Disgraceful

by: ctblogger

Sun Jan 06, 2013 at 19:49:17 PM EST

UPDATE 01.09.13 9:00 AM: Another day and another round of criticism from across the country. After Hovey's rant was aired on MSNBC, people flooded the site to give the disgraceful State Rep a piece of their mind.

chris from ny commented yesterday

I love when they say if I offened anyone ..thats bull..you are sorry or you're not ..just say you're sorry..you know you were offensive.

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Bradley William Bleck commented yesterday

Can we channel Dan Akroyd here: DebraLee, you ignorant slut! Or would that be impudent?

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Melinda Sanderson commented yesterday

Gun control is a political issue. Anything that is said about it at any time is political. Nevertheless, this representative is an idiot. She is a bully trying to push around a woman who was the victim of gun violence following a number of insensitive politicians putting targets over her district and encouraging voters to consider exercising their "second amendment option" if elections did not turn out to suit them. Gabby Giffords iis no longer a U.S. Representative and does not have to comply with congressional protocol. Gabby Giffords has the right to travel to Connecticutt to offer whatever comfort she can to the victims and the survivors have the right to receive her or not. I am sure that Ms. Giffords will probably become a pro- gun control activist. That tends to happen when you survive being shot in the head by a gun toting stranger.  Ms. Hovey exercised her First Amendment right and shot off her mouth. Now the voters should exercise their rights to vote and dump her.

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Paul Caporino commented yesterday

Go suck on a Bushmaster, Hovey.  Those towns aren't yours, you @!$%#bag.

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Lyle-1901841 commented yesterday

Sorry, it's not HER town. What an idiotic thing to say. Seems six terms should be enough for this imbecile.

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tompoe commented yesterday

Hovey's comment should be enough reason for anyone to make their vote count by NOT voting for her ever again.  What a smelly woman.

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Rose, New York commented yesterday

There isn't any excuse for this insensitivity toward the families of the Sandy Hook community and Ms. Giffford who is also a private citizen with rights. The Republicans senselessly continue to trend on our rights, our lives, our safety, our well being without an ounce of decency while defending the outdated ideals. There is never any reason nor need for assult weapons to be accessible to anyone other than the military and they know it!.. I am done with this stupidity as they continue to speak with God and Country on their side!

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5843supie commented yesterday

I love it when politicians accuse another politician of  being political...  and then the ignoramous Hovey says "if I offended anyone.....  blah,  blah, blah..."  when she knows damn well what she said was offensive and STUPID !

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ememen commented 19 hours ago

As usual majority of politicians see everything through their narrow ideological prism of self-serving interest and that should not be an excuse for State Rep Hovey and others who don't seem to know how humanity looks like or have any form of human experience beyond their ideology.

UPDATE 10:20 AM: Hovey's rant now on frontpage of The Huffington Post

UPDATE 10:17 AM: The Atlantic Wire picks up on Hovey's rant.

UPDATE 10:15 AM: Gawker joins the mix.

UPDATE 10:05 AM: Readers at the Monroe Patch had this to say about their State Rep.

christine

1:20 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

I'm embarrassed that Hovey represents my town. She has a pattern of immature behavior.

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john roberge

8:26 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

I agree! Anyone who would infer that Gabby Gifford's visit to Newtown was political is a moron. This made national news and greatly embarassed our town. She should be asked to step down.

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Monroe Resident

3:14 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

CT Republican State Rep. DebraLee Hovey has a long history of acting in a low class, hurtful threatening way. Just a while ago she was contacted by Monroe CT Officials regarding improvements she had made to her home years earlier without reporting them to the tax assessor. For many months Hovey would not allow the town tax assessor to inspect her home. Hovey hid behind the fourth amendment and placed a toilet bowel on her front lawn to express how she felt. Photo here http://monroe.patch.com/articl... Only after she won her bid for reelection did she finally allow her property to be inspected. The improvements that she had made were found to be substantial and also that she had not been paying her fair share of property taxes. Hovey is selfish, threatening and low class.

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Sheila D

3:15 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

A few questions come to mind. One, if Gifford was a Republican, would this have still been Ms. Hovey's post? Two, if Ms. Hovey was for gun control, would this still have been her post? Three, if Blumenthal and Wyman had let Hovey know in advance that Gifford was coming, would this still have been her post? Four, how is this political if Gifford retired last year and no longer has governmental access to drive change?

I read the CT Post article about the visit this weekend and it sounded like no media was addressed, no statements were made, these were private meetings, and the First Selectman as well as the Superintendent thanked Gifford for coming to Newtown. Those directly affected seemed glad to have her there, so if you truly represent everyone Ms. Hovey, this was a poor choice of words. Sounds like there was ultimately some personal reasons for the post, without taking into consideration the wishes of those you represent. Sometimes people inactivate their Facebook accounts when they realize it just gets them into trouble, just my two cents.

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Walt

3:29 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

She's really got to go, she's a do-nothing useless rep who only shows her face at election time. Can someone tell me ONE thing she has done for Monroe, one real thing, not some fluffy "she supported" some little bill thing?

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ken starr

3:32 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

A women that lost almost everything to senseless gun violence comes to newown to comfort people going thru the same situation, and you turn it political?? shame on you debra lee!!

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captrips

3:42 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Just another in a growing list of Hovey's embarrassing comments/actions.

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Ed Hocken

5:00 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

As a life-long Republican and a Monroe resident, I am ashamed to admit that she is my representative whom I voted for her on numerous occasions. I do not intend to make that mistake again nor do I intend to support anyone who is ignorant enough to come to her defense. Never had I been as proud of this Town as I have been for its support of our neighbors in Newtown during this time of crisis. She is an embarrassment to the community that she swore an oath to serve. While there are other choice words that can be used to describe her, I won't stoop to her level. She needs to go NOW!

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ctbill

5:47 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Couldn't agree with Walt more! Hard to believe someone with her track record of town service,predominantly non existent,keeps getting re-elected.Not ashamed to say I did not vote for her in the last two elections. Lesson learned!

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sharon

5:51 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Gabby Giffords came as a survivor of gun violence and to meet PRIVATELY with the families to show support. Obviously her intent was NOT political since she is no longer a member of congress. As a life long resident of Monroe, I for one am very proud of the support we have been able to give the Sandy Hook residents during their grieving from this horrific tragedy. Shame on you!! You are an embarrassment to "OUR" town!

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John Symon

3:08 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

I'm a Republican NRA member. I've voted for Hovey in the past

Never again! She is a total embarrassment to us all.

I want to know when she has spoken to Rep Giffords and apologized to her!

Please do us all a favor. Don't take the oath of office Wednesday. Just think, more time for your big white pony.

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UPDATE 10:00 AM: Readers at the Newtown Patch respond to Hovey's latest idiotic rant.

Elena

3:09 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Debra LeeHovey should understand why someone who experienced a similar tragedy would want to come to meet with families that could use support. My sister's husband was killed suddenly by a drunk driver. Friends and neighbors did all they could, but what really helped her to deal with the loss was someone else who had experienced it in a support group. It may also be helpful for Rep. Giffords to meet with them. Who knows what will reach the victim's families and the survivors as well...praying every day for them and the loved ones lost.

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BrianInNewtown

4:28 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Hey DebraLee, why don't YOU stay out of Newtown!

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wendy lee hewitt

4:28 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Disgusting... but that's what the people who voted for her were looking for in their candidate; a bi-partisan viper who rather than look at her constituents as 'people'... views them as simply the mechanism that got her elected to her lofty position. Her apparent inability to temper her comment and THINK before posting it, (which most high school kids know better than to do), shows me a complete lack of vision and frankly, intelligence.

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Guava

4:52 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Hovey sounds like a sorority girl in the midst of a turf war. How dare Giffords, a survivor of a mass shooting co-opt Hovey's spotlight! (Sarcasm intended.)

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Barbara Patterson

5:26 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Hovey sounds like a hard-hearted fool who should probably not be holding any kind of position in her town. What a horribly insensitive statement. Giffords has been through this and wanted to help. She's the kind of rep Newtown needs. Maybe Hovey should stay in Florida. Besides, Ms Hovey, Newtown is not "your town". It is the people's town. You don't own it and you should keep your self-serving comments completely to yourself. Let's hope you don't get re-elected.

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Mom of two

9:26 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

Sounds like Hovey is the one who made this political. Not much insight or compassion on Hovey's part in my opinion. Pretty sad.

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Brushy Hill

9:26 pm on Monday, January 7, 2013

"Insensitive" is putting it kindly. Gabby Giffords' presence surely brought comfort to the families. I am amazed by her courage and her strength.

DebraLee Hovey, not so much.

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John Symon

1:13 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Dumb comment. She should call Giffords to apologize.

I'm a NRA member, primarily I hunt. Hovey embarses me.

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Chris

8:37 am on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Gabby Giffords is an inspiration for many. She has handled her situation with grace, dignity and compassion. All lessons DebraLee Hovey has yet to learn.

The thread continues below the fold...

THUMBS DOWN to state Rep. DebraLee Hovey, R-Monroe, for her incredibly insensitive Facebook comment telling former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to "stay out of my towns." Hovey, whose district includes the southern portion of Newtown, was miffed that she had not been invited to attend Giffords' meeting with the first selectman and others Friday afternoon at town hall before comforting families of victims at a private home. Hovey questioned the politics of the event, but the only politics in play here were hers.

On Friday, Giffords - who continues to recover from a gunshot wound to the head during a 2011 assassination attempt - was in Newtown to visit with families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings victims.

The same day, Hovey wrote on her now-private Facebook page, "Gabby [Giffords] stay out of my towns!!"

She continued in a comment thread: "It was political. The Lt Gov was there, [Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal] was there and ALL political types KNOW it is courteous to let sitting Reps know when another political is in the District. So...... There was pure political motives."

The comments were deleted, and Hovey's Facebook page is now private, spokesman Jamison Bazinet told POLITICO.

In content and syntax, state Rep. DebraLee Hovey embarrassed herself, the General Assembly and the state.

Ms. Hovey, a Republican who represents Newtown and Monroe, blasted the visit to Newtown on Friday by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, a Democrat, who met privately with local officials and families of victims of the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"Gabby Gifford stay out of my towns!!" Ms. Hovey posted on Facebook over the weekend (misspelling the former Arizona congresswoman's last name). In the comments thread, Rep. Hovey seemed to complain that she wasn't invited (she was at a meeting in Florida at the time) and claimed the visit was political: "There was pure political motives [sic]."

Good heavens, is she the sheriff? Who could have a problem with Gabby Giffords? Ms. Giffords, who barely survived a gunshot wound to the head in a shooting rampage in Arizona in 2011 that took six lives, may be uniquely qualified to offer comfort and strength to the Newtown families.

If the subject of stricter gun laws came up at the meeting, does Rep. Hovey have a problem with that?

As for the visit being a political stunt, the press was not allowed in, and there was no statement afterward. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, both Democrats, accompanied Ms. Giffords to the closed meetings, appropriately, and so did Newtown First Selectman E. Patricia Llodra, a Republican.

Rep. Hovey took down the post on Sunday and issued a tepid apology on Monday, calling her remarks "insensitive" and apologizing "if I offended anyone." Who might be offended? Well, there's everyone who admires Ms. Giffords' heroic struggle, everyone who saw the visit as potentially helpful and everyone who appreciates the Queen's English.

UPDATE 7 PM: Newtown State Rep. Chris Lyddy had this to say regarding his idiotic colleague.

State Rep. Chris Lyddy, D-Newtown, who also wasn't invited to the meeting Friday with Giffords, said Hovey's comments were certainly "insensitive."

"Newtown is experiencing an outpouring of support from people throughout the country," he said. "Right now is a time to focus on what we can do to support the families affected by this tragedy."

I don't own the state or the city I live in, and nobody has the right to say that type of thing.

Hovey's spokesman Jamison Bazinet confirmed to Intelligencer that the statuses were indeed legitimate and have since been deleted. Hovey's profile has also been switched to private, he said. Bazinet would not comment on why the update was removed, but said Representative Hovey expects to release a statement on the matter this afternoon.

UPDATE 01.07.13 Pat Scully at the Hanging Shad had this to say.

Sometimes I just shake my head, blown away by a public official's rank stupidity. Such was the case when state Rep. DebraLee Hovey posted on her personal Facebook account, "Gabby Gifford [sic] stay out of my towns." Hovey was upset that former US Rep. Gabby Giffords, who made a miraculous recovery from an assault weapon attack in Tucson two years ago tomorrow, visited with family members and other public officials in Newtown last Friday. The meeting was closed to the press.

Hovey then went on to dig the hole deeper by accusing Giffords of being motivated purely by politics. She took down the offending posts but not before the Hartford Courant's Capitol Watch blog posted the screen grabs demonstrating the crass, moronic state rep for what she is. For this idiocy alone she should be defeated in the next election. Unfortunately, that's not for another two years.

Ms. Hovey, Gabby Giffords will go wherever she wants (and they're not "your" towns, you have the privilege to represent them in the state House-hopefully for a final term) and she will be welcomed with opened arms for the courageous person she is. Do you think maybe Congresswoman Giffords might have an interest in the aftermath of Newtown? Something tells me she didn't give a minutes thought to some paean state representative-or sorry, "Assistant Republican Leader."

UPDATE 9:00 PM Only in Bridgeport's Lennie Grimaldi's headline pretty much sums things up.

DebraLee Hovey Needs Serious Therapy

Six days into 2013, 359 days to go in the New Year - and we already have a top contender for the nation's "A**hole politician of the year" award.

No it is not some right-wing Arizona sheriff or an ultra-conservative right-wing tea-bag southern politician; it is a Connecticut State Representative who serves as one of the House Republican's Assistant Minority Leaders.

According to a Hartford courant update this afternoon, Connecticut State Representative DebraLee Hovey responded to former Congresswoman Gabby Gifford's visit Friday with Sandy Hook Elementary school families by getting on her Facebook page from her Florida Saint Pete Beach vacation to write

"Gabby Gifford stay out of my towns!

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Apparently DebraLee Hovey was mad that she hadn't been invited, jumping to the conclusion that it was an attempt by some Democrats to try and capitalize on the massacre.

However, according to sources there in Newtown, the town's REPUBLICAN First Selectwoman was in attendance at the meetings, meetings, by the way, that were closed to the media.

It's official, State Rep. (and ASSISTANT REPUBLICAN LEADER) DebraLee Hovey is an asshole.

State Rep. DebraLee Hovey, who represents Newtown and Monroe, posted this on her public FB page. From Florida. (Note: Hovey removed the post from her public Facebook page on Sunday afternoon).

Giffords visited local officials and Sandy Hook families Friday in meetings that were closed to the press.

She had more to say in this comment thread:

I'll won't even comment on how Rep. Gifford's event in Newtown was CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC (or how NEWTOWN'S REPUBLICAN FIRST SELECTWOMAN was in attendance) and get right to the point.

As someone who knows a thing or two about this assclown, I'm not shocked by her idiotic and disgusting rant. I'm only happy that the media has finally picked up on her latest disgraceful act.

If you're as disgusted as I am, feel free to give State Rep. Hovey a piece of your mind. Make sure to copy and paste your message to State Rep. Hovey in the comments section at this site since she has a habit of scrubbing her Facebook page.

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/debra...

Email:

DebraLee.Hovey@housegop.ct.gov
...developing.