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With state Senator Marilyn Moore’s legal challenge of Bridgeport’s September Democratic mayoral primary result failing on Thursday, other Democrats have deemed it safe to endorse incumbent Joseph Ganim’s re-election. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy joined U.S. Representative Jim Himes in providing a late campaign boost to Ganim. The trio, according to a Ganim tweet, hail the mayor”as a tireless voice in his efforts and leadership on behalf of the Park City.”

Moore, who nearly tipped over Ganim in the September contest, will continue through Tuesday as a long shot write-in candidate.

The endorsement of Ganim, who was convicted of corruption during his first stint as mayor and served a lengthy prison sentence, may dent Blumenthal’s hankering for a reputation for rectitude as proceedings related to the impeachment of Donald Trump continue. Himes is at the center of the House investigation as a high-ranking member of the intelligence committee. Himes’ embrace of Ganim may hand some grist to Trump’s platoon of blind loyalists as the daily combat over the one-time steak salesman’s sellout of American interests continues.

Toni Harp will end her campaign for a fourth term as mayor of New Haven with a march on City Hall. The Saturday event begins at the Elks Club.

Harp suffered a stinging defeat in September when New Haven Democratic primary voters chose Justin Elicker for their party’s mayoral nomination. Elicker appears to have united much of the powerful local Democratic organization behind him. Governor Ned Lamont and other Democratic officials have rallied behind Elicker.

Governor Ned Lamont revealed key elements of his transportation-plan-in-formation to nervous Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi. Talk of tolls and their impact on local roads have made their way into Ridgefield’s local elections.

Major work on I-84 in the Danbury area is on the Department of Transportation’s list of priority projects. That project raises the prospect of tolls in the region under some of the floated, released, and discarded plans that the public have seen in the past few years.

Lamont, according to Marconi, has assured his fellow Democrat that there will be no tolls in the area. This is more information than many legislators have received on the state of the transportation plan, but they are not facing the voters next week. Marconi is a priority because politics always is.

A year ago, the grim practices of the United Kingdom’s payday lenders occupied a central place in Connecticut’s contest for governor. Republican Bob Stefanowski had spent much of the campaign (including his surprise primary win with 30% of the vote in a crowded field) touting his business experience. Scrutiny was not his friend.

Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont’s campaign spent a chunk of their candidate’s fortune shining an unflattering light on payday loan lenders. Stefanowski’s experience running a British loan shark company changed a portion of his campaign narrative. The Stefanowski campaign strained to contain the story with a “you did it too” response, claiming that Lamont had profited from an investment in a payday lender that his wife’s venture capital firm had made.

The legacy of payday lending exploitation in Britain is coming to an end. The nation’s largest player, QuickQuid, is shuttering its windows and terminating its app applications. The company will leave behind thousands of unresolved complaints.

Connecticut may get a few more rounds of loan sharking reminders in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

Dear Ructions,

I’m running for office in my town for the first time. I have been knocking on doors, attending events, raising some money, keeping up with Facebook, and getting spots for signs. What should I be doing in the last week before Election Day?

Sign me,

Eager and green

Dear Eager,

What an exciting time for you. This is the week to tie all together your work of the last few months. If you kept lists of the voters you met, send them a card reminding them you enjoyed your contact and that Tuesday is Election Day. For voters you missed when you knocked on their door, tell them you look forward to seeing them at the polls. Narrow your focus. Concentrate on voters who have voted in previous local elections and people you know but typically skip municipal elections. 

If you have voting age children put one of them in charge of making sure their friends vote. You will note an uptick in interest. People will ask how they can help. Put them on phones and the doorsteps to contact the voters you have identified as supporters. Also have them review voter rolls from 2017. They will find plenty of people they know but didn’t vote in your last local elections. They can be one of the few rich veins of adding to turnout. So can voters who are new to your town, though most Connecticut communities do not have a lot of those.

Assign someone clever to monitor social media to douse outbreaks of its particular ugliness. Do not touch an absentee ballot application. 

UPDATE: A reader write candidates and their campaign volunteers should text family and friends at midday to ask if they have voted and remind them one more time that it’s important and if they have not they still have time.

UPDATE: Another reader would like to remind candidates that the campaign ends on Tuesday at 8 p.m., not Monday not. Keep making the personal ask. “May I, please, have your vote?” Also, don’t drink for the next week. Alcohol weakens the filter and can cause candidates to say stupid things on social media.

If you are impaled on the horns of a dilemma and want to risk receiving advice, send a message to kfr@dailyructions.com. Identities will be protected. Messages may be edited.

Behold the power of mockery. Social media would become a more congenial universe if the targets of abuse responded like this.

Look forward to New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart’s Christmas photo this year.

Certain NBA players and others have suggested they need to educate themselves on China and mankind’s yearning for freedom. Here’s a vivid lesson on the difference between tyranny and liberty from the BBC. Tunnel 29 is a podcast on the risks Germans took to liberate others from the prison that was East Germany.

The series comes in 10 short episodes. You will want to binge. Start here on the BBC site or download it on your podcast app. Tunnel 29 is part of the Intrigue series of compelling storytelling.

Southbury Republican Ruby Corby O’Neill continues her public support for Southbury Democratic first selectman candidate Rich Boritz by adding her name to an ad for him. O’Neill and her husband, state Representative Arthur O’Neill, appeared at a Southbury Democratic event. The battling O’Neills were on the losing side of a local Republican primary for first selectman last month.

O’Neill, whose training is in psychology, so it must have occurred to her that local Republicans will not soon forget the breach among party members that she is making wider. O’Neill lost a 2018 primary bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in the 5th CD. She was defeated by Meriden Republican Manny Santos by a margin of nearly 2-1.

Arthur O’Neill, the longest serving Republican in the House, will face voters next year, should he decide to seek another term. He can expect considerable local party opposition.

Federal campaign finance reports continue to tell the tale of Republican decline in the northeast region of the nation.

Jonathan Riddle, who recently launched his campaign for the Republican nomination in Connecticut’s 4th CD, reports contributions of $100 for the third quarter of the year when Riddle began his campaign, a $7,127.91 loan, $7,485.45 in cash on hand, and $27,770.69 in debts and loans a little over a year before Election Day. The 4th CD is in the nation’s priciest media market, which can makes a competitive campaign expensive.

Robert Hyde, who appears to have switched from running for the U.S. Senate in 2022 to seeking the Republican nomination in the 5th CD, has not reached the $5,000.00 fundraising threshold that would require him to file a full quarterly campaign finance report.

State Senator Derek Slap (D-West Hartford) is leaving his post at the Connecticut Technology Council (CTC) this month. Slap, who also served as a state representative, is a former chief of staff for the Senate Democrats. He also worked for the University of Connecticut Foundation while serving in the legislature.

Slap, who announced his resignation in an October 9th email, “will pursue a new opportunity in the non-profit/social service sector.” No word on if that will be with an organization that receives funding from the State of Connecticut.

Here’s Slap’s message:

Dear board members,

I hope you’re doing well and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. I do want to share some news with you.  I will be leaving the Tech Council later this month to pursue a new opportunity in the non-profit / social service sector.

Change can mean opportunity – and in this case the chance to build on the strategic decisions & collaboration that we embarked on this Spring with CCAT. Discussions with CCAT surrounding CTC’s alliance with them are continuing and I’m sure you will be fully updated at the next board meeting on Nov. 4^th, if not sooner. 

I have greatly enjoyed our work together and am grateful for your partnership. Connecticut is a small state so I’m confident and hopeful that we will have other opportunities to connect.  

Yours,

Derek