Submitted by Sean Goldrick
“You can judge a man by the company he keeps,” the saying goes. So, too, politicians. So judge Greenwich GOP first selectman Fred Camillo by the company he keeps, starting with Donald Trump, since Camillo’s supported him for a long time.
In July 2019, Greenwich Time columnist Bob Horton wrote, “Between his support of Trump and his (conservative) legislative record, Camillo presents his opponents with a rich lode of campaign issues.”
In November 2019, New York Post reporter Jon Levine wrote, “The (Kordick signs) put Camillo in an awkward spot by highlighting his continuing support for Trump in a town where locals voted for Hillary Clinton over the billionaire in the 2016 presidential race, 57 to 39 percent. Camillo was careful not to criticize the signs’ message, only the messenger.”
In April 2020, Horton wrote, “My phone rang early on the morning that the offending signs greeted drivers around town. It was an aggrieved Camillo…Camillo is a Trump supporter, but supporting Trump has not worked out well for some Republican elected officials in Greenwich.”
Not once has Camillo publicly criticized Trump, or condemned any of his policies. After the January 6 Trump insurrection, Camillo put out a carefully worded statement condemning the “violence,” but never mentioning Trump. Indeed, New York Times reporter Dan Barry recently wrote that although many Greenwich residents urged Camillo to disavow Trump and his policies, Camillo repeatedly refused, responding, “That’s not my concern.”
So judge Camillo by his support for Trump, whose chief of staff revealed he praised Adolph Hitler, claiming “Hitler did a lot of good things.”
Just days ago, Trump echoed Hitler’s Nazi propaganda, stating, “Nobody has any idea where these (migrants) are coming from…We know they’re terrorists…It is a very sad thing for our country. It’s poisoning the blood of our country.”
That expression, “poisoning the blood of our country,” closely tracks Hitler’s claim in Mein Kampf that “great cultures of the past perish because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.”
Trump praised North Korea’s fascist dictator Kim Jung-Eun, and claimed he “fell in love” with Kim.
Trump believed Russia’s fascist dictator Vladimir Putin’s claim that he didn’t meddle in the 2016 election, ignoring American intelligence agencies’ conclusion that he did.
Trump attempted a mafia-like extortion of Ukraine’s President Zelensky, demanding that he create dirt against Joe Biden in return for desperately needed American military equipment.
Trump refuses to condemn Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, and will not say which side he wants to see win.
Trump was convicted of defaming E. Jean Carroll, the woman he raped, and Trump’s business was found guilty of engaging in corporate fraud.
Trump has yet to be tried for 91 felony counts against him.
That’s the company Camillo keeps.
And then there’s Ron DeSantis, the Florida GOP extremist, whom Camillo has praised for “doing a very good job in Florida. He’s certainly got a backbone, which I think a lot of Americans admire.” According to a CBS “60 Minutes” expose, the sheriff of Bexar County, Texas has recommended felony and misdemeanor criminal charges against suspects working for DeSantis who conspired to send legal Hispanic immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, without their consent, dumping them there without food or shelter, and without notifying officials that they were coming. Camillo has not criticized DeSantis for that act.
In August of this year, referring to federal employees, DeSantis stated, “On bureaucracy, you know, we’re going to have all of these deep state people, you know, we are going to start slitting throats on day one, and be ready to go.” Camillo has not condemned DeSantis’s calls to murder federal employees.
In April, DeSantis signed into law legislation that forbids abortion after six weeks, essentially making abortion illegal. No surprise that Camillo supports DeSantis, since Camillo co-sponsored anti-abortion legislation in the Connecticut legislature, including SB 330, requiring women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound prior to receiving an abortion, and SB 576, a so-called “personhood” bill that essentially would have outlawed abortion.
DeSantis released new state academic standards including the claim that slaves “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
It was the first instance since before the Civil War that a Southern politician had praised the benefits of slavery for Black people. DeSantis’s “anti-woke” bills were condemned by the NAACP, which issued a travel advisory to African-Americans, condemning DeSantis’s, “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion programs….Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals…Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign, Desantis’s enacted legislation tantamount to a “MAGA Takeover of Higher Ed” that attacks academic freedom in the state. The HRC makes clear that, “the bill allows the state Board of Governors to give direction to universities on removing majors and minors in subjects like critical race theory and gender studies and would prohibit spending on programs or activities that support such curricula.”
As a result of DeSantis’s “MAGA takeover,” Florida has seen an exodus of teachers and university professors from the state.
Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis. That’s the company Fred Camillo keeps. He should be judged by it.
NOTE: The deadline to submit letters to the editor about candidates in the Nov 7 Greenwich municipal elections was Oct 30, 2023.