Normally, television airspace is reserved for the most flush with cash campaigns during election season. With TV time priced in at least the tens of thousands, races like Connecticut House and Senate seats are generally resigned to direct mail, digital pushes, and perhaps billboards along local roads.
But, 2016, isn't a normal election cycle.
Grow Connecticut, a Political Action Committee that has received money in the past from people like Sheldon Adelson, a GOP mega donor, the Koch Brothers and Wal- Mart, has produced and purchased air time for an ad that links legislative Democrats to Gov. Dannel Malloy.
The voice on screen reads, “Democrat legislators gave a blank check to Malloy and now it’s time to hold them accountable. The Republicans have a plan to get Connecticut moving again, close the deficit, and grow the economy, so vote Republican for balance in Hartford. Because while Malloy isn’t on the ballot, the Democrat legislators who rubber stamp his policies are.”
Democrats are working to maintain their majorities in the House and Senate and are fending off attacks from Republicans to whittle away at them.
Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, (D - Berlin), the current majority leader, said he thinks the ad will backfire.
"I think the people of the state of Connecticut are tired of millionaires coming in and making decisions in Connecticut. The middle class people of Connecticut have a voice and they’re going to exercise it on November 8,” he said.
He called for changes to the state's campaign finance laws and wants to see limits on both how money is spent and also how much. He recognizes that the Supreme Court case Citizens United makes such efforts difficult.
“What I think should be limited is the digital media, the phone calls, the door knockers, campaign mailings, more importantly the negative mailings,” he said.
Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano, called those comments, "hypocritical," pointing out how Democrats could have made those changes in the recent past and how Democrat-aligned groups like labor unions have taken advantage of the same independent expenditure laws.
In a statement, Liz Kurantowicz, who runs Grow Connecticut said her group has a right to put that ad on the air.
"Grow Connecticut will continue to hold candidates accountable while advocating for a better way. We shouldn't have to just hope for a better Connecticut, we should vote for one, and that's my message," Kurantowicz said.
