It was disturbing to see in the West Hartford News that Republican Party leader Carl Donatelli said there have been Democrats recently changing their party affiliation to Independent in anticipation of Carpenter’s resignation. The obvious implication is that the Democrats may be prepared to pick a successor to the soon-to-resign Barbara Carpenter (who really ought to step down now, however much I admire her) who isn’t really unaffiliated or a GOP loyalist.
There’s a reason the state law requires minority representation. It’s to ensure there are watchdogs in place to keep an eye on the majority.
In our town, that function is mostly gone, with one Republican switching sides and another allied with the Democrats. That leaves just one GOP councilman, Mark Sinatro, to hold a line that should have three people.
The majority councilors should see the wisdom in genuine opposition and let the Republicans pick someone to replace Carpenter. Let Donatelli and his gang provide a handful of possibilities and pick one of them. Or at least turn to someone that we can all trust to be a good Republican, not a Democratic lapdog. And I say that as a voter who generally backs the Democrats.
The West Hartford Blog 