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Governor Ned Lamont’s inaugural committee eliminated its top $50,000 sponsorship after a Hartford Courant column revealed the committee’s solicitation of state contractors and lobbyists. The top sponsorship package can be purchased for $25,000. Sponsorships will be acknowledged throughout the inaugural ball venue.

State law, according to the state’s ethics agency, allows state contractors and lobbyists, prohibited in other instances from making contributions to state officials, to make unlimited “gifts to the state” to underwrite the inaugural ball. The inaugural committee sent sponsorship packages to lobbyists, seeking to have members of the permanent government put the touch on their clients to finance the January 4th event.

While the inaugural ball can be a highlight for elected officials, it is a dreary obligation for lobbyists. Two registered lobbyists have found a way to score points with the honored politicians of the evening. Lobbyists Brian Durand and Steve Kinney are two of three volunteers helming the inaugural ball committee.

Tickets are $200 for anyone over 30 years old, $100 for those 30 years old and under.

Published December 20, 2022.

Chief Court Administrator Patrick L. Carroll, III, will take senior status on January 30th, Chief Justice Richard Robinson announced Friday afternoon. Popular deputy administrator Judge Elizabeth Bozzuto will become the new leader of the day-to-day administration of the state’s court system.

Judge Anna Ficeto, currently serving as Administrative Judge in Waterbury, moves into Bozzuto’s position. Ficeto served as legal counsel to former Governor M. Jodi Rell. She was nominated to the Superior Court in January 2012 by then-Governor Dannel P. Malloy. Ficeto’s skill moving the state’s informal but influential levers of power should prove useful in setting a new tone in the court’s administration office.

Bozzuto and Ficeto have worked together before. Both had to address and cope with Carroll’s inability to get Judge Alice Bruno to perform her duties. Bruno left her Waterbury chambers in November 2019 and never returned. She complained in a proceeding before the Supreme Court earlier this year that Ficeto would not greet her when they passed in the hallways of the Waterbury courthouse.

Carroll concluded his announcement by noting, “I’m not going anywhere. As long as the Chief Justice and Judge Bozzuto can tolerate me, I will continue to work here in the Office of the Chief Court Administrator, on a somewhat reduced schedule….” Judges on the frontline of the court system will nevertheless look forward to Bozzuto setting a new and courteous tone in her office.

Published December 19, 2022.

Max Reiss, the former local television reporter who served as Governor Ned Lamont’s spokesperson for three years, has announced he is leaving M&T Bank. Reiss joined M&T as a community affairs director last summer, weeks before its catastrophic Labor Day weekend conversion of People’s United Bank’s technology into the Buffalo-based bank’s computer system. M&T purchased the Bridgeport-based People’s United for $8.3 billion.

M&T’s blunders left thousands of Connecticut customers without access to their funds. Customer profiles were provided to strangers who then had access to accounts not their own. Millions in checks were mistakenly dishonored by M&T. The Lamont administration shrugged. Lamont himself hosted an October 5th cordial meeting M&T CEO Rene Jones, who received $6.8 million in compensation in 2021. Lamont offered only muted criticism of the banker, who he referred to by his first name in a post-meeting tweet, as thousands of customer and frontline bank employees endured the consequences of bank executives’s blunders.

Reiss is expected to join a publicly traded company that state law guarantees a profitable rate of return, Daily Ructions has learned. The company so many join eventually, whether in or out of government.

Published December 16, 2022.

State Senator John Fonfara is close to entering the Democratic race for mayor of Hartford, Daily Ructions has learned. The veteran state legislator has been making calls to city Democrats and members of the Capitol village.

Fonfara has represented Hartford’s South End neighborhoods and part of Wethersfield in the Senate since 1996. He served in the House for 10 years before succeeding William DiBella. The Hartford native serves as co-chair of the legislature’s finance committee.

Fonfara, 67, would join his former colleague in the House and Senate, Eric Coleman, in the race to replace Luke Bronin, who announced on November 29th, first reported by Daily Ructions, that he will not seek a third term as mayor. City Council member Nicholas Lebron, also a Democrat, announced his candidacy for the job this week.

State campaign finance laws could provide a significant boost to Fonfara in the early going. Legislators are banned from soliciting lobbyists for contributions for campaigns for state office during the legislative session–which this year will run until early June. The law, does not, however, prohibit legislators from soliciting lobbyists and their clients for contributions for their municipal campaigns during the legislative session. Fonfara knows how to insert himself as facilitator or obstacle in the legislative process. That talent could help him raise a significant amount of money in the first two quarters of the year. Concern that an unhappy Fonfara might lose the September Democratic primary and remain in the Senate would also spur donors.

Decades ago Fonfara enjoyed a reputation as one of the legislature’s most energetic on-the-ground campaigner. He built a loyal personal organization that he could deploy in his own races and also in frequent skirmishes that characterize Hartford Democratic politics.

If Fonfara won next year’s election, Hartford Democratic party committee chairman and Fonfara ally Mark DiBella would lose unhampered access to a key player at the Capitol, potentially diminishing DiBella’s luster as a registered lobbyist. A Fonfara candidacy comes as a tricky time for another Fonfara ally, William DiBella, whose hold on the chairmanship of regional water and sewer authority MDC may be in jeopardy.

Fonfara, who often appears to brood in public, is no stranger to the gaffe. In 2018 he made a well-publized comment about needing an “I stand with White Men pin.” Fonfara pledged to hold a community forum to discuss his comment in April 2018. Three months later, he had not scheduled it and there is no record of it ever taking place.

Published December 16, 2022.

Sophie Tucker was Hartford’s gift to the world for much of the 20th century. A star on several continents, Tucker restrained her bawdy joy on this 1951 appearance on Ed Sullivan’s popular Sunday night variety show. The columnist may have been her biggest fan.

Here she offers some advice on a good life and a few bars of White Christmas.

The Last of the Red-Hot Momma’s returned to Hartford for the last time in February 1966 and is at rest in the Emanuel Synagogue Cemetery in Wethersfield.

Published December 15, 2022.

The prospect of a police K9 drug detection dog discovering cocaine in a Middletown city hall office caused Mayor Benjamin Florsheim to text aides on October 20th that the political implications ”were an important thing to think about” hours before Castle the dog began his tour.

Florsheim texted he ”would not be boxed in politically” if the police dog found illegal drugs in city hall. Middletown resident Anita Ford Saunders tested that belief when she addressed Florsheim at the December 5th meeting of the city’s Common Council. Saunders confronted Florsheim with the disparate treatment of two top administration employees, one white and the other Black. Saunders spoke about the discovery of cocaine residue on a department head’s desk. That employee, who is white, remains in his position. Florsheim fired his chief of staff, Alice Diaz, who is Puerto Rican, after she was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after work hours in Rocky Hill in October.

The steady-voiced Saunders roiled Middletown government and next year’s municipal election with her statement, which included a quote from Florsheim on the way forward on civil rights in Middletown. “So let us come to know and recognize our own power as a city, to dismantle the systems and power structures whose time is gone, and to continue building the beloved community we all believe in,” Florsheim declared not long ago. Ford Saunders accused the mayor of falling short of his aspirations.

Florsheim responded to Saunders last week, writing that while he believed her to be “genuine in her concerns” about the fair treatment of employees, he is ”certain that she has received information that is intentionally and misleading that, if true, would certainly be cause for alarm.” It was not the driving under the influence charge that caused him to fire Diaz, the mayor wrote, it was that she ”made statements and gave answers to questions to me regarding her arrest that caused me to lose faith in her ability to serve as my Chief of Staff.”

As to the discovery of cocaine in a city hall office, Florsheim told Ford Saunders he is constrained by employment rules from commenting in detail but assures her he “has looked into the matter thoroughly and am confident in how the City has addressed the issue.”

The police investigation at city hall on October 20th is described in a November 11th police report reviewed by police chief Erik Costa. The report states that the department’s drug detection dog pointed an officer to a substance on and in the desk of finance director Carl Erlacher that tested positive for cocaine. No action was taken by the police. Erlacher remains on the job.

Erlacher told Daily Ructions Monday, “I am not going to dispute the police report because I was not present. I did everything [the administration] asked me to do, including drug tests. They were all negative.” Erlacher pointed out that offices in the city hall are often unlocked late into the evening as cleaning crew go through them.

Diaz was arrested on October 28th by Rocky Hill police. Police characterized Diaz as ”uncooperative” during her arrest, which was recorded on police body cameras. The Marine veteran apologized for her behavior in a November 10th statement. “I want to take this opportunity to apologize to the Rocky Hill Police Department,” Diaz wrote, according to the Middletown Press, ”and the people of Middletown for my behavior during the arrest and booking process. The behavior reported that day is not an indication of who I am as a person and the values that I hold. Upon reflection, I have begun to seek resources to further help me address this issue.” 

Florsheim’s demand that Diaz quit as his chief of staff included a harsh choice for his friend and former colleague in Senator Chris Murphy’s office. If she resigned he would not object to her receiving unemployment benefits from the State of Connecticut. But if Diaz defied Florsheim’s request he would fire her and contest her application for unemployment benefits.

Florsheim wrote in a November 15th text to Diaz:

Alice,

As I stated last night over text, I am asking for your resignation in light of your recent arrest, your attempt to avoid arrest by using the power of your position.
If you choose to resign, I offer the following: (1) you will remain on the City payroll through December 1; (2) at that time, you will be paid out for any accrued time at your disposal; (3) you can either get paid out for your pension contributions or they can be rolled over to another retirement account; (4) you will stay on the City’s health insurance until December 31, 2022; (5) you will have access to the City’s EAP program through December 31, 2022; and (5) the City will not contest any unemployment filing. In exchange for the above, you will sign a settlement agreement and release of all claims and liabilities against the City.

If you choose not to resign, then I will have no option but to terminate your employment immediately as an at-will employee for the reasons I already stated above. If I do so, you will be paid out for any accrued time and will have the option of being paid out for your pension contributions or they can be rolled over to another retirement account. If you choose this option, then your health insurance will terminate at the end of November as is our practice and we will contest any unemployment claim.

You have until noon tomorrow, November 16, 2022, to make your decision.

Diaz declined to resign. Florsheim fired her.

Florsheim’s treatment of Diaz may be overshadowed by his handling of the police discovery of cocaine in the office a city official.

Hours before the dog was to begin his tour of city offices, Florsheim and city attorney Brig Smith exchanged texts on what would happen if the police found drugs in Erlacher’s office. ”To the extent that you are thinking of bringing in dogs tonight, you need to consider that this could be front-page-of-the- press kind of stuff. Especially if a positive hit requires or results in an arrest,” Smith told the first-term Democrat. ”Are you boxed in if you don’t proceed with an arrest or termination? Not legally, but politically. Something to consider when deciding between before and after.”

“I appreciate that consideration but I don’t feel like we will be boxed in politically. It is an important thing to think about though,” Florsheim responded.

Saunders’s brief appearance a week ago put on the public record what some members of the council had been muttering about among themselves for weeks. As the details make their way into the public light, council members may find their voices and seek full disclosure from Florsheim.

Published December 12, 2022.

Update: Anita Ford Saunders was referred to as Ford Saunders in the original version of this post. It has been corrected to Saunders. She is the incoming president of the Middlesex County NAACP and will take office later this week. She was speaking on December 5th as a concerned citizen.

Democrat Luke Bronin is telling supporters Tuesday morning that he will not seek a third term in 2023. He is expected to make a public announcement at midday.

Bronin won the party organization endorsement in his first bid for the city’s top job in 2015. He defeated incumbent Pedro Segarra in the primary that summer of growing anxiety over a rise in crime in the capital city.

Bronin made a mark in the 2015 as a prodigious fundraiser, spending a staggering $170 per vote in his closer-than-expected win over Segarra.

The former counsel to Dannel P. Malloy easily won a second term four years ago, defeating disgraced former mayor Eddie Perez and then-state Representative Brandon McGee in a Democratic primary. In between his two primary and general election wins for mayor, Bronin made a brief bid for governor in 2018.

Leaving the mayor’s post of his won accord after two full terms will leave Bronin with political options for future campaigns.

Eric Coleman, a former state representative and state senator, and a Superior Court judge for a few more hours, is expected to announce his candidacy for mayor on Wednesday.

Published November 29, 2022.

You can pay to attend a campaign fundraising event to meet Senate Democrats. You could volunteer for a Democrat running for the state Senate. Those would provide access to Democratic members of the Senate. You still may not approach them where they conduct the people’s business: the third floor of the State Capitol.

The people continue to be banned from proximity to the legislature’s upper chamber, long after the nation has the Covid-19 virus is under control through the application of advanced science as expanded in free nations. The Democrats running the state Senate refuse to follow the science and restore the public’s right to petition its government in person.

The public’s exclusion from the Capitol’s third floor cannot be due to Covid. Look at that photograph above of Senate Democratic leaders Martin Looney and Robert Duff campaigning in a crowded room only a month ago. Duff even donned a t-shirt proclaiming himself “Unapologetically Pro-Democracy” for the Danbury event. Disappointing if that vital declaration was reduced to an electioneering prop. So it can’t be Covid.

Published November 28, 2022.

After nearly four years of acrimony former state Senator Alexandra Kasser and Seth Bergstein have ended their 27-year marriage with a settlement as their trial was beginning. The extended proceedings caused Kasser to abandon public office and Bergstein to be passed over for promotion.

The agreement, dated November 15th, required Bergstein, a Morgan Stanley executive, to “transfer the amount of sight million ($8,000,000) dollars” to Kasser by wire within three (3) days of the execution of their settlement agreement, according to court documents. Bergstein also agreed to release all claims to a Jackson Pollock painting that was the subject of a federal lawsuit commenced by Kasser’s brother, Matthew Mockary. Bergstein did get to keep Kasser’s jewelry in a safe deposit box at a local bank and a safe at their marital home, which Bergstein is also keeping.

Kasser agreed to resign as trustee of trusts established by her family for the couple’s three adult children. The children were often mentioned in the long proceedings of the case.

Kasser (elected in 2018 as Alexandra Bergstein) made much of her marriage and new life with a legislative staffer early in her first term as a state legislator. Kasser set out her stall with a TEDx talk at Wesleyan University, declaring her intention to wage war on privilege and the patrimony. She filed an action seeking a dissolution of marriage on December 28, 2018.

The divorce became the central event of Kasser’s tenure. She announced on May 28, 2019 on Instagram that she had found happiness in a same-sex relationship with Nichola Samporano. Kasser also disclosed she had long been unhappy in her marriage to Bergstein. Kasser’s public comments about her life generally and the details of her marriage and pending divorce gained considerable attention through her own acts, though she blamed Bergstein for raising the profile of the long dispute. Kasser was particularly unhappy with Bergstein’s inclusion of Samporano in some court pleadings. Kasser was re-elected in 2020 and resigned less than six months into her second term, citing the demands of her divorce and the pain of now living in Greenwich caused her.

Before resigning, Kasser convinced legislators to add coercive control by one spouse over another to the definition of domestic abuse. In 2020 remarks on the Senate floor, Kasser included a reference to her marriage when discussing the police murder of George Floyd. “I know what it’s like to live with domination and control,” Kasser declared in setting forth her support for a police reform bill. “I know what it’s like to live with someone who has taken an oath to defend and protect, but when no one is looking, actually degrades and insults.”

The use of public relations firms by each spouse was disputed and litigated to the end of the court proceedings. Kasser accused Bergstein of planting stories in the press to amplify her relationship with Samporano. Bergstein claimed in a November 14th memorandum that Kasser had been attempting to sabotage his career by making accusations against him in court documents. Bergstein’s memorandum highlights Kasser’s 2020 announcement, published in the Connecticut Post, that she had “shed the name of the person that I was unhappily married to for over 20 years, and I am dissociating with that person.” He made no public comment on the announcement but told the Court, Kasser “did not tell her children that she was changing her name. Her children were devastated by this announcement and even more devastated and confused by the plaintiff’s claim that she was unhappily married to their father for over 20 years.”

Bergstein also claimed Kasser “made numerous public appearances, speeches, social media posts and other public statements in which she criticized and defamed” him. Public hostilities escalated when Democratic consultant Lanny Davis joined Team Kasser. According to Bergstein’s memorandum of two weeks ago, Kasser’s lawyer filed a pleading on June 2, 2021, that included emails between the parties about their daughters health. “Following the filing of this pleading, the [Bergstein’s] attorney was contacted by a reporter at CNBC, Dan Mangan, for a statement. Mr. Mangan reported to the [Bergstein’s] attorney that this pleading, along with several others, had been fed to him by Mr. Lanny Davis on behalf of [Kasser].”

Bergstein required Davis to be deposed in the matter. Bergstein’s lawyer claimed Davis was unprepared and uncooperative in answering questions under oath.

The stakes in the divorce were vividly displayed in a 2021 proposed public relations contract between Bergstein and Sard Verbinnen & Company. Under its terms, Bergstein would pay the firm up to $195,000 to anticipate and respond “to Alex’s attacks in the media” and “shape the narrative in the media without any fingerprints” through the trial.

In preparation for the trial, each party submitted long lists of evidence they intended to introduce. Bergstein’s 18 pages of exhibits included a letter Kasser wrote to each of the couple’s children. Kasser had to sought to bar testimony from the children and other evidence related to them from being introduced at the trial.

The self-proclaimed champion of “Truth, Justice and Democracy” through her own commitment to those fundamental tenets into doubt as the trail was beginning. She moved the Court to ban media coverage of an open courtroom. In her November 14th memorandum, Kasser objected (in bold and underlined) “to any media coverage of this trial and to the inclusion of any press related issues at trial.” Only from the high peak of privilege would a litigant in the Constitution State make such an anti-democratic request.

Some financial documents in the matter are sealed. Nevertheless, Kasser appears to have kept her real estate in the Principality of Monaco, allowing her to take her crusade against privilege and the patriarchy to a second continent–as long as that flat on Rue Garibaldi is not near a train station.

Published November 28, 2022.

WTIC was a regional powerhouse in 1963. Its morning host, Bob Steele, reigned over a show that enjoyed the largest market penetration of any top radio market in the nation–which Hartford was 59 years ago.

This recording of that day of tragedy tells the story of how events in Dallas for the first hour reached most Americans who were not at home with the television on. They learned of it sporadically on their local radio station.

Published November 22, 2021.