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Dear Ructions,

I’m in a fix. There are some intense local primaries in Connecticut in two weeks. I live in one of the cities in which the mayor faces a serious challenge. I’m involved in politics and dread these fights at home. I’ve tried to keep my head down but there’s no safe zone in a town with intense politics. Grudges here have a half-life longer than what’s buried in Chernobyl’s Unit 4. 

The incumbent has not been very good. The challenger is running an energetic race. On the merits alone, the challenger ought to win. Merits, however, are never the only factor. I’m more interested in improving the bigger world than I am in making sure traffic lights are synchronized, but local fights can end the most glittering careers in formation. These grudges don’t fade. 

How can I maneuver through these treacherous weeks?

Jammed and jelly

Dear Jammed,

Why so timid? You’re in New Haven and think you can be a bystander in an epic battle. Have a look at Jimmy Stewart in the 1965 movie Shenandoah for a look at the fate of the righteous bystander. However will you survive the early going in the crowded 2020 presidential campaign?

Here’s a good first question to ask a candidate: Do you live here? After that, if you need to proceed to the next question, move on to assessing achievements, ability, philosophy, character, and the inner circle. Your ambivalence suggests you have not had a look at that spreadsheet of charges on a city credit card that’s been making the rounds. You could talk to your trusted friends, if you have any, and decide to divide yourselves equally between the competitors with an eye to protecting each other from reprisals when it’s over. 

If you are determined to hide, do it in a visible spot. See if you can work as an official in a polling place on primary day. Check in voters, hand out ballots or stand near the exit giving out “I Voted” stickers. Guard your future by staying well clear of absentee ballots. 

You could also organize a fundraiser with a local non-profit. set up outside a polling place and sell (or give away if you can find a generous benefactor) those reusable bags with the organization’s logo on each side. Those bags, when we remember to put them in the car, are saving the planet. We are continue in the intense purchasing phase of bags as we adopt another way to improve our world in daily life. Isn’t that why you’ve chosen a life in the stew of public service and politics?

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.

The Day published a disturbing account of an extraordinary intervention by Governor Ned Lamont’s office to use the State Police to intimidate a critic. You can read it here.

The story involves New London activist Kevin Blacker, a persistent and vocal student of the problems at the Connecticut Port Authority. He sent an email last Saturday commenting on the growing scandal and a legislative hearing on the port authority scheduled for Tuesday. Blacker referred to Lamont as a “wimp,” which for many would be considered almost polite in this caustic age. The email caused Lamont aide Paul Mounds to comment the State Police.

Here’s The’s Day’s David Collins’ account of what followed:

Flash forward to Tuesday morning when Blacker, waiting patiently on a bench in the marble lobby of the Legislative Office Building before the start of the hearing, was approached by two Connecticut State Police officers in plainclothes. They flashed their badges and led him to a nearby closed room.

They were joined by a uniformed officer, who stood at the door while the two detectives sat across a table from Blacker and questioned him about his email. They said they were investigating a complaint of a threatening email.

At this point in the story, you are probably thinking, this is America? Actually, it turns out, this is indeed Gov. Lamont’s Connecticut.

By the time I caught up with Blacker during a recess in Tuesday’s hearing, he told me about, well, I guess you’d call it an interrogation. He still looked a little unsettled and worried out loud about whether he should call a lawyer.

The officers said they wanted him to wait for a cruiser to come and escort them to their troop headquarters and sign a statement, he said, missing the hearing.

The police officers wanted to know why he sent the email to so many recipients, Blacker told me. They asked if he does that a lot. They wanted to know if he knew that the public would not be allowed to speak at the hearing, and they warned him about not disrupting the proceedings, he added.

Blacker has attended dozens of hearings related to the port authority, usually contributing a few minutes of comment when allowed, and is always polite and restrained.

Lamont is concluding a vacation at his family compound in Maine, 12 miles offshore from the American mainland. The Greenwich millionaire ought to take charge of this abuse of power at the second tier of his office organization. There was a time when Ned Lamont would have been angry and vocal about the use of state authority to intimidate a critic of the government. We’ll soon know if that instinct is just a memory.

This is what the restaurant business calls a soft opening.

Woodstock gets all the attention for notable musical events 50 years ago this summer. The most remarkable achievement may have been “Is That All There Is?” Miss Peggy Lee’s masterful interpretation of the singular Lieber and Stoller collaboration put it on the charts and snagged her a Grammy.

“Is That All There Is” remains the rare hit popular song that alternates speaking with singing. Lyricist Mike Lieber found inspiration in “Disillusionment,” a Thomas Mann short story. It took 20 takes and a fair amount of cognac to find perfection. Then record label executives worried about Lee’s fading appeal refused to release the masterpiece. She introduced it on Joey Bishop’s faltering ABC late-night talk show and forced its released with a paltry initial pressing of 1,500 copies.

The ethereal Lee, long a favorite of disc jockeys, rescued her future as the song climbed the charts into the fall.

Scott Bates will resign form his position as a member of the board of the Connecticut Port Authority, Daily Ructions can report. The Stonington Democrat, who considered a 2018 bid for governor, is the latest casualty in a spending scandal at the quasi-public agency.

Bates approved the authority’s approved the 2017 purchase of photographs from board member Bonnie Reemsnyder’s daughter. The $3,000 purchase was first reported by David Collins of The Day newspaper of New London. Reemsnyder has also resigned.

Bates, who also serves as deputy secretary of the state, was appointed to the port authority by state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk).

Mayoral hopeful Eddie Perez and his slate of Democratic candidates for other Hartford offices performed an impressive feat by collecting more than 6,000 signatures for primary petitions. The Perez campaign has little money, so it must rely on volunteers. Organizing and deploying volunteers to collect more than twice as many signatures as required suggests that Perez and his allies have built a campaign-ready team. One that will be prepared for the onslaught of money from Greenwich scion incumbent Luke Bronin.

If Perez can persuade 90% of those petition signers to vote for him in the September 10th primary, he will likely be the winner. Bronin’s troubles will multiply if there are 2,143 valid signatures among the 3,000 submitted by state Representative Brandon McGee.

The strong showing with signatures may cause bet hedgers to start contributing to Perez, even if it means enduring the wrath of the rapacious Bronins. There are ambitious Democrats who would like to see Bronin eliminated from contention for higher office in 2022. Do not be surprised if some of those Democratic hopefuls give discreet nods to supporters that it is ok to throw a few dollars to Perez.

Their detractors will have trouble picking a side. Former partners in The Vinci Group, LLC, Democratic campaign consultants, are embroiled in litigation. State Representative Geoffrey Luxemburg (D-Manchester) claims in a six-count complaint that one-time business partner Michael Farina has failed to pay him as much as $150,000 plus 15% of other profits pursuant to the terms of their 2017 separation agreement.

Luxenburg left the business in 2017 to go to work for former political consulting client and Middletown mayor, Dan Drew. Luxwnburg lasted only three months as Drew’s chief of staff, coming to grief over the mixture of official duties and political acts. Drew was candidate for governor in 2017.

Luxenberg reclaimed a seat in the legislature in 2018 when his former wife, popular Democrat Kelly Juleson-Scopino, decided not to seek a third term from the district Luxenberg had previously represented. Luxenberg’s suit claims Farina dissolved Vinci and carried on its political and marketing work under a new entity, breaching, among other things, their agreement and an implied obligation to deal fairly with Luxenberg.

The matter has been fast-tracked for a December trial in Superior Court after Luxenberg withdrew his attempt to have the court place liens on three properties the warring business partners had owned together.

The controversy over legislation regulating Tweed-New Haven Airport continues. In a letter to Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, the first-term attorney general declines to recuse himself from handling the matter despite his close ties to beleaguered New Haven Mayor Toni Harp. Fasano and Senate President Martin Looney have urged Tong’s office to appeal a 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down a statute limiting the length of a runway at the airport.

Tong’s August 1st letter to Fasano suggests he is willing to mediate the dispute. A mediator usually has not taken a side in a controversy, which Tong appears to have done.

It’s fluid. There is an opening for a federal district court judge in Connecticut and one for the 2nd Circuit for a traditionally Connecticut seat. One name that has been mentioned for both is Bill Nardini, a highly regarded lawyer in the U.S. attorney’s office. He has deep roots in the state and a sterling reputation as a lawyer.

Nardini wrote about his life as a lawyer in a career guide for Yale students. His contribution is posted above and reveals why he is respected by a broad spectrum of lawyers.

Those must have been four fascinating years in Italy.

A May 14th Daily Ructions post on the suspension of State Police Lieutenant Arthur Goodale has prompted a formal internal affairs investigation. On Friday, I received an email, posted above, requesting that I reveal a source. I rejected that request without delay.

I do not reveal the identity of sources and that will not change.