Republican 5th district congressional candidate Mark Greenberg is responding with harsh words to his potential opponent’s appearance on Sunday’s Face the State.    Greenberg called Elizabeth Esty “afraid” in her answers to whether she feels House Speaker Christopher Donovan should recuse himself from the redistricting process.   Here is the release being sent out today. 

Statement by Mark Greenberg on Elizabeth Esty on “Face the State”

Elizabeth Esty’s refusal on Sunday’s edition of Face the State to call Chris Donovan’s conflict of interest on the Reapportionment Commission a “conflict” is the kind of political response we have all come to expect from career politicians like Esty.

Even when host Dennis House quoted a Harford Courant editorial calling Donovan “oblivious to the conflict of interest,” Esty maintained that recusing himself from the Commission should be “Donovan’s decision to make.”

Her refusal to call for Donovan to recuse himself strongly suggests someone who is afraid to take a stand against a member of her own party — even when Donovan is clearly in the wrong on this issue.  We do not need that kind of “go along, get along” wishy-washy politician in the United States Congress – in fact, the refusal of members of Congress to make principled stands is exactly what got our country in the mess it is in today.

Esty’s response also begs the question: does she believe that the district boundaries will ultimately benefit her if she wins the nomination?

With the pall of Chris Donovan’s conflict casting a dark shadow on the redistricting proceedings, a court-ordered resolution will likely be the only way voters can have confidence that the obviously gerrymandered 5th District hasn’t been stacked for political insiders like Donovan.”

Here is Sunday’s Face the State interview with Elizabeth Esty: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6489843