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Ben Proto, a familiar figure in Republican campaign circles, is continuing his campaign for state party chair. Proto sought earlier this year to fill the vacancy created by the abrupt resignation of incumbent J.R. Romano.

In an email to committee members this week, Proto declared he believes in completing what he started and will carry on the campaign for chair that he began in November. The Stratford lawyer pledges leadership that “combines mechanics, message and money as the foundational aspects upon which to build the CTGOP into a strong political force–one that will elect more Republicans and impact the future of our beloved Connecticut.”

Proto, who worked for the state House Republican caucus in the 1990s, was the head of Donald Trump’s 2016 Connecticut campaign after Justin Clark, formerly of West Hartford, joined the national campaign to undermine our democratic allies and embrace dictators. Like every Republican operative in Connecticut, Proto has worked on a long series of losing campaigns. Proto enjoyed one brief shining moment in 2000 when he was an early supporter of John McCain. He supported McCain again in 2008. The late Arizona senator swept the Connecticut presidential primary that year, administering an embarrassing defeat on George W. Bush. We need not speculate on what McCain would think of supporters who became Trump acolytes.

The committee elects a new head in June.

Early Donald Trump enthusiast Jim Campbell today joined the race for leader of Connecticut’s crumbling Republican party organization. Formerly of Greenwich, the Westport Republican hails from the region of the state where the party’s decline has been most dramatic. Campbell made no mention of Trump or his ardent support for the loathsome demagogue in a lengthy email announcement to state central committee members.

The Trump effect has eroded the party’s ranks in the state legislature to rump status. Campbell enjoys the quiet support of prominent Trumpists, national committee members Leora Levy and John Frey. Levy was nominated by Trump to serve as ambassador to Chile. The Senate declined to confirm her. Frey survived a close call in his 2018 re-election bid to the state House of Representatives from Ridgefield. He chose not to seek another term in 2020. His seat was won by a Democrat as anti-Republican fury added to its Connecticut cull.

Campbell has gloried in his support for Trump. It’s memorialized in this cringe-inducing New Yorker article, “How Greenwich Republicans Learned to Love Trump.” Much of the rest of the former Republican bastion has not. Joe Biden won 61% of the tony town’s vote in November, leaving Boris and Natasha Republicans like Campbell in a withering minority.

The former Greenwich party chair is an executive with state contractor Frontier Communications. Battered by the communications revolution, Frontier recently emerged from an extended bankruptcy ordeal as a result of changing consumer habits and expensive landline carrier purchases.

The party committee selects a new leader in June.

A surprise for veteran Representative John Larson. Muad Hrezi, a 26 year old former Chris Murphy staffer, raised $89,000 since launching his campaign early this year. Full marks if you can remember the last time a Republican challenger to Larson raised that much.

That’s a hefty haul for a first-time candidate taking on a 12-term Democrat. Connecticut Democrats rarely tip over incumbents. The last one of note was Ned Lamont’s stunning upset of Senator Joseph Lieberman in a 2006 Democratic primary brawl. Lieberman lost the primary and defeated the heavily self-financed Lamont as an independent that fall.

Could this be the start of something big?

Read more about Hrezi here.

Stamford Mayor David Martin raised $52,000 in the first quarter of the year as he faces a tumultuous bid for re-election in a September primary and November general election. Martin is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by popular legislator Carolin Simmons. The winner of that contest is expected to face baseball legend Bobby Valentine, who will be running as an independent in Republican-phobic Stamford.

Martin’s coffers were boosted by a host of maximum $1,000 contributions from Stamford supporters. Simmons raised three times as much as Martin in the first quarter.

Martin spent $12,000 in campaign prep work. His biggest expenditures were to DNA Campaigns, a consulting operation familiar to state Democrats.

There’ll be no empty pizza boxed in state Democrats’ swank new headquarters. The party has moved to 750 Main Street. The building’s services include a doorman, “old time elegance,” and “magnificent views.”

The party is leasing offices on the 11th floor, high above and safe from intrusions of working people.

Connecticut employers added 5.400 nonfarm jobs to the state’s economy in March. The state has gained 60% of the 240,000 jobs it lost during the height of the pandemic shutdown in March and April last year, according to the Department of Labor.

These number are subject to revision.

The heads of five health insurance companies have joined in a letter to Governor Ned Lamont to explain their opposition to State Comptroller Kevin Lembo’s plan to create a state-run competitor.

The CEOs of Anthem, Cigna, CVS Health (which includes Aetna), Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, and UnitedHealth Group explain to Lamont that the state does not possess the experience to operate a complex health insurance plan. They also point to the hefty annual deficits racked up by the Partnership Plan the comptroller operates.

The company leaders remind the governor, whose fortune includes big scores in health care, that they have heeded his call to continue to innovate. They also don’t like Lamont’s proposal to slap a tax on health insurance policies–an additional levy on thousands of Connecticut working families.

The letter is a warning that the companies’ commitments to the state may reach its limit if the state goes into competition against them with unregulated plans that do not require reserves.

Stamford Democrat Caroline Simmons collected $157,000 in the first quarter of the year for her race for the Democratic nomination for mayor. The popular state legislature is challenging incumbent David Martin.

Simmons family contacts are in evidence in the report, which includes donations from far flung contributors. Republican Art Linares, a former state senator and Simmons’s husband made a maximum contribution, $1,000.

Fellow Democrats in the legislature brought some coal to Newcastle with their contributions. The first quarter report is a traditional place for a challenger to send a message to an incumbent–and Simmons has done that. She will be a formidable opponent in the September primary against Martin.

The Simmons campaign spent only $9,500 to begin the first three months of the race.

Baseball legend Bobby Valentine is expected to roil the race with an independent bid in the November contest.

Gary Byron wants to lead Connecticut’s Republican party organization. The state party committee will choose a new chair in June. Byron will have to persuade national committee members Leora Levy and John Frey, who appear to have settled on a different horse.

Here’s Byron’s announcement:

My name is Gary Byron and I am asking for your vote to be the next Connecticut State Party Chair.  I have chosen to run for this because I believe I am the best person to bridge the disconnect between what our party is doing on a daily basis and what people believe our party is doing (or not doing).  I host a popular radio show that reaches our rank and file members daily and have proven relationships with current legislators and party leaders, including House Minority leader Vin Candelora and Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, both of whom I worked intimately while serving with them in our state legislature. 

A little about me, my skill set, and how it would benefit our party: In 1988 at the age of 18 I started a business, Tone Zone. By strategically creating short term and long term goals, I grew Tone Zone to be the third largest event company in Connecticut.  I attribute my success to surrounding myself with people smarter than me then delegating responsibility accordingly. Periodically during my time in business I was also employed as on-air talent in both radio and television. In 2014, with odds stacked against me, I ran successfully for State Representative (27th District) against the DTC chair in the Democrat dominated town of Newington… winning by over 800 votes.  In my re-election in 2016 I won again by an even larger margin against a challenger who was the Democrat BOE chair.  I lost my 2018 bid by only 66 votes during the absentee ballot count. 

This loss led to an opportunity to combine my political and broadcasting experience by accepting the coveted morning drive time slot on The Talk of Connecticut Radio Network (WDRC 1360 am/ 103.3 fm, WBOM 1470 am, WSNG 610 am), a network of conservative news/ talk radio stations.  For the last two years I’ve listened to callers – mainly citizens of our state – be dismayed and disenfranchised with the policies being handed to us from the Democrat majority.  I interview elected officials and political movers and shakers on the local, state, and even national levels on a daily basis. Part of my responsibility is to bring in high roller advertisers on an ongoing basis. By cultivating relationships throughout the year – not just at times when contracts are to expire – advertisers are made to feel they are a valued part of not only my morning show, but also conservatism in our state.  This is a component I have been successful and I believe is an important quality when fundraising for our party. My personality is the secret sauce to my success throughout my career. These unique yet vital “ingredients” is what I will bring with me if elected.  

My column on the Boston Consulting Group’s $2 million report on the coming retirement surge of state employees is here.

Read the report here–and note how lightly it treads on the negotiations between the state and public employee unions required to implement recommendations.