Governor Malloy Speaks in Middletown At Last Town Meeting

"You've got to give him credit," Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said after Governor Dannel Malloy left the podium at the Middletown High School Auditorium.  "These questions were not screened, and you never know what's going to happen when the questions aren't screened."

Of course, Middletown did provide one first on this, the last of seventeen town meetings Malloy has conducted at the beginning of his term as governor.

"Well, there's Sal," Giuliano said, indicating well-known Middletown gadfly Sal Caracoglia after he was physically removed from the auditorium by police officers after taking his place in line to ask questions without the requisite sign-in.  Caracoglia was pulled in a headlock from the line and escorted out of the building, but he was not arrested.

After the incident Malloy noted that there had been no problems like this in the seventeen city tour, and he urged the audience to end the session peacefully, which drew applause from those gathered.

Malloy took on all comers on a first-come, first-served basis, from tea party advocates urging draconian cuts in spending, and anti-immigrant advocates ("Are you going to stand with illegals or are you going to stand with Americans?  Malloy's answer: "I'm going to stand with children who graduate from school,") to progressives calling for more taxation of the richest residents.
 

In these extreme cases, Malloy made no attempt to hide his irritation.

To a tea party rep who accused the Democratic legislature for their profligacy, Malloy responded that he had inherited a financial nightmare.

"It (the question) got a little partisan," Malloy said.  "So I'll get partisan back.  In those 20 years there was a Republican governor.  All of the hard work they should have done for years was never done."

To the progressive who demanded more taxes for the top 1% of income earners, Malloy appeared offended by the suggestion that he wasn't standing up for the middle class and the poor.

"I'm going down the middle, unlike other states," Malloy said.  "New York is lowering income taxes for the rich and so is New Jersey.  That's not the road we're going down.  Don't leave that microphone thinking I'm doing what other states are doing."

And when Republican Lea Tomaszewski welcomed Malloy to town, the governor gave the city a ringing endorsement.

"Last week I had a steamed cheeseburger at O'Rourke's" Malloy said.  "I actually get here more frequently than you'd guess.  I just fly under the radar.  There's a pretty good college here too.  And my favorite author, William Manchester, lived here.  I've even visited his house."