Which 4th Congressional candidate called Congress “morons” in Monday’s GOP forum in Fairfield? Read on.

The 60 folks scattered around the Fairfield Ludlowe High School auditorium still had plenty of time to get home for the crucial second half of the NCAA men’s championship on Monday night. But for a hardcore Republicans, especially delegates, the forum of candidates – just six weeks from the party’s convention – may have been a valuable opportunity to sort through the party roster. Certainly it was one-stop shopping for those assessing everyone from state Senate candidates to the hopeful for governor.

Here are some transcribed remarks from the summing-up portion of candidates for the party’s nomination to challenge U.S. 4th District Rep. Jim Himes, in the order of their speaking.

Dr. Joe Bentivegna, of Fairfield, an eye doctor who once volunteered in Haiti with Mother Teresa, seeking his first elective office: “You’re not going to beat Jim Himes with a traditional Republican.” He recalled his recent stump speech at the Lincoln Day GOP dinner in Stamford. “When I was done, this woman came up to me, with a big smile on her face and she said ‘I like you, I’m going to vote for you.’ But she was not one of the attendees at the  Lincoln dinner. She was this Hispanic woman that was waiting on the tables… You have to ask yourself who’s going to get the vote of the woman waiting on the tables.”

Second term state Rep. John Shaban of Redding, a commercial-litigation lawyer based in Greenwich, whose district includes Weston and Easton, noted that in 2010 and 2012, noted that two towns of his three-town district are run by Democrats: “I win where other Republicans lose. Our 2010 congressional candidate, Dan, lost in two of my three towns. Same thing happened again in 2012.  I have a track record of winning where other Republicans lose, because I appeal to the unaffiliated voter and that’s what we need to do… We now have a consortium of five landlords in Bridgeport, who give me unique access to 8,000 residential units. I’ll win in the suburbs where we’ve lost before and I’ll win in the cities that we keep ignoring.”

Dan Debicella of Shelton, a lawyer, former state senator and the 2010 GOP 4th District congressional candidate. “I think you all know that when I ran four years ago this was the closest race in New England. The truth of the matter is the national party has said that I’m the only candidate who can make this a competitive race and the only one they’ll get involved with. We expect next week that we will out raise  all three of my colleagues combined by four or five-to-one. We want to avoid a primary and be unified in what really matters, which is making sure that the harm that Jim Himes is causing our families, is done.

Carl Higbie of Greenwich, another newcomer to elective office: “I’m a father, a husband. I was a Navy seal for nine years, did two combat tours of Iraq, I wrote a book about it. I was a Fox analyst for two years… I haven’t raised nearly as much money as Dan, but I’m a normal guy… I have tons more people working on my campaign and they’re all volunteers. They’re hard-working folks like you who are just fed up with the morons in Washington wasting our money. Can I win? Yeah, I can win. I’m not a typical politician. I’m not going to moderate and I’m not going to compromise my values. I’m going to Washington and make waves because that’s what we need. We need a fixer.”