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Thousands of public employees spend decades of their lives working in municipal departments and state agencies. They do not receive pensions close to what Kevin Kelly will receive when he turns 70, several years after becoming a judge this year.

Kelly, who sought and won re-election to the Connecticut Senate two months ago, will not be sworn into office Wednesday. He will not serve his eighth two-year term. Instead, the former leader of the Republican senators has made a deal to become a judge. The resident of the 21st Senate District will go without representation in the legislature’s upper chamber for the next two months. The district is comprised of Shelton, and parts of Monroe, Seymour, and Stratford,

Kelly, who is in his mid-60s, will receive a pension that is equal to 2/3 of his annual salary when he reaches 70. That would be $135,000 a year now and will likely increase. Kelly’s 12 years as an investigator at the Department of Social Services long ago and his 14 years in the Senate would not entitle him to a pension close to what a Superior Court judge receives at the age of 70.

Representative Christine “proudly serving Groton, New London” Conley, a Groton Democrat, will not take the seat she asked voters to re-elect her to only two months ago. Instead, Deputy Majority Leader Conley will become a workers’ compensation commissioner. That appointment is a generous consolation prize after Conley failed to win the approval of the Judicial Selection Commission at a recent closed meeting.

Conley applied for and received $36,095.00 in public funds for her 2024 campaign. Kelly ran unopposed and did not seek public financing of his campaign.

Candidates ought to be required to return their public financing funds if they voluntarily do not take their seat in the General Assembly in order to take a position in another branch of state government.

Published January 7, 2025.

Former Newtown state representative Chris Lyddy will return to the legislature as a senior staff member to the Senate Democrats. Lyddy served two terms from Newtown from 2009-2013. He was elected in 2008 to succeed the late Julia Wasserman, when she chose not to seek re-election. Wasserman, who fled Nazi Germany as a child, was one the legislature’s hardest working members. Lyddy ably followed her long example.

Lyddy served on the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission and was a member of the secretive and troubled Board of Pardons and Paroles. The Salve Regina University graduate was appointed to the grim Child Fatality Review Board by Republican John McKinney.

Until joining the Senate Democrats, Lyddy worked for the Dalio Philanthropies, though there is no reason to believe that Lyddy shares hedge fund total Ray Dalio’s appalling view of the People’s Republic of China as “a strict parent” while downplaying China’s dark human rights record.

Lyddy is married to State Treasurer Erick Russell, a rising star in state politics. As a legislator, Lyddy earned a reputation for working effectively with Republicans, though they have been largely marginalized by voters across the state. His challenge will be to manage the ancient rivalries between the House and Senate. Adding Lyddy gives the Senate Democrats a distinct advantage in the competition ahead.

Published January 3, 2025.

A tale of two videos on this first Friday of the year.

In the first, Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, veteran of ten statewide campaigns since 1998, uses a prop to wish Governor Ned Lamont. That Bysiewicz used X to extend her birthday wishes suggests the widespread belief that Lamont and Bysiewicz have little direct contact. Bysiewicz has been known to suggest to fellow Democrats that they urge the 71 year old governor to take a bow and make way for the Middletown Democrat to mount her fourth campaign (2006, 2010, 2018) for governor.

Bysiewicz ends the mercifully brief video birthday card with a prop.

Erin Stewart, who spent the Christmas holiday contemplating a 2026 run for governor, released her first narrative introductory video Friday. Stewart, in her sixth and final term as mayor of New Britain, initially promoted it as a Netflix production in the run-up to its debut. It has no connection to Netflix.

The 11 1/2 minute video includes annotations explaining some Stewart references. The content is an extended recollection of a hostile encounter Stewart had with the city’s deputy mayor in her first term. Viewers will recall that Stewart won a stunning victory in 2013 at the age of 26. She ran unsuccessfully for governor and lieutenant governor in 2018.

Stewart’s unscripted tale includes details of the deputy mayor’s alcohol-fueled rant. She says she offered to have the city pay for him to go to rehabilitation.

And then Stewart, who sprinkles her trade mark foul language throughout the video, spoils it all by including a video of a news story of the encounter, which in professional hands took only a few moments to tell, with the revelation that from the deputy mayor that he had tried to apologize to Stewart but received no response from her.

If, as Stewart says in her monologue, she wanted to help a guy who has just attended his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, wouldn’t she at least listen to his apology, pretend to accept it and wish him well in recovery? The ending feels like it not only misses the point it reflects badly indeed on her.

An own goal from someone Republicans like and have high hopes for in 2026.

Published January 3, 2024.

Senator Chris Murphy won a third six-year term to the U.S. Senate on November 5th. Three weeks later he reported having a hefty $5.6 million in his never-ending campaign account.

Murphy ends 2024, both a successful and disappointing year for the career politician, by asking supporters and others for…..more money. The demagogue sent text messages “a humble request.” His “final FEC deadline” is at midnight. He needs money to “demonstrate the depth of support for our movement.” That “movement” would be the Friends of Chris Murphy campaign committee. The campaign has ended. This now becomes a slush fund with a lot of dough sloshing around.

Murphy’s movement is an amorphous concept. He is the Senate’s champion of removing the designation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist group. The Houthis have been disrupting world shipping by firing missiles on ships in the Red Sea since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of health insurance executive Brian Thompson, Murphy put on his baseball cap, looked into a camera and designated healthcare executives “killers.”

It is an odd movement indeed that is harsher on American healthcare executives and Murphy movement donors than it is on the murderous Houthis, whose slogan is “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.” Or maybe the Connecticut Democrat will use the movement funds to help the lonely young men he goes on about to find some friends.

A new year will bring new fashions and a fella can always use some money to sniff them out and run to the front of them.

December 31, 2024.

Dear Friends of Daily Ructions,

You enjoy this site–Where Connecticut’s News Begins–throughout the year. There is no subscription fee and ads do not interfere with your reading. Readers might be bereft without Daily Ructions–and so would nervous tipsters.

This year, I have a request.

You live in peace. Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in freedom do not. Thousands have succumbed to Russian genocide. Millions are in daily range of Russian arms aimed at Ukrainian civilians, hospitals, and schools. Rape has long been a Russian weapon of war. Thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted into Russian servitude.

The actor Liev Schreiber has been a heroic supporter of Ukraine since the February 2022 Russian invasion. He and others of goodwill founded BlueCheck Ukraine. Its purpose:

BlueCheck Ukraine identifies, vets, and fast-tracks urgent financial support to Ukrainian NGOs and aid initiatives providing life-saving and other critical humanitarian work on the front lines of Russia’s war on Ukraine. They have the proximity, local knowledge and access to assist those in desperate need.

I have raised thousands for BlueCheck Ukraine without making a public appeal. It is not enough. The brave people of Ukraine are fighting for us at the frontline of freedom. Their fight is our fight. And now, with the result of the 2024 American presidential election, they are in danger of being abandoned by the United States but not before being forced to accept ruinous terms of a peace agreement brokered by an autocrat and his admirer.

Winston Churchill said to Neville Chamberlain of the 1938 sellout of Czechoslovakia in Munich, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.” An incoming president and his running mate made clear during the recently concluded campaign that they are willing to embrace dishonor.

You and I do not have to choose dishonor. We can help Ukraine by donating to BlueCheck Ukraine.

To learn more, watch or listen to Margaret Hoover’s moving interview of Liev Schrieber.

Published December 23, 2014.

Sir Les Patterson will not be representing the people of Australia in the United States. Pity.

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, who won a landslide victory in July 4th’s general election and ends the year startlingly unpopular, decided to deal a blow to us for Christmas. He’s sending the Dark Prince, Peter Mandelson as our close ally’s ambassador to the United States. Mandelson was forced to resign twice from Tony Blair’s cabinet. Twice. The first time, the BBC reports, “for failing to declare a home loan from a cabinet colleague, and a second time over accusations of using his position to influence a passport application.”

Published December 20, 2024.

State Comptroller Sean Scanlon dealt another blow to Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) Chancellor Terrence Cheng’s tenure leading the troubled 85,000 student system. Republican legislative leaders were quick to call for the former University of Connecticut English professor to resign.

House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and Senator Stephen Harding, who leads the 11 Republicans of the Senate’s 36 members reacted quickly Wednesday afternoon. The two Republicans issued an emphatic statement calling for Cheng’s removal, writing:

“Make no mistake—this is a black eye for the State of Connecticut. While we appreciate Comptroller Scanlon’s proposals to address spending abuses and procedural failures within the CSCU system, restoring public trust demands bold and decisive action. 

That begins with terminating the employment of CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng. His continued leadership over a system in clear disarray undermines efforts to restore stability and confidence among students, parents, staff, and taxpayers alike. 

The troubling transactions revealed in today’s report may well be just the tip of the iceberg, emphasizing the critical need to extend the audit process and fully expose how this system has been mismanaged. Failing to act decisively not only excuses unacceptable behavior but also risks eroding trust in all our public institutions.”

The CSCU Board of Regents meets Thursday morning in Manchester. It will not be possible for even the most somnolent members to remain silent in the immediate aftermath of the Scanlon report on reckless spending of public funds. Students, faculty, administrators, and the public will expect a meaningful reaction and plan for the way forward. Regents have known about Cheng’s spending for months. Silence will no longer provide a cover for their distaste.

Published December 18, 2024.

This is not what the top tier of the House Democrats expected. They dismissed rumors that House Majority Leader Jason Rojas would hire fellow East Hartford Democrat and House member Jeff Currey as his chief of staff, replacing the ousted Christy Scott. A lot of people say Speaker Matthew Ritter and his faithful majordomo even have the receipts that Currey would not be getting the plum spot with a handsome salary and little heavy lifting.

It must have been a miscommunication or some texts read out of context that caused the savvy Democrats to think Currey was out of the running–even when in the summer he left the field of battle by giving up his nomination for re-election. There was considerable speculation what awaited the accomplished meddler in party doings. No, some insisted, it would not be to join Rojas.

Currey may be as much symptom of the tensions as cause. Ritter has planted himself as speaker and appears to have no intention of leaving. His roster of committee chairs reveals his clever scheme to keep newer caucus members on side. The child of privilege has overseen his mother snagging a spot on the state’s highest court, the mommy seat. A brother-in-law got a trial court robe. His father, ex-speaker and lobbyist Thomas Ritter, continues on the University of Connecticut Board of Trustees, far beyond his sell-by date. Matthew Ritter trades what he must as both agent and servant of the fourth and most independent branch of government, UConn.

Ritter’s fealty to the bloated UConn bureaucracy costs innocents across the state. Customers of Aquarion Water Company are the most recent to be sacrificed to Ritter’s service to and protection of UConn. Nothing comes free in the Capitol Village.

Ritter, like Mrs. Thatcher days before the fall, pledges to go on and on as speaker. While there is no open revolt, there are the elements of quiet conspiracy taking shape. If Ritter and Rojas remain in place, no women will have occupied the lower chamber’s top jobs for years and years. That does not seem right to many. The Senate has also been without a female in one of its top two jobs since the great Dell Eads was its president pro tem thirty years ago.

Enter a Currey. East Hartford may not be as robust a training ground in the dark arts as, say, New Haven and Bridgeport, but you can learn some ugly business there. Currey knows how to stir a pot while wielding a stiletto.

Ritter may find comments about certain lobbyists’ unfettered access to his office and authority suddenly becomes louder than careful mutters. Full-time caucus employees have plenty of time to chatter and plot and shape the political weather. There may be more storm clouds than the Democrats’ overwhelming majority suggest in December would appear by, oh, April or May.

Who will be Ben Hur? And who will be the broken Messala, who refused to play by the rules?

Published December 13, 2024.

Former federal prosecutor David X. Sullivan is trodding a murky path. Sullivan, the 2020 Republican candidate for Congress in Connecticut’s Fifth District, has let the word go forth that he would like to be the state’s next U.S. Attorney.

How one snags a position that will require a nomination by a Republican president to serve in a state dominated by Democrats can be a mystery. And tricky. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy use a committee that, if recent federal nominations are any indications, gives little weight to courtroom experience beyond the informal arena of small claims contests.

Connecticut’s Republicans remain fractious and without a winning leader as they wander among the ruins. George Logan would have enjoyed outsized influence had he won his second bid for Congress, but he suffered a bruising defeat last month. Logan, an Ansonia Republican, lost by more than 10 times the margin of his 2022 defeat by incumbent Democrat Jahana Hayes. Republicans lost members in both houses of the state legislature.

Eight years ago, then-Greenwich Time reporter Neil Vigdor listed a host of possibilities for the state’s top federal prosecutor to succeed talented inside operator and Lamont lawyer Deidre Daley. The position went to veteran prosecutor John Durham. He would go on to blot his copy by heading a dubious investigation of Robert Mueller’s investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign’s hundreds of contacts with Russian influence-peddlers. The effort was so questionable by what was left of normal standards that Durham loyalist Nora Dannehy, now a member of Connecticut’s highest court) walked away from the team.

Linda McMahon, the state party’s most prominent member, stayed busy promoting the campaign of loathsome demagogue Donald Trump. She has been co-chair of the of the shuttered Trump University’s chancellor’s transition committee. The results of those efforts–Gaetz for Attorney General, the horrific Hegseth to Defense, Assad booster Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, medical Luddite Kennedy to lead health policy–cause one to wonder what happened to the moderate Republican who spent $100 million to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. These nominations are stains that will not soon fade. They are not people the 2010 and 2012 Linda McMahon, now Secretary of Education-designate for dismantling, would have supported for vital positions.

Justin Clark, formerly of West Hartford, is said to be on the lucrative inside of the perpetually Blame America First Trump inner circle. The former Al Gore campaign employee is a Trump advisors in what their leader calls “the garbage can of the world.” Clark, who ran Greenwich Republican Tom Foley’s two losing campaigns for governor, was an assistant to the egregious Steve Bannon in 2016 and a key figure in Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, the won he lost by 7 million votes.

Trump is likely to run out of family members and children’s spouses and ex-fiancès before he gets around to filling the U.S. Attorney post in Connecticut. So someone with a law degree and at least a modicum of law enforcement experience may get the job.

Sullivan spent 30 years as a federal prosecutor before retiring to run for Congress four years ago. He is a lawyer with the well-known firm McCarter & English and teaches trial practice at Yale Law School. Sullivan, 65, said in an interview Friday that he “would be the person to enforce our laws fairly.” That would usually be a prerequisite to consideration for the job but these are different and ominous times. A pledge to enforce laws fairly may be disqualifying for the next four years.

Published December 13, 2024.

Brazil is not a Hispanic country but is Latino. Portugal is neither Hispanic nor Latino. The Thanksgiving tutorial became necessary Wednesday as Governor Ned Lamont began telling Democratic party organization regulars that he has chosen Roberto Alves, first term mayor of Danbury, as the party’s next chairman.

Alves is the child of a Portuguese father and Brazilian mother. Portuguese, not Spanish, is the language of Brazil. Hispanic Connecticut Democrats have long felt overlooked by their party. They hold none of the big prizes statewide office in government or the party.

A holiday revolt among the 72 members of the state party committee was forming Wednesday as Lamont’s chief of staff Matthew Brokman (this year’s Working Families Party campaign pinup) made calls announcing plan to replace outgoing party stalwart Nancy DiNardo with Alves.

The job could give Alves a head start for a spot on the state ticket should an opening occur. This has also roiled ambitious Hispanic Democrats.

Lamont’s interest in naming the next party chair has sent augur observers into a frenzy of speculation that the Greenwich Democrat may be preparing to seek a third term and mount a fifth self-financed state campaign.

Published November 27, 2024.