Weicker, War, and Third Party Politics

Perhaps to make it up to the people of Connecticut for imposing an income tax during his single term as a third-party governor in the early '90s, Lowell Weicker is offering to help get pro-war Joe Lieberman out of the Senate.

There hasn't been a meaningful senate race in Connecticut since Lieberman beat Weicker (then a Republican) back in 1988.

And Weicker also hopes to join with the ACLU to challenge a horrible campaign finance bill about to be signed by Governor Jodi Rell. That law would ban direct political contributions from lobbyists and state contractors and allow Republican and Democrat nominees for office to qualify automatically for public campaign funds. To obtain the same public money, third-party candidates would have to mount a petition drive and obtain signatures from eligible voters equal to 20 percent of the turnout in the most recent election.

(Grabbing more taxpayer money and elbowing out third-party challengers is a nice touch for a political "reform" bill aimed at addressing corruption by members of both ruling parties.)