A moderate Republican named Larry DeNardis convinced voters to send him to Congress in 1980. Thirty years later he announced he wants them to send him to the governor’s mansion — and proclaimed himself open to abolishing the death penalty.
DeNardis Thursday morning formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor, in the shadow of East Rock at the Eli Whitney Museum.
In some ways the event felt like a scene out of New Haven’s history.
For starters it took place inside the Eli Whitney Museum. The museum’s namesake invented the cotton gin. He came up with the idea of making guns with interchangeable parts, paving the way for mass production. DeNardis chose the spot to make a point: He wants the state to make it easier for “21st century Eli Whitneys” to build plants here to manufacture their inventions.
The event evoked a bygone era as well because of who DeNardis is, and how he spoke.
He spoke for 30 minutes, without sound bites. (The death penalty statement came in response to a reporter’s question after his speech. Click on the play arrow above to watch it.) He didn’t use the word “conservative” or “liberal” once in those 30 minutes. He spoke in depth about government policy while calling for politicians to “put aside partisan differences.”
DeNardis himself last won an election 30 years ago. He won New Haven’s seat in the U.S. Congress (beating Democrat Joe Lieberman and Communist Joelle Fishman). He rode into office on the coattails of Republican President Ronald Reagan in the watershed 1980 election. Reagan was turning the country, and his party, to the right. He was picking off conservative Democratic voters. DeNardis did that, too. He replaced a conservative Democrat, Bob Giaimo, who retired after owning the seat for 20 years.
He joined a class of Midwestern and Northeast Republican Congressmen dubbed the “Gypsy Moths” —named after a caterpillar that was wreaking havoc on the region’s trees. The Gypsy Moths were fiscally conservative and moderate on social issues and the environment. That had been DeNardis’s reputation as a state senator, as well, where he worked with members of both parties on issues like “runaway shops” legislation, protecting workers laid off by companies closing their doors. Statewide, Connecticut Republicans had a moderate reputation; then‑U.S. Sen. Lowell Weicker helped drive his own party’s president (Richard Nixon) from office.
A lot has changed since DeNardis last held public office. His state’s voters have changed. His party has turned hard to the right. Hometown Democrats turned to the left; a liberal Democrat named Bruce Morrison defeated DeNardis, served ten years, then was replaced by another liberal Democrat, Rosa DeLauro, who has held the seat ever since, with no serious challenge. DeNardis left elective politics to serve in the Reagan administration, then preside over the University of New Haven.
All of the state’s Congressional seats have gone to Democrats. The last Republican Congressman, Chris Shays, a descendant of the Gypsy Moths, lost his seat in 2008.
Meanwhile, Republican candidates now seem to be competing with each other for who’s the least moderate. The leading Republican candidates for U.S. Senate this year, Linda McMahon and Rob Simmons, have been issuing releases portraying each other as closet wishy-washy moderates rather than hard-core Tea Party-style right-wingers..
And yet, when Larry DeNardis popped back up again Thursday morning declaring his candidacy for public office, still sounding as he did in 1980, some elected officials showed up to praise him and argue that he’s a legitimate contender. Those officials included one of the state’s leading Democrats.
Peer Respect
“Larry is just a terrific guy,” said that Democratic, State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney of New Haven. Looney said he will support the Democratic nominee for governor. But he also said this: “Larry’s the only Republican candidate for governor who arguably can do as good a job as the leading Democratic candidates.”
Can a moderate Republican still campaign successfully in a primary where motivated ideological activists tend to dominate? “If it can happen anywhere, it can happen in Connecticut, I suppose,” Looney said. “Probably not anywhere else in the country.”
Republicans present said the same.
“There’s a big difference between national Republicans politics and state Republican politics,” said New Haven GOP Chairman Richter Elser. “Whoever wins the Republican nomination and wins the race for governor will be someone who represents the broad middle of the spectrum of Connecticut.”
Republican State Sen. Len Fasano (pictured) of North Haven showed up to Eli Whitney to endorse DeNardis.
“The state of Connecticut is a blue state,” noted Fasano, who voted in favor of same-sex marriage. “Socially moderate, fiscally conservative — that’s what wins our state.”
It wins the governor’s office. Despite the state’s turn to the left (registered Republicans rank third on the voting rolls, after independents and Democrats; Barack Obama won Connecticut easily), no Democrat has won the governor’s race since 1986. Moderate Republicans have (including Weicker, who ran as an independent when he won the 1990 election).
At 72 years old (next week), 28 years out of office, with no personal fortune to match the Republican frontrunner, DeNardis starts his campaign as a long shot. But the message he delivered Thursday fit the script.
Schools, Jobs Focus
Paul Bass Photo
While he didn’t mention the word “conservative” in his 30-minute announcement, DeNardis did offer up a full plate of fiscally conservative prescriptions for the state. He called for abolishing the estate tax. He called for a constitutional amendment to limit state spending and borrowing. He said he would have vetoed the current state budget. He called for cutting taxes and limiting business regulation.
He called all that essential to tackling a budget deficit projected to hit $3 billion; and to luring companies here and creating new jobs during the worst recession since the Great Depression.
“We have hundreds of 21st century Eli Whitneys growing up in Connecticut and ready to take their place alongside this great inventor,” DeNardis said. “But when it comes time to manufacture their inventions, will the state of Connecticut welcome the production and honor their ingenuity here, in their home state, or will Connecticut force these new inventors to build their plants elsewhere and employ citizens in other states or other countries because of unfriendly laws and policies toward business and toward those who create jobs in this state?
DeNardis also focused heavily on education. He called for creating a high-school level math and science competition “no different than how we organize our interscholastic sports programs with leagues and tournaments and prizes including scholarships to UConn and our other state universities.” He touted his record as an environmentalist (which the past two Republican governors have done, too). No chants of “Drill, Baby, Drill!” could be heard in the museum.
DeNardis didn’t mention any classic Republican wedge issues in his speech. Not abortion. Not same-sex marriage. Not the death penalty.
“Live And Learn”
He was asked about those issues by the press, after his speech. He said he supports same-sex marriage.
Then CT Mirror reporter Mark Pazniokas asked him about the death penalty. The Democratic-led legislature voted last year to repeal it. But Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed the bill. So it didn’t become law. What would DeNardis do?
“I don’t know,” DeNardis responded. “That’s not a dodge. I supported the death penalty as a state senator. But we all live and learn, don’t we? So I would re-examine that issue.”
The statement was remarkable to hear on the campaign trail, especially from a Republican. in the 1994 governor’s race, even a liberal Democrat, Bill Curry, felt the need to back the death penalty; doing otherwise was considered political suicide.
DeNardis was asked how he came to revisit his position. He said he didn’t want to elaborate on that. He wanted to keep his focus on the main themes of his announcement speech: fiscal discipline, job creation, education.
It’s not as easy to control the spin when running for office in 2010 — as a liberal, a conservative, a gypsy moth, or any other species of candidate.