How the Game’s Rigged in One Photo.

The new House Republican Minority Leader, Themis Klarides, must not have been able to find anyone from her own party to escort her on the red carpet for her introduction at last week’s inaugural ball. She chose two insider Democrats to accompany her, as this Hartford Courant photo memorializes. The chief of staff for the Senate Democrats, Vincent Mauro, is on the Seymour Republican’s right.  Mark Ojakian, Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s chief of staff, takes Klarides’ left flank.

The choice of escorts reveals where Klarides will lead the House Republicans–into the arms of the Democrats. “Sellout” is the word making its way around Republican circles. Moderate Democrats, who are trying to assess their strength for the coming deluge of tax and spending increases, will be wary of trusting Klarides and her loose lips.

For a party leader a voracious appetite for favors from those with the power to grant them comes with frequent betrayals of colleagues and the public.

Margaret Thatcher provided a credo for successful leadership on the day she was chosen to head her dispirited party 40 years ago: “You can’t exist as a party unless you have a clear philosophy and clear message.”