared to blame Waterbury.
John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s magazine, is one of them. MacArthur visited Waterbury two weeks ago and published a column in the Providence Journal on Tuesday.
In the column, MacArthur suggested that Waterbury will be decisive in the outcome of the Senate race and took some subtle jabs at the city’s political history — more subtle, anyway, than the shots taken by Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan, who in August described the city as the nexus of slime and evil.
Mayor Michael J. Jarjura sat with MacArthur and directed his special counsel Theresa Caldarone to give the columnist a tour of the city, culminating in a local Democratic Party dinner.
It didn’t soften MacArthur’s heart.
“Waterbury’s shame is its recent string of corrupt politicians, from Mayor Joseph Santopietro in 1991 to another native son, former Gov. John Rowland, so an event to honor five unconvicted former office holders was, in its way, remarkable,” MacArthur wrote.
Sheila O’Malley, Jarjura’s chief of staff, said she’s a little upset with herself for allowing Jarjura to be so accommodating of the Harper’s publisher.
In his column, MacArthur was critical of Jarjura as “vague” and suggested Waterbury didn’t care about the Iraq war — Lamont’s key issue — and was more interested in the money Lieberman could give the city.
“I don’t know what I was thinking; it’s Harper’s,” O’Malley said.
The Nation magazine also joined the fray, with writer Bruce Shapiro taking a swipe at the city’s “corrupt political machine” in another column on the campaign.
As for the assertion that Waterbury will be decisive in holding the Senate seat for Lieberman, O’Malley said she welcomes the association.
“Bring it on,” O’Malley said.
“This is your extreme left faction (criticizing Waterbury). It’s not going to help (Lamont). He needs help with the middle,” she said.
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3 Responses
How much of a voting bloc do the Yidden in Waterbury amount to?
Itzik asks: How much of a voting block do the Yidden in Waterbury amount to?
The answer is: Numbers don’t matter, it is the PERCEPTION that it is the JEWS that rule the world that is the big story here. Lamont played this card, he is against the war in Iraq (it is all about oil and protecting Israel, you know) and beat Lieberman in the primary.
The fact that the mayor of Waterbury, Michael Jarjura, lost HIS primary election last year, but won in the general election as a write in candidate, largely due to the voting bloc of the (small) yeshiva community in Waterbury is not lost on the political hacks in Connecticut.
Note, also, that just this week there was negative press against the Yeshiva of Waterbury regarding the use of single family homes as dorms….do you think this is accidental?
Scary, the fact that the Town of Waterbury is small, warm, and growing is a big plus for parents of YGW bachurim/yungeleit, but the latent undercurrent (or not so latent, maybe blatant?) antisemitism against Yidden is a bit sobering, if not downright ominous.
It’s about time all of us Yidden disassociate our self from the Democratic party. Not taking in account all the antisemitic anti Israel comments. They have become so radical liberal without even any decent goyishe family values whatsoever!!!!!!