Linda McMahon will not be joining the Trump administration as secretary of Commerce. Donald Trump announced Tuesday the post goes to Howard Lutnick, Mrs. McMahon’s transition committee co-chair. For Lutnick, the appointment serves as a consolation prize from his ill-judged bid to head the Treasury Department. Mrs. McMahon, according to Semafor, is said to be “pissed” that Trump has not given her the top Commerce job.

Lutnick received a push for the Treasury post from Elon Musk over the weekend on his social media platform, X. Some people are saying that Musk’s exertions on behalf may be seen as overstepping his place in the hierarchy at the Palace of Palm Beach.

Mrs. McMahon, 76, had been mentioned as the likely choice for Commerce secretary, a considerable step up from her perch at the Small Business Administration (SBA) in the first Trump administration. She had also been mentioned for something at Commerce eight years ago.

The former wrestling executive resigned from SBA after two years to lead a Trump Super PAC, America First Action, for the 2020 campaign, which Trump lost to Joe Biden by seven million votes. McMahon was one of Trump’s most generous donors in 2016, but memories fade over eight tumultuous years.

McMahon was the Republican nominee for the United State Senate in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012. She received 43% of the vote against her Democratic opponent in each campaign.

Linda McMahon was named this year with her husband, Vince McMahon, as a defendant in the salacious “Ring Boys” scandal.

Published November 19, 2024.

America is a generous land of second acts, not all of them well-judged. TaShun Bowden-Lewis was the state’s Chief Public Defender when she was fired earlier this year by the Public Defender Services Commission, after months of turmoil. Her termination was preceded by an overwhelming vote of no confidence by public defenders.

Bowden-Lewis, according to her website, is offering personal and executive coaching; criminal defense and strategic planning consultations; leadership development, and training services. Planning staff outings at hefty cost is not included.

The Bowden-Lewis Group claims the only person featured on its website, Bowden-Lewis, “is an experienced transformative leader with the business acumen and community-focused mindset to deliver results through discipline, integrity, and perseverance.”

Attorney General William Tong recently moved to dismiss Bowden-Lewis’s lawsuit against the Commission for dismissing her after two tumultuous years leading the 400-employee state agency, the first public defender service in the nation.

Published November 9, 2024.

The outlook is absolutely vile. There was nothing Sir Noel could not put into song.

Published November 8,2024.

November 8, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

     The right to vote is among the most sacred rights we have as Americans. It is fundamental to our democracy. As your elected Registrars, we feel an immense responsibility to protect that right and to guarantee a high level of integrity in the processes to account for each and every vote. 

On Tuesday, November 5^th, there were a number of extenuating circumstances that have given us reason to diligently review our voting tabulations. 

We are grateful for the assistance provided to us from the office of the Secretary of the State and the office of Mayor Carbone to ensure the integrity of our counts.  We also want to acknowledge the Herculean effort to get the counts correct exerted by our clerk, Melissa Russell, City Clerk Carol Anderson and Asst. City Clerk, Heather Abraham. The problems with tabulators at the Armory, a printing error on a batch of ballots, coupled with an extraordinary demand for same-day registration and the further complications of early voting, lead us to the conclusion that a discrepancy recanvass is in the best interests of the voters and the candidates. 

Accordingly, on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 2 pm in the city hall auditorium (room 218), we will hold a public discrepancy recanvass of all ballots processed at our central counting location, which includes Absentee ballots, Early Voting Ballots, and Same Day Registration ballots.  The public is welcome to view this transparent process that guarantees a proper accounting of all the ballots cast by our voters. 

Fred Jury

Jacque A. Williams

Registrars of Voters

City of Torrington

The rare procedure is unlikely to assist House Democrat Michelle Cook. Republican Joe Canino claimed to have a lead of 600 votes in unofficial results on Wednesday. Cook is said to be dismayed at the result, but any errors by the registrars in overseeing the long voting process would have to have been extraordinarily inept to result in a 600 vote error in Canino’s favor–if Canino was accurate that he was ahead by that many votes.

Published November 8, 2024.

State Senator Stephen Harding ought to be campaigning with his four caucus colleagues in difficult races. Instead, the Brookfield Republican needed assistance on the final weekend of the campaign from his caucus booster, state Senator Heather Somers (R-Groton). Somers was one of the two Republicans behind the 2017 legislation that has become known as the Millstone bill and continues to cost ratepayers hundreds of millions dollars.

Harding, who is seeking a second term in the 18-town 30th Senate District, became the Senate Republican leader in the spring when Somers and others organized a coup in the 12-member caucus, ousting Kevin Kelly and installing Harding as the figurehead for chief of staff John “Johnny Angel” Healey.

The political weather has changed in Harding’s northwest district. Many pandemic newcomers are Democrats who may not want a committed Donald Trump supporter as their senator. Harding was a Trump delegate to this year’s Republican nominating convention. He has praised Trump running mate JD Vance.

Harding faces an energetic challenger in Democrat Justin Potter.

A sign of Harding’s distress has been his need to bleed the caucus campaign fund of tens of thousands of dollars. Usually the leader is a net contributor to the caucus campaign committee.

Members who survive what could be the Senate Republican annus horribilis will not be able to ignore the hard truth that Harding was more burden than benefit in the campaign. Other members could have used the resources grabbed by their leader. or they could have been saved for future campaigns.

Published November 3, 2024.

Tragic. Connecticut legislative candidates do not often get invited to appear in interviews on broadcast television. When state Senator Tony Hwang did this week, he donned his best embroidered Lacoste, attached a microphone, and stood in a spot that allowed him to be identified by letters on the side of a food truck over his left shoulder. The segment appeared Sunday morning on WTNH’s popular Capitol Report.

Hwang may have skipped the photography class public financing of his campaign paid for a couple of cycles ago. Or the tensions among 28th Senate District Republicans over Hwang’s bid for a sixth term may have caused a campaign worker to have helped set up the memorable shot.

Hwang is known to exhaust the patience of Senate Republican staff members with his requirements that they accompany and photograph him. They may have had enough.

Hwang faces Democrat Rob Blanchard in the district that includes Bethel, Easton, Fairfield and Newtown.

Published November 3, 2024.

Republican Chris Reddy shines another light on the friendship and political alliance of state Senator Mae Flexer and top Eversource lobbyist Leslie O’Brien with a mailer similar to a recent website. O’Brien has been crucial to Flexer’s rise in politics since O’Brien was her boss in the Senate Democratic caucus. The Killingly Democrat won a House seat in 2008.

Flexer succeeded Williams in the 29th district, which now includes Brooklyn, Canterbury, Killingly, Mansfield, Pomfret, Putnam, Scotland, Thompson, Windham.

Insiders have been saying since this Daily Ructions story highlighted the Reddy strategy that the mercurial Flexer and merciless O’Brien are no longer friendly. No one is saying that they, say, took a winter holiday bacchanalia to a sunny climate where the lobbyist did pushups on a bar. No one has mistaken O’Brien for a lobbyist who engages in jaw dropping braggadocio about their friendship with a high-ranking legislator. No, not that.

Reddy’s point is more clinical. He raises a reasonable point as Flexer has been more unresponsive than usual to constituent concerns, this time over rising utility bills. O’Brien, who no longer holds any formal positions in Windham Democratic politics, now holds a lucrative position in the Eversource universe. Whose side is Flexer on? It’s a frequently asked question about the Emerge America state director and fundraiser.

Reddy remains an underdog in the Democratic district but he has emerged as one of the only Republicans to run an eye-catching campaign.

Published November 1, 2024.

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) conducted a national search for a general counsel and found the winner–that’s right–in Connecticut. Terrence Cheng, denizen of posh Hartford restaurants, passenger in tuition-financed limousines–announced Thursday that Democratic loyalist Karen Buffkin will be leaving the University of Connecticut to join the beleaguered bon vivant at the central office of the 85,000 student system.

Buffkin served as counsel to the historically unpopular Democratic governor Dannel P. Malloy in his second term. As Malloy’s tenure came to an end in 2018, Buffkin was given a first class ticket in the hackerama and safe passage to a job at the University of Connecticut that last year paid $256,000.

Cheng was at UConn’s Stamford campus until he was named President of CSCU in 2021. Last year, the Board of Regents approved changing Cheng’s title to the grander title of Chancellor.

Buffkin’s experience includes navigating labor relations at the UConn Health, which no one on her side of the bargaining table can characterize as a success.

Buffkin begins her new job on November 29th. Cheng may not be at his $442,000 a year job to greet Buffkin on her first day.

Published October 31, 2024.

Daily Ructions readers will be determining their election viewing plans in the next several days. Please include time for the students at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU).

CCSU announced Wednesday, “Students in Professor Darren Sweeney’s Journalism 440 Newscast Practicum class will present a half-hour news cast that they wrote and produced in advance of election night. With support from Journalism 340 Introduction to Broadcast students, the program will be filmed in the university’s Media Center television studio and air live on YouTube @CCSUNews at 5 p.m.”

“Doing a live broadcast for the presidential election is a fantastic opportunity for our students to hone their craft,” Sweeney says. “It will get them reporting on what is shaping up to be one of the most important elections we have ever seen.”

Published October 31, 2024.

State Senator Mae Flexer is facing a late surge by Republican challenger Chris Reddy over the Democrat’s ties to Eversource lobbyist and veteran political operative Leslie O’Brien. Flexer is not accustom to being the target of an effective direct hit in her many campaigns.

O’Brien is a veteran at throwing punches but may not be as skilled at taking one. Reddy’s campaign uploaded a website that claimed to have news: Mae Flexer’s relationship with Influential Eversource Lobbyist Uncovered. The one-page site ties Flexer to O’Brien, Eversource’s new Director of Legislative Affairs. O’Brien also served as chair of the Windham Democratic Town Committee through last year’s municipal elections. Windham is a key town in Flexer’s 29th Senate District. O’Brien resigned from the DTC in August. Head of government relations for Eversource comes with the state’s largest lobbying budget, a type of influence that outranks all but a handful of party committee chairs.

A Reddy campaign mailer on the explosive topic of Eversource bills and Flexer’s close ties to the company is expected to reach voters this week, nearly two weeks after early voting began. Before she became a legislator, Flexer worked for O’Brien in the Senate Democrats Office. It was there that O’Brien earned her ferocious reputation, not reluctant to humiliate senators in public encounters. Some still in office are unlikely to have forgotten the ordeals of those harrowing times when many elected officials mattered not at all but remained silent for too long.

Flexer has long harbored ambitions to rise within the crowded Senate Democratic caucus but remains one of its most unpopular members. Current and former colleagues will be quietly delighted that Flexer is ending this year’s campaign with some wobbly moments. O’Brien is said to be puce with fury.

Futile threats have been directed at the Reddy campaign, which is holding its nerve and ready to double down.

This post was updated on 10/30 to reflect O’Brien’s resignations from local party positions.

Published October 30, 2024.