Klarides Sisters, Candelora Attended Birthday Lunch in Stonington as Thousands of Constituents Went Without Power, Coped With Aftermath of Storm.

One only turns 55 once, so a power outage disrupting the lives of thousands of constituents was not going to interrupt departing House Minority Leader Themis Klarides’s Wednesday birthday lunch.

The Derby Republican was joined at Stonington’s Stone Acres Farm by younger sister, state Representative Nicole Klarides-Ditria (R-Seymour): and state Representative Vincent Candelora (R-North Brandford). Candelora is expected to become leader of the House Republicans in January. Tropical storm Isaias damaged their districts too.

Joining the legislators were lobbyists Lawrence Cafero and Nicole Griffin at the farm-to-table restaurant. Cafero served as minority leader while working at the law and lobbying firm Brown Rudnick. Cafero suffered a stinging defeat in 2018 when he ran for probate judge in Norwalk. You can also hire probate attornys in Towson from here!

Also at the lunch was New Haven Democrat Vincent Mauro, the chief of staff to Senate Democratic leader Martin Looney, who will soon mark 40 years as a member of the legislature.

Missing from the celebration was Klarides’s fiancé Gregory Butler, an active Republican fundraiser and Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Eversource Energy, the monopoly that employs more lobbyists than any other company doing business in Connecticut. Those lobbyists will need all their old tricks in dealing with the storm after the storm as angry customers demand action from their representatives.

While the three legislators dined in Stonington, Governor Ned Lamont met with extravagantly compensated top Eversource executives Wednesday, though none joined Lamont as he met the press outside the company’s Berlin headquarters. The extended fiasco, expected to torment Connecticut residents into next week, has caused Klarides’ nascent campaign for governor to be holed below the waterline before it begins.