Gadfly relishes role as Dubya's Maine pain
by David R. Guarino
Saturday, November 4, 2000
PORTLAND, MAINE - Dubya probably doesn't remember the first time
he crossed paths with Tom Connolly.
It was back in June, when the GOP nominee rallied in Portland and
Connolly appeared yelling ``You Big Weiner'' repeatedly through the
event.
As Gov. George W. Bush's motorcade passed the crowd, Bush rolled
down his window and said to Connolly, ``Who you callin' weiner,
boy?'' before laughing as he rolled out of town.
But today, Connolly might be having the last laugh, sitting
comfortably with a leaked story certain to dog Bush on sleepless
nights at least through Election Day.
The 43-year-old lawyer and Democrat known for his duckbill caps,
rhetorical abilities and far-left leanings found himself at the center of
perhaps the seminal downturn in Bush's White House race.
After railing against Bush locally, at the Democratic National
Convention in Los Angeles and in a worldwide Web site
(www.weinerboy.org), the once Democratic nominee for Maine's
governor's office finally found a captive audience.
And he was proud of his work.
``I think the function of a citizen is, as they say, to keep an open
mouth,'' Connolly said. ``That's what I did.''
And, as such, he's being praised by some, vilified by others - most of
whom can't fathom that he isn't just a tool of Vice President Al Gore's
campaign.
``When you see dirty tricks like this, it's just too hard to believe that
someone like him could be the only one involved,'' said Sharon Miller,
campaign manager to former Republican Gov. John McKernan.
But, just as forcefully, Democrats are defending him for merely
spreading the truth where Bush chose to hide it.
``I don't see the turning over of this document as a dirty trick; it is
the revelation of a public document,'' said Michael W. MacLeod-Ball, a
fellow convention delegate and Kennebunk lawyer. ``It seems to me
it wasn't a plant, it was just an innocent passing of information.''
But controversy is nothing new for Connolly. Neither is confusion as
to his motives or eccentric stylings. One only need look around his
office for proof of that.
Lincoln and Jefferson busts crowd the office near a skeleton with a
crash helmet Connolly proudly calls ``Bones.'' His creaking three-story
law office in the Old Port District doubles as a part-time home,
complete with his young child wandering around and two goldfish
swimming in a kitchen blender.
His involvement in Democratic Party politics here is deep - but mostly
as an activist. He has campaigned with most of Maine's progressives,
putting his name on the ballot only once for a failed 1998
gubernatorial run where he finished third with just 13 percent of the
vote.
Republicans called it a ``vanity campaign,'' Democrats thought he'd
fall to the background.
But he is rabidly anti-Bush, launching the Web site and handing out
buttons featuring Bush in a hotdog bun saying ``W. is for Weiner.''
The story that changed the campaign - as he tells it - found him
fourth-hand, told to a chiropractor by his patient, from the doctor to
a probate court judge and then to Connolly.
And the lawyer wasn't expecting the reaction he got, holding court
for hours yesterday with everyone from CNN to Newsweek in his
cramped office.
In each chat, Connolly proudly said he hoped to change the course of
the election, that he believes Bush will ``go on a bender'' in the
White House and start World War III over Russian vodka with Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin.
He says he got the story to a TV reporter because ``I didn't have
time for a conspiracy.''
He worries that the Bush ties to the Central Intelligence Agency will
bring trouble his way and insists Maine law now prevents Bush from
entering Canada - even if he wins the Oval Office.
Connolly is concerned his leak will look like Gore's handiwork and hurt
the Democrat but, either way, says he's pleased with what he's done.
Quoting a political hero in Lincoln, he said with a smile, ``I do the
very best I can, the very best I know how.''
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