Republican Committee Has 6 p.m. Appointment With Destiny.

State Republicans will meet in Manchester this evening at 6 p.m. to signal if they want to maintain their position as one of the most unsuccessful Republican organizations in the nation. You’ll know that’s the path they have chosen to stay on if failed party chairman Jerry Labriola manages to herd the sheep into an executive session to discuss his many embarrassments.

If there are as many serious contenders to replace Labriola as chinwagging activists claim, this will be the first night for them to reveal themselves and act. They can band together to resist Labriola’s scheme to move the meeting into secret session and banish guests from Manchester’s Adams Mill. That would force Labriola to explain paying a salary summer and fall to a party committee employee who was precluded from doing work for the party at a crucial time—an election campaign.

In the absence of action from state central committee, two Republican town committees have passed resolutions calling on Labriola to resign. If other Fairfield County town committees follow the lead of Wilton and Redding, Labriola’s party-funded frequent flyer card will be cut off.

Tonight’s meeting in the City of Village Charm need not be a Night of the Living Dead.