Committee defies Lamont with tie vote rejection of Carpenter nomination for prison ombudsperson. Looney casts deciding abstention.

The Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee rejected Governor Ned Lamont’s controversial pick to become the newly created Department of Corrections ombudsperson. The normally quiet committee voted 8-8 on Hilary Carpenter’s nomination after a March 12th public hearing.

Carpenter was the third ranking of three names sent to Lamont by the Corrections Advisory Committee, the body charged with interviewing and recommending candidates for the new oversight position. Kenneth Krayeske, who as a private lawyer has exposed inadequate medical care provided inmates, was the committee’s first choice. Barbara Fair, who has campaigned to eliminate solitary confinement, ranked second.

The tie vote defeating the motion came from an unusual coalition of five Republicans and three Democrats opposing Carpenter. Seven Democrats and one Republican, ousted Senate Republican Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, backed Carpenter. The seventeenth and deciding vote belonged to Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney. The New Haven Democrat, who knows how to count votes, abstained, defeating the motion to confirm Carpenter.

The vote on Carpenter was a rare Republican victory. Watch for them to toss it away if a motion for consideration is made at the next committee meeting. Lamont’s office has been busy looking for support for giving the Carpenter nomination another go. Some Republican committee members, living in a state of fear as November draws nearer, may be susceptible to exchanging their win for some crumbs.

The Carpenter vote came the day after Lamont lost the nomination of Devant J. Joiner for a seat on the Superior Court in a lopsided 17-10 vote by the Judiciary Committee.

Published March 18, 2024.