Update From CT:Schlesinger To Be Chased From Race?

July 12, 2006
Update From CT: Schlesinger To Be Chased From Race?
Hartford Courant columnist Kevin F. Rennie sends along this late breaking news:
Expect calls for Connecticut Republican United States Senate nominee Alan Schlesinger to abandon his race to begin in the next several days. Questions are being raised about the former state representative’s gambling habits that have Republicans sounding rattled.
A persistent government critic and former state police casino licensing commander Bradley Beecher sent emails early this week raising questions about Schlesinger. The ones that have Republicans talking are that their Senate candidate is, in casino parlance, a card counter and has used a “Wampum Card” (the Foxwood casino loyalty card that gets gamblers points for spending money) under the assumed name of “Alan Gold”. Schlesinger said today that he does have a card under that name but has not used it “in this decade.” The candidate, sounding agitated in a phone conversation, says he does recall being told by a casino official that he should not be playing blackjack at their facility.
The most serious trouble for Schlesinger, however, comes from Republican state chairman George Gallo, who told me this afternoon that the gambling questions raise “a lot of questions which Mr. Schlesinger is going to have to answer in the next couple of days.” Gallo, who is close to Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell, said, “Our mistake is that we only vetted candidates using their real names.”
Gallo has spoken to Schlesinger and sounded, without providing specifics for the record, unimpressed with the candidates explanations. The party chair would be unlikely to have been so critical of the Republican nominee without a signal from Rell’s office.
Hounding Schlesinger off the ticket would open an opportunity for a wealthy Republican aspirant to join what could be a three way race after the August 8th Democratic primary in which challenger Ned Lamont is closing in on incumbent Joseph Lieberman. Three termer Lieberman has obtained petitions to secure a spot on the ballot as an independent should he lose to Lamont next month.
Republicans are rumored to have some moguls of their own interested in jumping into the fray. Forcing Schlesinger off the ballot would be the first step. He won’t go quietly, you can bet on that.