Category — Posts
Greenberg Redux. Three-Time Republican Congressional Hopeful Launches Bid for Comptroller.
He’s back. Litchfield real estate developer and persistent congressional candidate Mark Greenberg is running for State Comptroller. The Republican ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Greenberg was the party’s nominee in his last bid, losing to incumbent Democrat and Cheshire millionaire Elizabeth Esty. He lost primary challenges in 2010 and 2012. The 2012 primary was notably brutal, with Greenberg and Lisa Wilson Foley, the wealthy Simsbury Republican who later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.
Greenberg provided damning evidence in former Governor John G. Rowland’s 2014 criminal trial for campaign finance violations, the same ones that caused Wilson Foley so much trouble.
April 18, 2017 Comments Off on Greenberg Redux. Three-Time Republican Congressional Hopeful Launches Bid for Comptroller.
Update: Malloy Will Continue to Shakedown Donors.
That did not take long. Governor Dannel P. Malloy had not begun his announcement that he will not seek a third term when his Boston fundraiser, Ben Josephson, sent an ominous email to donors–many with interests in state government. Malloy will continue to shakedown donors for political contributions. Josephson’s message also included a copy of the speech Malloy will deliver this afternoon.
Here’s the Josephson message:
Good afternoon–
At 2:00 today Dan Malloy will announce that he will not be running for a third term as Governor of Connecticut in 2018.
He is most appreciative for the great support you have provided and wanted to be sure you were among the first to hear this news.
Governor Malloy hopes to be in contact in the coming weeks about the work he still plans to accomplish in his remaining 20 months as Governor, including working tirelessly on elections in 2017 and 2018.
I will be back in touch shortly, including with the remarks he delivers at 2pm
Thank you for your friendship and support.
Ben Josephson
April 13, 2017 Comments Off on Update: Malloy Will Continue to Shakedown Donors.
Malloy Out. Unpopular Governor Will Not Seek Third Term.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy is expected to announce at 2 p.m. today that he will not seek a third term. The unpopular Democrat won a narrow victories in 2010 and 2014 over Greenwich Republican Tom Foley. The 2014 was a particularly grim lesser-of-two-evils contest. Malloy devoted the first year of each term to proposing and imposing crippling tax increases on Connecticut residents.
Malloy’s surly personality and his destructive economic policies combined to deny him successes in reviving the state’s economy. Democratic challengers to a third term began to stir early this year, including state Senator Ted Kennedy, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, Middletown mayor Dan Drew, and former state Senator Jonathan Harris.
A dozen Republicans have been looking forward to facing Malloy in the 2018 general election. They will need to do some quick calculating in remaking themselves and figuring out how to tie Democratic hopefuls to Malloy.
A small circle of Malloy advisors has been urging their benefactor to seek a third term. Persistently dire poll numbers have made that impossible, as Malloy’s announcement confirms. He remains the most unpopular Democratic governor in the nation.
April 13, 2017 Comments Off on Malloy Out. Unpopular Governor Will Not Seek Third Term.
Boughton Tries to Change the Subject with Assist from Fedele.
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Mark Boughton got some help from 2010 running mate Mike Fedele in a tough week for the Danbury mayor. Boughton posted mediocre fundraising numbers ($64,801) in the first quarter of the year in his third bid for the state’s top office. It has caused much comment among supporters and competitors. The quarterly report was a reminder that fundraising has always been a trouble spot for Boughton. A third bid for governor ought to mean has a lot of low-lying fruit to harvest from loyal donors.
To change the subject, Boughton announced Wednesday that Mike Fedele, the former lieutenant governor who ran a close race in the 2010 Republican primary for governor, will serve as the chairman of the Boughton campaign’s executive committee. That sounds bureaucratic in a campaign that needs to be lean and flexible due to the limited amounts of money the state’s taxpayer financing system imposes. Boughton was Fedele’s running mate in the 2010 contest. Boughton won his primary for lieutenant governor, defeating his BFF of later years, Lisa Wilson-Foley.
Fedele is one of a handful of Republicans who have won statewide office in Connecticut in the the past 60 years–and one of even fewer still living in Connecticut.
April 13, 2017 Comments Off on Boughton Tries to Change the Subject with Assist from Fedele.
Something for Holy Week.
April 12, 2017 Comments Off on Something for Holy Week.
Qualifying Funds. The First Quarter of the Year and That Magic $250,000.
For the first quarter of the year, here’s how candidates did in collecting qualifying funds for the $250,000 required of candidates for governor to receive millions in taxpayer funds for the primary and general election campaigns.
Mark Boughton: $63,298
Tim Herbst: $80,319
Peter Lumaj: $14,610
Steve Obsitnik: $72,143
Prasad Srinivasan: $120,000
These include some or all of a candidate’s out-of-state contributions. Candidates are limited to $25,000 in out-of-state contributions in the calculations for what counts to ring the bell.
April 11, 2017 Comments Off on Qualifying Funds. The First Quarter of the Year and That Magic $250,000.
Lumaj Raises $80k in First Quarter of the Year, Total Take for Exploratory Exceeds $200k.
Peter Lumaj, former candidate for the U.S. Senate and also secretary of the state, raised $79,905.00 in the first quarter of the year. That brings his exploratory committee total over two quarters to $206,705.00. That allows him to collect contributions of up to $375 each. No word in the Lumaj announcement on how much of that qualifies for public financing.
One cautionary note on the Lumaj report. The Fairfield Republican has $110,000 on hand. That’s a fast burn rate in a time when there’s little going on in the race for governor other than raising money, meeting local town committee members, and spending time tracking down rumors and insults in the teeny tiny world of state party activists.
Lumaj also announced today that he has added Carl Higbie to his campaign team. “Higbie will be overseeing Lumaj Explore’s communications with both state and national media.”
April 10, 2017 Comments Off on Lumaj Raises $80k in First Quarter of the Year, Total Take for Exploratory Exceeds $200k.
David Walker Returns.
David Walker, the self-regarding Republican who came third in thus 2014 bid for lieutenant governor, will make a major announcement on “Face the State” this morning.
Summer soldier Walker will have to spend part his announcement tour explaining his 2014 post-primary defeat plan to abandon Connecticut. He told Only in Bridgeport at the time, “Our home was listed yesterday (Thursday) but it is not on MLS. The results of the upcoming elections will have a major impact on how long we remain in Connecticut. We love Black Rock, our home and our neighbors. We would like to stay a while. However, we need new leadership at the state and local level if we want to create a better future and keep people in the city and state.”
Walker tells his Facebook followers, “Hope is on the horizon.”
April 9, 2017 Comments Off on David Walker Returns.
Maybe He’ll Run an Energy Education Program. Vinci Group Hires Democrat Tied to NY Indictments.
The Vinci Group, target of much grumbling among politicos, has a new hire. It’s Chris Pitts. He is the Quiet Corner Democrat who’s been associated with that ugly New York political scandal involving “ziti” and other bad things.
Pitts was the factotum for defendant Peter Galbraith Kelly, Jr, whose trial may begin later this year. The volume of documents collected by federal prosecutors has required the defendants to spend more time examining evidence than their lawyers expected. Don’t be surprised if Pitts (also known as Chris Pitts LLC) takes a turn as a witness at the trial, should the defendants not enter into plea bargains.
Kelly, who co-signed a lease on a Chevrolet Cavalier for Pitts, extended his former factotum congratulations on joining the Manchester fundraisers.
April 7, 2017 Comments Off on Maybe He’ll Run an Energy Education Program. Vinci Group Hires Democrat Tied to NY Indictments.
A Different Note: Some Swing on Miss Billie Holiday’s Birthday
April 7, 2017 Comments Off on A Different Note: Some Swing on Miss Billie Holiday’s Birthday