Hartford, CT – Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo today called on Connecticut House Minority Leader Larry Cafero and Republican Party Chairman Jerry Labriola to apologize to voters for some of the their members’ post-legislative constituent newsletters, which are overtly political, distort basic financial facts, and misrepresent Governor Malloy during an election year.

Jon Lender of The Hartford Courant published a major story yesterday that showed various House Republicans sent highly political, taxpayer-funded mailings. The literature highlighted by Mr. Lender closely resemble political attack mail pieces, instead of informational constituent newsletters. It strains credulity to believe that this is not a deliberate attempt to sway the electorate in advance of November’s election.

“This stinks of an ethics scandal. Not only could these mailers represent ethics violations for using taxpayer money to launch bogus political attacks, but also they’re likely being used in hopes of affecting the outcome of the November election. These mailers are absolutely unacceptable and clearly cross a line – and Larry Cafero and Jerry Labriola should apologize to taxpayers across the state,” said Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo. “These mailers contain revisionist history and Republican propaganda that might as well have come from an outside, right-wing interest group. Instead, they’re from the legislative offices of elected Republican representatives. This is a willful attempt, in an election year, to smear Governor Malloy and the Democratic Legislature. I won’t stand for it – and neither should Larry Cafero and Jerry Labriola.”

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