Microphone Mouth

Well, once again, true to form, I appear to have gone all over the ionosphere without having the benefit of knowing or hearing what I said. But the reports are generally positive, so I guess the Guinness at Augie’s did a good job of lubricating the vocal chords, if nothing else. BTW, I only had two glasses of the stuff (’Struth!), but now that I look back on the scene through the rosy mists of memory, I think they may have been pint glasses. Didn’t know they had those on this side of the pond. Anyhow, it slid right down, and the words slid right out. The reporter described me as a “Greenwich blogger”, I am told, and I did my best not to disappoint. If I can find a url to my ramblings, and if they are fit for mixed company, I will try to post it here.

Meanwhile, the political scene in Greenwich continues to rise from its heretofore moribund state in truly Draculean fashion. (Did I get the Great Vowel Shift right? Or is there a better adjectival form of Bram Stoker’s immortal creation’s name?) Which is to say, now we actually have the chance to unseat some of the long-time incumbents who have been commuting to Hartford for far too long without anyone saying boo! to them. I refer specifically to State Senator William Nickerson and State Rep Claudia “Dolly” Powers. Nickerson, like Lieberman, is someone I will gladly cross the street to avoid, and whenever he barges into a conversational group of which I am a part, I simply turn and walk away. This appears to drive him nuts. So what does he do? His favorite game is to creep up behind me in the library, tap my shoulder, and say, “Hi, Bill.” Focused as I am on the computer screen in front of me, and preux chevalier that I was bred to be, I always say “Hi” back before I realize who it is. Nickerson then smirks and snickers and runs away, delighted that he has managed to get me to speak to him. This, folks, is our current state senator.

His opponent—and thankfully, there is one, for the first time since when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary—is Frank Farricker. Now, make no mistake: I would vote for a zombie in order to rid the political world of Nickerson, but happily FF is completely human and seemingly well-adjusted. I do not foresee him lurking in libraries and ambushing the voting public in order to get an inadvertent word of greeting. Rather, I see him doing his best to preserve the character of Greenwich, North Stamford, and New Canaan against the marauders who would despoil them in pursuit of the riches of Mammon (did I mention that Nickerson is reportedly a major player in the local real estate market?). FF held an opening shindig for his new headquarters in Riverside last night, and although we all sweltered in the close-packed room, the feelings and the karma were good. Being a member of the ABN (anybody but Nickerson) party, I was pleased to know that the voters of Greenwich finally have a choice—and a good one, at that—in the state senate race.

Also present was Ed Krumeich, who is running to unseat the aforementioned “Dolly” Powers (another local pol who has been in office far too long). “Doll’s” voting record on the environment, and just about every other issue of local importance, can only be described as abysmal. I have long been a member of the ABD party, but until Ed stepped forward, all I could do was scratch her name off my ballot in protest. She’s a parvenue from California, and one could only wish that she would go back there and leave us alone.

Ed, by contrast, has long and deep roots in the community. He’s a lawyer (though we shouldn’t hold that against him, since it shows he’s ten times smarter than the “Doll”), and more to the point, he knows how to sing and perform in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Clearly he has the skill set necessary to tap dance successfully up in the opera bouffe we call our State Legislature in Hartford, and since he will be a Democrat among Democrats (they control the chamber), I suspect he will get a great deal more done for our town than the “Doll” as an ineffectual token Republican ever did. Does that make sense to you? It does to me.

So, folks, as Greenwich goes, so goes the nation. The status quo is being challenged, and the impetus is emanating right from here. Ned Lamont throws a stone into the pond, and Lieberman is unseated. Snickerson and the “Doll” may be next. The winds and tides of change are afoot, as Bulwer-Lytton might have written, and it may be that the dark and stormy night of the past will give way to a new and glorious dawn in which Greenwich shows the country, and perhaps the world, that there is an alternative to the sad history of the last six years. Deo volente.