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Please join me Sunday at 10 a.m. on WTNH’s This Week in Connecticut with Dennis House.

Dennis and I examine mayoral races in Stamford and New Britain. We also touch on the slow start to the 2022 contest for governor and Republican excitement at George Logan’s bid for the 5th CD seat held by popular Democratic incumbent Jahana Hayes.

It’s still true: The most congenial television studio in Connecticut is wherever Dennis House is working.

David Martin with an impressive show of support Wednesday. The mayor of Stamford announced he has submitted “nearly 3,000” signatures from fellow Democrats to qualify for a September 14th primary against state Representative Caroline Simmons, the party-endorsed candidate.

Martin’s announcement noted he submitted almost twice the number of signatures required to force what observers expect to be an intense primary campaign. Martin gave a preview of what the next month will see. His signature news was accompanied by a shot at the wealthy Simmons, a longtime Greenwich resident. “The Mayor’s office is not for sale and it is not a stepping stone to political stardom,” Martin declared.

The Martin campaign’s signature announcement directed inquiries to Av Harris, a former official of Governor Ned Lamont’s administration who has become a bitter critic of the Greenwich Democrat. Harris, who was fired from the Department of Public Health, turned to conservative radio to tell tales of life with Lamont.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face a petitioning candidate, local hero Bobby Valentine. Simmons.

Registrars of Voters will be accepting primary petitions until 4 p.m. today.

Stamford mayor David Martin will need valid signatures from 5% of the city’s 31,000 registered Democrats.

A Bloomfield slate challenging the endorsed slate for town council did not wait until the deadline to submit its signatures. It has been certified, continuing that towns tradition of Democratic primaries for local offices. Many signs for Row B are on lawns on the town’s busiest streets.

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, explains what to expect in the next several months as we continue to grapple with the pandemic. Jha’s informed optimism will reduce some of the uncertainty and trepidation you may be feeling.

State Representative Caroline Simmons held off a strong challenge from incumbent David Martin to win the Democratic endorsement for mayor in a rare Sunday town committee convention. Simmons defeated Martin 21-19.

The two Democrats will face each other in a September primary in what is expected to be a bitter contest between privilege and grit. Martin has been counted out before. Martin won his first term in 2013, inflicting a stunning primary defeat on Attorney General William Tong, then a state representative from Stamford. Martin won an easy re-election four years later.

Simmons is originally from neighboring Greenwich. Her wealthy family enjoys warm relations with Governor Ned Lamont.

The winner of the primary will face independent candidate and Stamford favorite son Bobby Valentine.

David X. Sullivan, retired federal prosecutor and 2020 Republican candidate for the House of Representatives from the 5th CD, has joined the law firm McCarter & English. Sullivan will work in the multi-state firm’s litigation and white collar practices. The firm’s announcement is here.

Sullivan recently filed a termination of his 2020 campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission. The first-time candidate raised $405,000 in his bid to defeat Representative Jahana Hayes, who was seeking a second term. Sullivan appeared to enjoy the crucible of the campaign as it continued.

He lost to Hayes by a 32,000 votes, a margin of 9%, according to the Secretary of the State.

Non-farm employment grew to 1,592.900 million jobs, an increase of 3,500 over June. The increase was less than half the number of jobs added the month before. May’s initial 7,800 figure was revised upward to 8,100.

The Department of Labor has the details on the “uneven monthly pattern.”

Former state Representative Themis Klarides paid $57,000 for consultants, legal fees, film production and website production in forming a campaign operation for governor. Klarides filed her first finance report Monday. More than half the committee’s expenses, $30,000 went to Battleground Strategies, a Republican consulting firm operated by Jim Barnett, Jim Conway, and Elissa Voccola.

Legal fees were paid to Mutha Cullina LLP and The Garber Group, LLP. The Self-Funded Candidate’s Expenditure Statement also reports paying Sebastian Rougemont $13,000 in consulting fees. Rougement was employed by Donald Trump’s 2020 New Hampshire campaign.

Greenwich Democrat John Blankley made a last-minute bid for delegate support at this evening’s party nominating convention. The 36th Senate District Democrats are expected to nominate Greenwich newcomer Alexis Gevanter in the August 17th special election to replace Democrat Alex Kasser. Kasser resigned last month to concentrate on the divorce she kept in the public spotlight during her two and a half years in the Senate.

On Monday evening, Blankley shared with a dozen Greenwich Democrats an anonymous email detailing a long list of anti-worker business clients represented by the San Francisco law firm Gevanter worked for before moving to Connecticut.

The lengthy message alleges. in part, Gevanter “worked in the Employment and Law practice in a firm, Sheppard Mullin, who during the time of her employment in that division worked on significant litigation to water down or eliminate the rights of labor to organize, and to pay unfairly in the case ‘Scott vs. Chipotle Mexican Grill’.” For employment attorneys, you can click here to know the best ones in town!

The message continues, “Such cases were not unique to her San Francisco firm, as their firm is extraordinarily anti-union https://www.sheppardmullin.com/labor-union-management-relations . Prior to her work at Sheppard Mullin, she work at the Dentons firm, in New York, and represented a firm called Solidifi US in 2014, charged, again, with offenses such as wage theft, retaliation and other offenses. https://www.nlrb.gov/case/03-CA-129330“

Gaventer’s work for large corporate law firms put her firmly on the side of privilege and the patriarchy.

Democrats at tonight’s nominating convention may pay little attention to Blankley’s accusations, but Republicans will be committing them to memory and repeating them at frequent intervals. Taunts may be the theme of the short campaign.

State Representative Harry Arora (R-Greenwich) has released a list of 1,000 supporters of his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 36th Senate District special election. Arora joins Greenwich Republicans Leora Levy and Ryan Fazio in the contest that will be decided Saturday by party delegates.

Arora has made a success of a special election before this one. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 after incumbent Republican Fred Camillo resigned to become first selectman of the tony metropolitan New York enclave. Arora was re-elected to a full term in November.

As the ranking House member on the legislature’s labor committee Arora received considerable praise this year for fighting his corner fighting a tidal wave of proposals intent on sending jobs and opportunity scurrying to other states.