​Goldstein says he would be a consensus builder

By Scott Benjamin

GREENWICH – Beasley Reece once intercepted passes at the Meadowlands and years later delivered the sports on NBC 30 in West Hartford.

He has said that, “Leverage is important in life.”

For a year the Freedom Caucus has leveraged the way the U.S. House functions.

Last January that pro-Trump Republican conservative caucus, in effect, forced 15 ballots before California’s Kevin McCarthy was elected as House Speaker, the most ballots since before the Civil War, according to New York Times columnist Steven Rattner.

In May, Democratic President Joe Biden cut short a foreign trip to conduct 11th-hour negotiations with McCarthy as the Freedom Caucus threatened to provide enough votes to block an increase in the debt ceiling. In October McCarthy was ousted as speaker after just 270 days on the job after a movement led by Freedom Caucus member Matt Gaetz of Florida criticized him for his debt ceiling deals with Biden. McCarthy has since resigned from Congress.

The Freedom Caucus has underscored that the federal debt has grown to more than $33 trillion with almost $1 trillion a year on interest payments alone.

Michael Goldstein of Greenwich, who is making his second bid for the Republican nomination in the Fourth Congressional District, said “I would not become a member of the Freedom Caucus, but I would certainly dialogue with them. I think I would be more of a consensus builder.”

That contrasts with the other contender for the GOP nod, Bob MacGuffie of Fairfield, who helped organize the Tea Party in Connecticut in 2009. MacGuffie recently told Patch.com that, if elected, he would become a member of the Freedom Caucus and listed its members near the top of the elected officials that he most admires.

“They’re trying to get the job done,” MacGuffie explained. “They’re attacked in the media. I just hope that people in the next 11 months wake up to that fact before the election.”

MacGuffie has been distributing weekly news releases sharply criticizing eight-term incumbent Democrat Jim Himes of Greenwich.

Sacred Heart University Professor Gary Rose, who wrote a book in 2011 on the Fourth District, recently told Patch.com that, “MacGuffie's campaign updates posted on the internet are unlike anything that I have observed during my many years of following and writing about congressional politics in the 4th CD.”

Goldstein remarked, “Mr. MacGuffie seems to be very focused on the flaws of Himes. I accept the fact that Himes is flawed. I acknowledge that he is not the right man for the job. I do think that we have a problem with major spending. However, I think that I am more focused on solving the problems rather than focusing primarily just on Himes.”

Himes’s campaign manager, Francesca Capodilupo, stated via e-mail that they would not comment for this story.

Said Goldstein, “If you’re running for office, you have to show why you’re the better alternative. Saying that the incumbent is bad is one step, but saying why you would be better is the much more important goal. I think that we need a government that is not so polarized. I think that three-quarters of the people in this country want the same things.”

Goldstein said that taking 15 ballots to elect a House Speaker “was not the best scenario.”

“I think there should have been unity and agreements before there ever was a vote." He added that he would not have supported removing McCarthy as the Speaker.

Goldstein, 74, an eye doctor and attorney, was elected last November to the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting.

The Fourth District convention nomination will be determined by the GOP delegates from the 17 municipalities in the district in May. It appears ultimately it will be decided during a primary on August 13.

In 2022 former Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson garnered the convention nomination with 156 delegates to 18 for Goldstein. He forced a primary by amassing more than 2,400 valid petition signatures after canvassing the Greenwich landfill, Home Depot and Stop & Shop parking lots.

“A lot of people are unhappy with the career politician,” he said regarding the feedback that he and his campaign team received.

However, Himes was 42 years old before he was initially elected - having worked on Wall Street and then as an affordable housing executive before launching his first campaign.

Stevenson won the 2022 GOP primary with slightly more than 60 percent of the vote and then lost to Himes in the November election – 59 to 41 percent. She is now the Connecticut chairwoman of Women For Nikki– the organization supporting Nikki Haley for the Republican presidential nomination.

Goldstein - whose son, Jonathan, is again managing his campaign - said they are now more recognized in the district and better organized. He said that since MacGuffie doesn’t have as many contacts as Stevenson, who in 2018 had run in primary for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor, he believes he can win at the convention.

Southern Connecticut State University Associate Professor Jonathan Wharton was a congressional aide for former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (R-4) of Bridgeport, who held the seat from 1987 to early 2009. Himes narrowly defeated Shays in 2008.

“The Fourth District is a unique one,” Wharton said in a phone interview with Patch.com. “It still is Connecticut, but it is very tilted to the New York tri-state area.”

You can travel from NBC Sports in Stamford to Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport to Route 188 in Oxford and think that you have been in three different parts of the country.

Combined, Republicans Lowell Weicker, Stewart McKinney and Shays won every election in the district from 1968 through 2006. All three were considered to be moderates.

Shays, for example, garnered 77 percent of vote in 1990. But he posted slim victories over Democratic former Westport First Selectman Diane Farrell in 2004 and 2006 as she criticized his support for the war in Iraq and called for trimming a growing budget deficit, according to The New York Times. In 2008, Himes was elected largely due to large pluralities in Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk, which currently rank first, second and sixth, respectively, in population in Connecticut.

Himes has been near, at or above 60 percent in each race since 2016.

Goldstein remarked, “The only way to win is to reach out to unaffiliated voters and convince them that it is time for a change and have a good Republican turnout,”

Wharton said, “I think the 4th has historically been a swing district and remains majority unaffiliated voters. Of course, it leans Democrat and has remained as much since the early 2000s.”

As of October 31, 2022 the registration was 37.97 unaffiliated voters, 36.17 percent Democrats, 24.89 percent Republicans and .97 percent minor parties.

Rose stated that it has trended more Democratic in the recent elections due to the “diploma divide.”

“The evidence is clear that persons with higher levels of education are now more inclined to support Democratic rather than Republican candidates,” he explained. “Much of this undoubtedly is due to the subject matter and interpretations that college students are exposed to. And voters in communities like Greenwich and others within the 4th CD are highly educated, so it is no surprise that we see movement towards the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates.”

Wharton said that Shays “had to be very careful in how partisan he wanted to go, including the impeachment of President Clinton. He was often working across the aisle. He had no choice.”

He said that he has told his classes that in a swing district, “You have to be careful about paying attention to your constituents. Himes has remained that way. He hasn’t been always toeing the Democratic party line. No matter who is in office in that district, you cannot be an extremist.”

Wharton said he has had at least three former students who have worked as either congressional or campaign interns for Himes, and, “They have always stressed that he has that independent streak and he is proud of it.”

For example: Being one of 38 congressmen to support a version of the Alan Simpson-Erskine Bowles deficit reduction plan; Trying to help the financial services industry in the district; Supporting the fast-track trade provisions; Working with John Delaney, the bipartisan congressman from Maryland and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In 2021, Americans For Democratic Action, a liberal organization, reported that among the Connecticut U., S. House delegation Jahana Hayes of the Fifth District voted their way 95 percent of time. John Larson and Joe Courtney of the First and Second districts, respectively, supported their positions 90 percent of time and Rosa DeLauro of the Third District and Himes voted with them 85 percent of the time.

On another topic: How has October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel changed the world?

Goldstein commented, “There is a definite rise in anti-semitism, which has pretty much gone unchecked.”

“It changed the world in a lot of ways because it showed the ugly side of terrorism – people killing men, women and children in a barbaric way that has not come to an end,” he commented. “We have to rethink how we deal with terrorism and aggressively eradicate it and send a message that terrorism cannot be tolerated, because otherwise it just keeps coming back.”

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently wrote, “It’s time for the U.S. to tell Israel to put the following offer on the table to Hamas: total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, in return for all the Israeli hostages and a permanent cease-fire under international supervision, including U.S., NATO and Arab observers.

Goldstein countered, “I don’t think so. Gaza to me is essentially a quasi- autonomous state with an elected government.”

“I think a mutually-agreed upon solution based on tactical realities is probably more likely to succeed rather than one imposed by people living in different parts of the world that have no direct connection with these countries,” he added.

Goldstein also said America needs to take bold foreign policy steps towards its adversaries.

“I think we’re living in a world that is very similar to the 1930s,” he said, comparing the rise of Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan to where China, Russia and Iran are now.

“If we had been more aggressive we probably would not have had World War II,” he remarked. “I think that we should learn from our mistakes.”

Goldstein also criticized Biden’s program to control the borders.

“We have this huge number of people undocumented coming into the United States,” Goldstein said. “Some of them could be terrorists. Some of them could be criminals. Some of them are sex traffickers.”

“I think the world would be a more stable place now with Trump as president,” said Goldstein, who hasn’t made a formal endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

However, he added, “I think Trump is a clear-cut winner in terms of popularity. I think at this point Trump is going to be the nominee.”

Yet, Trump faces 91 felony counts and has been banned from the ballot in two states regarding his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Goldstein declared, “What disturbs me the most is that we’ve seen a [misuse] of our justice system. I think a lot of this stuff is not valid.”

Which elected officials – past or present – does Goldstein most admire?

In an e-mail interview, he stated: former presidents Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Lincoln, because he was “a common-sense conservative who believed in a unified country and the abolition of slavery," he stated.

Goldstein cited Kennedy for his “courage to stand up against the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis and for his belief in the principal of people serving their country rather than asking for the government to serve them.”

He wrote that Reagan “was far more complex” than people thought. “He was able to gain the support of the American youth. This is the future of our country.”

Resources:

Interview with Michael Goldstein, Patch.com, Wednesday, December 27, 2023.

E-mail interview with Michael Goldstein, Patch.com, Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

Phone interview with Jonathan Wharton, Patch.com, Friday, December 29, 2023.

E-mail interview with Jonathan Wharton, Patch.com, Monday, January 1, 2024.

E-mail interview with Gary Rose, Patch.com, Thursday, December 14, 2023.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/22/opinion/israel-war-gaza.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/28/opinion/2023-charts-inflation-politics.html

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/kevin-mccarthy-ousted-as-house-speaker-in-dramatic-

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Francesca Capodilupo, E-mail message, Patch.com, Wednesday, January 3, 2024.

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