News from the Radical Middle: Griebel Loses Campaign Manager to Arrest. Kyle Lyddy Charged With Stealing $500k. Cooper Takes Over.

Petitioning gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel has lost his campaign manger to a larceny in the first degree charge. Kyle Lyddy, who was defeated in 2016 by Eva Bermudez Zimmerman for the 2016 Democratic nomination for state representative from the 106th district, was arrested Monday for allegedly taking $500,000 from his Norwalk employer. The complaint was made to Norwalk police on August 1st and claimed Lyddy had misappropriated funds for two years.

Of Griebel’s campaign, Lyddy told the Washington Post in an article dated August 31st, “If there’s a time to do this, this is the time in Connecticut to make this happen.” That task will now fall to Chris Cooper, who will serve temporarily as campaign manager. He’l be assisted by Chris DuPont, who recently worked on his father’s unsuccessful campaign for Congress as a Republican in the 5th CD. Cooper and DuPont are veterans of various Mark Greenberg campaigns.

Griebel has been polling in low single digits. Fundraising has not been robust.