Category — Uncategorized

More confirmation that self-regard rules in the Office of the Attorney General. Tahoe-driving, faux environmentalist William Tong sent a message to all office employees late Monday afternoon to let them know that Thursday will be his 100th day in office. This appears not to have been on office calendars nor on the minds of the state’s busy civil lawyers.

To celebrate his epoch, HRH Tong has engaged in the sort of noblesse oblige that they used to learn at fancy private schools. He invites the office masses to don as a tribute to him on Thursday “any tasteful and appropriate clothing in which you are comfortable.”

One measure of how tone-deaf Tong is on employee relations? Even Richard Blumenthal never issued such a decree during his 20 years in the office.

Some good news for Connecticut and Ned Lamont. Indra Nooyi, co-chair of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, is Amazon’s newest board member, according to CNBC. That ought out to provide some serious opportunities for Connecticut officials to get to the right people at one of the world’s most dynamic corporations. Connecticut has already provided Amazon a warm welcome in Windsor and Wallingford. Lamont would like the market innovator to do more here now that it’s been chased out of New York.

Nooyi, former head of PepsiCo, lives in Greenwich.

The Ganim administration is scurrying to find out what’s been going on in city government. An FBI inquiry into scrap metal, as reported by the Connecticut Post, has city officials in a state of anxiety. One high level official is making inquiries to experienced investigators for assistance. The city’s current complement of overseers is thought not to be up to the job. This is beginning to feel like a story with many chapters.

Former state Senator Don Williams, who became president pro tempore of the Connecticut legislature’s upper chamber after former Governor John Rowland resigned in disgrace in 2004, was in a serious motor vehicle collision on Friday, January 11th. Williams did not seek re-election in 2014, after more than 20 years of service.

The Brooklyn Democrat is a patient at UMass Memorial Medical Center. You may send him your good wishes at this address: Don Williams, Room 434, UMass Memorial Medical Center, University Campus, 55 Lake Avenue, Worcester, MA 01655.

State Representative Jeff Currey (D-East Hartford) will stay in the House. The popular Democrat will not seek the state Senate seat incumbent Timothy Larson is abandoning to take a job in the Lamont administration.

Public financing of political campaigns has become an expensive supplement to fundraising from lobbyists and their clients. The explosion of legislators maintaining ongoing political committees comes into full view today and tomorrow as public officials seek to tap a gusher of lobbyist contributions before the Wednesday ban begins with the opening of the legislative session.

The ongoing legislative political committees had been limited to three in each of the four caucuses. While public financing costs continue to grow–though the amount one needs to raise to qualify remains the same–the number of Democrats maintaining ongoing political committees financed by fundraising events fueled by lobbyist contributions has exploded.

It’s an issue that requires further examination.

Former gang member and Joe Lieberman loyalist Eddie Perez will attempt to seize the crown he was charged corrupting his office. The former mayor and shakedown artist is expected to challenge first term mayor Luke Bronin.

Perez will seek to become mayor of the city he is suing for hundreds of thousands in defense fees, though he was convicted of public corruption.

Perez and Bronin are said to have had a tense encounter about the challenge today.

Bronin won a narrow primary victory over incumbent Democrat Pedro Segarra in their 2015 face-off. Bronin struggled in this year’s Democratic nomination contest for governor. The Greenwich native abandoned his bid before the state convention.

The permanent financial wrecking ball that is Ben Barnes refuses to go away. The departing Malloy budget director and tax increase whisperer is headed to the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system as its chief financial officer.

State Senator George Logan, the Republican in the 17th District has taken the lead as ballots continue to be counted in his close race for a second term. Logan had been declared the loser but on Thursday an error in reporting the count was found that put him in the lead.

Updates as they occur.

Self-funder Bob Stefanowski’s cupboard may be bare. The Republican nominee for governor’s wife Amy sent an email to prospective contributors announcing that if the campaign does not raise $10,000 pronto–by Monday night–its current ad will have to come off the air.

This is what doubters during the primary campaign dreaded. Stefanowski would spend a couple of million to win the party nomination but not have the far greater personal resources to underwrite the fall campaign against wealthy Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont. Their fears appear to be coming true a month after the August 14th primary.

Stefanowski needs to be commanding the airwaves but cannot compete with Lamont’s fortune. The Madison Republican has no natural fundraising base in the party–he was a Democrat as recently as 2017–and won the nomination by highlighting his disdain of party regulars, the people who often raise campaign contributions.

There’s always the pawn shop. Stefanowski has plenty of experience with those.