Category — Posts

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.

Travis Brimm has left the building. The Democratic campaign operative will not helm Governor Ned Lamont’s 2022 re-election bid, Daily Ructions can report.

Brimm, who was recruited for the Lamont campaign, had been parked at the Democratic state party headquarters. Brimm’s salary caused the party’s ledger to groan. Lamont has spent $50 million of his fortune on three statewide campaigns but has not been helpful to the state party’s threadbare finances.

Brimm was hired with the approval of the influential Ann Huntress Lamont and Lamont’s former chief of staff, Ryan Drajewicz, whose private line to the Lamonts continues to baffle insiders.

Lamont’s re-election campaign in Democratic Connecticut may not have provided the career boost the young political pro was seeking. Those campaigns in 2022 are more likely to be found in battleground states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.

Posted August 23, 2021.

Mark Scheinberg, president of Goodwin University, and Danielle Wilken, president of the University of Bridgeport, a recent edition to the growing Goodwin University system, made a generous offer Thursday to President Biden and the nation. They want to honor “the Afghans who bravely came to our assistance during this long war.”

Scheinberg and Wilken “want to help these friends because they are in particular danger for in the American dream in spite of what has transpired in Afghanistan.” Here is their generous offer to Afghans who face the vengeance of the murderous, triumphantly Taliban:

“In that pursuit, we at the University of Bridgeport are committing the use of an entire dormitory and related apartments for use by Afghan refugees—properly vetted by our military and Department of State–as a springboard to begin a new life in America.”

The school will use its English Language Institute to provide vital English language immersion. Refugees will also “a number of work-based and professional career programs that will help to place these new Americans as quickly as possible so that they remain proudly self-sufficient new Americans.”

This is how America renews itself generation after generation. Rejoice in this generosity. Mark Scheinberg has often brought his dynamic spirit into the public arena for the common good. It is no surprise that he has stepped forward to provide aide—and an example for others.

Republican Dominic Rapini has been counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until he unveils his renovated website for weeks. Wednesday at noon is the day and time.

The Branford Republican was a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2018, waging a primary against party-endorsed candidate Matthew Corey. Convention endorsements are usually followed by primary wins in Connecticut. Rapini’s experience was no different–except he lost every town to Corey in the quiet contest.

Rapini is said to be considering a bid for secretary of the state. He would become the second Republican to announce his intention to seek the office. Brock Webber, a political consultant, created a campaign committee for the office shortly after three-term incumbent Democrat Denise Merrill announced earlier this year she would not seek a fourth term.

Posted Tuesday, August 17, 2021.

Emmy-winning actress Debra Messing will assist Democrats by Zoom this afternoon as they attempt to heave Democrat Alexis Gevanter over the finish line in Tuesday’s special election in the 36th Senate District. Messing, best known for her long run as Grace Adler in the popular television comedy Will & Grace, will urge voters to support the corporate lawyer tomorrow.

Messing has enjoyed a varied and distinguished career on stage, television and film. She starred in the 2002 Woody Allen film Hollywood Ending, a decade after Dyan Farrow, a decade after the director was accused of sexually assaulting his daughter.

Messing, who grew up in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, is an active Democrat and has created a vigorous presence in social media.