Category — Columns

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) this week appointed his colleague state Senator John Fonfara (D-Hartford) to the MIRA Dissolution Authority. The appointment came 15 days after Fonfara received the fewest votes of the three candidates competing in Hartford’s Democratic primary for mayor.

The appointment will give Fonfara enhanced influence in determining what role the 80-acre former trash-to-energy plant site can play in the development of Hartford’s South Meadows. The new agency will have until July 1, 2026 to complete its tasks.

With Fonfara, who retains his influential position as co-chair of the legislature’s finance committee, on the MIRA Dissolution Authority, the new administration will discover how diffuse power in Hartford can often be, the staying power of discontent and there are substantive ways to “believe in Hartford” that transcend campaign slogans.

William DiBella memorably told an incensed legislator the Hartford Democrat outmaneuvered on a committee vote, “I’m not here to give you a civics lesson.” School is back in session. The lesson is the same, only the instructor has changed.

Published September 29, 2023.

State Senator Paul Formica will not run for re-election, adding to Republican troubles as they try to add to the paltry 13 seats they hold in the 36-member chamber. Formica is serving his fourth term and rose last year to deputy leader of the Republican caucus.

Formica represents the 20th Senate District, which includes all or parts of eight towns on or near the state’s eastern shoreline. Formica, who lives in East Lyme, was uniquely popular in the district that was long held by Democrats.

Published January 25, 2022.

Duby McDowell and I are the new co-hosts of WFSB’s Face the State. Our first show will air this Sunday, October 18that 8:30 a.m.. We are living through an unsettling era of change, with no notion of how long it will last. The press and wider media face their own upheavals. We hope to help Connecticut understand this new age.

I would not have been considered as co-host of Face the State if I had not enjoyed an informal but enduring relationship with the state’s most storied public affairs program. I owe that to Dennis House. Much of what I have learned about the dynamic nature of television comes from watching and appearing with Dennis. He is both teacher and friend, and I appreciate him in each role. I know what a great friend he is. We are about to discover what sort of student I’ve been.

Dear Ructions,

Many people seem to be aware of acidic strife causing trouble among Republicans in a western Connecticut town. The situation threatens to defeat local Republicans this year and next. With two weeks left before the town election, would you suggest a way to bind the wounds?

Sign me,

A House Divided

Dear Divided,

Take a lesson from the New Haven Democrats. They have rallied around the winner of their September primary for mayor, Justin Elicker. Embattled incumbent Toni Harp, who is on the Working Families Party line, wants to revive her dormant campaign for a last ditch lunge at victory. State Democratic leaders and Attorney General William Tong appeared along with local officials at a Sunday rally for Elicker, sending a message of unity to Democratic voters. Those leaders know that bitter local divisions can endure for many destructive election cycles.

One of the many challenges for Connecticut Republicans is that they have no elected leaders in statewide office. You’ll need to need to be creative. Invite as many Republican office holders as you can find to headline an event next weekend. Ask your guests to make calls to both factions to ask them to attend. State Senator George Logan knows how to inspire a crowd. The beloved Nancy Johnson can still argue a brief. Maybe Jodi Rell has not left for Florida and could make an appearance. Make it a child-friendly event (who does not enjoy a bounce house?) because adults cannot be too hard on each other with children in the room.

Reminders of the consequences of handing the common adversary a victory always help. While defeating their intra-party nemesis may please the leaders of the revolt, others will bear the chill of the wilderness. Handing a win to the other side will mean people enjoying making a contribution to community life will be tossed off boards and commissions because their party lost control of town government. 

If you are impaled on the horns of a dilemma and want to risk receiving advice, send a message to kfr@dailyructions.com. Identities will be protected. Messages may be edited.

State Representative Arthur O’Neill, the longest serving Republican in the House, has issued a statement aimed at explaining his presence at a recent local Democratic event. Arthur O’Neill and his wife, Ruby, have been at the center of one warring Southbury Republican faction. Some of the trouble dates to Ruby O’Neill’s unsuccessful 2018 bid for the 5th CD Republican nomination. Some locals feel they were seen by the O’Neills as insufficiently supportive of Ruby O’Neill’s surprise campaign.

The O’Neills found themselves on the losing side of a Southbury primary this summer and seem not to have accepted defeat with even grudging grace, but remain determined to prolong what the veteran legislator casts as “discord.” This struggle appears destined to continue far into 2020.

What sort of people were running the Department of Children and Families (DCF)? The malicious thin-skinned crew around Joette Katz, who served as commissioner during the Malloy administration, were averse to oversight and criticism.

Chief of Staff Elizabeth Duryea spotted Senate Republican Leader Fasano (or “Lenny,” as she refers to him) in February 2018 as ate dinner. The text appear to have been sent as Duryea was dining. Her notion of an insult was to send him a couple of shots of Sambuca with Katz’s compliments. “Alas cooler heads prevailed so now [sic] buca.”

Josh Howroyd, running the legislative affairs office of DCF, chimed into the group text with a “TAKE A SHOT!!!!!!!” graphic.

Sambuca is an Italian liqueur. Fasano is of Italian descent. Another Duryea text message commented on Fasano’s dark skin. These texts come from a malignant place.

It was just a modest proposal to tidy the statutes. Attorney General William Tong thought he could rely on his former colleagues in the legislature to give him expanded jurisdiction over civil rights claims in the Constitution State.

Tahoe Tong’s bill made it through the House and then sat on the Senate calendar for weeks. Tong thought the Senate, where Democrats enjoy a 22-14 majority, would pass his grab for authority without delay. It did not. As the end neared in the final three days of the legislative session, it became clear the bill was not going to move. Tong’s Senate firewall became an insurmountable hurdle.

As the end neared, Tong abandoned the fight and took flight to Denver. The Mile High City this week hosts a meeting of the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA). The partisan group (Republicans also have an association) began its meeting Wednesday at the luxurious Four Seasons, fitting for a public official who requested taxpayers provide him with a Chevrolet Tahoe, the behemoth SUV, as his official rig.

Do they already know in Maine what Connecticut learned to its sorrow for eight years? The announcement that Dannel P. Malloy will lead the University of Maine was deemed a sensitive topic but the Portland Press Herald, causing the newspaper to shutdown its comments section on a generous profile of the former two-term governor.

The end of the story is followed by this announcement: “Comments are disabled on some stories about sensitive topics.” The announcement of a new chancellor for a state university would not seem a likely topic for that restriction. Either Connecticut residents are wanted to warn their New England neighbors on what to expect or Maine readers of the state’s largest newspaper already know and wanted to be heard.

They may know of Malloy’s antipathy for public school teachers and his disdain for state Department of Transportation drivers who remove snow. Others may be familiar with his 2014 decision to refuse to provide shelter for child refugees. Some may remember that Malloy could not explain why for a year his Department of Labor overstated job growth by 100%. There may be good government types in both states who still wonder about that enormous fine state Democrats paid for an election finance violation in order to keep campaign communications and other documents secret.

As another former governor leaves Connecticut, Maine residents will want to ask questions in places other than the comments section of the Portland paper.

There’s a bankruptcy trial in New Haven that has grabbed the interest of Ireland. Bankrupt Irish property developer Sean Dunne is the defendant in an action initiated by his American bankruptcy trustee to recover assets Dunne conveyed to his wife as his fortunes deteriorated.

The proceedings have included mentions of former leaders of Ireland and South Africa, providing glimpses of Dunne’s far-flung real estate dealings.

Here’s a recent Irish Times account of the case, which continues.

Southbury Republicans are reacting to charges of anti-Semitism against First Selectman Jeff Manville by Ruby Corby O’Neill, a Southbury resident who ran for the Republican nomination for Congress from the 5th CD in 2018. O’Neill submitted a letter to Southbury selectmen last month setting forth her claims against Manville. The public response began at Thursday’s selectmen’s meeting.

Here’s O’Neill’s letter: