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Former state Senator Alex Kasser’s divorce action against husband Seth Bergstein grows odder and odder. Kasser claimed in a July 8th motion that her same-sex relationship that began when her partner was Kasser’s subordinate caused the Democrat to be shunned in her hometown of Greenwich.

Kasser claims in the court document, “As a result of Defendant’s (Bergstein) defamation and public gay-shaming, the Plaintiff and her partner were shunned in their hometown and eventually had to leave and move out of state just to get away from the distress and damage Defendant has caused.”

A brief chronology of the personal drama Kasser frequently shoved into the public arena shows the opposite of her claim. The Greenwich Democrat, elected in 2018, announced in May 2019, the first year of her first term, that she’d “found purpose as a public servant and love with a partner who respects and supports me, I feel fulfilled and free.”

Kasser filed for a divorce from Bergstein shortly after the 2018 election. She she announced in 2020 she had changed her name from Bergstein to Kasser. Kasser transformed the personal into the political by proclaiming the misery she had endured what she has repeatedly characterized as an abusive marriage.

But Kasser’s community did not shun her. It re-elected her to a second term in 2020. The first Democrat to represent the Greenwich-centered district in 88 years more than doubled her margin of victory in 2020. Kasser was embraced, not ostracized. The former Connecticut resident defames the people she represented by accusing them of shunning her because she publicly rejoiced in her same-sex relationship with a subordinate.

Kasser resigned her seat in the state Senate in June 2021, six months into her two-year term. She wrote, “I can no longer live or work in Greenwich as it is loaded with memories of the 20 years I spent raising my children here.” Kasser continued, “Because of the enormous time and energy this consumes, I can no longer serve my constituents to my fullest ability.” Kasser made no mention of the community shunning her—because it had not.

Kasser’s motion also asks that Bergstein “be barred from bringing the adult Bergstein children into this divorce proceeding, through motions or at trial.” Adult children, however, may possess relevant knowledge of the truth of Kasser’s myriad claims against Bergstein and may be able to provide credible testimony in the high stakes dissolution of the wealthy couple. The three Bergstein children, who Kasser claims her husband has turned against her, may be as estranged from their mother as she claims. That does not disqualify them as witnesses to the ugly allegations Kasser continues to hurl at Bergstein.

In an August 8th motion, Kasser seeks a court order allowing her to withdraw from a frozen joint account “$2 million as reimbursement for attorney’s fees and expenses since January 7, 2019.”

The 17-day trial is scheduled to begin October 25th and conclude December 6th.

Published August 24, 2022.

Republicans Jessica Kordas and Mary Fay are each scrambling to meet the Citizen Elections Program’s August 29th at 5 p.m. deadline to qualify for the full $968,000 taxpayer-financed campaign funding bonanza. Kordas, the party’s nominee for attorney general, and Fay, its candidate for comptroller will need to submit and application with a minimum of $86,600 in qualifying contributions.

In her July campaign finance report, Kordas, a Norwalk lawyer, reported receiving $54,260 in contributions and $1,240 cash on hand. Fay, a West Hartford town council member, raised only $20,000 as of June 30th. Kordas’s own efforts with a collective push by party leaders ought to get her over the line with a cushion by Monday. Fay may be more of a challenge for a party that has come to rely on wealthy candidates to finance their own campaigns. The universe of reliable Republican donors in Connecticut has shriveled since Jodi Rell raised more than $6 million in her 2006 landslide re-election campaign.

After Monday at 5 p.m., applications submitted by major party candidates seeking statewide office come with less money. Between August 30th and September 12th, the wire transfer from the state to the candidate’s campaign committee bank account is reduced by 25% to $726,187.50. The money paid to the candidate continues to decrease every two weeks until the final deadline on October 14th.

Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat seeking a second term, and Sean Scanlon, the Democratic nominee for comptroller, have qualified for public funds.

Published August 23, 2022.

Three Lamont administration commissioners have asked the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) to release more water from its Colebrook reservoir into the Farmington River. Failing to do so is “environmentally irresponsible,” claimed David Lehman of the Department of Economic and Community Development, Katherine Dykes of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Brian Hurlburt of the Department of Agriculture.

“The Farmington is one of the only major rivers in Connecticut that hosts a robust, naturally reproducing wild trout population. Boating/fishing is the largest contributing sector to Connecticut’s $3.3 billion outdoor recreation economy. Current flows are approximately half of median levels and do not support these recreation opportunities during the peak summer tourism season,” the trio of commissioners wrote in an August 8th letter to MDC CEO Scott W. Jellison. The commissioners declined to included the word “drought” in their bossy missive. The letter was copied to Governor Ned Lamont.

Jellison pointed out in an email reply to the commissioners and others that the quasi-public agency that provides water to towns in greater Hartford has been meeting its required releases into the river during the drought. It has been releasing between as much as 128 million gallons a day into the Farmington River. With the 2019 expiration of MDC’s agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers, the water supplier no longer has access to a significant source of water in the Colebrook damns and reservoirs.

The MDC, Jellison informed the commissioners, has a storage allocation in Colebrook of 3.5 billion gallons. It has been drawn down to 1.4 million gallons. That water is “ potential emergency drinking water” as well as essential to aquatic life in the reservoir.

Jellison artfully pointed out in his reply that the commissioners ought to know that Dykes possesses the authority to request the Army Corps of Engineers to release more water from the 10 billion gallons under its control in the Colebrook reservoir system. Significant releases from the Army Corps would help the fish but do not enough to allow “for recreational canoeing, kayaks and tubing for very long.”

Published August 19, 2022.

Daily Ructions is pleased to include among its diverse readership people involved in all aspects of political campaigns, including candidates. There are times when politicians require a reminder to behave in a manner most of us view as instinctual. For those lacking in basic grace, pay attention as a lesson begins.

When you, a candidate, has won your contest, you should expect to receive a call of congratulations from the loser. Perhaps the vanquished will pay a visit to your headquarters to deliver those good wishes in person if logistics, aides, and the spirit allow.

Assuming congratulations are offered by phone, let the disappointed candidate speak. If you cannot refrain from interrupting, do so only to offer your thanks. Do not interrupt a few syllables into his or her real or feigned good wishes to commence a harangue fueled by petty slights. Do not, and there is no room for negotiating on this rule of civilized behavior in a democracy, announce the loser never should have been a candidate in the first place or ought to have dropped out to make way for you.

If a victorious candidate engages in such ill-mannered behavior, the losing candidate may not get to the crucial congratulations stage of the conversation. The well-wisher with curdle good intentions may withdraw his or her incomplete felicitations, hurl a vulgarity at the winner, and terminate the call.

The bitter winner is never attractive. To stoke bad feelings at the conclusion of a primary campaign seems especially foolish since the winner will require unity and goodwill. Arguing over the recently concluded past is not the way to achieve it. Civilization preserves and advances itself through these small acts.

Published August 12, 2022.

State Representative Rosa Rebimbas won 58% of the vote in Tuesday’s Republican primary for judge of probate in Tuesday’s primary. She defeated incumbent Peter Mariano by more than 400 votes in the four-town district.

Mariano was arrested three times last year for driving under the influence and twice for driving while his license was suspended. Video recordings revealed that Mariano repeatedly tried to avoid arrest by reciting his connections to Naugatuck’s police chief and deputy chief. The five-term incumbent chose to primary Rebimbas after he lost the party’s endorsement at a May nominating convention.

Democratic delegates nominated Mariano at their convention–after the Republican served four days in jail. The Democratic nomination assured Mariano a spot in the November general election. He would have been unopposed if he’d defeated Rebimbas on Tuesday.

Beacon Falls, Middlebury, Naugatuck and Prospect comprise the probate district.

Published August 10, 2022.

Faulkner would have struggled to describe the heat of this August Tuesday. Poll workers might be able to help. Spare a thought for the poll workers who are at the frontlines of democracy across the state. Many are checking in voters, handing out ballots, and keeping watch over voting machines in buildings without air-conditioning.

Poll workers are at their stations at 5:15 a.m. and many remain after voting concludes at 8 p.m. They ought to be able to perform their essential tasks in buildings that are more hospitable on a day when the temperature reaches nearly 100 degrees.

Published August 9, 2022.

Party-endorsed Republican Senate hopeful Themis Klarides added $70,000 of her own to her campaign coffers Thursday. The veteran former legislator will need the cash infusion to blunt the impact of Donald Trump’s ugly endorsement of rival Leora Levy in their August 9th primary showdown.

The perpetually aggrieved Floridian used the Levy endorsement as an excuse for a venomous attack on Klarides, Democratic incumbent Senator Richard Blumenthal, and three Republican governors who won re-election bids in Democratic states—Larry Hogan, Charlie Baker, and Chris Christie. Trump was defeated for re-election by 7 million votes and lost the Electoral College by a landslide.

Shapeshifter Levy has remade herself as a Trump toady, sacrificing whatever pride she may once have possessed. The Greenwich Republican suffered a humiliating loss when delegates in her state senate district refused to nominate her in a special election contest against Ryan Fazio. Levy has benefited in this year’s contest from Klarides’s oddly lethargic campaign. Party insiders and other observers are perplexed that the 11-term legislator is not only getting terrible advice but appears to take it.

The final four days of the campaign are expected to include an unmerciful assault on prime voters with robocalls, text messages and ads as the instruments of abuse.

Published August 5, 2022.

In a surprise call to the Montville Republican Town Committee Thursday night, Donald Trump endorsed Leora Levy in the August 9th Senate primary.

Levy has been in vigorous pursuit of the loathsome demagogue. The Greenwich Republican was Trump’s choice to serve as ambassador to Chile. The Senate declined to confirm her.

Levy faces party-endorsed candidate Themis Klarides on Tuesday. Fairfield Republican Peter Lumaj is also running.

On the Trump scale of slights, Klarides not voting for the chancellor of Trump University weighed more heavily as a grievance than Levy deeming him ”vulgar” and ”ill-mannered.”

For the next several days Levy will promote as a tribute what most Connecticut voters will deem an embarrassment.

Published August 4, 2022.

The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) held a special meeting on August 1st to discuss commissioners’ concerns over legal bills from James Sandler. Sandler has long been associated with the quasi-public agency that provides water and sewer services to Hartford and several surrounding towns. Between 2008 and 2021, Sandler’s firm, Sandler & Mara, has been paid $2.8 million by the MDC.

The discussion begins with MDC chairman William DiBella recusing himself due to a conflict. Sandler has represented him privately. A motion to refer questions about legal fees to the Internal Audit Committee prompted considerable debate. By a vote of 2/3 of the commissioners, debate ended abruptly–and then it didn’t. When a motion to call the passes, debate ends and the body proceeds immediately to a roll call. But this is the MDC. The presiding officer allowed the motion on which debate had just been halted to be amended twice.

The discussion on referring the issue to the audit committee raised an unexpected issue. It hasn’t met in more than two years and needs to elect a chairman and vice chairman when it meets this afternoon to begin its audit of legal bills. It will sort out the confusing question of who approves the legal bills submitted by outside counsel. The MDC has been traditionally been a voracious consumer of legal services.

Sandler has been invited to attend the meeting. Counsel has hired counsel. Raymond Hassett of Hassett and George contacted Chris Stone, the MDC’s house counsel. to let him know he is representing Sandler. Hassett included this aspiration and a warning that he was sure he did not need to offer but did just in case:

To my knowledge, neither Attorney Sandler, nor his representative, have been invited to discuss the billing. I trust the MDC will provide a fair, transparent and open process, consistent with law. We welcome the opportunity to participate to resolution.

I am sure I do not need to remind you that Attorney Sandler has provided counsel and guidance to the MDC for over 50 years. Dispute of  the firm’s services is highly disturbing and suggests an ulterior motive/agenda(s). We are prepared to respond to any claims by the MDC or its agents, as needed and afforded by law.

Interested members of the public may join the meeting by dialing (415)-655-0001 and using Access Code: 43808661#. Here’s a link to the Webex video.

Published August 4, 2022.

The super PAC supporting Republican Senate hopeful Themis Klarides in August 9th’s Connecticut primary must have some worrisome poll numbers that show rival Leora Levy with a late surge. Leadership Now is paying to broadcast a 30-second ad accusing Levy, a retired commodities trader, of making her fortune on high inflation.

It’s a nonsensical argument that suggests the PAC funders see Levy surging as the Greenwich Republican has tacked to the right. The first warning signs came with Klarides’s lackluster showing at the Republican nominating convention in May. The 22-year former state representative won the party’s endorsement but fell short of the 60% that she was expected to sail past.

Levy has been critical of Klarides’s support for gun control and access to abortion. The Republican National Committee member from Connecticut has performed some hasty shapeshifting, opposing women’s access to abortion services. She’s also held herself out as an opponent of regulating the availability of guns.

The commodities trading gambit is an attempt to tie Levy to the ills of inflation. It’s a risky argument for Klarides supporters. The Madison Republican is married to Eversource executive Greg Butler. The Republican operative has been a well-compensated force at the state’s dominant utility as costs have soared. Connecticut consumers pay the highest electricity rates in the continental United States.

The handful of contributors to Leadership Now must understand the importance of commodities in free market economies. One Leadership Now contributor who donated $50,000, may take a different view. William Tomasso went to jail for rigging the bidding process for state contractors during the administration of former governor John Rowland. Tomasso’s criminal conspiracy cost state taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

The ad includes a reference to Levy’s 1998 $100 contribution to Richard Blumenthal’s re-election campaign for attorney general. Levy has blamed the donation on her husband. If Levy defeats Klarides on Tuesday she will face Blumenthal in November.

Fairfield lawyer Peter Lumaj is the third primary contender.

Published August 3, 2022.