DC Buzz: GOP holds out hope in 5th

Good news for Connecticut Republicans? After Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s abrupt abandonment of her 2018 re-election bid, the authoritative Cook Political Report downgraded the 5th District from “solid Democratic” to “likely Democratic.”

Less good news for Republicans? State Rep. Dr. William Petit Jr.’s decision not to run for the Esty seat, after briefly considering it.

“I was a little disappointed,” said Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s branch for coordinating House races. “If he had run, he would’ve won.”

In a briefing last week for regional reporters in Washington, Stivers suggested Petit was the only one with the right political credentials and, sadly, the name recognition.

Petit, of course, is the lone survivor of the horrific 2007 home invasion in Cheshire — where Esty also lives. His wife and two daughters were murdered.

Petit has since remarried and has a young son. He cited “family considerations” and a “deep-seated commitment to the people I now serve” as reasons for not seeking the Esty seat.

But hope springs eternal in a district that’s no slam-dunk for Democrats. Stivers said he’s talked to five potential nominees for the position. He declined to name them for fear that a decision not to run would be portrayed as a “recruiting failure.”

Those Republicans announced include Ruby O’Neill, a native of Honduras who is vice chair of the Connecticut Commission on Equity and Opportunity, former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos, and Craig Deangelo of New Britain.

For Stivers, it’s all about candidate quality.

“If we have the right candidate, we can win that seat,” he said.

And if not? “It may mean that Connecticut 5 is not on our list.”

Dubious endorsement

Let it never be said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is lacking in self-deprecation. Heck, love him or hate him, he couldn’t have survived eight bruising years in Hartford without having at least some sense of humor about himself.

So when he was in Washington for a speech on racial-profiling stat collection, I asked about whether he plans to endorse a Democrat in the race to claim Rep. Elizabeth Esty’s seat?

“I haven’t made any decisions about any of that,” he said. “And, quite frankly, if it’s helpful to a Democrat that I endorse a Republican, I’ll do that, too!”

Unanswered questions

Now that the Republicans on the House intel committee have written their “no collusion” report and shut down their probe of the Trump 2016 campaign connections to Russia, Rep. Jim Himes should have gotten his life back.

Himes had jested that working as a Democrat on the secretive investigation was tantamount to another full-time job. But, in a variation of the famous Yogi Berra phrase, Himes would tell you “it ain’t over because it ain’t over.”

Democrats on the committee “will keep trundling along” as best they can, without subpoena power, or any ability to push back on White House officials (or former ones like Hope Hicks) who assert executive privilege.

Ultimately, the ball likely is in special counsel Robert Mueller’s court. But, Himes said, the infractions of law and prosecutions that ensue may not adequately tell the story Americans want to hear: How could Russia subvert the 2016 election? How was America so unaware, so unprepared? And what must we do to prevent it from happening again?

Despite its “no collusion” conclusion, Himes believes the GOP report did get a number of things right — for instance, Donald Trump Jr. and other Trumpians meeting with a Russian purported to have dirt on Hillary Clinton was probably ill advised.

“But the assertion there’s no evidence of collusion (between the Trump campaign and Russia) only shows we didn’t try very hard,” Himes said. “You don’t find what you don’t look for.”

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