Herbst and Violence: Trumbull Republican Wanted to Put His Cigar Out in Lauretti’s Eye.

Volatile Tim Herbst has an unsettling taste for violent imagery. The Trumbull Republican texted a message to a fellow Republican declaring, “I would love to put my cigar out in Mark Lauretti’s eye”.

In 2016, Herbst sent a text to troubled Enfield Democrat David Alexander that featured a clip with the “make my day” moment from 1983’s “Dirty Harry”, which features star Clint Eastwood pointing a gun. Herbst claimed at the time that he’d sent the clip to Alexander by mistake.

The former Trumbull first selectman’ s violent animus for Lauretti, mayor of a nearby Shelton, seems strange even in the context of the odd Herbst. They are rivals in the crowded contest for the Republican nomination for governor but it’s hard to think of one other than Herbst who would form that cigar assault thought and put it into a text.

The Herbst campaign attributes the text to the campaign’s “desperation season.” Republican delegates, however, will have to wonder what else from Herbst’s cellphone is out there and how many May to November surprises could their party endure.