Governor Ned Lamont told a Washington business association Wednesday about “big savings we’ll soon be able to announce on health care very soon with our state employees.” Lamont told members of the association of foreign-based companies doing business in the United States, some with operations in Connecticut, that “now I’ve got to deliver” on plans to address the state’s persistent financial problems.

According to to statements provided by The Bollinger Law Firm, P.C., Lamont assured the roundtable gathering that Connecticut has “got the greatest location in the world.” That declaration was followed by a discussion of energy issues and the sort of odd Lamont observation that bewilders listeners. “I have got to do everything I can with sort of a small, landlocked state like we are to make us more self-reliant when it comes to power.”

But we aren’t landlocked.

The state’s southern border is Long Island Sound, a large body of water between Connecticut and New York.

The Greenwich Democrat is capable of offering flights of fluency on state issues, and then come the crash landings. Asked by one well-informed participant Wednesday if he could tell listeners about the Partnership to Advance the Connecticut of Tomorrow, Lamont said “no.” He had not a clue about what on February 1st he declared is one of the “key components of his vision to transform the state’s economic development strategy….” Two months ago, Lamont announced in a press release “that two of Connecticut’s principal economic development entities – the nonprofit Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC) and DECD – will form an innovative public-private partnership known as the Partnership to Advance the Connecticut of Tomorrow (PACT).” By Wednesday, it was news to Lamont.

UPDATE: This Tuesday Hartford Courant article reports that Eddie Perez  has not made a decision on entering the 2019 race for mayor.

Former Hartford mayor Eddie Perez will launch his comeback bid this weekend, Daily Ructions has learned. Perez will have a busy weekend of appearances. He resigned as mayor in 2010 after being convicted of corruption. The former gang member and Trinity College official’s conviction were overturned on appeal. Perez recently withdrew his lawsuit against the city seeking reimbursement of his legal costs during the corruption saga.

In 2017, Perez reached an agreement with prosecutors and “pleaded guilty Thursday to taking a bribe and attempted first-degree larceny by extortion, but was spared prison,” according to The Hartford Courant. Perez received an eight-year suspended sentence and conditional discharge.

Perez will join a crowded Democratic field that includes incumbent Luke Bronin, state Representative Brandon McGee, school board chair Craig Stallings, J. Stan McCauley, and Aaron Lewis. All or some of the candidates will meet in a September 10th primary.

Governor Ned Lamont attempted to heave himself out of his credibility gap on transportation Wednesday. Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie asked the new governor how he will get people to trust him that money from tolls will go to the transportation lockbox when the tolls may not be in place until after he leaves office.

Lamont responded that the lockbox passed by voters in Novembers was a good start. Acknowledging that there is a lot of mistrust toward politicians, Lamont, who is raiding the fund of $1 billion in his budget proposal, declared, “I gotta look people in the eye and tell them my word is good.”

The Greenwich Democrat last month abandoned his signature campaign promise to support tolls on trucks only, raising essential questions about his trustworthiness.

Trumpian Justin Clark will return to West Hartford on April 4th to raise money for local Republicans. Clark worked on the loathsome demagogue’s 2016 campaign, did a stint in the chaotic White House, and now is an official on the 2020 campaign.

Clark will be the guest of honor at a private reception. This may be an opportunity to have someone who was at the White House in 2017 explain just who those “very fine people” were marching under Nazi flags in Charlottesville. You may recall them chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”

Clark, who managed Republican Tom Foleys 2010 and 2014 losing bids for governor, will be the opener for an address by 2018 gubernatorial hopeful Tim Herbst on state of the Connecticut GOP.

The evening begins at 6 p.m. at the Rockledge Grille.

It makes you scratch your head and wonder. State Republican chairman J.R. Romano posted his thoughts on local public education on Facebook. Lord have mercy, the Derby Republican is one proud ignoramus. What a mess. He is willfully unaware of the difference between ‘’you’re” and “your.” Oy, and that “payed” makes one think the bursar at wherever college Romano Attended owes him a rebate for its failures.

Was there once a movement to eliminate punctuation? If so, the former Whiskey Patriot is one of its victims.

Hartford Democratic mayor hopeful Bandon McGee has responded to rival Luke Bronin’s annual State of the City address. McGee, who is likely to face Bronin in a summer primary, appears to be setting up a traditional downtown v. the neighborhoods campaign.

The fourth term legislator’s statement is here.

This mayoral campaign provides an opportunity for Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz to inflict some damage on Bronin, who she sees in the early going as her most likely opponent in a 2022 race for the Democratic nomination for governor should incumbent Ned Lamont not seek a second term. Bysiewicz and Bronin are always thinking about they office they want rather than the one they have.

State Senator Genarro Bizzarro (R-New Britain) took his seat in the legislature’s upper chamber Monday after scoring a notable upset in a February 26th special election. The oath of office was first administered by Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, the Penelope of Connecticut politics, though it’s not clear why.

The secretary of state administers the oath of office to legislators. Bysiewicz might remember that from her 12 years in that office before she crashed out of that office with unsuccessful races for governor and attorney general in 2010. Incumbent Secretary of State Denise Merrill, a veteran Democrat familiar with the Bysiewicz method, appeared on the scene and pointed out what the rules require. Merrill quietly administered the oath that mattered to Bizzarro, giving the new legislator a closeup of Bysiewicz’s ceaseless quest for a closeup.

At least one prominent Democrat is reluctant to credit Bizzarro with the shrewd and energetic campaign that allowed him to win a seat held by Democrats since Republican Nancy Johnson gave it up in 1982 to make a successful run for Congress. Democratic state chair Nancy Wyman attributed Bizzarro’s win to his unusual name. That, she thinks, caught voters’ attention. An odd explanation given Bizzarro’s earlier attempt to win a seat in the House fell short. He had the same name then.

Former Attorney General George Jepsen and Perry Zinn Rowthorn, Jepsen’s deputy for six years, make the case in today’s Wall Street Journal for state attorneys general to lead litigation against opioid manufacturers and others in the deadly chain of distribution. The op-ed provides a reminder of the influence Connecticut lost among busy and far-flung attorneys general when Jepsen announced last year he would not seek a third term. The opinion piece makes the case for consolidating public interest litigation in chief legal officers of the states, blocking scores of municipal suits.

The popular Democrat rose in the ranks of his colleagues in their partisan and bipartisan associations. Jepsen was an active fundraiser for some of them, tapping into Connecticut donors who were limited in what they could contribute to him.

The WSJ piece will serve as an unhappy reminder that Jepsen’s successor, William “Tahoe” Tong, will struggle to exercise the influence Jepsen began to enjoy soon after taking office in 2011.

A Ructions reader points out the per vote cost to the public in one special election campaign. In the 39th House District, Republican Kat Goulart qualified for a $21,112.53 grant from the public purse. In the overwhelmingly Democratic district Goulart received 276 votes, placing third in the four-way race to succeed Democrat Chris Soto, who declined to keep his pledge to serve in the office he sought and won in November.

The grant for the short campaign means Goulart spent $76.49 in public funds for each vote she received. No wonder we are on the verge of taxing textbooks and over the counter medicine.