"I will not be running for Governor," Shays told Capitol Report. " I would love to be part of the debate. I believe I would win. And I would dearly love to serve and help get our State out of the huge mess it is in. But Betsi and I simply can't make it work financial. After quitting my job to run for Governor and serving four years in office we would be nearly bankrupt, the very problem I would be helping to get the State out of."
Note that Shays didn't say anything about running for Congress in this interview. My hunch is that he's still contemplating jumping into the 4th CD race against Jim Himes, because funds raised for that race can be used to pay off that $243,000 campaign debt he was left with due to the alleged embezzlement by his former campaign manager, Michael Sohn.
"I gave serious thought to running again to pay this off," said Mr. Shays, who has kept his campaign running in order to raise money.
Money raised for a bid for Governor could not be used to pay off the Congressional campaign debt.But if he runs against Jim Himes for his former seat in the 4th CD, any funds raised for that bid could be used to pay off his outstanding debts. With Russo and Debicella running behind Himes in polls, Shays comes in with instant name recognition.
But on the other hand, in an environment where the voting public are worried about deficits and fiscal responsibility, I'm not sure how you play the "I'm The Guy To Remedy The Nation's Financial Woes" card against a guy who actually understands the way financial derivatives work and is helping to write the legislation to regulate them, when you're constantly talking about how broke you are and your former campaign manager ripped off your campaign to the tune of a quarter of a million dollars without you having a clue.
In his editorial last week, while declaring that he didn't support Shays' candidacy, Managing Editor Nick Keppler wrote,
I love Chris Shays; I really do. He's a truly beautiful man who has dedicated most of his life to public service...
I wrote a letter to the editor that was published this week explaining why I don't love Chris Shays, pointing out numerous positions with which I disagreed, and taking issue with Shays' voting to go to war in Iraq, while having declared himself a CO. I also questioned how Shays had managed to avoid the draft in 1969, three years before declaring himself a conscientious objector. Keppler attached an Editor's Note, to my letter that read:
Chris Shays was on a Peace Corps assignment during the draft lottery in 1969. The author of this letter is a member of Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.
Keppler's comment appeared to provide an acceptable explanation for Shays' not being drafted at the height of the Vietnam War. The problem is that the Selective Service Administration never considered Peace Corps service as grounds for either a draft deferral or a draft exemption. I know, because I served in the Peace Corps in the 1970's, and I also wrote to the Peace Corps and the Selective Service Administration and received back a letter confirming that fact. So Shays pulled the wool over Keppler's eyes, which I pointed out to him in an email. I assumed that Keppler would be pretty ticked off at Shays for misleading him. To my surprise, however, he wasn't a bit miffed to find out that he'd apparently been deceived. This is his response to me:
As a professional journalist, I am obligated to get both sides and check with the Shays camp when someone says something as inflammatory as he was a draft-dodger. That is what I did and if I could go back and do it again I would not do anything differently. This matter is closed. Thank you. - Nick
So Nick Keppler joins the ranks of local journalists who never bothered to question Shays' misleading excuses regarding how he avoided the draft and saved his hide at the height of the Vietnam War, and who never bother to question the apparent hypocrisy of pacifist Shays' serving as a leading cheerleader for war. If he changes his mind and wants to find out what the real story was regarding Shays and the draft, here are some of the sources for Mr. Keppler or other journalists who can be bothered to do real journalism might consider beginning with.
First, journalists should ask Chris Shays why it is that he has no problem sending young Americans to fight and die in Iraq or any other war when he declared not only that he is a pacifist who believes war to be immoral, but also stated to Peace Corps Online in 2002 that he would have refused induction into the military had he not been granted conscientious objector status in 1972:
Chris Shays early political career was marked by acts of defiance. He registered for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War and acknowledges he would not have served if drafted.
If Shays decides to run for his old congressional seat, it would seem that a lot of military families, including those whose loved ones have been killed or wounded, would appreciate a full explanation of that discrepancy. And a lot of parents of military-aged children would also like to know how he could declare himself a pacifist when his own life was on the line, while blithely sending other young people off to war when he is safe and sound.
Then there is the matter of how he got out of the draft in 1969 when his lottery number came up.
The highest lottery number called for this group was 195; all men assigned that lottery number or any lower number, and who were classified 1-A or 1-A-O (available for military service), were called to report for possible induction.
So not only was Shays' explanation that he was exempted from induction into the military due to his Peace Corps service not supported by the facts, he also received a draft number that virtually assured him that he would be drafted. So Mr. Shays needs to tell us exactly how he did manage to stay out of the war. Did he pull strings? Was someone looking out for him? His explanation to Keppler just doesn't hold water.
Furthermore, Shays should make public his draft records, including his statement of beliefs regarding pacifism, which was accepted by the close vote of three-to-two by his draft board. He should also make available the records explaining why when he was exempted from combat service as a conscientious objector, he was not required to perform alternative non-combat service in the military.
If Shays feels he wants to return to congress and vote on matters of war and peace, he has an obligation to the voters of this district to finally give them a full and factual explanation. And Nick Keppler, as not only a professional journalist, but also a managing editor of a Fairfield County publication, should press Shays for a complete and honest explanation.
I don't care if Mr. Keppler thinks Shays "a beautiful man" or not; the voters of this district are owed the truth. He needs to go back to Shays and demand a full accounting. Then Keppler needs to publish that full accounting in his publication, and correct the misleading explanation that he printed this week.
The matter is most definitely not "closed". Not even close.
Chris Shays has taken over Dick Blumenthal's role of Hamlet in CT State politics as he's dithering between running for Governor or challenging Jim Himes for the seat he lost in the 4th CD back in 2008. Either way, he's taken the first step towards re-establishing Connecticut residency, by putting down a deposit on a condo in Bridgeport.
Neil Vigdor had a piece yesterday where Shays continues his waffling and throws in a dig at Congressman Jim Himes, the guy who beat him:
Declaring that his number one focus is on a prospective candidacy for governor, former Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., won't rule out running for his old congressional seat this year.
"I've left both options open, but what I'm looking to do is see if I can run for governor," Shays said...
The Capitol Hill veteran has generally avoided publicly commenting on the man who unseated him in the 15 months since -- until now.
"My view is given the job that Jim has done, that if I were to run against him, there would be a strong likelihood that I would be able to beat him," said Shays.
Maybe he's speaking based on results of the internal poll released by his former deputy Chief of Staff Rob Russo, one of several GOP candidates in the 4th CD, which included Shays "as a baseline". The poll, conducted by Western Wats, showed Shays beating Himes 52-33 in a theoretical matchup. Russo trailed Himes 43-30.
Shays, however, seems to be leaning more towards the Governor's race. He says he plans to make a decision soon:
"I would love to campaign for Congress," Shays said. "I would love it. But if it didn't make sense for me to run for governor, I'm not sure (it would for Congress)."
Shays said he plans to make up his mind on the governor's race by the end of the month, factoring in two major variables.
"Do I have a strong base in the district I used to represent for 21 years?" Shays said. "Given that my primary opponents are both millionaires, will I have a strong grassroots organization to counter $10 million?"
Now call me cynical, but I think there's probably third variable in play here, and that's the
$243,000 outstanding campaign debt from 2008 due to the alleged embezzlement by former campaign manager Michael Sohn.
Although Shays says:"Michael is responsible for restitution of the funds that he embezzled and for paying the legal costs resulting from what he embezzled," he's got to be facing the reality that there's no way a guy who lived the high life on the campaign might well spend time in the Big House for it is going to be able to do that. And there's that very telling quote Shays gave to the
New York Times back in May when the embezzlement story first broke:
Adding to Mr. Shays's problems...is that he cannot solicit money from any donor who gave him the maximum amount allowed during the previous campaign, $4,600 per individual donor.
"I gave serious thought to running again to pay this off," said Mr. Shays, who has kept his campaign running in order to raise money.
Given how late in the game he's coming to this, I seriously wonder how much of Shays' new found enthusiasm for running for office is due to the financial albatross hanging around his neck.
In his column in Fairfield County Weekly ("We Don't Need Chris Shays"), Nick Keppler writes that former congressman Chris Shays is "a truly beautiful man", whom Democrats "assailed with negative ads" during the 2008 campaign. A "truly beautiful man"?
Chris Shays is the guy who, though he dodged the draft when his number was called at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969, and claimed to be a conscientious objector when he again was called in 1972, nonetheless had no qualms about serving as George Bush's chief cheerleader for the hideous and senseless invasion of Iraq. That "beautiful man" sent more than thirty six thousand young Americans to be killed and wounded in Iraq, including more than three hundred from Connecticut, and hundreds of thousands more to be afflicted with PTSD, many for the remainder of their lives. It was that "beautiful man" Chris Shays who contended for years that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, even after it was proven that both assertions were utterly false. It was that "beautiful man" Chris Shays who dismissed the horrific torture and humiliations inflicted upon Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison as nothing more than the activities of a "sex ring".
It was that "beautiful man" Chris Shays who in 2005 served as one of George Bush's earliest and most enthusiastic supporters for his effort to dismantle Social Security and divert savings into stockmarket accounts instead. Where would Americans be today if he and Bush had been successful in funneling our savings into the collapsing stockmarket? It was that "beautiful man" who sat by for two decades and refused to push for federal assistance for our commuter rail system as its rolling stock became decrepit, or for more federal funds to repair our highways as our transportation system became even more sclerotic. And it was that "beautiful man" Chris Shays who insisted that it was just natural for Connecticut to receive less federal funds back from Washington per tax dollar paid out than all but two states; we just make too much money, according to Shays.
And let's keep in mind what one of those "negative ads" was with which Mr. Keppler says Shays was "assailed". It pointed out that Chris Shays had stated on September 1, 2008, literally hours before the beginning of America's worst financial collapse since 1929, a meltdown that almost brought on another Great Depression, that "The fundamentals of our economy are strong. No one can disagree with that." Don't voters deserve to be told that Shays, who for years had served as the vice-chairman of the House Financial Services Committee that had done nothing to stop the burgeoning disaster of unregulated mortgage debt obligations, had absolutely no clue what was happening? Is it wrong to point out that Chris Shays had demonstrated once again that he was absolutely oblivious about an issue about which he claimed to be an expert? Shouldn't voters who are asked to vote for him this year either for governor or congressman understand that he was asleep at the wheel of the most important committee dealing with financial regulation while this disaster was building?
Not only is Chris Shays not a "beautiful man", he is responsible for some of the ugliest failures of our government in its history. Voters have a right to be told the truth.
Apparently life at his Maryland Shore Dream Home isn't all it was cracked up to be, because Chris Shays seems to really want back into CT politics. So badly he can't decide what to run for. First it was governor. Now, according to the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, he's contemplating a rematch of his 2008 battle for his old 4th CD seat against Congressman Jim Himes.
Former Connecticut representative Chris Shays (R) is considering a comeback bid for the 4th district seat he lost to Rep. Jim Himes (D) in 2008, according to sources familiar with his thinking. Shays has spoken to several of his former colleagues about the possibility although it's not clear how close he is to making a go/no-go decision. ...In 2004 and 2006 beat back serious and well-financed challenges. But, with President Obama on the top of the ticket in 2008, black turnout in Bridgeport went through the roof and delivered Himes a 51 percent to 48 percent victory...It's not immediately clear whether Shays could clear what is a crowded field that includes a current and former state senator if he decided to run. Should he get into the race, Shays would be the ninth eighth former Republican member of Congress running in 2010 for his old seat.
Given Russo and Debicella's lackluster fundraising, Shays might rally the GOP base. On the other hand, it's going to be pretty hard for a guy who struggled to pay off his outstanding debt because his longtime campaign manager allegedly embezzled the money to run as Mr. Fiscal Responsibility.
(The list of GOP gubernatorial candidates continues to grow... - promoted by ctblogger)
Chris "Both Ways" Shays is back from Maryland and on the verge of running for governor of Connecticut. If you had forgotten just what sort of character Shays really is, here are some more nonsensical comments from him.
Referring to the General Assembly Democrats during Governor Rell's speech on the budget, Shays said,
"The majority party (Democrats) sat on their hands when (Governor Rell) talked about being fiscally responsible. It's like they are in another world. It's like they can repeal the law of gravity,"
Really? Incredible that Shays has already forgotten that he served all during the Bush administration while the Republicans added more to the federal debt than was added from the beginning of the republic up to that time. He was serving on the Financial Services Committee in Congress while America's financial system headed into its greatest meltdown since 1929. It was Shays who stated, literally just hours before the meltdown began, that "Our economic fundamentals are strong. No one can disagree with that."
A feature in this weekend's New York Times about the upscale housing woes in Litchfield County got me to wondering if former congressman Chris Shays had sold his own home yet. Well, it turns out he hasn't though it's now been on the market about 7 months. Should he be concerned? Hard to say really. Things shouldn't be as bad as in Litchfield (the anti-Hamptons) where asking prices have dropped about 33% in the past year, but the price has been knocked down about 5% on this gorgeous property on the Long Island Sound, from $1.95 mil down to $1.85 mil. And then there are the matters of taxes ($32,000/year), albeit on a much lower assessed value, and a possible huge bill for capital gains as it was purchased for only $490,000 in 1998.
Therefore, as a public service a free advertisement at MyLeftNutmeg is the least we can do for this longtime public servant of Connecticut's 4th District.
Politico ran this story today. Obviously someone Jim Himes should be concerned about, McKinney is smarter and younger than the ridiculous Chris Shays, who pledged his support for McKinney. I'm not sure that McKinney is as moderate as made out in this article but anyone who says they're pro-choice in the republican party gets that label, and probably a target on his back if he's still around a few years from now at the national level.
Republicans are close to landing Connecticut state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney to run against freshman Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), providing the GOP with a top-tier challenger in a region where the party's fortunes have bottomed out.
McKinney is expected to make a final decision soon after the state legislative session ends June 3, but he has already been making moves in preparation for a campaign, according to several GOP sources.
He was in Washington last week to discuss a potential candidacy with the National Republican Congressional Committee and has talked to NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas and another prominent moderate, Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.).
Former GOP Rep. Chris Shays, who represented the district for 21 years before losing to Himes last year, has been in contact with McKinney and said he is under the impression that the legislator will jump in the race. He said McKinney would have his full backing.
"If he runs - and I think he will - he will have a very good likelihood of winning, and if he is elected, he will be an outstanding public servant," Shays said. "He is just an exceptional young man who really has a lot to offer. I'm excited about him running, and if he does run, he has my total support."
The New York Times just announced that America's GDP in the first quarter of the year fell at a rate of over 6%, marking the worst six month economic decline since the 1950's. It also marked the third straight quarter of economic decline going back to Q3 of 2008. So it seems altogether proper that we recall the words of that economic genius and former congressman from Southwestern Connecticut, Chris Shays in early September of last year uttered on NPR's Brian Lehrer Show:
"The fundamentals of our economy are strong. No one can disagree with that."
You nailed it, Bucko! How right you were! And let's recall the endorsement of Shays by Brooks Community Newspapers. They wrote that they wanted Chris Shays back in Washington "working on the economy." Yep, we need that economic genius working on the economy voting with every other Republican against the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan. As Sarah Palin would say: "You betcha!"
What a difference an election can make. Do you remember what Chris Shays said in 2006 when asked about torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay?
"Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture," Shays said at a debate Wednesday.
Then when the feces hit the fan, Shays wiggled a little:
"It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from (Maryland) who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked," added Shays. "And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture."
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd understood the truth. He was quoted at a press conference with Farrell as saying:
"It's not because it was some pornography ring. I'm surprised anyone would make that suggestion," Dodd said. "The suggestion that somehow this was something less than that is, again, almost bordering on the bizarre."
In contrast to ole Both Ways, new 4th district congressman Jim Himes appeared before the Westport DTC recently and showed that not only does he understand what torture is, but also that it's wrong to do nothing about the torturers of the Bush administration. This from WestportNow:
Congressman Jim Himes told the Westport Democratic Town Committee at Town Hall tonight that he supports a more thorough investigation into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects under the Bush administration. Saying it was one area where he disagrees with President Barack Obama, Himes said: "I will support efforts in Congress to put together a commission of inquiry" into CIA actions.
As the movement to prosecute the CIA torturers as well as the higher-up's who ordered it gains momentum, let's hope that Congressman Himes comes out strongly for prosecution as well.
(PS: Sorry for the lack of links. I'm having trouble copying them in to this posting from the computer I'm using.)
The AP is now reporting that Shays' former campaign manager is suspected.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The longtime campaign manager for Republican Rep. Chris Shays is the target of suspicions that money was misappropriated from his campaign fund, according to two Republicans familiar with the matter.
Shays, who narrowly lost last month to Democrat Jim Himes, said Friday his campaign became aware, after a post-election review, of a series of anomalies that appear to be the result of fraudulent activity by one of its former employees. The name of the employee and other details were not released, but the matter was referred to federal authorities.
Two Republicans familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the investigation is pending said the suspicions involve Michael Sohn, who was Shays' campaign manager for the past several elections. Sohn left last week for his honeymoon in Asia and did not return telephone messages left on his cell phone.
Another person familiar with the matter said Sohn was traveling abroad with the full understanding of federal authorities.
A federal grand jury investigating the disappearance of up to $300,000 from U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays' re-election campaign has subpoenaed the veteran congressman's former campaign manager, Michael Sohn, of Fairfield, the Connecticut Post has learned.
November 21, 2008
Dear Friend:
I am sending this last e-newsletter to express my heartfelt appreciation for the opportunity to serve you and other residents of the Fourth Congressional District for the past 21 years as your representative in Washington.
You and your neighbors have helped educate and guide me through letters, e-mails, calls, office hours, visits, individual conversations and community meetings.
Really? If we have guided Chris Shays, why did he persist for so long against the wishes of his constituents to push for America to invade Iraq? And why, when his constituents were pushing him through "letters, e-mails, calls, " etc. to stop supporting the war, did he continue to support Bush's disastrous war?
The incredible wealth of knowledge you have shared with me has enriched my life and helped make me a better member of Congress.
While this is the last e-newsletter we are sending you because we are required to move out of our Washington office by November 21, I look forward to our paths crossing again soon. All the best.
Christopher Shays
Member of Congress
Before you go, Mr. Shays, please tell us once and for all that you are sorry for helping to send so many young Americans to their deaths in the sands of Iraq. Please tell us that you're sorry for your hypocrisy in saving yourself as a conscientious objector, while sending others to fight. Please tell us now that you are sorry that you pushed for so many years to privatize Social Security when your constituents were telling you for so many years not to do it.
(More nonsense from Kenny... - promoted by ctblogger)
Proving once again what an out-of-touch right-wing rag Connecticut Post really is, its columnist Ken Dixon published this snarky cheap shot at congressman-elect Jim Himes in his Sunday column:
Himes is essentially a 42-year-old blank slate, a Greenwich millionaire who was in the right place at the right time.
The first clip is from election night when Brian Williams announced that the last republican congressman has just been defeated in New England.
The second clip is from 11.07.08 and features Shays jobhunting in the Obama administration.
This is going to be a very exciting administration,'' Shays said in an interview on MSNBC that was quoted by politco.com. "I think obviously I'd be interested in doing something that the president was interested in.''
Shays added, "They have so many important positions to fill, and I think they're going to focus on that. But I have a lot of friends who have asked me would I like to work in this administration, and I said, you know, I would.''
Chuck Todd on NBC's Today Show just gave as one of the things to look for in tonight's elections is a loss for Chris Shays in CT-04 and the subsequent loss of New England for the Republicans. This would in effect turn them into a regional party of narrow interests, rather than a national party. It remains to be seen if that would be enough of a shock to rouse the republicans from their nearly thirty year descent into the narrow extremism of the radical right, or whether they embrace this fatalism even further in 2012 by nominating someone like a Sarah Palin.
Rep. Shays greeted early morning commuters at the Stamford train station, taking time again to observe the passing of John McCain's presidential ambitions. And then he hurried over to get some early morning training as a Wal-Mart greeter.
Disappointed in the mindless endorsement given to Chris Shays by The New York Times, I have sent the following letter to Clark Hoyt -- the paper's Public Editor:
Dear Clark Hoyt,
In A Congressional Endorsement two years ago [October 25, 2006], The New York Times supported Diane Farrell for the seat in Connecticut's 4th District saying: "Mr. Shays may be a beacon of integrity, but if he is re-elected he will vote to continue House control by a party that has repeatedly sold out the country to special interest lobbyists. . . .[and] if he is re-elected he will support a Republican leadership that has refused to question even the most ruinous decisions . . . about the conduct of American foreign policy."
Disappointed in the mindless endorsement given to Chris Shays by The New York Times, I have sent the following letter to Clark Hoyt -- the paper's Public Editor:
Dear Clark Hoyt,
In A Congressional Endorsement two years ago [October 25, 2006], The New York Times supported Diane Farrell for the seat in Connecticut's 4th District saying: "Mr. Shays may be a beacon of integrity, but if he is re-elected he will vote to continue House control by a party that has repeatedly sold out the country to special interest lobbyists. . . .[and] if he is re-elected he will support a Republican leadership that has refused to question even the most ruinous decisions . . . about the conduct of American foreign policy."
This is not good news for Shays as Sabato will be all over the television until the election. The big one is he has Obama winning in a landslide, and that will garner most of the attention, naturally. But for anyone on the bubble like Shays they do not want this meme getting out there that they will lose.
In 2004, Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball website correctly predicted the outcome of 525 of the 530 political races, missing only one House race, one Senate race, one governor's race, and two states in the Electoral College.[6]
In August 2006, Sabato's Crystal Ball predicted that the Democrats would gain 29 seats in the House of Representatives and 6 seats in the Senate, which would provide them with a majority in both houses. Sabato's prediction that the Democrats would win back both houses proved correct; his Senate predictions were exactly correct and in the House, Democrats gained 29 seats on election night, the precise total predicted by the Crystal Ball (Democrats would go on to pick up a 30th seat in the December 12, 2006 run-off in Texas' 23rd district).[7]
Edit: Chris Matthews also picked up on this later today on "Hardball".
Virtually certain now of McCain's imminent defeat Chris Shays effectively tosses McCain under the bus. In an interview with the Yale Daily News:
NEW CANAAN, Conn. - The first ballot has yet to be tallied, but some Republicans are already hammering nails into the McCain-Palin campaign's coffin.
Locked in a tight congressional race, Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut's 4th district is the latest in a slew of Republican incumbents, including Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, to concede a near-certain victory to the Obama camp.
"I just don't see how [McCain] can win," Shays said in an interview here on Sunday.
Shays, the Connecticut co-chair of McCain's campaign, said he was disappointed by the standards of McCain's race, which has increasingly relied on mudslinging.
"He has lost his brand as a maverick; he did not live up to his pledge to fight a clean campaign," Shays said.
"He's taken the thing that is most valuable, his (maverick) brand, and he's not staying true to it," Shays said. "I admire John McCain more than you can imagine. He would make a great president."
But, Shays added, "I don't see how he wins if he isn't true to who he is ... a straight shooter talking about the issues."
I suppose this would be surprising coming from the co-chair McCain's Connecticut campaign if it were anyone else but Chris Shays. But right now survival is the name of the game and it's every man for himself.
Chris "Both Ways" Shays is back from Maryland and on the verge of running for governor of Connecticut. If you had forgotten just what sort of character Shays really is, here are some more nonsensical comments from him.
What a difference an election can make. Do you remember what Chris Shays said in 2006 when asked about torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay?
In contrast to ole Both Ways, new 4th district congressman Jim Himes appeared before the Westport DTC recently and showed that not only does he understand what torture is, but also that it's wrong to do nothing about the torturers of the Bush administration. This from WestportNow:
MLN is powered by