It won’t work on him. Ned Lamont is not Dannel P. Malloy or M. Jodi Rell. That has not stopped veteran lobbyists Patrick Sullivan and Paddi LeShane from creating and displaying a cloying “Love the Gov” bag-turned-sign in front of their Prospect Avenue home, eight houses from the Governor’s Residence.

Slobbering is not thought by observers to be a strategy that works on Lamont.

Sullivan and LeShane lobbied for Stamford when Malloy was mayor and preparing to run for governor. He remained close to the surly, unpopular governor, who Sullivan referred to as “Danny,” during his eight calamitous years in office. Sullivan, a Republican most of the time, was a longtime, ardent supporter of Joseph Lieberman, who Lamont engaged in an epic contest in 2006.

Lamont has restored public confidence in state government with his steady leadership during the global public health crisis. A note, email or text would suffice. Crikey, find a way that doesn’t make denizens of the Capitol village retch.

It always hurts. Litchfield Republican delegates to the 5th Congressional District nominating convention have endorsed retired federal prosecutor David Sullivan over local Republican Ryan Meehan.

Endorsement gives frontrunner Sullivan the five delegates chosen by the Litchfield party town committee. In addition, a state central committee member and state Representative David Wilson have endorsed Sullivan. Meehan, recently of Texas and Greenwich, registered to vote in Litchfield at the start of the year.

In other 5th district news, Waterbury Republican Rueben Rodriguez ended his race for the nomination Tuesday. Rodriguez offered this earnest statement on Facebook.

The virtual nominating convention is scheduled for May 14th.

State Representative Themis Klarides (R-Derby) collected enough campaign contributions to qualify for public financing for a re-election bid. The House Minority Leader issued an abrupt announcement last week that she will not seek a 12th term.

Klarides received her first first one January 8th and her last contribution on March 4th. She raised $7,034 from 209 contributions in the first quarter of the year, according to her campaign finance report filed with the State Elections Enforcement Commission on April 14th.

Red November Strategies of Milford had been hired and paid $666.25 on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday to design and host a campaign website.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt that “he favors allowing states struggling with high public employee pension costs amid the burdens of the pandemic response to declare bankruptcy rather than giving them a federal bailout,” according to a Bloomberg report.

Hewitt pointed to California, Illinois, and Connecticut as high pension obligation states that may need federal money as the Covid-19 pandemic increases expenses while revenues decline. McConnell said bankruptcy protection has “saved some cities” and allowed them to address long term deficits.

Connecticut will see a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars this year, but the state’s finances are robust enough to make longevity payments to state employees this week.

Some medicine until a vaccine arrives.

They finally had enough. House Republicans used their unique coronavirus sabbatical from the legislative session to examine their leadership. Caucus members began to let the word go forth that House Minority Leader Themis Klarides (R-Derby) has been found wanting. Klarides announced Tuesday morning in a statement released by the House Republican office that she will not seek a 12th term. “Times change and we have to move on and make decisions about balancing life and how we can best serve those that rely on us,’’ Klarides said. “This is the end of an extremely fulfilling and challenging chapter in my life. But anyone who knows me understands that my commitment to public service is ongoing.”

Klarides, elected to the House in 1998, is completing her third term as the distant leader of the House Republicans. Discontent in the diminished ranks of the House Republican caucus had been growing, Daily Ructions can report. A defeat for leader of the caucus after this November’s election would have squashed Klarides’s hopes for higher office.

Retired federal prosecutor David X. Sullivan has built a commanding lead over rival candidates for the 5th CD Republican nomination to face first term incumbent Democrat Jahana Hayes. Sullivan reported at the end of the first quarter of the year raising around $135,000.

Bizarre hopeful Robert Hyde, of Simsbury and the bar at the DC Trump hotel, has raised a few dollars shy of $25,000. That’s a couple of thousand dollars more than Ryan Meehan, recently of Texas and Greenwich, who recently moved into the district to make the race. Meehan’s poor fundraising will come as a disappointment to his campaign consultants. A fourth candidate, Ruben Rodriguez, a Waterbury Republican, has raised less than $4,000.

The unique coronavirus has halted traditional campaigning and fundraising. Town committees meet by phone or internet, if at all. Delegates are unavailable for the usual get-together with eager candidates. Glad-handing is verboten. Delegate isolating is especially hard for candidates who entered the race late, like Meehan, though will be a mercy for Hyde and party activists who want to avoid him.

Delegates will meet by some means in May to pick an endorsed candidate.

Connecticut State Police are warning the public to be on the watch for fraudulent medical supplies offers. The agency has been using its @CT_STATE_POLICE Twitter account to offer a stream of warnings to state residents of bad actors in the midst of a global pandemic. Other warnings include online phishing schemes and stimulus scams.

It is especially important, as the State Police have found, to beware of counterfeit and defective safety equipment.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is offering grants to some small businesses. Eligible businesses must:

 -Employ between 3 and 20 people,

– Be located in an economically vulnerable community, and

– Have been harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applications for the grants will go live at noon on Monday, April 20th.

Read more about the program and sign up for alerts here.

Governor Ned Lamont announced Monday that he will look to people gathered by private non-profit organization AdvanceCT to guide the Greenwich Democrat in lifting restrictions on the state’s economy and other activities in response to the unique COVID-19 global pandemic. Indra Nooyi, co-chair of AdvanceCT, and Albert Ko, MD, of the Yale School of Public Health, will serve as co-chairs of the group.

Among the “senior advisors” guiding the first-term governor will be Ezekiel Emanuel, “who serves as Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania,” according to Monday’s announcement. Not included in the release from Lamont’s office were Emanuel’s credentials as “a Venture Partner at Oak HC/FT, [who] joined the firm in 2016 and focuses on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities in Healthcare,” according to the firm’s website. Oak HC/FT is the venture capital firm co-founded by Ann Huntress Lamont, wife of and advisor to Ned Lamont.

According to Emanuel’s profile on the Oak HC/FT website, his spirit animal is Tigger of Winnie the Pooh fame.

The ethicist Emanuel wrote a controversial 2014 article making the case for death at the age of 75. The piece continues to cause discomfort and may prompt some to question if Emanuel is suited to help lead us out a public health crisis that continues to take a fearsome toll on older people.