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From 1945. Frank Sinatra was proud of the Special Academy Award this short film won. He kept it in his repertory for decades.

Mahalia Jackson also sang it. And nobody sang like Mahalia Jackson.

Published July 3, 2022.

A Wednesday afternoon switch in the appointment of a replacement to serve the remainder of Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s third term. Moriah Moriarty will not, as reported below, be succeeding Merrill. Daily Ructions regrets the error. Moriarty’s many well-wishers want to reaffirm their expressions of admiration and goodwill in the aftermath of the sudden change of plans.

Governor Ned Lamont will appoint Moriah Moriarty to replace Denise Merrill, who retires Thursday at noon as secretary of the state, Daily Ructions has learned.

Moriarty is one of five elections officer at the secretary of the state’s office. Her mother, Maureen Moriarty, is a veteran East Hartford Democrat and serves as the director of U.S. Representative John Larson’s district office.

Lamont spoke often in 2022 of adding diversity to state government. His appointment of Moriarty continues the state’s tradition of only white people serving in that constitutional office. Both political parties hold primaries for the nomination for secretary of the state on August 9th. State Representative Stephanie Thomas is the Democratic endorsed candidate. Dominick Rapini is the Republican endorsed candidate.

Paul Kezer, who was elected in 1990 and served for one term, is the only Republican to have won the office in nearly 70 years. Merrill was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 and 2018.

An announcement on the appointment may be made Thursday. Lamont is not expected to adopt Republican state chairman Ben Proto’s suggestion of Len Fasano or John McKinney.

Revised and published June 29, 2022.

Senator Richard Blumenthal gets a reminder of this year of our discontents in a WTNH/The Hill/Emerson College poll released Thursday morning. The two-term Democrat, seeking re-election this fall, leads endorsed Republican challenger Themis Klarides by 10 points, according to the survey of 1,000 registered voters.. The Greenwich Democrat leads Fairfield lawyer Peter Lumaj and Republican National Committee member Leora Levy by 16 points each.

Klarides, Lumaj and Levy will meet in an August 9th primary.

Blumenthal has been in a tight spot before. Republican Linda McMahon closed a polling gap to a few points in her 2010 race against Blumenthal to win the seat being vacated by Christopher Dodd. The trio of Republicans hoping to face Blumenthal will want to stay well-clear of suggesting that the minimum wage needs to be reviewed.

Nearly 70% of Americans believe the nation is on the wrong track, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. Blumenthal has been in Connecticut public life for more than 40 years. The 76 year old former state attorney general may be seen as an unlikely source of solutions by a growing number of voters.

The primary campaign provides an opportunity for the Republican competitors to begin unveiling some solutions of their own.

Published May 19, 2022.

This is not how it was to end. State Representative Hilda Santiago started the race for the Democratic nomination for secretary of the state as the early favorite. The popular Meriden Democrat is well-known beyond her district. She had the support of U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy and other party notables.

Santiago fizzled on the campaign trail while her House colleague from Norwalk, Stephanie Thomas, sizzled. At the party’s state convention on May 6th, Santiago was out maneuvered by the surging Thomas and was eliminated at the end of the second ballot.

Few challengers win primaries in Connecticut and there was no sign Santiago was enjoying a post-convention revival. After a week and a half of post-convention consultations and contemplation, Santiago announced late Wednesday that the is over for her. She is sadder but wiser in the ways of state politics among her fellow Democrats.

Published May 18, 2022.

Hartford Democrat Arunan Arulampalam announced Saturday that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for treasurer at May’s state convention. Arulampalam won the support of 42% of the delegates on the second ballot at the 2018 convention that endorsed Shawn Wooden. Arulampalam declined to primary Wooden, who defeated Greenwich Dita Bhargava in that summer’s primary.
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Wooden announced Thursday he will not seek a second term, igniting intense competition for the open seat. A Hartford Democrat has held the office since 1999. Denise Nappier, who defeated felonious Republican incumbent Paul Silvester in 1998, served for five terms.

Arulampalam served in Governor Ned Lamont’s administration as a deputy commission of consumer protection. He became CEO of the Hartford Land Bank in 2021, where he will continue to “feel blessed to be a small part of building [Hartford’s] future.”

Published April 9, 2022.

Daily Ructions readers looking for smart daily summary of events in tyranny’s assault on freedom will want to subscribe to the BBC’s Ukrainecast. You can use this link or download it on the podcast app of your choice.

Ukrainecast helps sort through what we want to believe and what we ought to know as the Ukrainians continue to hold high the torch of freedom in the face of brute force. They are fighting for us.

Published March 4, 2022.

Salt Lake City is a funny ol’ place to launch a campaign for a Connecticut seat in the U.S. Senate but these are not ordinary times.

Levy told supporters this week that she has been overwhelmed by the number of well wishers urging her to consider a bid against Democrat Richard Blumenthal.

The Greenwich Republican is an enthusiastic Trump supporter. Who won the 2020 election may be the trickiest question Republican Senate candidates face. Former House Republican leader Themis Klarides and Fairfield Republican Peter Lumaj have entered the race. The party nominating convention is in May, a primary could follow in September if any challenger to the endorsed candidate qualifies.

Published February 1, 2022.

New Haven Democrat Sarah Locke is the new executive director of the state Democratic party organization. Locke is a co-chair of New Haven’s party committee.

Locke gained important experience in the opera company management aspect of politics. She was Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s 2020 campaign manager. DeLauro faced a wealthy self-financing candidate and did not like it at all. Republican Margaret Streicker’s television ads infuriated DeLauro, who was seeking a 16th term and had not faced a vigorous opponent for decades. DeLauro did not like it. Competition in a democracy is for others. Locke was also an enthusiastic supporter of Democrat Christopher Mattei’s bid for the party’s nomination for attorney general.

Locke appears to have come through the 2020 campaign unscathed. That experience will be helpful preparation for the 2022 campaign. President Joe Biden’s plummeting approval ratings has Democratic candidates even in deep blue Connecticut feeling the vapors coming on. That may be why it took so long to find a new party ED.

There will be many demands on finite party resources. Locke’s job will be to deploy them in the most effective way. She’ll have to say no to candidates more often than she says yes, except for the candidate at the top of the ticket.

For the sake of posterity and entertainment, Locke should keep a journal. It is the only was to remember the rich details of what awaits her.

Published January 21, 2022.

State Senator Kevin Witkos will not seek re-election. The seven-term Canton Republican announced Thursday.

Witkos entered politics with a stunning win in 2002 when he defeated eight-term Democratic state Representative Jessie Stratton in their Avon and Canton district. Stratton was mounting a bid to become speaker of the house when Witkos, a popular Canton police officer, defeated her.

Witkos was the deputy Republican leader during the two years Republicans and Democrats each held 18 seats in the Senate.

Eleanor Roosevelt remains a singular American figure. She battled on for human rights after Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945. President Truman appointed her as a representative to the U.N., confirming her place as a citizen of the world.

The mystery guest spot on the popular Sunday night CBS program was usually filled by popular entertainers. This was, as host John Daly observed, a banner day for the show. Acknowledgement of a remarkable What’s My Line mystery guest moment was confirmed when Dorothy Kilgallen and Arlene Francis rose to shake hands as the guest greeted the panelists.

Mrs. Roosevelt would have been dismayed that tyrannical governments dominate the United Nations Human Rights Council today. It would have renewed her determination to spread the blessings of freedom to those denied them.