Category — Posts

Details of Brexit can be a muddle for Americans to follow. No one will have trouble understanding this mess of an interview as a Liberal Democrat member of the European Parliament tries to popular interviewer explain to popular and informed interviewer Iain Dale why her party opposes the agreement reached by the United Kingdom and the European Union Thursday.

As Governor Ned Lamont prepares to unveil a renovated transportation plan, this interview provides a reminder that officials need to know their brief.

The Federal Elections Commission wants some answers from Connecticut Democrats. The state Democrats’ campaign filings have been a mess and the FEC noticed. The commission has contacted Connecticut Democrats and expects explanations.

Updates as events require.

State Representative Arthur O’Neill and Ruby O’Neill continue to be at odds with a wide tranche of Southbury Republicans in the aftermath of Ruby O’Neill’s 2018 congressional bid and a battle over the Republican nomination for first selectman this year. The O’Neills were on the losing side of that contest. They appear to have moved their battered tanks to the Southbury Democrats.

Beware the unnamed “concerned citizens.” They are at it again and once more their innocent target is Jane Emons, the former judge of the Superior Court who was denied a vote on her renomination in 2018.

Judge Emons will be speaking on ethics at a Fairfield County Bar Association seminar and her miscreant detractors are unhappy. Judge Emons, readers may recall, was the target of anti-Semitic abuse during her confirmation proceeding. William Tong, then the House co-chair of the legislature’s judiciary committee, abandoned Judge Emons and refused to allow a vote on her renomination, though she had more than the 76 votes needed to win.

Tong, at the time, was taking to his fainting couch as he fretted that attorney general rival Chris Mattei would win delegate votes in Hartford with the support of a local Emons detractor, state Representative Minnie Gonzalez.

The “concerned citizens” in an email speak of shame and Judge Emons. The belongs to William Tong, who gave assistance and a victory to the virus of anti-Semitism.

Dear Ructions,

I’m running for local office for the first time this fall. I’m on a slate with five others, all experienced in politics. At least three of us will win because of Connecticut’s minority representation requirements. I’ve been active in school and sports activities and know a lot of people who aren’t in politics but are eager to help me win. My enthusiastic friends think the best way to help me win is to cast their vote for me alone and not the other five members of the ticket. 

Word of their intentions has reached my slate mates and there is a chill whenever we meet. I’m getting the impression the other five would not mind winning without me. No one wants to campaign with me and my signs are not on many lawns of party supporters.

Is there time to turn this around?

Sign me,

Bullet voted

Dear Bullet,

You are about to discover if you have as many friends as you think you do. However many you have, the others have more. I’ll guess that the wound was inflicted by some admirer unleashing the virus on a community Facebook page. Get your friends together—in the flesh, not online—and tell them they must put some of their enthusiasm into helping the other candidates. Ask some of the savvier ones to volunteer to take other candidates around their neighborhoods. They can attest to your virtues between doors (and let you know how people react to them). 

There is no bond like the one that forms trudging from house to house together. This will thaw the air. Tell your friends to post photos of themselves helping the other candidates. Get enough of them attend party events that your fresh contribution is noticed. It never hurts to raise some late money.

That ought to give you a reputation as a team player. What your friends whisper to each other on how to vote, well, there is not much you can do about that.

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.

Marilyn Moore is not the only Bridgeport Democrat seeking write-in votes in November’s general election. City Councilwoman Karen Johnson failed to win a spot on the Democratic ticket on September 10th’s 138th District primary.

Johnson faced a bruising primary campaign with opponent Maria Pereira, who raised questions about Johnson’s residence. Johnson cannot be encouraged by the response to her fundraising for a write-in campaign. Since launching on September 12th, Johnson’s appeal has raised zero. The rambling, angry narrative that accompanies the request for money by the insomniac may not be helping.

Dear Ructions,

My days and nights are filled with events attended by strangers. Not exactly strangers. People I met while campaigning whose names I never knew or have forgotten. I have run out of ways to feign recognition. Guessing with confidence and getting the name wrong has caused some uncomfortable moments. People notice. How can I do better at recognizIng these people—whose help I will need again?

Sign me,

Blanking

Dear Blank,

Do this in a pinch. If you come across someone whose name you realize you should know but don’t, immediately announce your contacts were scrambled when you transferred them to your iPhone 11 before the first iOS update. Before they say one word, they must AirDrop their contact to you. You’ll then see the name and flatter the well-wisher into thinking you had their contact information all along.

Use that device sparingly. For the long term, take these steps. Start directing your attention away from yourself. You may be the center of your own universe, but no one else’s. Ask for a list of attendees expected to be at each event. When you meet someone, stop looking around to see if someone more useful is nearby. Repeat the person’s name upon hearing it, use it in the conversation and when saying goodbye.  After the event, make a list of the people you have met. 

You can practice this method at sparsely attended events. Get Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz’s schedule and show up at some of her meetings—almost no one goes to them but she needs to justify a full-time driver.

A final bit of counsel. Don’t try to get away with using endearments on women in the 21st century.  Abandon calling unfamiliar men “Buddy”. I offer this from experience. Anyone who calls me “Buddy” does not know me. I am certain I am not alone in this. Need I caution you

About what someone your age sounds like saying “Dude”?

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.

Richard Nixon knew what he’d done. They always know and they always deny it until cornered. Read more here.

Norwalk resident Jonathan Riddle is seeking the Republican nomination in Connecticut’s 4th CD to face Democratic incumbent Jim Himes. Riddle grew up in Westchester County and works in Westport. He works in banking with wealthy customers.

Expect a campaign with many football references.

Perhaps some time on the campaign trail will iron out the early wrinkles. The most prominent photo on Riddle’s campaign website appears to feature the building that houses Purdue Pharma, ground zero for the opioid crisis and an odd choice for a campaign photo. The campaign consultants, Praetorian Strategy Group, ought to have noticed.

Here’s a link to his campaign video.

Dear Ructions:

Connecticut is not the easiest place to find a job. A public agency has been looking for a new executive director. My background is in the area of the agency’s authority. I have plenty of experience but am concerned my lack of political connections dooms my chances. I keep hearing the job is wired for a politician with paltry qualifications other than friends in politics.

A direct challenge to the selection process won’t help me. What can I do to make the case for merit?

Sign me,

Disadvantaged

Dear Dis,

Government by cronies continues to deepen its thirsty roots in Connecticut. Our public higher education system has become the capital of hackery—and the state’s new governor seems not at all interested in whacking away at it. 

This may be one more stitch up, a rigged job. You are not without tools. Persuasion guru Stephen Martin advises that having others introduce your accomplishments enhances your power to move an audience. Deploy your allies to contact the organization’s board members and the people who appointed them to highlight your talents with examples of achievement.

The hack relies on the qualified to retreat in the face of political thumbs on the scale. Make more than your fight alone. Every politician looking for another high-paying public job (Is it ever enough?) has some detractors and rivals. Commence a hunt to identify them. They may discover a new-found taste for fairness and lend a hand. 

During your interview, find a way to demonstrate you know your way around the Freedom of Information Act, which is a skill they ought to appreciate in a job prospect. This will remind the interlocutors that much of the selection process will be subject to public scrutiny. If they have subordinated their public trust to political pressure they will learn that sunshine is a powerful disinfectant. If they have any doubts, they might examine the tatters of the Connecticut Port Authority. 

Execute these steps and you will be ready for takeoff.

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.