Republican congressional candidate Mark Greenberg is under fire for conducting a “push poll” that implies his GOP opponent, Sam Caligiuri, defended Philip Giordano, who is currently serving a 37-year prison term for sexually abusing two young girls while he was mayor of Waterbury.
“This is a really disgusting tactic by a candidate who’s desperate because he is isn’t going anywhere in this race,” said Tiffany Romero Grossman, spokeswoman for the Caligiuri campaign. “It really smacks as politics as usual which is really ironic coming from the guy who claims to be the political outsider in this race.”
The telephone poll of registered Republicans in the 5th Congressional District was conducted by Promark Research Corp. of Texas. The Greenberg campaign did not release the text of the poll but, according to several sources, respondents are asked if knowing that Caligiuri “defended” Giordano would make them “more or less likely” to vote for him. Caligiuri toom over as Waterbury’s acting mayor after Giordano’s arrest.
Marc Greenberg, who is managing Greenberg’s campaign, said the poll is part of the candidate’s “fact-gathering” process.
“Sam will discus on a regular basis how he became mayor of Waterbury,” Katz said. “How come when we mention it in a poll it becomes a story? This is simply our way of gathering information.”
But why mention Giordano, one of Connecticut’s most notorious criminals, in the context of a highly charged political campaign? Giordano isn’t on any ballot this fall; he’s in a federal prison in Marion, Ill.”
“The purpose was for us to gather information,” Katz said, who noted the poll also presented a series of statements about the record of Justin Bernier, another GOP candidate running in the 5th District. “We have candidates who are out there, who have a history. We ask questions about the history.”
“We paint a picture of our candidate, we paint a picture of other candidates,” Katz said.
Indeed, the pollsters also sketched a portrait of Greenberg, a wealthy political newcomer from Litchfield who has said he will sink $1 million into his campaign.
According to Katz, they described Greenberg as a 56-year-old successful businessman and has a foundation that saves animals. “It paints a picture,” Katz said. “This is the candidate, that’s his story.”
Katz went on to say that such facts are relevant because Greenberg was never held elective office and doesn’t have a voting record.
Push polls — which aim to measure public opinion and alter a respondent’s views by selectively a set of facts or allegations — are highly controversial. In New Hampshire, such polls are highly regulated.