In Sunday’s Hartford Courant, Connecticut Republican Party Chairman J.R. Romano attacked Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Jim Himes for their personal success – trying to make the point that Republicans somehow better understand the plight of the middle class. At the same time, he criticized Democrats for policies that lift people out of poverty and into the middle class, including paid sick time and the minimum wage.

“That’s the greatest irony of the Democratic Party,” said J.R. Romano, the chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party. “Rosa DeLauro is not alone. Jim Himes is extremely wealthy, Richard Blumenthal is extremely wealthy. These are not people who sit around their kitchen tables and worry about how they’re going to pay their electric bills.”

Romano said the populist policies championed by DeLauro, such as paid sick leave for employees and a higher minimum wage, will harm middle-class families. “There’s a disconnect in how these policies are impacting the economy,” he said. “We’re seeing it play out in Connecticut under Dan Malloy.”

 

You heard that right, the Chairman of the party of Linda McMahon and Tom Foley is actually trying to argue that Republicans best understand the concerns of middle class families.

“J.R. Romano is trying to pitch himself as blue-collar politician who understands the challenges of working families. Yet he thinks it’s fair for workers in Derby to earn a substandard wage or for mothers to fear for their jobs if they are too sick to work.

“Chairman Romano should cut back on the stale right-wing talking points and keep searching for what party he is leading, because – as we saw with Linda McMahon and Tom Foley – Connecticut voters understand that Republican policies would hurt the middle class and working families.” – Connecticut Democratic Party Communications Director Leigh Appleby