Republican Peter Lumaj’s cut-and-paste candidacy: copyings and “conjugal acts”

By on October 25, 2014 at 4:25 PM

 

You have to give Peter Lumaj of Fairfield petersome amount of credit, although he doesn’t do the same for the authors from whom he has apparently cribbed whole sections of his political writings.

I mean, what candidate in recent memory has made “the sanctity of the conjugal act” a plank in a campaign platform? It sounds like something General Ripperripper would say in the classic Cold War comedy “Dr. Strangelove,” if he had decided to leave the military and run for President against Peter Sellers.strangelove

Sure, that “conjugal act” line, a not-very oblique slam at gays and lesbians, among others, was written during his aborted his run for U.S. Senate back in 2012. But it remains memorable over and above the fact that he was a candidate that election cycle before becoming a registered voter.http://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/default/article/Fairfield-lawyer-in-quest-for-U-S-Senate-seat-2284696.php

And in focusing his latest GOP campaign, for Secretary of the State, on the hot-button but amorphous issue of “corruption,” it seems Lumaj doesn’t quite understand – and hopes the voters don’t either – that voter fraud and the like is the purview of the independent State Elections Enforcement Commission http://www.ct.gov/seec/ not the office for which he is running a long-shot campaign against first-term SOTS Denise Merrill. http://merrill2014.com/

Lumaj has, however, enough of a sense of humor to set up a bogus Merrill website. http://www.merrill14.com/

But over the years Lumaj, a lawyer, is evolving as a candidate. More than $800,000 this year in public money from the voluntary Citizens Election Fund certainly helps. He has even paid for ads on WCBS radio out of New York, blasting Connecticut and Bridgeport in particular, for blatant election corruption. I asked Brock Weber, Lumaj’s spokesman, what the Albanian-born candidate meant and he sent an outline:

“Recent allegations / accusations of Fraud:

 

  1. 2010 Bridgeport Gubernatorial Election
    1. Reverse 911 to Democratic precincts discussing extended hours
    2. Bag of “discovered” un counted ballots
    3. Photocopying of ballots at Bridgeport City Hall – SOTS under ordered ballots in 2010
    4. Polls open 2 additional hours
    5. Absentee Return address to vacant lot
      1.                                                          i.            1238 North Ave – 250 voters
  2. 2011 Bridgeport Mayoral Race – Democratic Primary
    1. Finch and Foster accuse each other of widespread absentee fraud
    2. Merrill interjected and endorsed Finch
  3. 2012 New Haven Democratic Town Committee Election
    1. Democratic Town Committee Co-Chair Election
    2. Accused Candidates Audrey Tyson + Tom Ficklin (run as a ticket)
    3. 29 Yale students withdrew their absentee votes citing they were asked to commit fraud and intimidated by campaign workers to lie about it.
  4. 2013 Bridgeport Democratic Primary for School Board
    1. Widespread accusations of absentee voter fraud
    2. Targeted at senior citizens
    3. Liberal WatchDog Group CT Citizens Action group – filed complaint w/ SEEC
  5. 2013 New Haven Mayoral General Election
    1. Allegations of Harp perpetrating Absentee fraud on Senior citizens
    2. Signing documents w/o voting for particular candidates
    3. Liquor fueled limo ride to polls that targeted recovering drug addicts at a two rehab facilities
  6. 2014 Bridgeport State Senate – Democratic Primary
    1. Allegations center on Sen. Anthony Ayala
    2. Reports of two different size envelopes for ABS Ballots – One size official, One size for Ayala votes
  7. 2014 Bridgeport (State Rep) Christina Ayala Arrested”christina

 

Allegations do not corruption make, as William Shakespeare might have said if he lived on Bridgeport’s East Main Street. And Willy the Shake might have appreciated meeting state Sen. Andres Ayala, who is referred to above with an Italian first name. But indeed, Tom Foley himself, in the aftermath of his 2010 election loss to Dannel Malloy, admitted that Bridgeport’s photo-copied ballots – the result of a huge turnout prompted by the Sunday-before-the-election Arena rally with President Barack Obama, and the extension of voting hours to allow people stuck in long lines to exercise their franchise after the 8 p.m. witching hour on Election Day – did not amount to fraud or corruption.

Okay, so Lumaj was first opposed to online voter registration, then was in favor of it, according to the Norwich Bulletin newspaper, which recently endorsed him. Since the Secretary of the State (SOTS) is mainly concerned about voter registration and the annual filings from state businesses, Lumaj’s flip flop is a step in favor of extending the franchise.

But let’s go back to late-April of 2012, before Lumaj was steamrolled for the U.S. Senate nomination at the GOP convention by both Christopher Shays, the former longtime congressman from the 4th District, as well as the eventual nominee, Linda McMahon, who lost to now-U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy that November in her second run for the office. Lumaj dropped out of the race in June, after gathering only 22 delegates among the more than 1,200 at the convention.

On a Denver-based news site in late April, 2012 that’s called Examiner.com, Lumaj offered what can only be called a different take on what was expected to be a low election turnout among Republicans more than six months later. Here are some excerpts of Lumaj’s little essay (the “conjugal act” line is highlighted) for which readers can translate as Tea Party doctrine, with a touch of the Dormouse, perhaps, or maybe the Mad Hatter for those who appreciate “Alice in Wonderland:”alice

 

“We were lucky to have the likes of John Paul II, Vaclav Havel, Lech Welesa (sic), Reagan and Thatcher many years ago; all were instrumental in bringing down Soviet Marxism. Without their fortitude and steadfastness America would never have been able to endure given the domestic policy challenges that besieged this great nation…It’s simple: we must pursue policy objectives to answer the economic and social problems of our time… To do so would mean that we understand that liberty is the source of moral value. For Socialists, the collective is the source for all moral good, for Republicans it’s the opposite, individual sovereignty is the source for what is morally good. This distinction has been lost throughout America because of our love affair with positivism as we abandoned natural law in our grappling with both domestic and international relations throughout the 20th century.What three principles animated the above mentioned leadership? It’s the same three principles that can renew Western Civilization: leadership that affirms the sanctity of the conjugal act, the inviolability of conscience and moral insight that government is constituted to protect natural rights.”A month later, also on Examiner.com, Lumaj revisited the theme in an attack on Linda McMahon’s education platform:lindaM“Team McMahon is ignorant of the single most significant moral/political fact of our time: the sanctity of the conjugal act procures the most enduring social capital, namely the formation of human identity and character. The American Family is under assault primarily from within expressions of autonomy that decry the undeniable necessity that is mother and wife: the dual reality that every child must have to succeed in this world.  And what prevents women from being great mothers and wives? An inflation based economy that erroneously constructs policy that promotes a lie; the socialist belief that what is good is identified with the collective. Liberal policy that forbids women the individual right to shape the lives of their babies strikes at the heart of every civilization.”

 

This brings us back to the start of this post: the coincidence of Lumaj’s lifting some of his writings from other sources. He appropriated from a campaign aide and business partner William Holland, a conservative blogger, then ran articles under his given name of Pjerin Lumaj.

In May of 2012, Holland blogged on the “Eurozone Problem:”

“It’s beginning to look a lot like the 1930’s as France goes ‘Socialist’ in its latest election. Needless to say, the United States has been there since 2008. The difference is understood within the discreet immeasurable social aggregates that animate our Union; people throughout this Nation are fed up, most seek to check the Socialist agenda that has grounded the American left since The New Deal. My guess is that innumerable fiscal and social crisis’ similar to the failure of the international system that underwrote the pretense of stability throughout Western Europe in its prewar era will play out again. We hope contemporary political parties throughout Europe don’t lose the allegiance of its citizenry for that would be the first step towards another round of radicalized politics that animated the 1930’s.”

 

Two months later, Lumaj wrote this in the Examiner:

 

“As Greece and Spain are at the verge of financial collapse and France goes ‘Socialist’ in its latest election, Europe is beginning to look a lot like the 1930’s. Needless to say, the United States has been there since 2009. However, the difference is understood within the discreet immeasurable social aggregates that animate our Union; people throughout this Nation are fed up, most seek to check the Socialist agenda that has grounded the American left since The New Deal. My guess is that innumerable fiscal and social crisis’ similar to the failure of the international system that underwrote the pretense of stability throughout Western Europe in its prewar era will play out again. We hope contemporary political parties throughout Europe don’t lose the allegiance of its citizenry for that would be the first step towards another round of radicalized politics that animated the 1930’s.”

Stealing the writings of campaign staffers seems to be some kind of professional transaction between the candidate and a subordinate. But in the 2014 campaign, Lumaj collected a veritable who’s who of direct quotes on the proposed National Popular Vote, in which participating states would provide winner-take-all support with their electoral votes. Lumaj cobbled a chain of other’s thoughts, including a former state representative from New Canaan named John Hetherington and the former deputy director of the Federal Election Commission’s Office of Election Administration.

Here’s Lumaj, in the Examiner at the end of May last year:

 “…The structure of the Electoral College can be traced to the Centurial Assembly system of the Roman Republic…The similarities between the Electoral College and classical institutions are not accidental. Many of the Founding Fathers were well schooled in ancient history and its lessons…”

And here is the source of Lumaj’s cut-and-paste opinion, from “The Electoral College,” by William Kimberling, deputy director of the FEC’s Office of Election Administration, published in 1992:

 “The structure of the Electoral College can be traced to the Centurial Assembly systems of the Roman Republic…In the Electoral College system, the States serve as the Centurial groups (though they are not, of course, based on wealth), and the number of votes per State is determined by the size of each State’s Congressional delegation…The similarities between the Electroial College and classical institutions are not accidental. Many of the Founding Fathers were well schooled in ancient history and its lessons.

 

Finally, here’s Lumaj’s May, 2014 homage to the former House member from New Canaan, the bow tie-wearing John Hetheringtonhetherington, who left a huge vacancy for thoughtful articulation in the GOP caucus when he retired a few years back.

 

“…If the American people wish to do away with the Electoral College, the Constitution provides a path for amendment. It has been used successfully 27 times. We should proceed in the same way so as to assure a full understanding and open discussion by our entire country…”

 

 

In April of this year, Hetherington published an essay in the Wilton Bulletin called “National Popular Vote: A Serious Mistake for This Democracy:”

“…If the American people wish to do away with the Electoral College, the Constitution provides a path for amendment. It has been used successfully 27 times. We should proceed in the same way so as to insure a full understanding and open discussion by our entire country…”.

 

There are a few other examples of plagiarism in Lumaj’s essay, but you get the idea.