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It was almost midnight on Tuesday when Av Harris, Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim’s spokesman, decided to let the mask slip. Ganim, who was convicted of public corruption in 2003 and sentenced to prison for nine years, is a victim. Harris posted a link to a newspaper article featuring a quote from Ganim calling Donald Trump’s family separation of refugees “immoral.”

Harris could have left it at that. The Connecticut Post article speaks for itself. Instead, Harris, a former public radio reporter, decided to give followers a startling glimpse of what he has come to believe about Ganim’s corrupt enterprise. “Leadership from a man who know what it’s like to be forcible separated from his children.” Do they not understand the difference between a mayor who with his minions stole millions from the public and child refugees from violent Central American nations who have been purposely tormented by a president determined to punish refugees? Has it come to this in the rewriting of Ganim’s crimes?

Ganim has been winning attention by poking Ned Lamont, his wealthy Democratic rival for the party’s nomination for governor, as out of touch with the experience and cares of average voters. Harris’ ill-considered post reminds us that Team Ganim lives in a far stranger place, a land of make believe.

Av Harris offers this response to the above and asked that be included here:

For anyone who has seen the ridiculous post by Kevin Rennie, let me respond this way. For the record, Joe was merely answering questions put to him by journalist Brian Lockhart. I thought it was an interesting perspective. That’s all. No way I was even comparing his felony conviction for corruption and incarceration to migrants and refugees being separated from their children at the Mexican border, which is criminally cruel and inhumane.  And for the record, My mother grew up without cousins on either side of her family because both her father’s and mother’s parents and siblings were mercilessly forced into concentration camps and slaughtered during the Holocaust. I know how the trauma of genocide and displacement afflicts families for generations, and I’ve covered displaced persons in refugee camps as a journalist. I’m very aware of the difference. And I have NEVER said Joe was a victim. He alone was responsible for his conviction and his incarceration. Which he has said repeatedly and apologized for repeatedly.

“I was elected to the Newtown Council by knocking on more doors earlier and more often than anyone else in the race–and I plan to do the same for this election,” Democratic lieutenant governor primary challenger Eva Bermudez Zimmerman claimed in a fundraising email that furrowed the brows of Democrats in Newtown and beyond. Zimmerman has never been elected to Newtown’s Legislative Council. In 2014 she was chosen by the Newtown Democratic Town Committee to fill a vacancy. Two Democratic members of the council then exercised their authority to appoint Zimmerman. She sought a full term on the council in 2015 and placed last in the competition for the district seat.

Zimmerman issued a clarification Wednesday.

The Newtown Democrat followed up on her 2015 loss by running for a local House seat the next year, losing to incumbent Republican Mitch Bolinsky by a wide margin.

Zimmerman could score a big victory by winning the AFL-CIO endorsement this Friday–or stopping the labor organization from giving its support to floundering endorsed Democrat and nine-time statewide candidate Susan Bysiewicz.

Take a few minutes to read the New Haven Independent’s moment-by-moment account of Democrat Ned Lamont’s two day tour of New Haven. It ends on a curious note as the Greenwich self-funder offers chilly praise of running mate Susan Bysiewicz. Here are the two concluding paragraphs:

Lamont also said that he did not see his continued alliance with lieutenant governor candidate Susan Bysiewicz as anything other than an asset, even though most of New Haven’s political leadership has lined up behind Bysiewicz’s opponent, the 31-year-old labor organizer Eva Bermudez Zimmerman.

“I’m the outsider,” Lamont said. “I’m going to go up to Hartford and bring big, fundamental change. … Susan has worked in the legislature, been secretary of state, elected three times [to the General Assembly.] We’re a pretty good team. Opposites attract sometimes.”

Opposites are not what usually voluntarily get together on a ticket for governor or lieutenant governor. The candidates usually make some effort to emphasize their similarities, not their striking differences.

There he goes again. David Walker has put his Bridgeport home on the market a month after a poor showing at the Republican nominating convention ended his bid for governor. This may sound familiar. Walker pledged four years ago to leave Connecticut if voters did not replace incumbent Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy with Republican challenger Tom Foley. Walker did offer his house for sale but found no takers at the $1.675 million asking price.

The former home of Chris Shays has a for sale sign in its front yard again. The property is listed with Walker supporter William Raveis and “luxury properties specialist” Michelle Genovesi.

Walker Wednesday endorsed fellow accountant and recent former Democrat Bob Stefanowski for the Republican nomination for governor in the August 14th primary.

Shannon Kula submitted 4,700 petition signatures to local election officials in her bid to claim a spot in the 5th CD Democratic primary. That gives the Farmington Democrat and former DC staffer 2,000 signatures to spare in the harsh review that has been obliterating petition signatures around the state.

If Kula meets the threshold, she’ll join Mary Glassman (soon to be Mary Messina Glassman once more) and dynamic Waterbury teacher Jahana Hayes on the August 14th ballot. The seat became vacant when beleaguered incumbent Elizabeth Esty announced in April she would not seek a fourth term after she was hobbled by revelations of violent and persistent harassment in her Washington office.

Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim is celebrating collecting more than 30,000 signatures on primary petitions. That gives Ganim a 50% fail rate cushion, which should be enough to claim a spot on the August 14th Democratic primary ballot against party endorsed candidate Ned Lamont.

While collecting signatures, the Ganim campaign also registered thousands of new Democrats.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti has not collected the 9,000 signatures required to snag a spot on the August 14th Republican primary for governor. Lauretti competed at the May 12th party convention but did not win 15% of delegate votes on any ballot. He needed 2% of the state’s registered Republicans to sign his petitions.

Rather than burden local registrars, Lauretti will not be submitting the thousands of signatures he has collected.

Lauretti sought the 2014 Republican nomination for governor and also the nomination for lieutenant governor the same year as Mark Boughton’s running mate.

Here’s Lauretti’s statement:

“After a lengthy review of nearly all of the collected petition signatures, the Lauretti campaign has come to the conclusion that it will fall short of the 9,081 valid signatures needed to be included on the August primary ballot.  With more than 80,000 signatures expected to be submitted for verification by other candidates, the Lauretti campaign has decided it is best to not burden locals Registrars and the Secretary of the State with additional work that will not result in Mayor Lauretti getting on the August ballot.  Mayor Lauretti would like to thank all of the people across the state who worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to get him on the ballot, as well as the thousands of people who signed his petitions and believed that he could transform the state of Connecticut as he has the city of Shelton.”

Registrar’s have until June 19th to send results of their petition review to the secretary of the state, who will total them and certify who makes the primary ballot.

Attorney General George Jepsen struck a blow for decency today. The state’s Auditors of Public Accounts asked Jepsen for an opinion on whether they could review a consultants’ report on inmate healthcare in Department of Corrections facilities and at the University of Connecticut hospital.  DOC has refused to let the auditors see the report–likely to be embarrassing to the department. Jepsen issued an opinion Tuesday that the auditors may see the report but its contents remained privileged.

Inmate healthcare at UConn Heath has been inadequate.

Here’s the Jepsen opinion.

What a mess. Former state Representative Vickie Nardello will go to court to secure a spot on the 16th State Senate District Democratic primary ballot against endorsed candidate Dagmara Scalise. Nardello secured enough votes at the party nominating convention to force a primary but submitted incomplete crucial post-convention forms to the secretary of the state’s office. The form forcing a primary did not include the district number. When notified of the omission, a campaign official intent on fixing the error put in the wrong district number–15. Elections officials have treated the errors as fatal to Nardello’s bid to force a primary.

The errors, as readers will not be surprised to learn, caused considerable to-ing and fro-ing between the campaign and election officials. Expect some texts to be submitted as evidence in Nardello’s mandamus action.

Nardello lost her 2012 bid for a 10th term the House and a 2014 comeback attempt, both to popular Prospect Republican Lezlye Zupkus.

Incumbent state Senator Joseph Markley (R-Southington) is the party-endorsed candidate for lieutenant governor. He faces a primary against Erin Stewart and Jayme Stevenson.

Democrat Shannon Kula, recently of Farmington, has collected enough signatures to make the ballot in the August 14th primary for the 5th Congressional District, Daily Ructions has learned. Kula will join Mary Glassman and National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes in the competition for the rare Connecticut open seat.

Glassman won the party endorsement at a May convention that continues to be the subject of a party dispute over the unusual switching procedure at the end of the second ballot.

Kula was briefly associated with the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford earlier this year and tested her appeal against popular incumbent 1st CD Democrat John Larson.

Completed petition forms must be submitted to local registrars of voters by the end of the business day Tuesday, June 12th.

Republicans will also have a 5th CD primary between three candidates, Manny Santos, Ruby O’Neill and Rich DuPont. Santos, the former mayor of Meriden, won the party endorsement at its convention last month.