FIC Blog

The following editorial, “DELUCA: Senate rulers wield yardsticks,” appeared in the Republican-American on June 15th and is reprinted here with permission.

Sen. Louis C. DeLuca did the right thing by resigning as minority leader. His private conduct cast serious doubt on his ability to lead. However, it appears the Democrats and the news media aren’t going to let this die.

Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, has not retracted her call for his resignation. The Hartford Courant has excoriated him in three editorials and demanded Democrats kick him out. Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams of Brooklyn applauded Sen. DeLuca’s decision but said further sanctions are possible. But any move against him merely would confirm the Democrats’ double standard on personal behavior.

After then-Rep. Jefferson Davis, D-Pomfret, was charged in 2004 with child molestation, they never pressured him to resign and echoed his rationalization that the “charges against me have nothing to do with my legislative work.” Sen. DeLuca isn’t allowed the same public-private separation afforded to then-Rep. Davis or Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who last winter endangered many lives by driving drunk. Not only was there never talk of reprimand at the Capitol after her arrest, her colleagues gave her their unqualified support, just as they did in 2003 after then-Rep. Barnaby Horton, D-Hartford, was charged with 10 counts of voter fraud.

He eventually summoned the decency not to seek re-election after pleading no contest. The same can’t be said for Rep. Dillon, who continues in office, or Rep. Kevin Ryan, DWI-Montville, who spent four months in jail after his third drunk-driving conviction. Democrats never asked him to resign; instead, they drew a bold line between the lawmaker and the private citizen. “I think there is a distinction related to your employment and private misdeeds,” said Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven.

While Rep. Ryan was without his driver’s license, Sen. Prague was one of his chauffeurs and was extraordinarily forgiving. It’s a personal problem, she said. “He paid his price to society and he’s a very good legislator.” In 1998, she wasn’t so charitable in demanding then-Rep. William Varese, R-Monroe, resign after a drunk-driving accident. Democratic leaders agree Sen. DeLuca is unfit to lead the GOP caucus and some think he should be expelled, but they rewarded Rep. Ryan by promoting him to co-chairman of the labor committee.

The double standard has never been lost on Sen. DeLuca, who in 2004 remarked how Democrats use “a ruler for one and a yardstick for another” when judging lawmakers’ lawlessness. It looks like the Democrats have the yardstick out again and about to wield it to chase Sen. DeLuca out of public life.