Category — Uncategorized

Months of persuading, cajoling and maneuvering by Republican candidates and their supporters reaches its traditional crescendo as delegates gather at a casino to place their bets on a winning ticket. The odds for Connecticut Republicans on victory–even after eight years of Democrat Dannel P. Malloy–remain formidable.

The iron law of numbers in the marquee race for governor will see some candidates eliminated on the first ballot if the rules adopted at the convention require 8% for a candidate to proceed to the second ballot. Mark Boughton, a familiar figure to delegates, seems to have been gathering sufficient momentum to win the party endorsement as the herd thins. A political convention in Connecticut does require some caveats. Delegates may have promised their vote to more than one candidate, but only get to cast one vote on each ballot. It can lead to some uncomfortable moments in and out of the convention hall. Also, stampedes to and away from candidates do happen.

If the roll call for lieutenant governor is held before the one for governor, some candidates who know they will not win the 15% required for a spot on the August primary ballot may want to consider their positions.

Logistics may be a challenge. A casino offers many diversions from the business of a political convention, which can become tedious for socially-inclined delegates. Delegates must be in their seats, not at gambling tables or slot machines, when their vote is cast by the chair of the delegations. Mischievous opponents may object to the casting of votes from delegates not in the convention hall.

This year, towns in the Second Congressional District are called first in each roll call.

Self-funders Bob Stefanowski and David Stemerman will collect signatures from registered Republicans to add their names and cash stashes to the primary competition.

Congressional district nominating conventions are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

Take a moment to salute East Lyme Democratic convention delegate Ed Morris. The nonagenarian is taking no guff from gubernatorial hopeful Sean Connolly. Morris is a veteran of WWII–Pacific theater–and spent much his career in the newspaper business.

Morris received an email with a subject line “Don’t be bullied and don’t settle.” Connolly claims, “The media and the establishment choose the candidates they want to see in office, and they expect you to fall in line.” The former Beefsteak Charlie busboy tells recipients, “You don’t have to settle for a candidate you don’t actually believe in.” (Connolly also wants delegates to know he is not a self-funding billionaire or career politician.)

Here is battle veteran Ed Morris’s marvelous reply:

“Sean:

“No one is bullying me for anything. I have been involved in local politics for over 65 years and have served as a town chairman and a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for more years than you have been born. I also resent your reference to the media as I was also a newspaper man having worked at The Hartford Times, Hartford Courant and the Manchester Journal Inquirer all my aunt working life and newspapers are in business to give people the news not to bully them into how they should vote. You sound like Donald Trump who would stop all media if he could get away with that dictator mentality.

“Ed Morris

“East Lyme”

Everything but “Bye Felicia.”

State Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) is a serious contestant in the sweepstakes for lieutenant governor. Winfield is expected to meet with Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Ned Lamont as soon as today to discuss joining his ticket. Navy veteran Winfield has proved a durable figure in the complicated world of New Haven Democratic politics.

Winfield succeeded Toni Harp in the state Senate when she was elected mayor of New Haven. Harp was an early prominent Lamont supporter.

New Haven often delivers more votes to Democratic candidates than any other municipality in the state.

The Time’s Up Act is having trouble in the House of Representatives in the final hours of this year’s legislative session. The revision of the state’s sexual harassment laws had seemed to be on a fast track to passage. Every bill is in danger of being derailed by a talkathon on the last day of the session. That may be happening today as some detractors of one of the bill’s sponsors, state Senator Mae Flexer (D-Danielson), halt the legislation’s steady progress to passage. Passage by the House would send the bill to Governor Dannel P. Malloy for his signature.

The next 7 1/2 hours will feature much maneuvering, cajoling, and bargaining.

Gubernatorial hopeful Susan Bysiewicz has complained in this contest, her eighth campaign for statewide office, that Democratic rival Ned Lamont is spending his own money on his campaign. Bysiewicz’s mewling may be rooted in her knowledge of how effective hefty infusions of a candidate’s cash can be. In 1998, the Middletown Democrat put $88,000 of her own money into her campaign for secretary of the state against party endorsed opponent Ellen Scalletar as they neared their September primary showdown. Veterans recall the competition as among them most contentious in modern Connecticut primary politics.

Twenty years ago, before taxpayers began picking up the tab, $88,000 was a lot of money in a low-turnout underticket primary race.

Did they or didn’t they? The Redding RTC did a curious thing Monday. Its members went into an executive session to vote on candidate endorsements. The results are being kept secret.

Redding, readers may recall, is the hometown of attorney general hopeful John Shaban. It would be a logical place for the former state representative to have snagged and celebrated an early, unanimous endorsement from those who know him best. Shaban has been in the contest since late 2017.

Daily Ructions has not been able to confirm the result of last night’s vote but understands it was tight contest between Shaban and rival Susan Hatfield, a Pomfret Republican.

Update: The committee, Daily Ructions has learned, voted 9-9 on the AG race. The town’s four delegates, including Shaban, will go to him. The damage beyond Redding to the 2016 congressional candidate may be difficult to calculate.

You’d think a Lieberman loyalist and former top aide to Eddie Perez would have a thicker skin. Democrat Matthew Hennessy is in a twist over criticism of his Tremont poll released Monday) by my Courant colleague Colin McEnroe. Hennessy texted CTCapitolReport.com  founder and operator Tom Dudchik his opinion of McEnroe’s Facebook post, which you can read here.

The bullying Hennessy text is posted above. What a lot of hooey in the Constitution State.

Watch for a stunner as the Bridgeport casino starts to light up the state Senate in its waning hours. MGM and its allies are on the verge of snagging that prisoner of conscience, state Senator Paul Doyle (D-Wethersfield).

Doyle is a candidate for the Democratic nominations for attorney general. Nearly 100 delegates from Bridgeport would guarantee Doyle, who cast a critical vote against the Democratic state budget last year, a spot on the August primary ballot.

Groceries? No, delegates are driving the casino battle tonight.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut will at last release its decision in the Michael Skakel murder case. Skakel, who has suffered a long series of legal setbacks, has been free during an prolonged delay in a motion to reconsider a decision that went against him at the high court. The nephew of Ethel Kennedy has been free while the matter has been pending, pending, and pending some more for more than a year. The delay has been astonishing, leading observers to speculate that Skakel’s determined partisans on and at the court have been manipulating events until they can get the vote they want.

We will know soon.

Spare a thought today for the late Martha Moxley and her devoted family.

State Senator Mae Flexer reminds us that the most curious things happen in the middle of the night at the State Capitol complex. Flexer has been leading the #MeToo movement to confront sexual misbehavior, particularly in government. The Killingly Democrat surprised colleagues and others during an overnight session early Friday morning when she opposed an amendment by state Senator Art Linares (R-Westbrook) that would allow the attorney general to apply to revoke the pension of a state employee who is convicted of first degree sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault that was committed “while such person was a state public official or was on duty in his or her position as a state employee.”

The Linares amendment passed on a bipartisan 30-6 vote, with the opposition coming from Flexer and five other Democrats.