Another boost for lieutenant governor candidate Eva Bermudez Zimmerman. The Newtown Democrat has won the endorsement of the Working Families Party in the run-up to the main event, the August 14th Democratic primary. In that contest, Zimmerman faces endorsed Democrat and frequent candidate Susan Bysiewicz.

This does not appear to be a locked-down ballot endorsement. WFP is likely to endorse the winners of the Democratic primaries, so Bysiewicz is still in with a chance if she can defeat Zimmerman on August 14th.

This letter from Joel Frazier, an aide in the Senate Democratic caucus, appeared in LOB mailboxes. Click on the photo to read.

Dita Bhargava’s frustration is showing. The Greenwich Democrat has not been able to get party-endorsed rival for state treasurer to participate in a debate. On Tuesday the former financial manager launched a mocking open letter to the Hartford Democrat. It is the sort of tactic that may not cause Wooden to debate Bhargava but it will provide plenty of material for the Republican nominee should Wooden advance to the autumn contest as the party’s nominee. The reference to Wooden’s role as header of Hartford’s city council when the Dunkin’ Donuts stadium was conceived, unveiled and begun ought to cause some muttering about the tone the campaign may take in its concluding five weeks.

Bhargave makes the now-obligatory reference to summer primary star and New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She defeated party stalwart U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley in their June contest. Connecticut voters may be reluctant to elect as state treasurer a candidate giving a nod to socialism.

See the Bhargava piece below.

Debate avoiders may want to recall Dannel Malloy’s devastating 2010 commercial criticizing Ned Lamont for ducking debates with the surly Stamford brawler in their primary fight. Malloy scored a thumping come-from-behind win that August.

Dita to Shawn: What are you so afraid of?

(FAIRFIELD, CT) – Dita Bhargava, Democrat candidate running for State Treasurer, wrote the following letter to her opponent Shawn Wooden as he continues to dodge debates:

Dear Shawn,

When we both came out of the convention with enough support to run for the Democratic nomination for Treasurer, I hoped that we’d take part in a campaign that put my best ideas against yours. That way primary voters could make an informed decision when they go to the polls on August 14th.

After weeks of trying to get you to engage, I have to say that I’m really puzzled by why you won’t debate me.

Let’s be clear: the candidate forum scheduled in Hartford at the end of July is not a debate. We’ve done dozens of these forums to date and so far no one – excluding you – has confused them with a debate.

What does it say about your campaign and how you would run the Treasurer’s office when you won’t leave your hometown and have a discussion with actual voters? What are you so afraid of?

Is it that you may be asked about your time as President of the Hartford City Council – during which our capital city declined into near bankruptcy?

Is it that under your supervision, the Hartford Yard Goat Stadium project was riddled with corruption and mismanagement?

Over the last several weeks, your sense of entitlement has become increasingly concerning.

When I revealed the fact that you attempted to push me out of the race, you said that I was either “mistaken or lying.” It is impertinent and an insult to call a woman ignorant or a liar when she speaks the truth.

Most importantly, voters deserve to be engaged and hear from candidates. We don’t have to look far to see the energy around candidates who make the effort to speak to voters, even when those candidates are new to the political process. Look no further than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

There is still time to honor the democratic process and give voters the opportunity to hear a vigorous debate on issues that concern them the most. We’ve reached out to other organizations and we’re going to do our best to make sure these events happen. If I have not heard back from you by the time these events are scheduled, we’ll gladly set up an empty chair to honor your decision. The chair will say about as much as you’ve said regarding how you would conduct yourself in office.

Sincerely,

Dita Bhargava

What bargaining units do employees at their corporate law firms belong to?

That long face on the right may have been captured when ragtop Six Series saw the union endorsement questionnaire asking if he drives a UAW-made vehicle.

Veteran Democratic U.S. Representative John Larson will endorse state Senator Paul Doyle’s bid for attorney general in the August 14th party primary. Larson’s support will be a rare break by a high ranking party leader from the usual support of party-endorsed candidates. Doyle eked onto the ballot at the May 19th party convention with support from the Bridgeport delegation. Doyle’s hometown Whethersfield delegation supported Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim at the convention.

Larson will also endorse treasurer candidate Shawn Wooden. The East Hartford Democrat will also lend his support to perennial statewide candidate Susan Bysiewicz, who faces a spirited challenge from Newtown Democrat Eva Bermudez Zimmerman in their competition for lieutenant governor.

Larson will also endorse Ned Lamont for governor. Ganim was Larson’s choice for lieutenant governor in 1994.

DC veteran Shannon Kula is struggling to reach the 2,711 signatures she needs to qualify for the August 12th Democratic primary in the 5th CD. As of the end of the day Tuesday, Kula had 2,308 signatures.

At this rate, Kula may not be joining Mary Glassman and Jahana Hayes in the contest for the open seat held by three term incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Esty.

There’s no third way onto the statewide primary ballot in Connecticut. You either qualify at the convention or collect thousands of signatures. It’s official. Democrat Guy Smith fell 5,ooo signatures short of the 15,000 he needed to join Ned Lamont and Joe Ganim in the August 14th party contest for governor.

Smith had promised a mysterious third way to fix the state’s finances that would avoid tax increases and cuts in the state’s workforce. The message failed to inspire supporters in what started as a crowded Democratic field of hopefuls. Susan Bysiewicz bluffed her way into becoming Lamont’s running mate. Luke Bronin withdrew from the field of battle. Dita Barghava is challenging endorsed candidate Shawn Wooden for treasurer. Chris Mattei is in a three-way primary for attorney general. Smith’s campaign now concludes.

Greenwich Republican gubernatorial hopeful David Stemerman announced Monday morning he is “investing” an additional $10 million to his primary campaign. That’s in addition to the $2 million he’s spent so far to launch his campaign and petition onto the August 14th primary ballot.

Stemerman’s announcement noted that the additional money will allow him to “expand its advertising to include New York broadcast television and increased cable, digital and direct mail advertising statewide.” A $10 million primary budget–if that’s what it’s all earmarked for–will buy a lot of attention. Candidates participating in the state’s public financing program receive $1.35 million for the primary contest.

It was almost midnight on Tuesday when Av Harris, Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim’s spokesman, decided to let the mask slip. Ganim, who was convicted of public corruption in 2003 and sentenced to prison for nine years, is a victim. Harris posted a link to a newspaper article featuring a quote from Ganim calling Donald Trump’s family separation of refugees “immoral.”

Harris could have left it at that. The Connecticut Post article speaks for itself. Instead, Harris, a former public radio reporter, decided to give followers a startling glimpse of what he has come to believe about Ganim’s corrupt enterprise. “Leadership from a man who know what it’s like to be forcible separated from his children.” Do they not understand the difference between a mayor who with his minions stole millions from the public and child refugees from violent Central American nations who have been purposely tormented by a president determined to punish refugees? Has it come to this in the rewriting of Ganim’s crimes?

Ganim has been winning attention by poking Ned Lamont, his wealthy Democratic rival for the party’s nomination for governor, as out of touch with the experience and cares of average voters. Harris’ ill-considered post reminds us that Team Ganim lives in a far stranger place, a land of make believe.

Av Harris offers this response to the above and asked that be included here:

For anyone who has seen the ridiculous post by Kevin Rennie, let me respond this way. For the record, Joe was merely answering questions put to him by journalist Brian Lockhart. I thought it was an interesting perspective. That’s all. No way I was even comparing his felony conviction for corruption and incarceration to migrants and refugees being separated from their children at the Mexican border, which is criminally cruel and inhumane.  And for the record, My mother grew up without cousins on either side of her family because both her father’s and mother’s parents and siblings were mercilessly forced into concentration camps and slaughtered during the Holocaust. I know how the trauma of genocide and displacement afflicts families for generations, and I’ve covered displaced persons in refugee camps as a journalist. I’m very aware of the difference. And I have NEVER said Joe was a victim. He alone was responsible for his conviction and his incarceration. Which he has said repeatedly and apologized for repeatedly.

“I was elected to the Newtown Council by knocking on more doors earlier and more often than anyone else in the race–and I plan to do the same for this election,” Democratic lieutenant governor primary challenger Eva Bermudez Zimmerman claimed in a fundraising email that furrowed the brows of Democrats in Newtown and beyond. Zimmerman has never been elected to Newtown’s Legislative Council. In 2014 she was chosen by the Newtown Democratic Town Committee to fill a vacancy. Two Democratic members of the council then exercised their authority to appoint Zimmerman. She sought a full term on the council in 2015 and placed last in the competition for the district seat.

Zimmerman issued a clarification Wednesday.

The Newtown Democrat followed up on her 2015 loss by running for a local House seat the next year, losing to incumbent Republican Mitch Bolinsky by a wide margin.

Zimmerman could score a big victory by winning the AFL-CIO endorsement this Friday–or stopping the labor organization from giving its support to floundering endorsed Democrat and nine-time statewide candidate Susan Bysiewicz.