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That $600 million for the University of Connecticut hospital and medical school was not enough. They forgot to renovate the general counsel’s office. Here’s the RFP for the job in Farmington.

UConn uses some highfalutin language on the role of office renovations. “The goods and/or services that UConn Health is seeking to obtain through this ITB will support UConn Health’s missionof helping people achieve and maintain healthy lives and restoring wellness/health to maximum attainable levels.”

Wait, there’s more to remind you that UConn is detached from life in Connecticut as others live it. Here’s a June RFP for outside counsel at the same University of Connecticut Health Center. When UConn hired a general counsel for the health center in ____, university general counsel declared, ““Brian is an important addition to the legal team at UConn.  He represents another example of increased collaboration between UConn Health and the rest of the University,” says Orr. “ By enhancing  our in-house legal capacity we can reduce our dependence on outside law firms and improve service to internal clients at all of our campuses.”

That announcement was way back in December 2016.

Do you think someone could mention to UConn that the medical center continues to be a drain on state finances and that many of its doctors do not have enough patients to fill their days and provide a satisfying professional experience? Renovating the general counsel’s office and hiring outside counsel will not change that.

A record $145,000.00. That’s what Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti will report today in contributions to his second gubernatorial campaign. All funds qualify for the state’s generous public campaign financing scheme, Lauretti told Daily Ructions this afternoon.

The long-serving Republican mayor said he had received contributions from 1,500 donors from the around the state, with donors concentrated in the New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, Hartford, and, of course, Shelton areas.

Lauretti also got off to a fast start in his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, but he had trouble winning commitments from delegates. He did not qualify for the party primary, switched to the contest for lieutenant governor and failed to collect the signatures he needed to win a place on the primary ballot.

Annalisa Stravato has ended her bid for a second term as vice chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. Stravato made the announcement in a lengthy letter released Monday night. 

Here are the essential paragraphs:

“As we move forward into the municipal elections, as well as the tremendously important gubernatorial and statewide elections in 2018, it is absolutely imperative that our state party leadership team work hand in glove with each other. Unfortunately, it has become very clear that the Chairman’s continued neutrality as to who serves as his Vice Chair, is an indication that he would prefer to have someone else serve in the role of Vice Chairman.

 Therefore, even though my re-election is assured, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the Connecticut Republican Party, as we move forward into the most important election cycle in decades, that we have a leadership team in which doubt may exist within the Executive Committee. Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for another term as Vice Chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party.”

Stravato, who became a citizen of the United States six years ago, claims the mantle of the first Connecticut Republican leader to support anti-immigrant Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. She reached her decision to drop her re-election bid last weekend. 

It certainly looks like pay-to-play in Connecticut. Today’s Democratic Governors Association Greenwich conference features two tribes as sponsors. The Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequots require conference host Governor Daniel P. Malloy’s signature on a grimy piece of legislation that expands gaming allowing locals to play real bingo online if they are to move forward with a state licensed casino in East Windsor–where there is no reservation land.

Here’s how that bill will become law. The Mohegan Tribe is a silver sponsor of the DGA event. That required a $10,000 payment to Malloy’s DGA. The Mashantucket Tribal Nation is a general event sponsor. 

PhRMA and Purdue Pharma are gold sponsors. Daily Ructions awaits strong condemnation of the event from State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who is exploring a run for governor and whacking away at pharmaceutical companies.

A statement:

“We appreciate the Senate’s strong, bipartisan vote to help customers and to reject calls to double down on the failed system that has produced the highest electricity rates in the continental United States. We were disappointed that the House chose inaction. Continued inaction harms customers, the state’s ability to meet its climate goals, and the state’s economy. We will continue assessing our investments in Connecticut while advocating for needed action.”
Chet Wade

Vice President, Corporate Communications

Dominion

This may be the beginning of a “they make a desert, and they call it peace” chapter in Connecticut for Democratic leftists and their misbegotten allies.

Frontline state prosecutors want an emergency union meeting to express their dismay at their union leaders’ secret opposition to the reappointment of Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Leonard Boyle. The rank and file were surprised by a Courant story revealing union leaders have written to the Criminal Justice Commission opposing Boyle’s reappointment over his handling of an investigation of several prosecutors and the proliferation of non-dues paying, per diem prosecutors.

Prosecutors know something about getting their hackles up. On Monday the emails and recriminations were filling cyberspace. Angry prosecutors are using union rules to force an emergency meeting of the bargaining unit. Boyle is popular with many of the troops.

Union leaders blundered if they thought they would get a serious hearing of their complaints at the Criminal Justice Commission. The commission is chaired by relentless inside operator and Supreme Court justice Richard Palmer, a longtime Boyle friend. Palmer and Boyle are so close they joined together during the Rell administration to woo favors from chief of staff Lisa Moody at evening social gatherings at local watering holes. Thus judges were made and promoted. Boyle and Palmer have been through the fires together.

Republican Steve Obsitnik raised $108,727 in the first fundraising quarter of 2017. Obsitnik received contributions from more than 900 supporters in his bid for an unnamed statewide office that is expected to be governor.

“I am overwhelmed and very thankful for the support that I received from across Connecticut and excited to announce we exceeded our first quarter goal,” said Obsitnik. “As I cross the state, two things are clear. First, voters are tired of sending the same people to Hartford who continue to make things worse. And second, that my record of creating innovative technologies, driving common sense solutions, and vision for a more competitive Connecticut, is resonating with voters.”

The Westport resident is a decorated Navy veteran who served on a nuclear submarine. He earned an MBA from Wharton.

No word on how much haul Obsitnik’s qualifies toward the $250,000 in small contributions necessary to ring the bell for Connecticut’s generous public financing scheme.

State Comptroller Kevin Lembo uses fellow Democrat state Senator Ted Kennedy, Jr., as a poster boy for bad behavior in campaign financing practices in a document obtained by Daily Ructions. The 39-page “Comptroller Policy Options 2017” appears to be more campaign plan than policy document. Lembo is expected to be a candidate for the 2018 Democratic nomination for governor.

The Lembo document identifies party committee expenditures for candidates as a “problem” and then shines a harsh light on Kennedy’s 2014 campaign for the Senate when he was elected to his first term.

The unidentified author writes:

“The flagship example of how this change defies the spirit of Connecticut’s prior campaign finance reform is Ted Kennedy Jr.’s campaign for State Senate back in 2014. Senator Kennedy participated in the CEP and received $95,000 in public funds. However, the state party then contributed an additional $205,000 to his campaign, following a donation of $40,000 made by Kennedy family members and colleagues to the state party.

A simple fix to this issue would be to undo the very minor wording change made in 2013 and re-establish the limits on contributions from state parties to legislative candidates participating in the CEP.”

Some partisans may wonder where campaign finance falls in Lembo’s responsibilities as comptroller.  Others may ask if this is “an appropriate use of state resources.”

Photos from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities meeting marking 50 years of whining. Municipal leaders may wonder how to explain this to local taxpayers.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Carter will have two spots on the November ballot. Independent Party rival John Price withdrew his disputed claim for the tiny party’s spot Friday afternoon, clearing the way for Carter to preserve the party’s status.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill will have to move with some dispatch to secure the rights of Carter and the Independnt party by making sure each ballot reflects the state of party nominations and provides a full array of choices to voters.