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Governor Dannel P. Malloy is expected to nominate Associate Justice Richard A. Robinson as Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court on Thursday at noon.

Judge Steven Eckert is expected to be nominated to fill Robinson’s spot on the high court.

Well-known banker and civic activist Jim Smith will seek the Republican nomination for governor, Daily Ructions has learned. Watch for a formal announcement in the next week. Waterbury has been buzzing for days with anticipation of a campaign launch by the local notable. Smith retired at the end of 2017 as the head of Webster Bank, which his father founded in Waterbury and Smith grew into a formidable presence across the state.

Smith has been in the news lately as co-chairman of the committee on the state’s financial future that was created last year by the legislature.

Smith will be a late entry into a crowded Republican field in which no clear frontrunner has emerged. Smith will not participate in the state’s generous campaign finance program. He will rely on his extensive network of contacts for contributions and also his own significant personal resources. Smith is the brother-in-law of veteran Waterbury Democrat state Senator Joan Hartley.

UPDATE: A Daily Ructions reader writes that Smith enrolled as a Republican last month. It appears Smith was a member of the Independent Party, not an unaffiliated voter. His “privilege date” as a Republican is June 21st.

U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) in the end did not fire the violent chief of staff she tolerated for months after learning of his ugly treatment of female subordinates. The severance agreement between Esty and Anthony Baker states in paragraph 17 that Baker would provide Esty “with an approved letter of resignation.”

Esty’s indulgence of Baker included $5,000 in severance, a letter of recommendation and disinfecting his personnel records. These extraordinary acts of accommodation by Esty raise a question that many are raising in private, bewildering conversations. What did Baker know that caused Esty to treat the brute with  such generosity?

Gubernatorial hopeful David Stemerman began introducing himself to registered Republicans last week with this mailer. Note the reminder that August 14th is primary day. Candidates participating in Connecticut’s pubic funding program will have to wait until late May or early June to begin reaching primary voters through the mail.

The legislature’s judiciary committee is considering several timely bills on sexual harassment and assault at its Monday morning meeting. The agenda items will provide co-chairman and attorney general hopeful state Representative William Tong (D-Stamford) to share some thoughts on what is the appropriate course of action for U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty. Rival and co-chairman Paul Doyle called on Esty to resign over the Easter holiday weekend. Tong has been silent.

Embattled U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) ought to release documents pertaining to her handling of allegations of violence in her Washington office. The third-term Democrat has stumbled in trying to provide a coherent explanation of her decision to allow her chief of staff, Anthony Baker, to remain in her office for three months after she learned of his brutal behavior in 2016.

Esty provided $5,000 in severance and a letter of recommendation to Baker. The anti-Pelosi plotter and Baker entered into a non-disclosure agreement that she told staff members also bound them. Esty appears, however, to have made documents available to the Washington Post. She ought to release them to the public. If she is confident in her declarations that House procedures left her no alternative but to accommodate Baker, that ought to be clear in the documents such as letters and emails to and from her and the Office of House Employment Counsel. Some of them must reveal her discomfort if she’s telling the truth.

Esty is defying calls to resign from a growing list of frustrated and bewildered Connecticut Democrats. Documents that bolster her claims might reassure her uneasy defenders.

This week may reveal how many supporters Esty has in Washington.

The topic is timely and Ed Rendell is always interesting. Elizabeth Esty may also speak.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy chose Holy Week to offer his thoughts on state Senator Joan Hartley’s religious beliefs. The Waterbury Democrat cast a vote against Malloy friend and ally Andrew McDonald’s nomination to lead the State Supreme Court on Tuesday. The exchange with the media struck veteran observers as far beyond the bounds of normal political discourse in Connecticut.

Associate Justice Andrew McDonald’s mournful statement in the aftermath of his state Senate rejection Tuesday suggests he may be looking for something to do other than complete his eight-year term on the State Supreme Court. The former state senator and sharp-elbowed Malloy blocker could upend the Democratic nomination for attorney general by leaving the high court and storming his party’s fractured field. He’d storm the mid-May convention.

The last two months revealed that McDonald still possesses a loyal cadre of political allies who can raise significant sums of money. He’d want to engage a fresh team of strategists, but those are easily found.

A stint in the attorney general’s office would allow McDonald to exercise singular authority–rather than seeking four-member majorities on the court.

She’s at it again. Republican State Central Committee member Patricia Fers took to Twitter earlier this month to share her vulgar thoughts. The Ansonia Republican last year used Facebook to put her xenophobia on full display.

What was the typo this time?