The Opportunism Behind Kirton’s “Cross-Party” Strategy

Rickford Kirton’s latest maneuver floating a write-in bid while courting Republican votes looks less like principled independence and more like a calculated end-run around his own party. He brands himself a Democrat, but his playbook leans on the same anti-establishment theatrics and grievance politics that define Trump-era campaigning, minus the honesty to own the ideological shift.

Kirton’s supposed “good government” agenda is mostly a vehicle for perpetual combat. Budget referendums, outside audits, and process fights are worthwhile tools when used to fix problems; in his hands, they become blunt instruments to bludgeon incumbents and keep his name in the headlines. He frames every setback as corruption, every criticism as a smear, and every procedural dispute as proof the system is rigged, classic victim-politics that energize a niche, not a town.

His courtship of GOP voters is less bridge-building than brand laundering. By avoiding national policy substance and sticking to buzzwords—“no blank checks,” “taxpayer protection,” “transparency” he invites Republicans to project their own agenda onto a vacuum. It’s a convenient way to harvest crossover votes without being accountable to either party’s values. Meanwhile, he markets himself as a reformer while relying on insinuation and public spectacle, not hard governing work.

The pattern is familiar. When called out for inappropriate behavior, he denies, deflects, and declares the process unfair using Trump like rhetoric that substitutes drama for responsibility. When the party apparatus declines to bless his ambitions, he cries gatekeeping and flirts with a write-in run. When allies need steady leadership, he offers litigation and Facebook broadsides. It’s performance politics, high on outrage, light on deliverables.

If Kirton truly wanted to improve Bloomfield’s finances and transparency, he’d build coalitions inside the process, deliver measurable reforms, and accept accountability when he crosses lines. Instead, he’s chasing a cross-partisan persona that treats Republicans as a tactical lifeline and Democrats as a foil—an opportunist exploiting municipal government as a stage for grievance. That may win him attention. It won’t give the town stable, credible leadership.