On May 8, Eunice Groark died at the age of 80. In 1990 she and Lowell Weicker were elected on a joint ticket to be Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, under the party label “A Connecticut Party.” In 1994, when their terms expired, Weicker did not run for re-election. So A Connecticut Party nominated Groark for Governor. She polled 18.88% of the vote. See this story.
This was a good showing, but below the 20% needed to maintain the party’s status as a major party with its own primary. Also in the November 1994 election, A Connecticut Party nominated Joseph Lieberman for re-election to the U.S. Senate, and he polled 25.94% of the vote on the “A Connecticut Party” line. He was also the Democratic nominee and was re-elected that year.
She was the first female Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and one of the very few minor party members to hold that office during the 20th century in any state. Currently the only third party member who holds a Lieutenant Governor position is David Zuckerman, a member of the Vermont Progressive Party.
She cast the deciding vote to implement the state income tax.
Good riddance.
Nonpartisan exec/judic officers — via AppV.
TOTAL separation of powers.
Jim, Weicker and Groark campaigned on a platform of a state income tax. The voters elected them to do that. It would have been dishonorable for Weicker and Groark to break their campaign promise.
Thus – W+G = more statist taxes on the tax slaves.
Richard – Weicker absolutely did not campaign on a state income tax. Roland, the Republican, opposed it. Morrison, the Democrat, said he would put it to a referendum, knowing it would fail, as polls said 70% were against it. Weicker, who had an early lead in the race, initially was vague and said he would consider all options. Roland then ran adds saying that Weicker was for it. Painting Weicker as pro-income tax put Roland neck and neck with Weicker, with the momentum on Roland’s side. Weicker responded by running tv ads two weeks before the election which said:
“I’m Lowell Weicker with a message for John Rowland. Don’t speak for me, John Rowland. Stop distorting facts and scaring people with misquotes and half-truths. Long before your negative ads, I was opposed to a state income tax. The people of Connecticut and I know it would be like pouring gasoline on the fires of recession. And nobody’s for that.”
Weicker retook the lead and was elected because he said he opposed the income tax. Within weeks after the election, he supported it, this time saying:
“I worked my butt off to keep an income tax out of this state. I don’t like it. I didn’t want it. But I’ll tell you, the facts were so loud I couldn’t shut them off. There was no other way. … I never made any damn pledge. But even if I had, I would have broken it.”
Thus W = one more EVIL statist LIAR.
I was wrong. Thank you, Jim.