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As President Biden’s father might have said to him, “Joey, you can tell a lot about a man’s priorities by the bills he wants passed in a special session of the legislature.”

Governor Ned Lamont is shining a light on his own sense of urgency with what he does not want the legislature to consider in a special session later this month. The governor has no interest in fixing the appalling invitation to corruption in the school construction bill he signed into law this month. The legislation allows school construction managers to bid on contracts they are overseeing. Lamont says the legislature can get around to fixing the dangerous change in the law next year.

Next year may be months after former top Lamont adviser and school construction financing overlord Kostantinos Diamantis’s trial on corruption charges. Diamantis is accused in a federal indictment of extorting bribes from school construction contractors.

Instead of addressing corruption, Lamont and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Dan O’Keefe want some changes in the state’s banking laws for Innovation Banks. Who would know more about money than two of the co-hosts of Biden’s high-dollar Greenwich fundraiser earlier this month?

Building public schools free of graft? That’s for other people–who send their children to those schools.

Published June 13, 2024.

Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter complained in May that he and other leaders struggle to find the best people to serve on state boards and commissions. Ritter’s bemoaning the quality of hundreds of volunteers was a stinging admission of failure by the Hartford Democrat.

Governor Ned Lamont signaled his agreement with Ritter on Wednesday when he elevated Massachusetts resident Martin Guay to serve as chair of the Board of Regents of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system. Lamont nominated Guay to the BOR in March. Guay’s nomination referred to him as a resident of Bedford, Massachusetts.

Guay is an executive at Connecticut-based Black and Decker.

This is the first time a governor has felt no Connecticut resident was qualified to serve as the head of a higher education board of trustees or regents. Chancellor Terrence Cheng is said to spend much of his time at his New York home.

Guay’s first task will be to explain why Cheng did not inform regents and others in a timely way of the “Notice of Concern” issued to Western Connecticut State University in March by the New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE). The ominous letter appears not to have roused the regents, dominated by a supine majority, out of their torpor.

Published June 13, 2024.

State Senator Paul Cicarella has some explaining to do. Hearst Connecticut’s Jacqui Rabe Thomas peels another layer off Ciccarella’s curious and lucrative history of worker’s compensation benefits.

Rabe’s first investigation of Cicarella’s disability claim and subsequent work history was published in March.

Cicarella, a North Haven Republican, declined to respond to Thomas’s subsequent questions about earning $123,000 while also receiving worker’s compensation benefits from an injury suffered as a corrections officer. Cicarella made a further blunder when he sent a state employee to provide cover in the growing controversy. Cicarella used Johnny Angel, also known as John Healey, to offer more than one version of events in response to Thomas’s questions. It is not the job of the Senate Republican Caucus chief of staff to intervene in a member’s personal matters. This is what is often referred to as misuse of public resources.

Questions about Cicarella’s receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in worker’s compensation benefits while he appears to have been earning income are a personal matter. The litigious Ciccarella appears to do business with a constellation of lawyers.

On May 23rd, Cicarella filed a document in Superior Court offering to settle a motor vehicle collision claim for $490,000.00. The second term legislator claims to have suffered injuries to his neck, left arm, thoracic spine, pain radiating down his shoulders, more pain extending down his left arm and hand, trouble sleeping, anxiety, pain to the top of his head, and continues to endure “great pain to the mind and body.” Cicarella also underwent a surgical procedure on a toe.

Cicarella alleges that as a result of the collision he endures the burden of photophobia.

With so many injuries dating from 2008 to today, do not look for Cicarella to participate in many sign waves during his campaign re-election campaign this year. He’ll have to make up ground by appearing at public forums, and there may be plenty of those. The prospects of a Cicarella victory in the Republican-leaning district are becoming less certain with each revelation. Republicans may find themselves having to divert resources from three endangered Republicans to the Cicarella race. Choices must be made.

Published June 12, 2024.

Four Bridgeport Democrats were arrested Tuesday in a long running but slow moving absentee ballot fraud investigation arising out the close run 2019 Democratic primary for mayor between incumbent Joseph Ganim and state Senator Marilyn Moore.

Moore won the most votes on the machines in the September primary. Ganim eked out a win when the absentee ballots were counted. A Hearst Connecticut investigation of absentee ballots cast in the primary revealed widespread abuses that prompted the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to intervene. It referred the matter to state law enforcement officials a year ago.

Bridgeport Democrats Wanda Geter-Pataky, Alfredo Castillo, Nilsa Heredia, and Josephine Edmonds were arrested. Geter-Pataky, Castillo, and Heredia were Ganim supporters. Edmonds was a Moore booster. Castillo is a member of Bridgeport’s city council. In addition to election law violations, Geter-Pataky, Castillo and Heredia were also charged with witness tampering.

Geter-Pataky figured prominently in video recordings that played a prominent role in a Superior Court ruling overturning the September 2023 mayoral primary.

The story continues but the conclusion that Marilyn Moore likely won the 2019 mayoral primary seems inescapable.

Published June 11, 2024.

President Roosevelt wrote the prayer he includes in this historic broadcast made 80 years ago today.

“They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.”

Published June 6, 1944.

Democrat Tyler Mack is showing cash to get cash in the sprint to qualify for public financing in the 22nd district state Senate Democratic primary. Mack placed first among the five candidates competing at the convention contest with 16 votes, far from the 30 delegates he needed to win the party endorsement. Mack’s unexpected poor showing at the convention came after Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz made calls attempting to snag some delegates for the member of the Bridgeport City Council.

The Bysiewicz intervention was a reminder to potential rivals that longevity alone may not be advantage the Middletown Democrats expects it to be as she mounts her fourth bid for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Mack’s Facebook post says he is halfway to the $17,300 he will need to qualify for $109,500 in public funds for the August 13th primary. The 22nd is considered a district in which one party dominates, as measured by party registration. There are no Republican dominated districts in Connecticut.

Shante Hanks has withdrawn from the field, leaving Mack to face Sujata Gadkar-Wilcon, Bill Finch and Scott Burns.

Published June 4, 2024.

A Dear Lobbyist message from Rebecca Terricciano seeks donations and sponsorships from businesses to underwrite delegate expenses to the Republican National Convention next month. The party that rails against the swamp dives in when it needs money to pay for meals, accommodations, and entertainment for five days in Wisconsin. Terricciano, the Program Coordinator of the CT Milwaukee Delegation Program, wrote on May 30th, “We have crafted a variety of sponsorship packages designed to provide maximum visibility and engagement for your clients or business. These opportunities not only include branding and promotional benefits but also offer potential for guest passes to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. It’s a perfect blend of business and excitement, allowing you to connect with key influencers and decision-makers.”

“Key influencers and decision-makers” will be thin on the ground whenever the Connecticut delegates gather. The highest ranking official is a former Nikki Haley supporter, state Senator Steve Harding, the leader of the dozen members of his caucus.

For $7,500, a donor gets to sponsor the reception welcoming Connecticut delegates, alternates and guests to Wisconsin. A check for $15,000 purchases sponsorship of a pizza reception after Tuesday’s evening of rants and grievances. The hardest sell may be the $20,000 sponsorship of a Northeast Summer Party. It will include delegations from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Those six states send no Republicans to Congress. Maryland’s Republican Senate nominee, former Governor Larry Hogan, was excoriated by Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita, for asking Americans to respect the rule of law in the aftermath of the conviction of Donald Trump on 34 charges of falsifying business records to conceal campaign contributions. Lara Trump, the convicted defendant’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, called Hogan’s appeal to reason and the rule of law “ridiculous.” She told CNN,  Hogan “doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point, and quite frankly, anybody in America, if that’s the way you feel. That’s very upsetting to hear that.”

The convention begins Monday, July 15th, four days after Trump is sentenced. Trump defense lawyer Todd Blanche requested a mid-July sentencing date and agreed to July 11th.

Lobbyists know what they will be aiding with their sponsorships–and so will the people they do business with. See the details of what’s on offer here. Donors should note that gift certificates for courses at Trump University, Trump steaks and made-in-China Ivanka Trump fashions are no longer available.

Published June 4, 2024.

Delegates to the 124th District of the House of Representatives put the Bridgeport absentee ballot scandal on the August 13th primary ballot when they endorsed Eneida Martinez over incumbent Andre Baker for the seat. Martinez received nine votes to Baker’s three, Brian Lockhart reports.

Martinez asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a trial over absentee ballot fraud in last summer’s Democratic primary for mayor. Judge William Clark found enough evidence in the three day trial to conclude that Martinez and fellow Democrat Wanda Geter-Pataky had mishandled so many absentee ballots that it was impossible to determine who had won the primary between incumbent Joseph Ganim and challenger John Gomes.

Martinez, who serves on Bridgeport’s city council, also faces a trial for allegedly violating pandemic restrictions at a Bridgeport club she was managing in 2020.

Baker is seeking a sixth term. He’s likely to repeat often Martinez’s assessment of his work in the East End district. “He’s done a good job,” Lockhart reports Martinez as declaring more than once on Tuesday.

Bridgeport Democrats will be among the few in the state to have overlapping primaries for the House of Representatives and State Senate this summer.

[@MikeCerulliCT of WTNH attended the convention and posted the photo above pf Martinez on X.]

Published May 29, 2024.

Incumbent Leora Levy and Annalisa Stravato will face each other Tuesday for the spot reserved for a woman from Connecticut on the Republican National Committee. The contest has become a proxy battle among the shrinking factions of the state party.

Levy dismayed fellow members of the party establishment when she defeated convention-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Themis Klarides in a 2022 primary. Levy defeated Klarides by a wide margin, suggesting delegates at the party’s nominating convention were out of touch with rank and file members. The Greenwich Republican’s apostasy has not been forgotten. If Team Klarides had exerted as much effort to defeat Levy in 2022 as it is in blocking her re-election to the RNC, that landslide primary defeat might have had a different result.

Levy has been an effective and reliable fundraiser in a party that finds itself chronically short of dough. She has rescued the party’s parlous finances more than once. Levy’s also engaged in some significant shapeshifting since the annus horribilis of 2016, going from Donald Trump critic to cheerleader. Trump nominated Levy in 2019 to serve as ambassador to Chile. The Senate did not act on her nomination.

Committee members received an extensive email from Levy on Sunday. It attempts to refute the accusation making the rounds that her 2022 Senate candidacy sank George Logan’s bid for the U.S. House from the 5th CD. Levy was an effective fundraiser for Logan in 2022 and sponsored an event for him at the start of his current campaign. It featured James Comer, the deluded House chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Stravato served as the state party committee’s vice chair from 2015 to 2017. She dropped her bid for a second term when she appeared likely to lose. She currently serves as one of Wilton’s two Registrars of Voters. She is also a member of the state party committee, though online campaign finance records show she made no contribution to the Logan campaign.

Levy received a video endorsement from U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas). She has, Cotton explained, supported him from his first campaign for the House of Representatives in 2012.

Stravato has the support of party chair Ben Proto. She also received an endorsement from Sid Holbrook, who pointed out in his message that he served as a chief of staff to a governor. That was felonious former governor John G. Rowland, who resigned the office 20 years ago next month. Rowland greeted Stravato at this month’s party nominating convention.

The party committee is comprised of 74 members, two each from the state’s 36 state senate districts, a member of the College Republicans and a member of the Young Republicans.

The RNC seat reserved for a man will go once more to John Frey.

Published May 28, 2024.

Republican donors were startled to receive an incendiary email from party-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Gerry Smith that claims President Joe Biden and other Democrats “are burning crosses in my front yard.” The burning cross is one of the most powerful images of racial hatred and violence. No one is burning crosses on Smith’s front yard.

As Smith points out in deranged fundraising appeal, “It’s disgusting” — but not for the reason Smith claims. The first selectman asserts that as the only Black Republican running for the Senate, “I’m their greatest threat.” He is not. Few in Connecticut know who Smith is. In Washington, Smith may briefly rise to an afterthought.

Smith entered the race to challenge incumbent Democrat Chris Murphy in February as a calm Republican with a clear path to his party’s nomination. The late entry of 2018 nominee Matt Corey upended Smith’s saunter to the general election campaign. Corey won 30% of the delegates at the May 13th nominating convention and confirmed there will be an August primary.

Smith’s race-based fundraising appeal suggests he sees no advantage in highlighting his differences with Corey. Smith has won four terms as first selectman in Beacon Falls. The Manchester Republican has often run for office but never won an election. Corey sides with servitude over freedom. He opposes aid to Ukraine and would abandon millions of free people to murderous dictator Vladimir Putin.

Smith is the choice of what is left to the Republican party organization establishment. The ragtag troupe has concentrated its diminishing energy on heaving Westport Republican Annalisa Stravato over the finish line against incumbent Leora Levy in their contest for a seat on the Republican National Committee. The May 28th vote by the state party committee is the passion of chairman Ben Proto. Levy was the 2022 U.S. Senate Republican nominee, defeating party-endorsed candidate Themis Klarides by a wide margin in a primary.

As party leaders devote their full measure to the national committee contest, Republicans face tumbling into single digits in the state senate.

Published May 25, 2024.