Dodgy U.S. Representative Bill Shuster is in town to talk about putting a tunnel through Hartford. Shuster is the controversial Pennsylvania Republican whose girlfriend, Shelley Rubino, lobbies for the airline industry. That’s the same airline industry that Shuster has a lot of sway over as head of the House’s transportation committee. Rubino was a lobbyist in Connecticut and enjoyed a close relationship with both Democrat Thomas Ritter and Republican Lawrence Cafero. She also worked in Washington for Larson.

Shuster was one of the first two House committee chairmen to endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.

Shuster, who has had some close calls in his recent re-election bids, appeared at the LOB today as the legislature tries to gather itself in the aftermath of Thursday’s chaos. He brought his seal with him. Should Congress pass a massive pork-filled infrastructure bill, people like the highly social Shuster will have some influence over its contents. Shuster–whose father was chased out of Congress over ethics issues involving a former aide–is the sort of politician who makes it hard to be optimist.

The desperate new cellphone tax proposed by the spent force that is the legislative Democrats is not the same as the one imposed in Massachusetts. Advocates of the new tax will claim otherwise but they are wrong. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts levy a phone tax–including cellphones–to fund 911 services. The two states, as this day begins, are at parity in imposing a 911 tax. The Connecticut Democratic proposal is a new and additional tax unrelated to the public good provided by 911 services.

Adopt the new Democratic tax and thriving Massachusetts will be able to point to one more difference between how the two states do business.

Connecticut public officials continue to ignore the chilling records of public safety commissioner Dora Schriro. They ought to pay attention to Judge Loretta A. Preska’s description of New York’s Rikers Island under Schriro. Preska sentenced a brutally violent Rikers correction officer to 30 years in prison for killing an inmate and recognized the “culture of violence and poor treatment of inmates by correction officers at Rikers.”

The New York Times, which has performed a profound public service in its coverage of the scandal, has the latest chapter in the chilling saga. 

The fatal beating of inmate Ronald Spears occurred in December 2012, as Schriro was completing her disgraceful tenure at the notorious New York prison.

David Walker, the on-again-off again Republican, does enjoy the ability to comment on internet posts. He famously promised on the essential Only in Bridgeport website to sell his Bridgeport home if Tom Foley was not elected governor three years ago. Foley lost and Walker is still here–a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor.

Walker took to the Bridgeport site to contest rival Tim Herbst’s recent list of endorsements of the excitable Trumbull Republican candidate’s public supporters. Walker writes that at least one person on the Herbst list is holding a fundraiser for him, Walker. If history is any indicator, one suspects that we will be hearing more from Walker on this.

After becoming a Republican to run for lieutenant governor in 2014, Walker came third out of three candidates in the Republican primary that Heather Somers, now a state senator, won. Walker was not gracious in defeat. The Alabama native studied accounting at Jackson University. He later received a certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School.  The 66 year old account may have to cutback on mentions of Harvard now that the school has added the preposterous and malignant Sean Spicer to its faculty.

Updates as they become available.

Energy generator Dominion has let legislative leaders know that its 1,200 jobs in Connecticut may be a casualty of the state budget, Daily Ructions can report. The nuclear power producer has been warning for months that it needs more flexibility in how it participates in the regional energy market. Dominion has been warning policymakers that it will consider ceasing operations in Connecticut if it does not get some relief from the state’s byzantine energy rules.

Legislative leaders will have to confess they were warned if the day arrives when the no-carbon generator announces it is leaving the state.

State Democrats cannot resist the urge to tax. Their budget proposal adds a $1 month to cellular plans–including, it seems, phones and tablets. If passed, the new tax will be added to the long list of state-imposed costs that businesses examine when deciding when to stay or, in the rare instance, come to Connecticut.

Anyone want to gamble on how long the tax stays at $1 a month?

Democrats may find themselves trying to explain how this proposal comports with the federal prohibition on state taxes on data plans.

To:             House Democratic Legislators

From:        Speaker Joe Aresimowicz

Majority Leader Matt Ritter

Date:          September 1, 2017

Re:             House Democratic Caucus

In preparation for the session on Thursday, September 14, there will be a House Democratic Caucus to discuss the budget onWednesday, September 6, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. in Rm. 207A of the Capitol.

Legislative Assistants, please contact your Legislators with this information immediately.

Thank you

Waterbury’s Democratic mayor Neil O’Leary wasn’t billed as the headline guest at beleaguered Bristol Republican Ken Cockayne’s August 29th re-election fundraiser, but he was the most unexpected.

Ethically challenged Democrat Dan Esty is making calls in the aftermath of Kevin Lembo’s Thursday retreat from the governor’s race, Daily Ructions can report. The Cheshire Democrat’s interest in a bid for the 2018 Democratic nomination for governor was revived when Lembo announced he would rather pursue his policy passions from the comptroller’s office than in the state’s highest office.

Esty served as Democrat Daniel P. Malloy’s first commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. He was in the administration when it passed the largest tax increase in the state’s history. Esty, who is married to the heiress and Fifth District U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty, ran into trouble when he failed to disclose his lucrative relationship with Northeast Utilities (now Eversource) in his ethics filing required as a high-ranking administration official.

Esty may find public financing campaign rules a challenge. They do not allow transfers from the family fortune to campaign coffers, which proved so helpful to Elizabeth Esty in her 2012 bid for Congress. That may be why Dan Esty’s initial calls have been to test his ability to attract party donors and fundraisers.

It’s a return to the sidelines for State Comptroller Kevin Lembo. The two term Democrat abandoned his exploratory campaign for governor. Lembo announced he will seek a third term as comptroller.

Lembo has been seen often lately at lunch in Hartford with Democratic lieutenant governor and Malloy nodded Nancy Wyman. The Tolland Democrat has not announced her 2018 plans but is said to be receiving encouragement to run from people who would profit from the continuation of the Malloy administration.