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One of their own inflicting “threatening and abusive behavior” on local housing authorities makes no impression on House Democratic leaders. Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas will be the special guests at state Representative Geoffrey Luxenberg’s political action committee fundraiser marking his 40th birthday.

The Manchester Democrat has been the subject of complaints by mostly female housing authority employees who dealt with him and his real estate business. One West Hartford housing authority official wrote in an email, Luxenberg ”has consistently been abusive and unreasonable at a level I have never before experienced,” and that he is “just plain mean.”

Luxenberg threatened an unhappy prospective tenant in a text, writing, “They likely will just take away your voucher if you keep lying. I think you should just move out and get a new place.” The tenant told housing administrators she found Luxenberg “somewhat racist.” She wrote,  “I had the worst experience with Geoff demanding money.” When a unit he was attempting to rent to a tenant with a tenant eligible for a government rent subsidy failed inspections, Luxenberg claimed he was being “discriminated against regarding my learning disability.” 

None of this matters to House Democratic caucus leaders when measured against contributions and event ad book purchases flowing into campaign coffers.

Lobbyists and entities that do business with the state have received the tiered-donation invites. The October 30th birthday squeeze will take place at West Hartford’s GastroPark. Anyone who gives or raises $1,000 can be a “Birthday Celebration Host.” Raise more and you do have to be a host.

Hand over $40.00 and become a “Birthday Basher,” which may trigger painful memories from some who emerge feeling basked from contact with the volatile Luxenberg.

Published October 24, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to the new Substack newsletter Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is violinist and senator Gary Winfield.

The mask slips.

As the week began, the Wall Street Journal highlighted a nasty rant by CT SEIU executive director Kooper Caraway—who was forced to resign Thursday—declaring that workers’ enemies are CEOs capitalists and colonialists. Enemies are not in Gaza (where murderous Hamas terrorists hold 200 hostages). Caraway took a moment to weave birthday wishes to his partner, Puja, into his hymn to hate. It included a call to impose a regime of misery on her and the rest of the world. He announced, “there is no greater gift we could give her than to pledge that this will be the last birthday she has to celebrate under colonialism, under occupation, under capitalism and under imperialism.” Translation: a cliche-ridden nightmare.

Puja reciprocated Caraway’s dream of eradicating freedom to create and thrive under the rule of law. Puja announced on X (formerly Twitter) that she’s awfully proud of Caraway and just in case you had any doubts added the radical left’s call for genocide: From the river to the sea. There it is. It’s not about peace. They want a war that ends in the deaths of millions of Jews. It is the Hamas creed—embraced by some among us.

Published October 20, 2023.

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For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know—The Cultural Lives of Others, a new and free Substack newsletter. Chief Justice Richard Robinson is this week’s guest and he does not disappoint.

A hard day on the communist far left. Justine Medina, former aide to U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Communist Party, is in a right royal fury that Kooper Caraway, Executive Director of the Connecticut division of the politically powerful SEIU, “was forced to resign for standing up for peace and justice everywhere.”

No, if Caraway was forced to resigned it was because decency asserted itself in the aftermath of Caraway’s appalling comments in support of Gaza in the aftermath of Hamas terrorists slaughter and kidnapping of thousands of Israelis on October 7th. Caraway’s harangue against freedom and Western values caught the attention of Wall Street Journal columnist Alyssia Finlay. She wrote about the ugly rhetoric last weekend.

It would appear in a video of Caraway’s hollering posted by Comrade Medina that he found no time to call upon Hamas to release the 199 hostages the murderous terrorists are thought to be holding in Gaza. Dozens of those hostages are Americans.

Published October 19, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others, my new free Substack newsletter.

This week’s guest is Chief Justice Richard Robinson.

Mayor Joseph Ganim, embroiled in a legal battle over his 251-vote September 12th primary victory, will mark his 64th birthday with a campaign fundraising event. Ganim for Bridgeport ’23 is accepting contributions in amounts up to $2,000.

The campaign event will take place at Redline Restoration on Saturday, October 21st, Ganim’s 64th birthday. If the past is any indicator of the future, contributions will be more appreciated than attendance. This year also marks the 35th anniversary of Ganim’s first campaign. He sought a seat in the state House Representatives in a 1988 Democratic primary, losing to incumbent Lee Samowitz by 150 votes.

The outlook for Ganim’s re-election campaign to a ninth term remains murky. Democratic opponent John Gomes has raised significant doubts about the number of absentee ballots that were cast and counted outside the state’s elections laws.

Published October 19, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others, my new Substack newsletter.

This week’s guest is Chief Justice Richard Robinson.

Friends of Bridgeport Democrat Wanda Geter-Pataky will gather Thursday at 5 p.m. to protest “bias and injustice” as Geter-Pataky “faces allegations of ballot box tampering.” Organizers decry the media attention paid to a video of Geter-Pataky, an enthusiastic supporter of Bridgeport’s mayor, Joseph Ganim, appearing to make repeated deposits of absentee ballots in a ballot box located outside at the Margaret Morton Government Center.

“The black community believes that her case has received undue media scrutiny when compared to a white woman who engaged in similar alleged misconduct but remained largely untouched be the media’s spotlight.” The media is invited to Thursday’s event.

The spotlight is the result of the proliferation of cameras monitoring the ballot drop-boxes. The video of Geter-Pataky is made for a a social media age. She raised the attention her role received when she asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when she testified in Ganim rival John Gomes’ court challenge to Ganim’s September primary win by 251 vote.

Published October 18, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others, my Substack newsletter.

This week’s guest is Chief Justice Richard Robinson.

Now and then, a story comes along that almost writes itself with primary documents. On Monday, October 16th, MDC Commissioner Andrew Adil sent an extraordinary email message to MDC CEO Scott Jellison. Adil complaining that his son Austin was suddenly terminated from the employment agency the MDC uses for seasonal conservation officers. The email is below and it tells a discouraging tale of entitlement and abuse of authority. It also reveals a misfire. 

Jellison’s reply, sent Tuesday afternoon, does not spare Adil or Austin. It sets forth the years MDC hired Austin. The message also discloses that claims for unemployment benefits by Austin and other temporary seasonal workers applied for and received unemployment benefits after the season ended. The MDC did not oppose their claims. 

As a result of those unemployment claims, the MDC switched to hiring seasonal workers through an employment agency. “MDC’s need for 2023 seasonal/temporary staff has ended,” Jellison writes to the grasping Adil. 

An intervention of this sort by a commissioner for his child (after six years of seasonal employment by MDC) ought to infuriate MDC commissioners, who are copied on Jellison’s carefully written and lethal message. This not how the regional water authority ought to work. Jellison kindly does not include the word grifter but it’s the only descriptive one he left out to rebuke and indict Adil. 

Adil was appointed to his MDC position by Governor Ned Lamont, who should demand his resignation by the time he reaches the end of this post. 

Andrew Adil’s email:

Scott, 

As you know, my son Austin was working with the temp agency that covered Reservoir 1 & 6 along with Barkhamsted.  He was grateful for the position and strived to be the best Conservation Officer they had.  

Late last week he was informed that the agency was no longer needed effective (essentially) immediately.  

Please provide me with a detailed explanation of how this occurred.  

As a Commissioner I’m deeply concerned and if this happened as I’m told it did, truthfully embarrassed to be part of an organization that would do that to a contractor which provided us with such excellent service.  In my son’s case, he never missed a day or work, even when he had woken up just hours before reporting to work suffering from food poisoning!  The people he worked with were very pleased with his work ethic and he is rewarded by being told last Thursday with essentially no notice that they had been terminated?  

I don’t believe that the MDC should not be doing business this way.  We have had an excellent reputation in the community for many many years.  I hope that this is not some indication of business methods to come.  Thank you.  

Sincerely,

Commissioner Adil 

Scott Jellison’s reply-which included the bold italics:

Commissioner,

Thank you for your email below, I apologize for the delayed response.

I am not sure what actions, if any, you are requesting of me as the CEO. You are an MDC Commissioner, and father of a seasonal/temporary summer employee retained by the MDC who was employed in the past through the MDC’s College Intern Program (2017-2020) and more recently through a private temporary employment agency (2022-2023).  I note that your email makes specific references to your son, his work attendance, his work ethic, and his “termination”. It is unclear to me whether your email is an attempt to influence my decisions as the CEO to make business decisions for the MDC, or merely informational. 

For years the MDC has retained college interns and seasonal/temporary staff. As noted, your son has benefited from this initiative. As I have done for many others, and without any guarantee of employment, I tried to guide you and your son with recommendations on which college courses and programs could help him qualify for applying to a permanent MDC position, including identifying minimum qualifications for taking and passing the CT DPH Water Treatment Operator certification test. 

And yet more recently, even though your son was no longer enrolled in college, and therefore not qualified to work under the MDC Intern summer program, at the request of others, MDC rehired your son in 2019 as seasonal/temporary summer staff at the Water Treatment Facility. 

In 2020, again at the request of others, Austin was hired as a seasonal/temporary summer Water Treatment Plant Maintainer thru August.

To our surprise, in September 2020, some of those individuals, including Austin, applied for and received unemployment benefits after only working 3-4 months for the MDC. While we did not contest the application for benefits, we addressed this situation prospectively by moving away from directly retaining part-time staff to working through a temporary employment agency. Contrary to your assumptions in your email, we continue to use a temp agency, which brings the added benefit of flexibility to add or reduce staffing levels, on a real-time basis, as necessary to meet the needs of the MDC.  Austin was, and I assume continues to be, employed by that same agency.

MDC’s need for 2023 seasonal/temporary staff has ended. This was an administrative business decision supported by the program’s administrator and based upon the resource needs of the MDC.

As to notice regarding your son’s “termination”,  as well as others which you haven’t raised the same concerns, because the needs of the MDC’s resources may change on a weekly, perhaps daily basis, there is no specific requirements of prior notice to the temp agency when we decide to increase or reduce temporary staff. In fact, one of the benefits of using a temp agency is the fact that they have staff readily available to meet our needs, and in turn, can reassign its personnel to other clients as necessary. 

For your information, MDC has been very consistent in reducing staff “termination” starting in September right after labor day.  This year 6 staff were secured through the temp agency and in September, 2 staff were relieved of duty, not Austin. As you indicated your son, as well as 2 other temp agency staff, were relieved of their duty last Friday, Oct 13, 2023. The remaining individual will also be relieved at the appropriate time in November.

I trust this addresses your concerns.

Thank you

Scott W. Jellison, P.E.

Jellison’s email does more than address Adil’s concerns. It raises far more serious ones for commission members, leaders of member towns and Governor Lamont.

Jellison leaves one question without an answer: Who are these “others”?

Published October 18, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is Chief Justice Richard Robinson.

The Wall Street Journal’s Alyssia Finley includes a rant from a Connecticut union leader at a New Haven anti-Israel rally in a column analyzing the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) disappointing response to the October 7th slaughter and kidnapping of Israelis by Hamas terrorists.

Finley writes:

“Our bosses, our government want us to think [Hamas] are enemies of working class people, but they are not,” Kooper Caraway, executive director of the SEIU Connecticut State Council, exclaimed at an anti-Israel rally in New Haven, Conn. “Our enemies are the CEOs,” and “our comrades are in Gaza,” he added before denouncing capitalism, “colonialism” and “occupation.”

The Wall Street Journal is widely read, particularly by capitalists. Caraway’s characterization of Hamas will add to their impression of Connecticut as a place hostile to business. Worse, absent universal denouncements, Caraway’s declaration portrays Connecticut as home to influential actors who have abandoned decency.

Published October 16, 2023.

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For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is Chief Justice Richard Robinson.

Shhhhh, Attorney General William Tong did not want you to read about this. His Firewall PAC solicited contributors by phone, no emails allowed.

Tong is on maneuvers. He held a similar leave-no-fingreprints fundraising event in Fairfield on September 27th at the Brooklawn Country Club, where “modest bathing suits are required in the pool/pool area” and “all baseball caps must be worn in the proper forward position.” An odd–or maybe not–venue for Tong to hold an event. Here is its philosophy of membership: “Brooklawn is a private club that seeks new members through personal connections with current members. Potential members must be sponsored and endorsed by current Brooklawn members known to them.” [Emphasis included on the club’s website, Thurston.] Requiring member references is a traditional manner of thwarting racial diversity in private clubs.

Tong has made much of seeking a role civil rights actions. Holding a fundraiser at private country club suggests his commitment to civil rights may have limitations.

One contributor of note was Arthur Linares, former Republican state senator. Linares is now owner of Connecticut Social Equity, LLC, an entity doing business in the highly regulated cannabis industry. Linares made a maximum $1,000.00 contribution. Linares is also raising money for Republican Chris Christie’s faltering presidential campaign.

Tong’s PAC raised $70,000 in the third quarter of this year. Its haul included few small donors.

Tonight’s event will be at Carbone’s Kitchen in Bloomfield, where one need not provide references to dine. This event also featured invitations by phone only. Ticket sales are said to be brisk.

The competition between Tong and Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz to extract commitments from activist Democrats for 2026 is said to have caught the attention of the state’s leading Democrat–and he is not pleased.

Published October 11, 2023.

For Something Completely Different–

Read and subscribe to this week’s edition of my Substack newsletter, Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is Bob Brown, the much-awarded ABC NEWS 20/20 reporter.

Former state senator and 2018 Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Joe Markley has dealt a blow to mindless political tribalism in Southington. Markley released a riveting and reasoned 10 minute YouTube video in which he calmly, thoroughly explains the abandonment of all standards of appropriate conduct in the leadership of the Southington party leadership.

Markley brings his customary calm married to a precise statement of facts to delivering a devastating indictment of local party leaders. One need not live in Southington to find the video instructive.

This is how it is done.

Published October 10, 2023.

Superior Court Judge Willam Clark has issued a pre-trial order. Evidence shall begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 12th. The order requires the plaintiff to provide a list of exhibits and witnesses for the first three days of trial by October 10th.