Category — Posts

You’re right to feel uncomfortable. Dominion Resources is pushing hard to win approval of legislation to broaden its access to energy markets in the complicated and regulated world of energy generation. On May 1st, the chief lobbyist for Dominion made his way to Norwalk to present a $10,000 check to state Senator Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) for his hometown’s Maritime Aquarium. Duff was delighted, as you can see in this Facebook post. Dominion lobbyist Kevin Hennessey is doing the handover. Not very subtle. And that’s how a bill’s chances of becoming a law get better and better.

They usually aren’t so bold, but social media has changed many ways business is done.

UPDATE: A Dominion representative adds that the company has made an annual contribution to Maritime Aquarium several times in recent years.

Yesterday’s email from union leader John Doyle explaining the prosecutors’ union’s opposition to the reappointment of Leonard Boyle as Deputy Chief State’s Attorney.

Click to enlarge:

Click each to enlarge:

Greg Butler, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy’s favorite Republican, and Themis Klarides, Democratic Speaker Joseph Aresimowicz’s favorite Republican, attended April 29th’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  Butler and Klarides are pictured together above at the table of right-wing news service Newsmax.

Butler is Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Eversource, one of Connecticut’s biggest state contractors. Eversource continues to sustain the largest contingent of lobbyists at the legislature. Eversource came in for some unflattering scrutiny in March when 60 Minutes highlighted the utility’s practice of firing American workers and replace them with less expensive visa holders.

Klarides is House Minority Leader in the state’s lower chamber.

Butler and Klarides have each been mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2018 Republican nomination for governor, Klarides mostly in a Newsmax puff piece. Butler and Klarides are closely associated with Republican campaign consultant Liz Kurantowicz. Butler served on Malloy’s transition team at the dawn of the Stamford Democrat’s first catastrophic term.

Don’t expect Butler and Klarides to run against each other. An alliance between the two, however, is a possibility.

The British are holding a general election on June 8th. A senior Labour official, Diane Abbott, tried to explain her party’s plan to hire and pay for 10,000 new police officers. It’s unusual to hear an experienced politician in an epic struggle with her own proposal. The host was not posing difficult questions.

You would not know from Kevin Lembo’s video announcement that he ran for statewide office twice on the Malloy-Wyman ticket. Something indeed has “gotta” change, and correcting the errors of the past six years is the first step. Voters may not see silence during those years as a virtue to be rewarded.

Curiously, Lembo states he’d never run for office before becoming comptroller. That omits his exploratory bid for lieutenant governor in 2010–he switched races with friend and ally Nancy Wyman when she became Malloy’s running mate and Lembo ran to succeed her as comptroller. It was a Democratic convention to remember.

Stephen Wright, a member of the State Board of Education since 2011, was arrested four times for driving under the influence between February 22nd and April 10th. The most recent Wright arrest includes driving under the influence of alcohol while his license was suspended for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Wright is a lawyer and lives in Trumbull. His cases are pending in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Derby. His next court date is May 9th. Online records suggest Wright is representing himself and has been released on several promises to appear.

You knew it was a terrible idea when you read it first on Daily Ructions. Advocates of the state’s open government tradition today slammed the legislature’s proposal to restrict and censor public affairs programming on CT-N.

It’s not too late for legislative leaders to scrap the misbegotten RFP and guarantee the editorial independence of the public affairs broadcaster. It sometimes seems like the legislature is compelled to perpetuate terrible ideas. It isn’t. Leaders should acknowledge their error and create a proper RFP that celebrates creative independence.

State Comptroller Kevin Lembo and state Senator Gary Winfield are in talks to form a ticket with the New Haven Democrat serving as Lembo’s running mate for lieutenant governor, Daily Ructions can report. The talks are not complete, but any deal would pose an early threat to state Senator Ted Kennedy’s strength in his home turf, greater New Haven. Kennedy is also expected to run for governor.

Winfield and Kennedy have been rivals for several years in the heart of the state’s 3rd Congressional District. Their relationship is said to be little more than cordial.

Lembo’s announcement of his candidacy for the state’s highest office is imminent.

April 27th UPDATE: Laura Cahill of the Friends of Susan Bysiewicz contacted Daily Ructions to announce that Susan Bysiewicz has moved to the 13th Senate District in the last few weeks. She and her husband will be building a home in the district on a lot they also purchased recently. For the moment they are preparing their house in the 9th Senate District for sale but are not living there.

Original post:

Perennial candidate Susan Bysiewiz’s campaign exploratory committee has legislative Democrats and Republicans wondering. Bysiewicz says she plans to run for the 13th Senate District seat held by Meriden Republican Len Suzio, who won his first full term last November. The Middletown Democrat and former secretary of the state does not live in the 13th. She lives in the 9th, which is served by Paul Doyle, a Wethersfield Democrat.

Bysiewicz ran for governor, attorney general and U.S senator between 2006 and 2012, sometimes more than one office in a cycle. No one will be surprised if Bysiewicz abandons her bid for the legislature for a statewide opportunity.