Category — Posts

State Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) is right to be concerned. A Twitter account that follows no one and has no followers declares, “Or we can just take justice in our own hands. Hopefully the sanitation system will pick up the carcass.” The comment by “Greg Tubby” was in reaction to a statement by State Senator Rob Sampson criticizing last year’s police legislation.

“I will be counting on my community to help me create public pressure to force the majority party to have this conversation whether they want to or not. Stay tuned.” Sampson included a link to a CTnewsjunkie.com article about Winfield, co-chair of the legislature’s judiciary committee, and his intention to make no changes in last year’s legislation.

The Tubby comment was caught by Mel Medina of the Connecticut office of the ACLU and an advocate of defunding the police and closing prisons, according to his Twitter profile.

Legislators should pay close attention to the comments their posts attract and react without delay when menacing, incendiary ones appear in their feeds. The Capitol Police should provide a protocol for legislators to report threatening comments, and legislators must recognize this is no ordinary time as they communicate with their constituents.

The statement I wrote and read on the January 10th edition of Face the State: “Comedian Joan Rivers lived by a wise code: Walk through any open door. Say yes to opportunity. I was delighted to follow that advice when I accepted WFSB’s invitation to co-host Face the State last fall. Duby and I arrived as a team and leave as one. I’ll do what I usually do: Write a column for the Sunday edition of The Hartford Courant and report news on my website, Daily Ructions. I’ll continue to say yes to opportunities—and I hope you will too.”

You learn to apply concealer and embrace the teleprompter, and what does it get you? Fired from Connecticut’s venerable public affairs program, Face the State. That’s show business, innit? The unhappy details are here.

I hope you enjoyed the 13 programs the talented staff at WFSB, Duby McDowell and I created. We are grateful to our guests, who offered their knowledge and insights with viewers in these perilous times. Producer Tracy Furey shared our enthusiasm for finding a diverse array of guests. She was a peerless guide into a new role and leads a crew of professionals who offer and welcome ideas.

Thank you for the kind, encouraging and amusing messages friends and readers have sent since Tuesday’s unilateral decision became known Friday.

Daily Ructions readers are accustomed to video garnishes, often with music, that enhance written content. Judy Garland’s variety show lasted one season but has endured for more than 50 years as 26 episodes of excellence. The custom of the time was to close a series show with the same brief number each week. This post required a closer and the video above is cued to one that gives a jolly winks to the camera.

Let’s get back to the news.

Eversource Executive Vice President and General Counsel Greg Butler used his Facebook account to blame “the left and the media” for Donald Trump’s incitement of an insurrection against the nation’s democratic government. The stunning accusation of the Republican fundraiser and spouse of former Republican legislator Themis Klarides, came in response to a comment posted on Butler’s busy Facebook page.

Butler’s initial post blamed Trump and the rioters, declaring “everyone who has stormed the capital are criminals and should be treated as such….” He added, “This IS the president’s fault…..” Butler retreated in the face of disagreement from David Allen Ridenour, of National Center of Public Policy Research. Ridenour commented, “…though the president deserves some blame–we cannot forget that this was a year in which the left encouraged lawlessness.”

Butler matched that dose of whataboutism by blaming “the left and the media” for creating an atmosphere that caused Wednesday’s attempt to overthrow the government. The astounding comment is posted above. He did not elaborate.

Klarides is expected to make a bid for the 2022 Republican nomination for governor of Connecticut. Butler served on the gubernatorial transition teams of Democrats Dannel P. Malloy and Ned Lamont.

Mayor Luke Bronin has chosen an Indiana ally of Secretary of Transportation-designate Pete Buttigieg to serve as Hartford’s Chief Financial Officer/Director of the Office of Management, Budget, and Grants. Bronin has requested the city council confirm Jennifer Hockenhull the appointment at its January 11th meeting.

Hockenhull served in Buttigieg’s South Bend, Indiana, administration for four years as Deputy City Controller and City Controller. A certified public account, Hockenhull has recently been working in the private sector. She moved from South Bend to Washington State, where her family lives.

Bronin, who has known the former South Bend mayor since 2005, was a Buttigieg surrogate during last year’s Democratic presidential primary campaign. Bronin is said to have hopes of finding a berth in the Biden administration. Buttigieg is a Biden favorite and will have some influence helming the massive transportation department.

Andy Slavitt, informal advisor to Governor Ned Lamont, will be launching his United States of Care advocacy group into Connecticut’s health care debate. Slavitt’s organization is seeking a lobbyist to represent it in Connecticut.

“United States of Care is a member of the coalition in Connecticut seeking to pass a public option during the upcoming session.  We are seeking a lobbyist to represent us and work as part of the broader lobbying team. If this is a role you might be interested in, my colleague and I would welcome the opportunity to connect by phone to discuss further,” according to a November 30th email from Joanna Dornfeld, Senior Director of External Affairs and Partnerships. For senior care, people can check out assisted living in West Linn over here!

Slavitt was in frequent contact with Ann Huntress Lamont, Ned Lamont’s wife and chief policy advisor, during the governor’s 2019 attempt to create a state-sponsored health insurance policy. In addition to offering advice, Slavitt wrote an opinion piece supporting a government health insurance policy that appeared in the CTMirror.org.

A former Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Slavitt is the founder and board chair of United States of Care. Slavitt received no direct compensation from United States of Care. The organization, according to its 2018 tax return, paid Slavitt Group, Inc., $60,443 in rent. Also in 2018, the organization’s first full year of operation, United States of Care received $5,000,000 in contributions.

Grievance-ladened Donald Trump turned his holiday bile hose on Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham Saturday morning. Durham also serves as special counsel to investigate the origins of the probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign and its many contacts with Russian assets. The saga, readers may recall, included a cover story about a foray into the plight of Russian orphans.

The aggrieved president unleashed his fury on Durham for not meeting the former Trump University chancellor’s expectation for an October surprise with some indictments to upend the presidential campaign. Now the defeated Republican will settle for something that would allow him to carry on his long geschrei through the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20th.

We will know Trump’s anger with Durham extends beyond a stream of tweets if he gives a pardon to John Rowland, the twice-convicted former governor of Connecticut. Durham led the team of federal investigators and prosecutors that revealed Rowland’s corruption. Rowland resigned from office in 2004 and took a plea deal several months later. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Rowland was incarcerated a second time after a federal jury convicted him in a 2014 trial on a 2012 federal campaign finance scheme.

Durham’s 2003-2004 team included former federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy. She was working with Durham on the 2016 investigation until she resigned last summer after growing uneasy with the political pressure being applied the probe, according to The Hartford Courant.

UPDATE: A reader points out that Joe Ganim once enjoyed a cordial relationship with Trump. Ganim, now doing a second tour as mayor of Bridgeport after a long prison sentence for corruption at the start of the century, could also use a pardon. Trump and Ganim were allies in the frenetic casino expansion competition of the 1990s. The two enjoyed a reunion during the 2016 Republican primary campaign.

Connecticut Public Radio announced Monday a change in its Wednesday morning schedule. The Wheelhouse, Connecticut Public Radio’s midweek news roundtable, has reached an end. Wheelhouse host Lucy Nalpathanchil will continue to own the hour with an addition to her Where We Live franchise with that puts “Connecticut in Context.”

Nalpathanchil will, according to a statement released Monday afternoon, “connect policymakers, journalists and other experts with Where We Live listeners.” The veteran broadcaster, who serves as both host and executive producer of the program, will get plenty of practice separating policymakers from their talking points.

The new program begins January 13th at 9 a.m.

Sir Les Patterson, Australia’s unforgettable cultural attache to the Court of St. James, joined British chat show host Michael Parkinson and his guests for a Christmas show.

Barry Humphries is a genius and still at it.

The headline tells the tale. State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) and a coalition of southeastern Connecticut legislators will pursue the interests of the state’s tribal casinos over the general public interest in broadening Connecticut residents’ gaming choices.

In a statement Monday, Osten and her regional colleagues will once more pursue giving the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot Native American tribes exclusive domain over new games in Connecticut, including sports betting and online gaming. “The gaming and entertainment markets are constantly evolving with new attractions and ways to play, and our state should adapt to that dynamic marketplace with an open mind and leverage the incredible assets we already have in place in Southeastern Connecticut,” Rep. Mike France, a Republican, added to the statement. 

The legislators, however, do not want much innovation. A dynamic marketplace would include competition. If gaming is to be expanded the best way would be to open that marketplace to insure maximum innovation and competition. In addition, Governor Ned Lamont would be prudent to apply some stringent financial standards to those who enter the gaming marketplace.