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Hybrid Insurance Group, subject of a frantic search for a missing $670,000 in Hartford insurance premiums, is under investigation by the state’s insurance department for four alleged violations involving premiums.

According to information provided by the insurance department:

July 11, 2013– Complaint filed by ARC Excess & Surplus lines regarding an outstanding balance of $250,000 owed to the company. The balance was eventually paid by CID examiners determined that Hybrid’s response was not sufficient. Complaint was referred to CID for further investigation.

September 19, 2013– Complaint filed by Hartford Public Schools alleging premium payment of $670,000 was not made to two excess liability insurers-National Casualty Company and Starr Indemnity & Liability Company. complaint referred to CID fraud unit for further investigation.

September 25, 2013– Complaint filed by KK Insurance Agency, Long Branch, NJ alleging breach of contract over 5 premium payments totaling approximately $21,000. Complaint referred to CID fraud unit for further investigation.

October 1, 2013– Complaint field by Distinct Advantage Premium Finance, Inc. alleging failure to return $2,859.57 n unearned premium. Complaint referred to CID fraud unit for further investigation.

Thursday will see candidates and explorers releasing their early fundraising figures. State Senate Minority Leader john McKinney (R-Fairfield) jumped into the race for governor during the summer and has had some early success in the truncated period. He’ll report around $38,000 in contributions capped at $100 each through September 30th, Daily Ructions has learned. That’s not all. McKinney’s campaign is expected to announce that in the first nine days of October, the eight term legislator raised close to $50,000 in qualifying funds. That puts McKinney at nearly $90,000, more than a third of the way to the millions in public funds the state program provides to each gubernatorial candidate who rings the $250,000 bell.

The strong fundraising start will silence doubters who question McKinney’s commitment to making an energetic effort for the prized Republican nomination for governor to face disappointing Democrat Dannel P. Malloy.

Republicans Toni Boucher, Mark Boughton, and Tom Foley, exploring candidacies for governor, will also report fundraising figures. They are operating under the higher $375 contribution limit allowed under the rules for candidates exploring a race.

Former state Republican Party chairman Christopher Healy will not seek to return to the job he left two years ago. Healy made the announcement on Twitter Sunday evening. He will, he said, find other ways to serve.

Appellate Court Judge Carmen Espinosa has snagged an appointment to the state’s highest court, Daily Ructions can report. The former federal prosecutor shared the news late this morning with friends and others by email. Formal announcement with Governor Dannel P. Malloy comes at 2 p.m.

Brandon McGee has scored an astounding victory in the rerun of the Fifth Assembly District Democratic primary. The Hartford Democrat defeated Windsor Democratic Town Committee leader Leo Canty 1094-942, according to unofficial returns.

This may make the other candidates uneasy. He still packs a punch with Democrats–even if he did want to extend the Bush tax cuts.

It’s a morning of political news with Mitt Romney’s announcement that he’s picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. News coverage includes heavy doses of political ads in the run up to Tuesday’s primaries. Lisa Wilson-Foley, seeking the Republican nomination in the 5th Congressional District, is running two ads that starkly contradict each other.

One criticizes her opponents for attacking her at the expense of big issues. The other has Wilson-Foley rebuking rising rival Mark Greenberg for mechanics liens placed on some of his real estate ventures. The ads suggest Wilson-Foley eschews consistency at its most basic.

Wilson-Foley’s flailing confirms what activists in the 5th have been feeling: Greenberg is on the move with Republican primary voters. Expect a close finish among the top three candidates, Greenberg, Andrew Roraback and Wilson-Foley.

It could be a weekend of escalating charges and responses.

Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan is using a quote from Democratic U.S Senate candidate U.S. Representative Christopher Murphy to steady his flagging campaign a week before the 5th District primary. In a piece that hit mailboxes today, Donovan ballyhoos a July comment by Murphy expressing his trust in Donovan even after the Meriden Democrat’s campaign was rocked by allegations of illegal campaign finances practices. Eight people have been arrested in the federal probe of Donovan’s campaign.

A helpful reader tells Daily Ructions that the Donovan brochure has not gone down well with the Murphy people. Outsider Linda McMahon will be delighted to see a reminder of the Murphy endorsement of Donovan when the Republican’s rival should have been working on his jobs plan.

Courant editors also won’t be pleased to see their regrettable headline misleading voters again because it wasn’t an independent report. The paper later ran a correction, which is not noted in the Donovan mailer.

Linda McMahon is holding former Representative Christopher Shays to a dismal 30% of the delegate votes with only the 3rd CD left to cast its votes.

McMahon was competitive with Shays in the 4th CD, where the former congressman is best known.

Shays’ poor showing among the party faithful will make fundraising tougher in a primary contest against McMahon.

State Senator Andrew Roraback has scored a third ballot victory over Lisa Wilson-Foley and Justin Bernier in the hotly contested 5th CD nomination race. On the third ballot, Roraback won 157 votes, Wilson-Foley 114, and Bernier 29.

The result is a bitter blow to the prestige of Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who made a public declaration of support for Wilson-Foley and nominated her.

The state convention begins this evening at the Connecticut Convention Center.