New Canaan Republican Mike Handler, like the rest of the herd, is visiting town committees around the state. One never knows what local members will ask. On Wednesday, Handler was asked who he voted for in the 2016 presidential election. He wrote in Michael Bloomberg, the former three-term mayor of New York. who for some of those 12 years was a Republican.

Good for Handler on his candor–and his choice not to sully his ballot by voting for the loathsome demagogue.

Handler had a rougher time when Westport Republican and former state senator John McKinney confronted the candidate with his voting record. Handler, McKinney discovered, did not vote in the 2010 and 2014 Republican primaries. The 2014 contest was of particular interest to McKinney, since that’s the one in which he faced Tom Foley for the party’s nomination for governor. Foley won the primary and proceeded to throw away the election in his November defeat to unpopular incumbent Dannel P. Malloy.

Connecticut’s high court affirmed elected officials’ control over public education policy Wednesday. The 4-3 decision overturns a  2016 Superior Court decision that sought to establish judicial oversight of public education. The 2016 decision also took unsettling aim at the state’s funding of special education, threatening to bar children in need from the state’s schools. Those children are safe from the decision’s chilling animosity.

Watch for the Supreme Court to release its decision this afternoon on the interminable challenge to the state’s education funding formula and the power of the people and their elected representatives to determine public education policy in Connecticut.

Ned Lamont returns. The Greenwich millionaire will seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Lamont began his campaign Wednesday with the release of a 2-minute video in which he stakes his claim to the left-wing Democratic primary voters.

Lamont denounces the state’s leadership of the past 30 or 40 years for letting down its residents. His first priority will be a $15 an hour minimum wage. He also declares we need women in leadership positions across state government (just not as governor this time).

Lamont will continue a tour of diners that looks like it began while filming the launch video.

This is Lamont’s third statewide campaign. His first was a memorable challenge to then-incumbent Joseph Lieberman for the 2006 Democratic nomination for U.S. senator. Lamont, running against American involvement to the war in Iraq, won a primary victory that made news around the world. Lieberman continued the fight as an independent candidate and scored a decisive win against Lamont that November. In 2010, Lamont suffered a landslide defeat when he lost to endorsed Democrat Dannel P. Malloy in the Democratic primary for governor. Malloy is by implication one those leaders Lamont believes has let down the state.

With his willingness to spend part of his fortune, Lamont will have a financial advantage in preparing for the May nominating convention and the inevitable August primary. He has not, however, been a familiar figure among party activists to the same degree as chief rival Susan Bysiewicz.

Bob Stefanowski, who has so far contributed $350,000 to his campaign, paid economist Arthur Laffer $75,000 to create and then explain the Republican’s plan to eliminate Connecticut’s corporate, estate and income taxes. Stefanowski, of Madison, rolled out the plan in five locations and was accompanied on his tour by Laffer. According to the latest Bob for Governor campaign finance report, Stefanowski paid Laffer $50,000 for the plan and $5,000 for each appearance.

Stefanowski has paid Tom Scott’s Liberty Strategies $20,000 for consulting services.

Republican gubernatorial hopeful David Stemerman has hired some notable experienced Republican campaign operators, according to his campaign finance report. The Greenwich Republican’s first bid for public office will be assisted by “mad genius” admeister Fred Davis, who works out of Hollywood. Polling will be conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Washington firm with decades of Connecticut experience.

Stemerman paid Connecticut Republican consultant Ben Proto $12,500.00 on December 29th, which may cause Stemerman rivals to breathe a sigh of relief.

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Dan Drew’s candidacy was in doubt Tuesday night after his hometown Democrats swept his supporters from Middletown’s Democratic town committee. It was a stinging defeat for the mayor who has hoped to become governor from a loyal base in Middletown.

By a lopsided vote of 118-41, Drew’s allies suffered a decisive defeat at the local caucus. With their victory, the anti-Drew forces have gained control of the selection of delegates to the state Democratic convention. Drew will be shut out in his hometown.

A brutal night at home for Drew, who will now have to consider his position.

A happy day for Mark Boughton. The Danbury mayor tells Daily Ructions he has raised $272,000 in qualifying contributions. That’s $22,000 over the amount required to qualify for taxpayer financing of his campaign. The Republican gubernatorial hopeful can now turn his full attention to wooing delegates and fleshing out that unlikely plan to repeal the state income tax.

A New York corruption trial has not interfered with Canterbury Democratic chairman Braith Kelly from keeping an in Connecticut politics. The federal criminal defendant’s trial began on January 8th–the same day Secretary of the State Denise Merrill rolled out a list of endorsements that included Kelly as one of her supporters.

Kelly made news in 2017 when his legal team objected to a courthouse display jurors were bound to see that highlighted the conviction of Bridgeport mayor Joseph Ganim on his first round leading Connecticut’s largest city. The display was removed.

The endorsement listed included the state’s congressional delegation but not Governor Dannel P. Malloy.

New Canaan Republican Mike Handler continues to impress with his vigorous fundraising. He is about $40,000.00 short of the magic $250,000 required to qualify for public financing, Daily Ructions can report. Handler has raised $209,784 since entering the race in July.

An unexpected trend is emerging in the money-raising stakes. Candidates with no experience in statewide races are proving to be more skillful fundraisers than their veteran opponents.

Handler begins the year with $152,317.79 on hand. He also appears not yet to have become a target of the two Republican hopefuls whose nastiness is their mutual calling card, Tim Herbst and David Walker.