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The Hartford YWCA is marking Martin Luther King Jr, Day with an appeal for emergency shelter essentials. The YWCA runs operates Soromundi Commons, a regional housing initiative assisting the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless. Winter in Connecticut can be an especially demanding time for shelters.

The program is looking for toiletries including toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, lotion, makeup and feminine products. They also need. twin bedding, towels, pillows. kitchenware and socks.

You can drop off donations at the YWCA lobby at 135 Broad Street in Hartford between 7:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Parking is free and adjacent to the building.

Hartford Democrats can expect a ferocious primary for mayor this summer. In addition to former mayor and gang member Eddie Perez, state Representative Brandon McGee is edging close an announcement of his candidacy, Daily Ructions can report. Popular state Senator Douglas McCrory has also been mentioned as a potent challenger to incumbent Luke Bronin.

City Council President Glendowlyn Thames may also give the race a look at the urging of supporters. She would be Hartford’s third female mayor, following in the footsteps of Ann Uccello and Carrie Saxon Parry. Craig Stallings, leader of Hartford’s school board, is also mounting a challenge, according to his Facebook posts.

It’s not unusual for a local official who has failed in a bid for higher office to attract challengers in his run for re-election at home. Bronin was a nonstarter when he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor last year. His fundraising stalled and he never attracted much support from delegates. Hartford Democrats possess a sensitive nose for other people’s weakness and Bronin has been emitting a lot of vulnerable pheromones since he exited the race for governor.

George Jepsen drove a Ford Escape. His successor as attorney general, William Tong, requested the taxpayers furnish him with a Chevrolet Tahoe. That’s the supersized SUV that burns prodigious amounts of fossil fuel. Not very green of the privileged prep school graduate. The Stamford Democrat’s first press release after assuming the job Wednesday was on emissions. Climate change for thee, but not for me.

State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who also was sworn into office on Wednesday, has been seen driving a more appropriate Ford Explorer as he undertakes his duties.

The vehicles, it should be recalled, are for official activities, not personal use. Also, constitutional officers do not need a state employee to ferry them from home to the office and back.

The larger and ominous reveal from Tong’s astonishing choice is not the Tahoe, which is bad enough. It’s that he is not sensible enough to have someone close to him that can speak with candor and warn him of a bad choice. Time to worry.

State Senator Timothy Larson (D-East Hartford) did not want that new term in the legislature he sought and won in November. Governor-elect Ned Lamont will create a new post for economic development in the Department of Higher Education for Larson, whose brother, popular U.S. Representative John Larson, was a prominent Lamont supporter last year. The appointment will mean Timothy Larson will not take the oath of office on Wednesday.

Timothy Larson, who made a secret bid to head the state’s lottery while serving as co-chair of the committee that oversees it, had hoped to win a top spot in the state’s insurance department. Industry leaders nixed that ill-conceived ambition.

Education, economic development, and the life of the mind are not pursuits associated with the vengeful Larson.

Tired of the commute between home in East Hartford and his office at Tweed New Haven airport, Democratic state Senator Timothy Larson is on the hunt for a spot in the incoming Lamont administration. Daily Ructions understands the vengeful legislator is under consideration for a spot in the insurance department. There is some opposition to the move.

Larson’s bullying during the legislature’s consideration of an East Windsor slot shack caused considerable comment in the Capitol Village. That escalated to alarm a secret Larson bid to become head of the state lottery while co-chairing the committee that oversees it was made public by The Courant’s Jon Lender.

Insurance industry officials, which the Lamont administration will have to work to keep in Connecticut, may be looking for more sophisticated leadership for the top jobs in the department.

Larson was re-elected to the Senate in November but would prefer a pension boosting political appointment over honoring his pledge to serve constituents.

Members of the nation’s highest court will meet in conference Friday, January 4th, to decide whether they will hear an appeal filed by the State of Connecticut in the Michael Skakel murder case. The appeal arises out of the issue of an act of ineffective representation of a defendant by his lawyer.

There are inconsistent standards in the nation’s appellate jurisdictions on whether a court should judge ineffectiveness of representation by a single act or overall representation. Eleven states joined Connecticut in its appeal of a Connecticut Supreme Court decision overturning Michael Skakel’s conviction for murdering Martha Moxley in Greenwich in 1975 based on a single act of ineffective counsel.

How can they miss you if you refuse to say goodbye? Nodder-in-chief Nancy Wyman, lieutenant governor and former comptroller, wants to become chair of the Democratic State Central Committee. The Tolland Democrat appears to have the support of Governor-elect Ned Lamont. The move would punish the success incumbent chair Nick Baletto brought to the party in this year’s election by ousting him and reward the many failures of the Malloy administration by making one of its most prominent refugees the face of the party organization.

Colleen Flanagan will return to state government as a senior advisor to Governor-elect Ned Lamont. Flanagan left the Board of Regents in 2012 when she was ensnared in a pay raise controversy. Before joining the Board of Regents, Flanagan was among the few cheerful people working in Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s office.

That didn’t take long. Robert Clark was nominated to the Superior Court in April and confirmed by the legislature not long after that. The Durham resident will resign from the bench to serve as Governor-elect Ned Lamont’s legal counsel. Clark was a highly-regarded counsel to outgoing Attorney General George Jepsen, who serves as co-chair of Lamont’s transition team.

Clark earned a reputation as the AG’s office as a lawyer who could translate complex issues into manageable explanations for other government officials. Clark was state government’s expert on the intricacies of the tribal gaming issues, which will come in handy in the legislative session that begins on January 9th.

Dan Drew concludes a difficult run by announcing he will not seek a fourth term as mayor of bustling Middletown. If all had gone according to plan, Drew would have been devoting the end of the year to preparing for his new administration as governor. Drew was the first Democrat into the 2016 race for the state’s top office. He was ready to challenge unpopular Democratic incumbent Dannel P. Malloy. Malloy, however, abandoned the doomed notion of a third term during Holy Week in 2017. That opened the field to many other Democratic contenders.

Drew became embroiled in a series of campaign finance snafus–first reported on Daily Ructions–that made fundraising more difficult. He erred in hiring campaign consultant Geoff Luxenburg as his chief of staff in Middletown. Lines became blurred and resentments built in the hothouse that is Middletown’s city hall.

In January, an insurgent slate of candidates for the Middletown Democratic Town Committee delivered a humiliating defeat to Drew’s incumbent slate by a 118-41 margin. The silent coup was so successful that Susan Bysiewicz tried to associate herself with it after it ended in victory.

Since then, it has been difficult to see a way forward for Drew in the tumultuous Middletown political culture.