It’s that time again. Spring. When political candidates start vying for delegates and in the case of Republican candidate Bob Eick — television spots.
In his first 30-second commercial Eick, who is running for state treasurer, asks: “Want to see scary? Look how poorly Connecticut’s pension funds have performed.”
Standing in the shadows, Eick is lit only by a flashlight. For those unfamiliar with the Ridgefield candidate, he was a producer and financial backer of the 1999 movie “The Blair Witch Project.”
“I know I can do better than current State Treasurer Denise Nappier,” Eick tells voters. “For 15 years she made this mess. But all Connecticut taxpayers own it . . . I’m a professional financial manager — not a career politician — so don’t be scared. I have the experience to fix this mess.”
According to a spokeswoman for Eick’s campaign, the ads will air on Connecticut stations, Cablevision, and CT Interconnect. The ad buy will be roughly $30,000, she said Wednesday.
While the ad takes aim at the current Democratic State Treasurer Denise Nappier, Eick will first have to compete against Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst for the Republican nomination.
The two, according to a recent article in Hearst newspapers, have exchanged barbs over each other’s qualifications to oversee more than $50 billion in public assets.
Earlier Wednesday, J.R. Romano, Herbst’s campaign manager, released a statement pointing to the $10,500 in campaign contributions Eick made to former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, the once powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
“Chris Dodd allowed big banks and government institutions to wreck America’s economy in 2008, wiping out the savings of millions of Americans and thousands of Connecticut families,” Romano said. “Bob Eick made millions on Wall Street and he shared his winnings on the man who wrote the rules of finance.”
Eick has taken aim at Herbst’s management of Trumbull’s pension funds, which are only 32.5 percent funded, according to the recent Hearst news report.
Jack Orchulli, the former fashion executive who ran for state comptroller and had planned to run for state treasurer, already dropped out of the race.