Here’s the video of the Healy story from WFSB:
As to whether he ought to stay on as GOP chair, that’s a matter for Republicans to decide–and they will soon enough.
More on Healy
by Genghis Conn · June 13th, 2007, 8:32 am · 29 Comments
Tags: Republicans
29 responses so far ↓
He should stay.
Alcoholism is a manageable problem, although in this instance Healy appears to have fallen off the wagon. That is not at all surprising, considering the strain of his job. If he is successfully battling depression and alcoholism, more power to him. But this is strike two; people will be aware of that. It’s not as if he’s making laws for the state, only propaganda for Republicans. Considering the state of the Republican Party in Connecticut, they could use a little propping up.
The breathlessness with which the news is announced by broadcasters is just hilarious. They all could use a stiff drink. But don’t drive.
According to the CT GOP blog Maura of MLN and I have shown notable integrity in our coverage of Healy.
I make note of it because it’s the first and possibly only time I’ll ever be praised on a Republican blog.
That reporter did about as bad a job as you could ask….what an awful bit of reporting in a big spot!
The probelem isn’t alcoholism, fo me. It’s a disorder that can be cured. the probelm is he was out there with a two ton weapon while drinking and could have killed somebody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The incident put me in mind of Ralph.
Mark Twain painted a picture in one of his writings of the amiable drunk. Twain himself was born in a town, he said, so small that it had room in it for only one drunk.
Ralph was our drunk. He used to come around the house when ever I was outside doing chores, or – more likely – arranging not to do chores. He would steer himself carefully up the drive, pause before me like a preacher about to let loose a sermon, and say in as steady a voice as he could command, “Is Frank home?”
Ralph was always careful to steer a course around my mother, who never was successful in persuading my father that he should not contribute to the delinquency of town drunks.
So, I’d summon my father, he’d have a few words with Ralph, and soon a bit of green would pass from my father’s hand to Ralph’s, over the hearty protestation of my mother.
Everyone in town had a try at Ralph – priests, his nieces and nephews, his aging and ailing mother, the local doctor, who told Ralph that he would possibly die from cirrhosis of the liver, but who confided to my father in private that Ralph’s innards were so pickled he probably would survive well into the next two centuries. Nothing worked. Words just slid of him without doing the usual damage.
Ralph would use the dollar or two my father gave him either to buy a bottle of cheap hootch or to take a drink in one of the many pubs that used to line the Main Street of Windsor Locks. My brother and I counted these pubs one day an stopped at eight.
Ralph would wend his way down the driveway, careful to thank my father, and we wouldn’t see him again – until the next time.
I lost track of Ralph when I graduated from High School, just one of the many people who dart in and out of our lives like vagrant ghosts.
One day, on a visit home from college, my father mentioned Ralph to me, and I prepared myself to receive the news he had passed on, for he was an old man when I was a young and stupid idiot.
But no, may father said. Ralph had stopped drinking and taken up his old profession once again.
What was that, I asked?
He was a master carpenter before he fell into the bottle. Ralph make the most beautifully delicate cabinets my father had ever seen, and now, after years of drinking, he had returned to making lovely things. It was this idea of beauty locked in some sober part of his soul, my father thought, that in the end proved to be Ralph’s salvation.
My father was very quiet about the kindnesses he extended toward all, who knew him. And I discovered later that he had never given up on the man. Not only was he making an occasional contribution to Ralph’s delinquency, but my father was helping him in other ways.
“You don’t want to give up on people,” he said.
Never give up.
Do you think it is possible that the situtaion the GOP is going through (complete implosion across the nation, and rather chaotic scandal-wise in this state as well) might be a reason why he is on medication for depression?
Here you have a guy that has been handed a key leadership position in the CT state GOP, and is expected to help produce election results, while at the same time there is just one scandal after another in this state and nationally, and the party is in a continued deathspin popularity-wise.
And depression and falling off the wagon is the end result. I am no Dr./Counselor/whatever, but it seems like a real possibility.
Being responsible for GOP campaigns on any level has to be one of the least envied jobs in the country today.
Their candidates are a mess, their politics are wingnutty, and their base is cracking. Even some of the hardcore right-wing Bloggers are questioning why they would carry water for them anymore.
Do you think that might also explain Sean’s disappearance at CLP? (Not depression and alcoholism, just the politics) Who would really want the job? You would have to be into banging your head against a wall on a daily basis.
“According to the CT GOP blog Maura of MLN and I have shown notable integrity in our coverage of Healy.”
Yeah, well they didn’t add my comment over there simply asking them to slow down on the CT GOP scandals so we can concentrate on the national GOP scandals. And they have moderated their comments since then so it is obvious they censor there.
Was I snarky? Yes, AS ALWAYS. Was it something that anyone that believes in civil discourse and freedom of speech would delete? NO!
There is the quality of their site in a nutshell. No offense CGG, but I wouldn’t brag about them liking what you have to say. heh
BTW: CGG, I don’t read MYDD much (since I am not a Dem) but I don’t think I have congratulated you on your new position there. Way to go! Even though I don’t read them too often, I do know that this is a big deal for any Blogger. Congrats!
Don Pesci-
What a nice story you blogged about in this thread. I am sure all of us have a friend or family member who has suffered as a result of substance abuse. A story like that reminds us about redemption.
[quote post="631"]There is the quality of their site in a nutshell. No offense CGG, but I wouldn’t brag about them liking what you have to say. heh
[/quote]
I’m not bragging. Just pointing out that this is probably the only time it’ll ever happen.
[quote post="631"]BTW: CGG, I don’t read MYDD much (since I am not a Dem) but I don’t think I have congratulated you on your new position there. Way to go! Even though I don’t read them too often, I do know that this is a big deal for any Blogger. Congrats![/quote]
Thanks so much. I’m having a lot of fun over there.
[quote comment="12888"]Don Pesci-
What a nice story you blogged about in this thread. I am sure all of us have a friend or family member who has suffered as a result of substance abuse. A story like that reminds us about redemption.[/quote]
Agreed 100%. We sometimes lose track of forgiveness and redemption in politics, and we shouldn’t.
Colin has a post up about his friend Chris Healy. Well worth a read.
No one’s perfect – Nature’s nature.
Any individual affected. Alcoholism is a disease that requires ample constructive support (within reason of the law) from the surrounding environment.
Not rejection.
For those who truly seek recovery, it is a long and winding journey, often a life long struggle.
CT’s Republican Central State Committee chose to embrace Mr. Healy rather than make an attempt to sweep his struggle under the carpet. It is a constructive actuation of CT’s Grand Old Party new brand, certainly not a choice of destructive denial and/or the easy way out.
We all need copious improvements – we’ll always have.
Respectfully,
Bo ItsHaky
Paulvance,
Thanks Paul, I appreciate the comment. It’s no part of good journalism to discomfort the uncomfortable. Colin is probably right about Healy, and wrong about some Irishmen; not all of them are black Irish. He certainly is right about Bill Curry, a gentleman in his marrow.
We all have good men and women in our families who have fallen for one reason or another. We should remember them when things like this happen.
Chris should stay as the chair. He has good thoughts about policy and campaigns and he should continue. I have complete confidence in him as chair.
Driving while impaired(any drug, including alcohol) is very serious and should not be tolerated with the priveledge of driving. But, it does not mean drop out of life. It means hire a driver or take a taxi and move on.
[quote post="631"]He has good thoughts about policy and campaigns and he should continue.[/quote]
He’s all political theatre and nothing to make things better from waht I have seen. He doesn’t see it but nobody is jojning the tent — He can stay chair as long as he gets sober but let’s not forgat the little banter about Rhode island Rep. Kennedy who plead guilty after he was taking prescription drugs and drank – or didn’t drink; doesn’t matter – just like Healy then crashed his car.
Connecticut Man1
“Do you think it is possible that the situation the GOP is going through (complete implosion across the nation, and rather chaotic scandal-wise in this state as well) might be a reason why he is on medication for depression?”
The theory doesn’t hold up on close examination. Politics is not the cause of clinical depression, though it certainly could trigger it. Politics for Healy is recuperative; ask Colin McEnroe. True, the situation in the Republican Party is dire, but I’m not sure which party is ahead in the race for the number one spot on unethical behavior. Earmark Murphy is pretty bad, and then there was that thing in Chappaquiddick. Let’s call it a draw, Okay.
Some people in this thread have made he point that Healy is not congressman, judge or governor. Do you acknowledge that distinction? Does it mean anything?
Hye partisan Pesci; how goes it?
And then what do you make of the point, also made by others here, that Healy is truthful, repentant and has accepted punishment. Of course, for some people hanging would be too good for him. But surely you’re not one of these.
Hey toucan, bile bothering you again? Remember, I was the first person on this site to call for the resignation of Lou DeLuca, Italian Republican.
Breaking news. DeLuca resigned as Republican leader.
I don’t buy this cynical, manipulative, and dangerous conflation of alcoholism with DUI, as if one inevitably follows from the other, or that compassion for alcoholics should somehow extend to toleration for repeatedly driving while intoxicated. As if DUI is just another purely personal foible. That’s the logic of an alcoholic.
Healy was not arrested because he is an alcoholic. Alcoholism does not equate with driving under the influence. Alcoholism is not a crime. DUI is a crime. Alcoholism does not relieve anyone of legal or moral responsibility for their own behavior.
I haven’t heard anyone suggested that he should resign because he is an alcoholic, or even because he drove under the influence once. He’s being asked because he is so irresponsible, and has such disregard for the lives of other people that he decided to drive while intoxicated and turn his vehicle into a deadly weapon for a second time. On a college campus, of all places.
And we’re supposed to pat Healy on the back for “taking responsibility”? A responsible person doesn’t throw away his “second chance” and drive drunk twice. A responsible person in a public leadership position doesn’t wait a month after violating the law to disclose it while he consults with lawyers and develops his PR strategy. A responsible person does not plead “no contest” – he pleads guilty when he’s guilty and doesn’t try to hide his culpability under semantic camouflage.
Alcoholism: Forgiveable and irrelevant to the public, if it does not interfere with his job performance.
First DUI: Irresponsible, self-absorbed, maybe forgiveable.
Second DUI: Enough. Contemptuous of the law and human life. Incompatible with political leadership. Time to resign.
MikeCT–
You don’t think Healy deserves a third chance?
Obviously MADD is going to have to weigh in….
To Chris Healy:
Hang in there. Chin up. Chest out. Cell phone active. Office phone active. Mouth running. Mouse active. E-mails flowing. Blogs active. You’re doing a great job. Keep it up ’til we have a Republican supermajority in the CT General Assembly!
KEEP JIMMY SPEAKER
luv ‘em do-nothin’ supermajority dems
TrueBlew: How about third DUI? Time maybe to give it up? Or does being a state legislator and a total state employee union whore like Rep. Ryan (and his enabler, Sen. Prague) confer a special status? I guess maybe when Edith is driving you from event to event because you’ve lost your license (at the same time she is calling for the resignation of unindicted Republicans) the question is pretty much answered, isn’t it?
You know what I hate even more than crooks, liars and thieves? Hypocrites. Let me know when you decide to stop defending them.
It is funny to me how the posters on this site are just like the politicians. When one of their own screw up they run to protect them.
Healy should step down as Chairman. The bottom line is he is the face and mouth of the party that is supposed to stand for family values and morals.
I could forgive him if this was the first incident, I think there are many of us who have had two or three drinks and drove home. Technically we were probobly over the legal limit. But this is his second offense.
Furthermore I don’t think he has been an effective leader.
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