Category — Posts

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.

New York lawyer Joseph DeMarco is on a shortlist for a Connecticut vacancy on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. DeMarco practices law in New York and has owned residential real estate in both New York and Greenwich, Connecticut.

DeMarco possesses only gossamer ties to Connecticut’s legal community. He was admitted to practice in the Constitution State in 2017, indicating he had an eye on a court appointment in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 2016 upset victory. The Second Circuit opening was created by the retirement of Judge Christopher Droney, a popular Connecticut native. If DeMarco were to replace Droney, there would be just two of the thirteen judges on the influential court from Connecticut judges, Judge Jose Cabranes and Judge Susan Carney.

DeMarco is a favorite of the conservative Federalist Society, which appears willing to snatch a seat away from Connecticut to insert an ideologically acceptable New Yorker onto the court. DeMarco appears to have no law office in Connecticut.

The Second Circuit is comprised of Connecticut, New York and Vermont.

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) has asked Attorney General Willian Tong to recuse himself from litigation over the proposed expansion of Tweed-New Haven airport. Fasano cites Tong’s close political ties with embattled Mayor Toni Harp as reasons the Stamford Democrat will be unable to make a fair-minded, merit-based assessment of the way forward in litigation over a state statute that limits the length of a Tweed runway

Fasano and Senate Pro Tem President Martin Looney (D-New Haven) have been working together in their opposition to the airport expansion. Looney is not a signatory on the letter.

It’s over. The legislature will not attempt to override Governor Ned Lamont’s veto of a job’s bill that extinguished the rights of some restaurant employees.

The bipartisan bill ran into trouble with a late addition that would have addressed a bifurcated wage schedule for service employees who perform other tasks. That section has not been the subject of a public hearing or meaningful debate during the long session. The controversy is the subject of litigation. Lamont objected to the legislature intervening in the pending matter.

Vote counters determined by the weekend that there were not 2/3 majorities in both chambers to override Lamont’s veto.

One hundred degrees of determination. On the wings of a strong showing at Thursday’s New Haven Democratic nominating convention, mayoral hopeful Justin Elicker’s campaign is collecting signatures for a September 10th challenge against incumbent Mayor Toni Harp.

Harp is seeking a fourth two-year term as her administration is buffeted by a federal criminal investigation. Primary voters and others can expect to hear details of the promiscuous use of a city credit card.