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Convention delegates are muting their phones in reaction to a stream of brutal texts. Themis Klarides was on the griddle Thursday night. The Republican U.S. Senate hopeful came in for a shelling on hundreds of mobile phone screens.

Delegates received a text of uncertain origins accusing Klarides of breaching every contemporary Republican shibboleth. The harsh message is built on a flimsy foundation: It assumes Klarides possesses firm beliefs in anything other than politics as a vanity production garnished by the platitudes of the moment.

The text, pictured above, raises Klarides’s ties to widely disliked utility, Eversource, through her recent marriage to one of the company’s top executive. The risk of an Eversource jolt for Republicans during the campaign looms large for delegates who understand the weapon their party may hand to Democrats. Connecticut’s businesses and families continue to pay the highest electricity rates in the continental United States. Klarides and her advisers will continue to hope no one requests and obtains her late summer 2020 texts and emails on state energy policy. The August primary campaign could short circuit if any of Klarides’s House Republican colleagues did not maintain the Klarides era practice of destroying public records by quickly deleting them.

One question for a Senate debate: Who did Klarides allow on those House Republican leadership calls? The convention campaign texts may begin to look mild.

Published May 5, 2022.

Former state Senator Ed Marcus, who broke the iron grip of party bosses on the state legislature, died Thursday morning. He was a candidate in the state’s first year of primaries and served as Democratic party chairman from 1992 to 2002.

Marcus was elected to the Senate from New Haven in the Democratic landslide of 1958. When he became the Senate Majority Leader in the late 1960s, Marcus successfully challenged state and national party chairman John M. Bailey’s control over legislative patronage. The contentious move, according to Bruce Rubenstein, Marcus’s colleague in party politics, allowed the legislature to become a professional and equal branch of government.

Bailey was not pleased. The party boss opposed Marcus’s 1970 bid for the U.S. Senate. That was the first year of party primaries in the state. A candidate needed to win 20% at their party’s convention to qualify for a primary. There was no provision for collecting signatures to be included on the party contest ballot.

Marcus placed third at the Democratic convention, behind the endorsed candidate, Stamford zipper manufacturer Alphonse Donahue, and anti-Vietnam war candidate Reverend Joseph Duffey. Marcus was third in the primary as well. A quirk in the state’s new primary law set the date for statewide and congressional primaries before legislative ones. Marcus was able to seek re-election to the Senate but faced a primary from Joseph Lieberman, also a New Haven Democrat.

Bailey wanted to grind Marcus into dust and on that primary day he did. An army of state employees reported to New Haven that day and helped Lieberman defeat Marcus.

Denied public office, Marcus nevertheless kept his hand in the game. He became state party chairman in 1992. In 1994, he made news by declaring there were too many Jews competing for places on the state ticket. Voters disagreed. Marcus was Jewish.

Marcus maintained a busy law practice in Branford. His political influence was evident in the administration of former Governor Dannel P. Malloy. Marcus convinced Malloy to appoint his daughter, the controversial Shelley Marcus, to a seat on the Superior Court.

Published May 5, 2022.

As endorsements go, it seems vague. Leora Levy rolled out a letter from Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel in the run-up to this weekend’s state party nominating contest.

McDaniel writes that Levy “understands exactly what is at stake for our country during this perilous time as the far-left seeks to wreak havoc on our freedoms and the principles that laid the foundation of our country.” Curiously, McDaniel does not mention that Levy is running for the U.S. Senate.

The intra-party scuffles can bring complications to political relationships. Levy has voted for McDaniel to lead the RNC and boosted her at every opportunity. It might seem churlish for McDaniel not to acknowledge Levy’s role in party affairs as the retired commodity trader strains to gather the support of 15% of state convention delegates.

Levy has been working the phones this week in a final push for delegates, paying particular attention to Republican activists from the 2nd CD.

Delegates are expected to nominate former House Minority Leader Themis K;arides for the race against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. Fairfield Republican Peter Lumaj is also in the fight and is seen as winning support from delegates who might otherwise cast their ballots for Levy.

Levy has won the support of several U.S. senators but no state senators.

Published May 5, 2022.

Governor Ned Lamont has been asking around. The Greenwich Democrat is seeking names for a new legal counsel. The inquiries by Lamont suggest the second legal counsel of his first term, Nora Dannehy, may soon leave the administration after little more than a year.

Dannehy is the career federal prosecutor who became a historic corruption buster in 2003 and 2004 as she brought down then-Governor John G. Rowland and members of his administration. Dannehy’s reputation for rectitude may not be the best fit for Lamont as his administration is under a federal criminal corruption investigation involving contract steering. Lamont said he learned of the probe when Dannehy may have mentioned it “in passing.”

Lamont lost his budget director in February. The governor said at the time that Melissa McCaw, whose agency is at the center of the investigation, was seeking a fresh start in East Hartford—a town not often identified with personal renewal—and would serve as its finance director. Lamont favorite Josh Geballe also left the administration early this year. DAS commissioner and COO Geballe had overseen the state’s school construction grants program and made the fatal 2019 decision to transfer it to McCaw’s budget agency in violation of state law. Geballe’s decision meant the head of the program, Konstantinos Diamantis, would receive no meaningful oversight from his friend McCaw.

Suggestions for the legal counsel job may be submitted directly to the governor. Applicants should note that few alumni of Lamont’s office ever mention their experience fondly. We mention that just in passing.

Published May 4, 2022.

The session of the legislature that ends today included an ugly incident of attempted political fratricide by intern research. State Representative Michael Winkler (D-Vernon) assigned his intern (whose name we will not disclose) to dig up some dirt on Democratic House colleague David Arconti.

The intern, as interns will do, took his task seriously and sent a cheerful email to Eversource, the politically influential utility. “I am an intern at the CGA and I was wondering if you could give me any information on a CT Representative by the name of David Arconti,” he wrote to Eversourse investor relations executive Jeffrey Kotkin. “I’m curious to see if Mr.Arconti has ever donated/invested money into Eversource or if he’s ever received campaign funding from eversource. If you could point me in the right direction that would be wonderful, thank you for your time, my phone number is….”

Kotkin forwarded the intern’s message to veteran Eversource in-house lobbyists Peg Morton, Thomas Dorsey, and Daniel Moore. Dorsey forwarded the message to Arconti, who is the co-chair of the legislature’s energy committee, which often seems like a subsidiary of Eversource. Arconti sent it to Franklin Perry, the speaker’s chief of staff.

The February 26th email trail ends there. The intern was reassigned. I asked Winkler what the purpose was of having his intern obtain information on Arconti. Was it an appropriate task for an intern? What did Winkler expect the intern to learn about the legislature by having him ask Eversource if Arconti has invested in the state’s largest utility.

The Vernon Democrat replied, “As part of a research project, an intern was asked to do an on-line search. At no time was a letter requested or needed. All of the necessary information is on-line.” Those non sequiturs did not address the essential questions. When newly elected and re-elected legislators return to Hartford in January, leaders should make it clear that interns are not appropriate instruments for pursuing vendettas or doing down rivals. Whatever nasty beef Winkler had with the mild-mannered Danbury Democrat, the former state employees union official should not have enlisted a college intern to assist in his dirty work.

Neither Arconti nor Winkler is seeking re-election. Arconti declined to discuss the matter.

Published May 4, 2022.

East Haven Republican Patrick Rowland (no relation to the former Republican governor) is a late entry for the party’s nomination for state comptroller. Rowland, a CPA with a background in tax planning, will face West Hartford Republican May Fay if he proceeds with his quest.

Rowland’s email to Republicans took aim at Democrat Sean Scanlon and his patronage plum job at Tweed-New Haven Airport. He wrote in his announcement, “I can BEAT Sean Scanlon because I have the Tax, Research, Accounting, and Economic Policy background to understand deeply the roles of the office and can debate his flawed record as a legislator and as the Director of the Tweed – specifically, the State’s own INDEPENDENT AUDITORS issued a deficiency report (link below) on the Airport Authority criticizing control and management in areas which he would have similar control at the state level.”

“He also helped break a promise previously negotiated by all the pertinent mayors and legislative representatives much for his own benefit and at great peril to the city, region and the citizens who live near the airport,” Rowland continued, “And as CHAIR of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding – he OWNS the fiscal calamity we are suffering from.”

Scanlon is, for reasons that highlight the sometimes irrational nature of politics, the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for comptroller. The Guilford Democrat continues his long ride on the party’s hackerama.

Rowland said Wednesday afternoon that he will run as a petitioning candidate in the general election if he is unable to win 15% of the delegates at the Republican state convention. He criticized Fay for highlighting on her campaign website her opposition to imposing tolls on Connecticut’s working families.

Rowland will be introducing himself to delegates Friday. Fay may, however, have gotten a snootful of the voluble Rowland when he offered to “collaborate” with the West Hartford town council member if she’d make way for him to snag the party’s nomination.

Published May 4, 2022.

A substitute teacher is putting up some impressive numbers in a rookie bid to defeat a veteran fellow Democrat. Muad Hrezi has raised just shy of $500,000 since announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the First Congressional District.

Hrezi, coming at Larson from the far left, has begun circulating petitions to force an August primary. Larson has not faced a primary opponent since the venerable East Hartford Democrat won his first term in 1998.

Hrezi’s pre-convention report reveals he had $165,000 in cash on hand as of the April 19th reporting period closing date. That $165,000 ought to be enough for Hrezi to hire professional signature collectors to oversee the labor intensive process of collecting sufficient signatures to face Larson in August. Larson reports having $841,000 in cash on hand.

For some context on the significance of Hrezi’s early fundraising success, consider that it’s $124,000 more than Republican George Logan has raised in his 5th CD campaign to defeat two-term Democrat Jahana Hayes.

Published May 2, 2022.

Four congressional candidates have begun circulating petitions to secure a spot on the August primary ballot. Candidates who do not receive 15% of the delegates’ votes on any party convention ballot have an alternative route to a primary. They can collect signatures from 2% of the voters enrolled in their party. It’s harder than it sounds, so getting an early start is prudent.

So far, one Democrat and three Republicans have begun the process, according to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office. They are Democrat Muad Hrezi in the First Congressional District and Republicans Mark Hancock in the First Congressional District, Michael Ted Goldstein in the Fourth Congressional District, and Michelle Botelho in the Fifth Congressional District.

Delegates will meet this month to endorse candidates. The parties hold their state nominating conventions this weekend.

Published May 2, 2022.

Extraordinary exemptions from common sense requirements have not been enough to steady the finances of the comptroller’s health insurance Connecticut Partnership Plan. The program requires another bailout to keep its municipal members from a 10.5% increase.

The Connecticut Partnership Plan received a $40 million infusion from the state in December. Without it, the Plan would have inflicted a 14.5% increase on plan members this year. Members were advised to plan for an 8% increase in their budget deliberations. They were recently told that advice had become inoperative. The cost of coverage would be hiked by 10.5%.

Legislators and Local leaders locked in three-year contracts with the plan scambled over the weekend to claw another $25 million from taxpayers. Then-State Comptroller Kevin Lembo told legislators last year, “The Connecticut Partnership Plan has an enrollment of nearly 60,000 members and over 140 participating groups. That plan has allowed the municipalities that voluntarily join to protect themselves from skyrocketing costs due to a few catastrophic health events, keep costs predictable and offer the highest-quality care to teachers, first responders and other town and city workers.”

What’s been predictable is that without the reserves required of private health insurance companies, the state treasury will constantly be at risk of looting by the the Connecticut Partnership Plan. Rates charged by private health insurance companies are regulated by the state’s insurance department. Those companies are required to maintain significant reserves to deal with the swings and roundabouts that circumstances can inflict on the most prudent expectations of human behavior.

In February 2021, Lembo told legislators, “The Partnership Plan is now projected to run at an MLR under 100% for the foreseeable future, cementing its reputation as a market-leading option for municipal and non-state government groups.” Fifteen months have battered that declaration.

At the same public hearing, Senator Matt Lesser pointed out in what now looks like a misbegotten attempt to be helpful to Lembo that “in fact you’re directed to reduce risk to taxpayers and to make sure we are protecting the General Fund in the State of Connecticut.” Lembo replied, “That’s correct, Senator.”

A correct statement of the law but not of the plan’s finances. Lesser should have an opportunity to explain what’s gone wrong in the past 14 months.

Approval of an annual increase of 14.5%, 10.5% or 8% sought by a private insurer would draw the fury of consumer groups and the comptroller’s office. The same people who criticize companies that operate in the regulated market will likely remain silent as the comptroller’s plan scrambles to convince legislators to require taxpayers to provide tens of millions more in rescue financing.

Published May 2, 20222.

What a difference a federal criminal investigation makes. In November 2019, then-Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw was in a twist over the grim state of the Connecticut Port Authority. A CT Mirror story by Keith Phaneuf highlighting more embarrassing revelations included in a report from state auditors had caught McCaw’s attention.

McCaw told the agency’s spokesperson, Chris McClure, that she needed the durable Democrat to “take the lead on crafting OPM’s comm plan to highlight our extensive and outstanding work, including timing of release, etc. Currently the administration is silent and all these audit issues and I want to get in front of it and be clear that we’ve taken the lead and we are restoring the financial integrity and related and confidence back into this organization…This progress is not DECD’s. It is OPM.”

McCaw subordinate Jeffrey Beckham replied that he and colleague Robert Dakers would be delivering the budget agency’s testimony at a December 4th legislative hearing on the audit. “Draft it,” McCaw replied, “I might present it depending on workload although I believe I’m scheduled to be out.” McCaw did big foot Beckham and Dakers at the daylong hearing, presenting testimony alongside Paul Mounds, Governor Ned Lamont’s chief of staff, and David Kooris, who was serving as acting chair of the authority as well as deputy commissioner of DECD.

In the aftermath of the port authority scandals, McCaw’s deputy and close friend, Kostantinos Diamantis, was given extraordinary dominion over the State Pier project at the New London port. The decision by Lamont to entrust Diamantis with extensive power baffled observers at the time. Federal criminal investigators appear to be focused on the former Democratic state representative’s role in the creation of a $235 million wind turbine hub.

The emails were included in the Lamont administration’s compliance with a federal subpoena seeking documents related to the probe. Nobody is in the hunt for credit now. McCaw and Diamantis have left OPM. Beckham has succeeded McCaw. Lamont continues to be notably incurious about who knew what at OPM.

The federal criminal investigation, which Lamont said he learned of “in passing” from his corruption-busting legal counsel, continues.

Published April 29, 2022.