We know you love your mother and your mother loves you. There’s nothing like a mother’s love. We know. Maybe you are a good mother. Your wife may be a great mother–second only to your dear ma. Your mother was wise, kind and wonderful. You are very lucky in the mother fate gave you. Candidates, please, lay off Mother’s Day and your mums as fundraising tools. Give your mater a break, and the rest of us, too. Save the cloying desperation for next year when you’ve realized just how hard it is to get to that $250,000 or are struggling with the reduced requirements of an under ticket candidacy.

You’re right to feel uncomfortable. Dominion Resources is pushing hard to win approval of legislation to broaden its access to energy markets in the complicated and regulated world of energy generation. On May 1st, the chief lobbyist for Dominion made his way to Norwalk to present a $10,000 check to state Senator Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) for his hometown’s Maritime Aquarium. Duff was delighted, as you can see in this Facebook post. Dominion lobbyist Kevin Hennessey is doing the handover. Not very subtle. And that’s how a bill’s chances of becoming a law get better and better.

They usually aren’t so bold, but social media has changed many ways business is done.

UPDATE: A Dominion representative adds that the company has made an annual contribution to Maritime Aquarium several times in recent years.

Yesterday’s email from union leader John Doyle explaining the prosecutors’ union’s opposition to the reappointment of Leonard Boyle as Deputy Chief State’s Attorney.

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Frontline state prosecutors want an emergency union meeting to express their dismay at their union leaders’ secret opposition to the reappointment of Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Leonard Boyle. The rank and file were surprised by a Courant story revealing union leaders have written to the Criminal Justice Commission opposing Boyle’s reappointment over his handling of an investigation of several prosecutors and the proliferation of non-dues paying, per diem prosecutors.

Prosecutors know something about getting their hackles up. On Monday the emails and recriminations were filling cyberspace. Angry prosecutors are using union rules to force an emergency meeting of the bargaining unit. Boyle is popular with many of the troops.

Union leaders blundered if they thought they would get a serious hearing of their complaints at the Criminal Justice Commission. The commission is chaired by relentless inside operator and Supreme Court justice Richard Palmer, a longtime Boyle friend. Palmer and Boyle are so close they joined together during the Rell administration to woo favors from chief of staff Lisa Moody at evening social gatherings at local watering holes. Thus judges were made and promoted. Boyle and Palmer have been through the fires together.

Greg Butler, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy’s favorite Republican, and Themis Klarides, Democratic Speaker Joseph Aresimowicz’s favorite Republican, attended April 29th’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  Butler and Klarides are pictured together above at the table of right-wing news service Newsmax.

Butler is Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Eversource, one of Connecticut’s biggest state contractors. Eversource continues to sustain the largest contingent of lobbyists at the legislature. Eversource came in for some unflattering scrutiny in March when 60 Minutes highlighted the utility’s practice of firing American workers and replace them with less expensive visa holders.

Klarides is House Minority Leader in the state’s lower chamber.

Butler and Klarides have each been mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2018 Republican nomination for governor, Klarides mostly in a Newsmax puff piece. Butler and Klarides are closely associated with Republican campaign consultant Liz Kurantowicz. Butler served on Malloy’s transition team at the dawn of the Stamford Democrat’s first catastrophic term.

Don’t expect Butler and Klarides to run against each other. An alliance between the two, however, is a possibility.

The British are holding a general election on June 8th. A senior Labour official, Diane Abbott, tried to explain her party’s plan to hire and pay for 10,000 new police officers. It’s unusual to hear an experienced politician in an epic struggle with her own proposal. The host was not posing difficult questions.

Expect Bridgeport Democratic mayor Joseph Ganim is expected to join the crowded contest for governor Friday when he files an exploratory committee. This is not Ganim’s first trip to the rodeo. He ran for governor in 1994 and settled for the second spot on his party’s ticket. Ganim and running mate Bill Curry lost that November to Republicans John Rowland and Jodi Rell–neither of whom lives in Connecticut now.

Ganim’s candidacy, should he seek to qualify for the state’s generous public campaign finance program, will face an early hurdle with the State Elections Enforcement Commission. State law prohibits a candidate convicted of certain felonies related to public corruption from participating in public financing.

You would not know from Kevin Lembo’s video announcement that he ran for statewide office twice on the Malloy-Wyman ticket. Something indeed has “gotta” change, and correcting the errors of the past six years is the first step. Voters may not see silence during those years as a virtue to be rewarded.

Curiously, Lembo states he’d never run for office before becoming comptroller. That omits his exploratory bid for lieutenant governor in 2010–he switched races with friend and ally Nancy Wyman when she became Malloy’s running mate and Lembo ran to succeed her as comptroller. It was a Democratic convention to remember.

Stephen Wright, a member of the State Board of Education since 2011, was arrested four times for driving under the influence between February 22nd and April 10th. The most recent Wright arrest includes driving under the influence of alcohol while his license was suspended for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Wright is a lawyer and lives in Trumbull. His cases are pending in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Derby. His next court date is May 9th. Online records suggest Wright is representing himself and has been released on several promises to appear.