Hartford Democrats can expect a ferocious primary for mayor this summer. In addition to former mayor and gang member Eddie Perez, state Representative Brandon McGee is edging close an announcement of his candidacy, Daily Ructions can report. Popular state Senator Douglas McCrory has also been mentioned as a potent challenger to incumbent Luke Bronin.

City Council President Glendowlyn Thames may also give the race a look at the urging of supporters. She would be Hartford’s third female mayor, following in the footsteps of Ann Uccello and Carrie Saxon Parry. Craig Stallings, leader of Hartford’s school board, is also mounting a challenge, according to his Facebook posts.

It’s not unusual for a local official who has failed in a bid for higher office to attract challengers in his run for re-election at home. Bronin was a nonstarter when he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor last year. His fundraising stalled and he never attracted much support from delegates. Hartford Democrats possess a sensitive nose for other people’s weakness and Bronin has been emitting a lot of vulnerable pheromones since he exited the race for governor.

Former state Senator Don Williams, who became president pro tempore of the Connecticut legislature’s upper chamber after former Governor John Rowland resigned in disgrace in 2004, was in a serious motor vehicle collision on Friday, January 11th. Williams did not seek re-election in 2014, after more than 20 years of service.

The Brooklyn Democrat is a patient at UMass Memorial Medical Center. You may send him your good wishes at this address: Don Williams, Room 434, UMass Memorial Medical Center, University Campus, 55 Lake Avenue, Worcester, MA 01655.

George Jepsen drove a Ford Escape. His successor as attorney general, William Tong, requested the taxpayers furnish him with a Chevrolet Tahoe. That’s the supersized SUV that burns prodigious amounts of fossil fuel. Not very green of the privileged prep school graduate. The Stamford Democrat’s first press release after assuming the job Wednesday was on emissions. Climate change for thee, but not for me.

State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who also was sworn into office on Wednesday, has been seen driving a more appropriate Ford Explorer as he undertakes his duties.

The vehicles, it should be recalled, are for official activities, not personal use. Also, constitutional officers do not need a state employee to ferry them from home to the office and back.

The larger and ominous reveal from Tong’s astonishing choice is not the Tahoe, which is bad enough. It’s that he is not sensible enough to have someone close to him that can speak with candor and warn him of a bad choice. Time to worry.

State Representative Jeff Currey (D-East Hartford) will stay in the House. The popular Democrat will not seek the state Senate seat incumbent Timothy Larson is abandoning to take a job in the Lamont administration.

State Senator Timothy Larson (D-East Hartford) did not want that new term in the legislature he sought and won in November. Governor-elect Ned Lamont will create a new post for economic development in the Department of Higher Education for Larson, whose brother, popular U.S. Representative John Larson, was a prominent Lamont supporter last year. The appointment will mean Timothy Larson will not take the oath of office on Wednesday.

Timothy Larson, who made a secret bid to head the state’s lottery while serving as co-chair of the committee that oversees it, had hoped to win a top spot in the state’s insurance department. Industry leaders nixed that ill-conceived ambition.

Education, economic development, and the life of the mind are not pursuits associated with the vengeful Larson.

Public financing of political campaigns has become an expensive supplement to fundraising from lobbyists and their clients. The explosion of legislators maintaining ongoing political committees comes into full view today and tomorrow as public officials seek to tap a gusher of lobbyist contributions before the Wednesday ban begins with the opening of the legislative session.

The ongoing legislative political committees had been limited to three in each of the four caucuses. While public financing costs continue to grow–though the amount one needs to raise to qualify remains the same–the number of Democrats maintaining ongoing political committees financed by fundraising events fueled by lobbyist contributions has exploded.

It’s an issue that requires further examination.

Tired of the commute between home in East Hartford and his office at Tweed New Haven airport, Democratic state Senator Timothy Larson is on the hunt for a spot in the incoming Lamont administration. Daily Ructions understands the vengeful legislator is under consideration for a spot in the insurance department. There is some opposition to the move.

Larson’s bullying during the legislature’s consideration of an East Windsor slot shack caused considerable comment in the Capitol Village. That escalated to alarm a secret Larson bid to become head of the state lottery while co-chairing the committee that oversees it was made public by The Courant’s Jon Lender.

Insurance industry officials, which the Lamont administration will have to work to keep in Connecticut, may be looking for more sophisticated leadership for the top jobs in the department.

Larson was re-elected to the Senate in November but would prefer a pension boosting political appointment over honoring his pledge to serve constituents.

Members of the nation’s highest court will meet in conference Friday, January 4th, to decide whether they will hear an appeal filed by the State of Connecticut in the Michael Skakel murder case. The appeal arises out of the issue of an act of ineffective representation of a defendant by his lawyer.

There are inconsistent standards in the nation’s appellate jurisdictions on whether a court should judge ineffectiveness of representation by a single act or overall representation. Eleven states joined Connecticut in its appeal of a Connecticut Supreme Court decision overturning Michael Skakel’s conviction for murdering Martha Moxley in Greenwich in 1975 based on a single act of ineffective counsel.

How can they miss you if you refuse to say goodbye? Nodder-in-chief Nancy Wyman, lieutenant governor and former comptroller, wants to become chair of the Democratic State Central Committee. The Tolland Democrat appears to have the support of Governor-elect Ned Lamont. The move would punish the success incumbent chair Nick Baletto brought to the party in this year’s election by ousting him and reward the many failures of the Malloy administration by making one of its most prominent refugees the face of the party organization.

Colleen Flanagan will return to state government as a senior advisor to Governor-elect Ned Lamont. Flanagan left the Board of Regents in 2012 when she was ensnared in a pay raise controversy. Before joining the Board of Regents, Flanagan was among the few cheerful people working in Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s office.