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Ann Huntress Lamont made Survey Monkey’s ballot. The Greenwich Democrat is one of 300 healthcare titans in the running to make the final cut for Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.

Lamont wrote in a tweet that she is “humbled to be featured on the shortlist” of 300. Oak HC/FT urged readers to vote for the Lamont administration’s most influential voice. You can vote here.

Lamont provided a public reminder of her sharp skills as an investor earlier this year. She’s the Oak partner helming the investment firm’s stake in Dama Financial, the California company that provides banking services to the growing legal cannabis industry. Governor Ned Lamont signed legislation legalizing the sale of cannabis in Connecticut in June.

Jeffrey Hersh, a lawyer with an office in Greenwich, asserted in a letter to the Stamford City Clerk that Connecticut’s election laws preclude Democratic nominee Caroline Simmons from appearing on the Independent Party line. Hersh cited Connecticut statutes that preclude a candidate nominated by a major or minor party from petitioning onto another place on the ballot. Hersh represents Stamford resident Al Fiore.

Because the Independent Party did not nominate a candidate for mayor of Stamford at the last election–in 2017–it is neither a major nor a minor party in Stamford in this year’s mayoral contest. In order for the Independent Party to nominate a candidate this year, Simmons would have had to circulate petitions. Simmons is the Democratic candidate after winning a thumping primary victory this month, so she cannot petition onto any other ballot position.

Hersh’s arguments provide a reminder that Connecticut’s ballot access laws are an intended impediment to voters having more choices than what party establishments allow. Simmons might have raised this festering issue as a state legislator but it would have caused her to be alienated from legislative leaders.

State Representative Caroline Simmons defeated incumbent David Martin in Stamford’s Democratic primary for mayor. Unofficial returns have Simmons winning more than 60% of the vote.

Simmons won the Stamford DTC endorsement 21 to 19 in July. Martin was seeking his third four-year term. He scored an upset in 2013 when he defeated William Tong in the Democratic primary. He went on to defeat former Republican lieutenant governor Mike Fedele that November. Martin enjoyed an easy re-election in 2017.

Simmons will face petitioning candidate Bobby Valentine, a well-known Stamford figure, in November.

Incumbent Woodbury Republican First Selectman Barbara Perkinson withstood a primary challenge from anti-masker Lisa Amatruda, the town’s Republican registrar of voters. Parkinson received 446 votes to Amatruda’s 402.

Amatruda waved the flag while accusing Perkinson of being a RINO. Amatruda was infuriated that Perkinson imposed a mask mandate in town buildings as Covid infections increased.

Perkinson, a retired middle school teacher, will run unopposed in November.

An arm of the government has an opening for a government relations professional. “The position,” according to an online posting, “serves as an advocate and strategist for the CSCU System on state, federal, and local policy matters within the Office of Government Relations.”

The job pays “between $85,478- $106,848 (midpoint) approximate annual plus excellent State of CT medical insurance, retirement, and related fringe benefits.”

Connecticut higher education is stuffed with Democratic loyalists, so there is always a route to these position for political operatives without the preferred qualifications. The posting provides this alternative path to the job: Applicants who do not meet the minimum qualifications as stated are encouraged to put in writing precisely how their background and experience have prepared them for the responsibilities of this position and by providing appropriate references. 

New Haven is suffering through a chilling increase in violence. The city endured its 23rd homicide Wednesday, as the city continues to exceed last year’s 20 murders. Five shootings in four days has city residents worried about the epidemic of violent crime.

This is more than what Governor Ned Lamont calls an “uptick.” It requires the uninterrupted attention of the city’s mayor, Justin Elicker. As fear becomes a way of life, Elicker was busy fundraising in Hartford Thursday for a campaign in which he faces no meaningful opposition.

The event was sponsored by a collection of well-known Democrats, some of them rivals for advancement. Tickets ranged from $50 to $390 each. Elicker is receiving public funds for his campaign.

The Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG) is using an anti-Italian slur to attack the state’s largest health insurance companies. The group employs imagery from the 1972 film The Godfather, calling the largest companies “Connecticut’s Five Families.”

CCAG’s graphic features puppet strings like those in the film’s logo. The Godfather portrays murderous Italians divided into Five Families that control illegal enterprises–and much else. The acclaimed movie perpetrated tropes about Italian-Americans that lingered for decades, as CCAG’s ugly broadside reminds us.

The CCAG imagery does not appear to be happenstance. Two of the five presidents of the companies the organization attacks are of Italian heritage. David Cordani, Cigna corporation’s president and CEO, was the target of protestors who participated in a “die-in” in front of his home. Cordani, who grew up in Waterbury, is the proud grandchild of Italian immigrants.

CCAG remains stung by a letter earlier this year from health insurance company executives to Governor Ned Lamont. It warned the Greenwich Democrat that the companies would examine their commitment to doing business in Connecticut if he supported the creation of an unregulated, state-sponsored public health insurance enterprise. Health insurance companies provide approximately 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state.

Attaching stigmas has driven much repugnant language from the public arena, but there is unlikely to be a pay for slurs hurled at Italians in Connecticut.

Ned Lamont’s former campaign-manager-in-waiting, Travis Brimm, left Connecticut Democrats for a North Carolina U.S. Senate campaign. Brimm will be managing Cheri Beasley’s bid for her party’s nomination in what is expected to be one of the nation’s marquee 2022 races.

Beasley lost her 2020 bid for re-election as chief justice of North Carolina’s Supreme Court by 401 votes out of nearly 5.4 million cast. Beasley became the first Black woman to hold the court’s top job when Governor Roy Cooper elevated her from associate justice in 2019.

Popular state Representative Hilda Santiago is exploring a run for statewide office. The Meriden Democrat has been expected to make a bid for her party’s nomination for secretary of the state. She filed her exploratory committee Wednesday.

Santiago ought to benefit from her association with Senator Chris Murphy. Working in his office has allowed Santiago to cultivate contacts far beyond her central Connecticut district.

In a party that can be intermittently captured by identity politics, Santiago would be the first Latina to win a spot on a state Democratic ticket.

Posted August 26, 2021.