Sen. Sampson’s Response to Speaker Ritter’s Attempt to Silence Senate Debate

Statement from Sen. Rob Sampson in Response to Speaker Ritter’s Attempt to Silence Senate Debate:

“Let’s set the record straight.

Yesterday’s Senate session lasted approximately six hours from start to finish, including all speakers from both parties. There was no filibuster. I spoke several times, never for more than an hour at a time and more often for 15 minutes or less. That is called debate. That is called representing the people who sent me to Hartford.

If Democrats are upset, it is not because of delay. It is because the arguments being made are effective. When a supermajority is embarrassed by facts, by citations of the rules we are supposed to operate under, and by a clear explanation of their abuse of process, their instinct is not to defend their position. It is to silence criticism.

That should concern every person in Connecticut. The rights of the minority are not a courtesy extended by the majority. They are a fundamental part of representative government.

The same politicians who constantly warn about ‘fascism’ are now openly suggesting that an elected Senator’s microphone should be cut off because they do not like what he is saying.

Democrats hold greater than two to one majorities in both chambers and control the Governor’s office. They have the votes to pass anything they want, and yet they are threatening to silence dissent.

That is not strength. That is insecurity.

Debate is not obstruction. Debate is the job, especially when the majority is practicing what I have described as convenience government, abusing the emergency certification process to bypass public hearings, committee debate, and meaningful public input. When process is manipulated to avoid scrutiny, the Senate floor becomes one of the only remaining places to demand transparency. If the majority is confident in its policies, it should welcome debate, not fear it.

It is also worth noting that I serve in the Senate. It is curious that the Speaker of the House feels the need to weigh in on debate in a separate chamber. Every elected official answers to the people who sent them here, not to colleagues in another chamber, not to leadership, and not to party power structures.

My responsibility is to the people of the 16th District. They are my bosses. I was not elected to be convenient. I was elected to represent them and to stand for constitutional government, common sense, the rule of law, and basic decency. I will continue doing exactly that.

If defending those principles makes the majority uncomfortable, so be it.

Read the article from Inside Investigator here.