Senate Republicans forced their leader, Kevin Kelly, to resign Friday and replaced him with Stephen Harding, a first term member of the upper chamber from the 30th District, Daily Ructions has learned. In a curious decision, Kelly made plea for his colleagues’ support and they declined to give it to him in a stunning rebuke.

The move came three weeks after Kelly fired controversial chief of staff John Healey a year after hiring him. Johnny Angel, as he is known from a video introduced at a federal criminal trial, may return to the job he lost. That would be good news for Speaker Matt Ritter, his top staff members and some local golf courses.

Several of the 12 members of the dwindling Senate Republican caucus face ferocious challenges in this year’s November election. Fractures among the diminishing Republicans, which includes Q-Anon supporter Eric Berthel, will make holding those seats more difficult.

One of the short-term winners today may be the caucus’s inveterate pot stirrer, Heather Somers. The Groton Republican is talented at fomenting dissent but not in building the trust of her colleagues. There can be no other explanation for Republican senators passing over Somers, in her fourth term, for a first term member who previously served in the House.

Senate Republicans are straining to put a brave face on the upheaval they sowed. Harding and his six supporters may soon discover that five members of a dozen member laughingstock caucus can make nearly as much trouble as the other seven.

Jack Shannon remains.

Published February 16, 2024.

Martin “Bo” Burke has departed this world at 83 years old. We are all in his debt.

The Vernon Democrat may have been the most consequential one-term legislator to serve in the state House of Representatives. In 1975, Bo was the driving force behind the drafting and passage of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He was a freshman from Vernon, winning the 56th House District in the 1974 Watergate election that saw Democrats win 118 of the lower chamber’s 151 seats.

Ella Grasso, also elected in 1974, brought a reforming spirit to the governor’s office. She had served three terms as secretary of the state (1959-1971) and was a natural ally of open government supporters, including the freshman from Vernon.

For nearly 50 years, Bo has been recognized as the author of the FOIA. The legislature was thinly staffed in 1975 compared to what it has become. A lawmaker had to immerse himself in the task of drawing legislation, especially a bill creating new rights and the mechanism to enforce them. Bo Burke, a master of details, met his moment. Grasso signed the bill during the first year in office. It was among her most enduring accomplishments.

Requiring most local and state government public meetings to be open to the public was not Connecticut’s tradition–or that of any other state. Access to government documents was limited–often at the sufferance of appointed and elected public officials.

Bo Burke changed that 49 years ago. Connecticut’s FOIA, the first and most sweeping of its kind, became a model for the nation and then, as freedom defeated servitude with the fall of the Soviet Union, an inspiration and guide to hundreds of millions of people around the world as they sought to secure their freedom under the rule of law. Connecticut’s law showed them the way forward.

Bo declined to seek a second term in 1976 because the legislature can be difficult to balance with a law practice and life with a young family.

Politicians can spend decades in elected office and never do more than dutifully cast roll call votes and raise money. Few in their first of two years in office craft, guide, and see signed into law legislation that becomes an indispensable to creating and sustaining free societies in a modern world.

Bo’s interest in the FOIA never diminished. He would often contact journalists to discuss attempts by governors and legislators to weaken the public’s right to know how government conducted its business. His knowledge encompassed not only the spirit of the law but also its fluid details. His passion for its purpose and dismay at the attacks it stirred among a string of hostile governors and legislators never flagged.

A decade after Bo left office, voters of the 56th House District elected Joe Courtney to represent them. He served for four terms and decided not to seek a fifth in 1994. Twelve years later, Bo was delighted when his friend and colleague in overseeing Vernon’s legal affairs was elected to Congress from the state’s 2nd District.

Later this month, Joe Courtney will introduce a tribute to Martin “Bo” Burke into the Congressional Record.

Published February 14, 2024.

The Courant’s Ed Mahony reports on another stunning development in the saga of turmoil in the Division of Public Defender Services. Chief Public Defender TaShun Bowden-Lewis is testing the capacity for surprise of Division employees, the Public Defender Services Commission and the public.

Bowden-Lewis, according to The Courant, “instructed an information technology staffer to download confidential email and possibly other files from computers used by two senior lawyers who are considered to be among her critics.” When agency IT director Greg Dion received an alert that security protections had been overridden, he notified the two senior lawyers whose email accounts had been breached. Bowden-Lewis and director of Human Resources Paula Lohr suspended Dion and escorted him out of the agency’s Farmington Avenue office, according to Mahony.

The head of a state agency engaging in such conduct will send tremors through state government if there are not immediate repercussions.

The incident prompted commission chairman Richard Palmer, a retired member of the Supreme Court, to issue another statement expressing dismay and hinting at action. Palmer wrote:

“The Commission and I were recently informed that Mr. Dion has been suspended with pay by the Chief Public Defender, who neither notified nor consulted the Commission prior to taking this action or anytime thereafter. I do know, however, that Mr. Dion is very highly regarded as an accomplished member of the Division’s Management Team, and I have asked the Chief Public Defender to provide me immediately with answers to a number of serious questions I have regarding her action against him. But from what I have already learned about Mr. Dion’s suspension and the reasons for it, I’m very concerned about the propriety of that action as I understand that the conduct that resulted in Mr. Dion’s suspension was intended merely to ensure the security and integrity of the Division’s IT system for the protection of private, confidential, and privileged communications of two senior Division attorneys, Deborah Del Prete Sullivan, Legal Counsel, and Joseph Lopez, Director of the Complex Litigation Unit, whose email accounts were accessed without their knowledge or consent. I also note that both Attorney Sullivan and Attorney Lopez have worked cooperatively with the Commission, in the best interests of the Division, since the Commission’s appointment nearly a year ago. For now, I can add only that I have been in contact with the other members of the Commission, and we may well call a special meeting of the Commission in the very near future to address this issue.”

Greg Dion told Bruno Matarazzo Jr., of the Republican American, “I’m disappointed this happened to me for doing the right thing and reporting something that compromised the integrity of the systems and the agency,” Dion also expressed dismay that a subordinate used their position to get access to email accounts that should not have been breached.

A special meeting of the Commission would come on the heels of Tuesday’s regularly scheduled February meeting. That meeting is said to have included raised voices when the Commission met in executive session behind closed doors. The doors may have been closed but they are not soundproof.

Published February 8, 2024.

Governor Ned Lamont will need to adjust his budget proposal. The State Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a 2021 trial court decision awarding a Bristol family $34 million in damages arising out a negligent 2014 fertility procedure.

Aaron and Jean-Marie Monroe-Lynch learned in 2014 that they were pregnant with twins after a fertility procedure at UConn Health. Tragedy followed when the twins were born and discovered to have been infected with Cytomegalovirus (CMV). Shay was born dead. Her brother Joshua was born severe birth defects, including catastrophic neurological and developmental disabilities. Joshua requires constant care.

Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Joan Alexander noted in her opinion excoriating UConn Health’s fertility program, “it is clear that the state is both the party best equipped to avoid mishaps of this sort and the party best positioned to absorb and spread the costs of Joshua’s lifelong care. See Doe v. Cochran, supra, 332 Conn. 369. With respect to avoiding the harm, the state offers a highly specialized medical service that poses particular risks best known to the state and most efficiently pre- vented by it. The state regularly shepherds inexperi- enced and medically unsophisticated patients through the complex process of assisted reproduction. It would have required little effort and even less financial cost for Benadiva or a member of his staff to confirm the CMV status of the donor and to counsel Jean-Marie to select a different donor or, at least, to obtain her informed consent to be certain that she fully understood the serious risks of going forward under the circumstances.”

The plaintiffs were represented by the Walsh Woodard law firm located in West Hartford.  The case was tried by Attorneys Michael Walsh, Karolina Dowd, and Caitlyn Malcynsky.  After the trial, the case was handled by Attorney Linc Woodard.  The appeal was handled by Attorney James Healy.  

The Superior Court decision by Judge Mark Taylor and the emphatic unanimous high court opinion should prompt a review by the legislature on how the fourth branch of government, the University of Connecticut, handles claims against it: poorly. It should no longer be allowed to act as its own claims adjuster. UConn and the public would benefit from an independent review board that can assess claims and steer them to a resolution when the facts merit it.

UConn’s arrogance was on display in today’s fertility case and also in former UConn men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie’s claim for breach of contract and racial discrimination. UConn paid $15 million to Ollie, including $3.9 million to resolve his racism claim against the state’s premier public university.

This year’s UConn budget did not include an allocation sufficient to pay the medical malpractice claim, though observers were skeptical of its appeal strategy. The legislature will have to find the money and ought to ask probing questions on what steps UConn took to engage in meaningful settlement negotiations with both the Monroe-Lynch family and Ollie.

Published February 6, 2024.

That didn’t take long. Farmington Republican John Healey will no longer serve a chief of staff to the Senate Republican Office. Veteran Republican Gary DeFilippo, former Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner in the Rowland and Rell administrations, will fill the vacancy as the dozen members of the minority caucus brace themselves for some serious headwinds.

Healey, seen first and foremost as a loyalist to popular New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, has been perceived as having Stewart’s interests as much in mind as the caucus’s, which are urgent. Stewart, re-elected to a sixth term in November, has not thrived in state party politics. She dropped her 2018 bid for governor on the eve of the state convention to make a late run at the second spot on the ticket. Stewart lost the lieutenant governor primary to Southington Republican Joe Markley.

Healey came into public view in May 2013 when he was revealed on a FBI recording as carrying illicit cash from then-House Republican Leader Lawrence Cafero’s office to a law enforcement co-operator who had put the money in Cafero’s office refrigerator. Cafero had Healey, who he dubbed Johnny Angel, take the money to FBI informant Raymond Soucy. Neither Cafero nor Healey notified law enforcement authorities of the bribery attempt.

Veteran staffer Jack Shannon remains.

The regular session of the legislature begins Wednesday.

Former state Senator Craig Miner will be nominated to serve as the state auditor reserved for a Republican. Miner will succeed Clark Chapin, who preceded Miner in the 30th Senate District.

Miner served in the House for 16 years before winning a seat in the Senate in 2016. He did not seek a third term in 2022. Miner earned a reputation for posing probing questions to legislators, administration officials, and others who came before legislative committees.

He has been working part-time for the Senate Republicans since his third term ended in January 2023.

The job of auditor is one of the legislative branch’s top paying positions and may provide a significant boost to Miner’s state pension.

Republican have a long, though not uninterrupted, history of nominating distinguished public servants to a position long considered free of partisanship. They include Leo Becker, Robert Jaekle and the late Bob Ward.

Published January 31, 2024.

State Representative Josh Elliott (R-Hamden) requires money from lobbyists before he can “focus on the important work ahead.” It’s a curious pitch but Elliott is working the same ol’ corner in his pre-session PAC fundraising event.

Build for the Future PAC’s notion of building is an old one. Shake down lobbyists for contributions, sell a few advertisements for a bogus program book and then make donations to Democratic town committees around the state. Those seem to be Elliott’s notion of “building strong relationships with key shareholders….” In the fall of 2022, those included the Vernon, East Windsor and Ellington Democratic town committees.

One item on Elliott’s agenda last year was to enact legislation that would levy fines on voters who chose not to vote. That proposal–which saw several House Democrats and one Senate Democrat join Elliott in seeking to punish working people who did not fit their ideal of a citizenship–died.

Before the Hamden Democrat begins focusing on more rules for the rest of us, maybe he could take more care with his PAC filings. Leapin’ lizards, last year’s first report from Build the Future included 14 contributions from lobbyists in which the box that asks if the contributor is a lobbyist or a spouse or dependent of a lobbyist checked the “no” box. Each one had listed his or her occupation as lobbyist.

Published January 30, 2024.

Windsor Democrat Ayana Taylor is off to an impressive start in her bid to unseat 2nd Senate District Democrat Douglas McCrory. The third term board of education member filed her campaign committee documents on December 10th, announced her candidacy in Hartford several days later and filed a campaign finance report on January 10th that revealed she has qualified for public financing, reporting raising $16,591.00 in small contributions. Taylor will receive the grant if she wins the party endorsement at a May convention or qualifies to a primary against the party endorsed candidate.

Daily Ructions regrets not including Taylor in a profile of the emerging contest published Thursday.

Taylor has deep roots in Hartford and Hartford Democratic politics, as well as support in Windsor. She is a serious contender and whether by delegates or signatures, will be on the August primary ballot.

Windsor Democrats may not have as much experience as Bloomfield ones in trooping to the pools for spring or summer primaries, they turn out to vote better than Hartford Democrats. The abysmal showing by Hartford Democrats in September’s mayoral primary is a powerful temptation to ambitious Democrats in the parts of Windsor and Bloomfield that along with a portion of Hartford comprise the 2nd.

Taylor possesses the sort of ties that can make a difference in a crowded or low-turnout primary. She’s a realtor, has belonged to the same church for decades and has served in a consequential local office.

Published January 26, 2024.

Greenwich Democrats continue to strain to explain Trevor Crow’s admission she broke a crucial restriction of the state’s generous campaign public financing law.

Crow boasted to the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee last week that in her 2022 campaign for the State Senate, she not only qualified for a $112,795 taxpayer funded grant, she raised an additional $50,000 for other committees to spend on her campaign.

“Two years ago my name was unknown. It was an uphill battle. I started late and didn’t know anyone or anything. We used the Citizens Election program, which I supplemented by raising an additional $50,000 for our DTCs and our PACS to spend on our race. And District 36 was newly redistricted, subsequently becoming more Republican,” according to the Greenwich Free Press.

The life coach is likely being too hard on herself when she says she didn’t know anything. By her own admission last week, Crow disregarded the affidavit she signed when she accepted public funds. Paragraph four is not ambiguous. It states:

“I certify that I have not solicited or received any contributions for any committee to benefit my candidacy, or authorized any other person to solicit or receive such contributions for any committee, other than qualifying contributions for my candidate committee, and that I will not solicit or receive any contributions for any committee to benefit my candidacy, or authorize any other person to solicit or receive such contributions for any committee, other than qualifying contributions for my candidate committee.”

It’s the deal a candidate makes for all that free money. You cannot solicit funds for committees with the intention that those contributions will be used by those committees to benefit your candidacy. It’s right there in the affidavit. It’s the point of the costly Citizen Election Program. Candidates and, especially, legislators have spent the two decades since the program was enacted finding ways to render its purpose meaningless. Crow was not schooled in those dark arts. Instead, she raised $50,000 for committees other than Trevor Crow 2022 to benefit her.

She announced it, threw a spotlight on it and paraded it to the front of the crowded room at the January meeting of the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. She may have thought her unabashed confession would help her fundraising bonafides as she faces Greenwich scion to a cable fortune Nick Simmons.

Simmons filed his campaign committee papers this week, undaunted by his own abysmal appearance at the same town committee meeting at which Crow managed her own cheerful implosion. Simmons told his audience that Greenwich does not receive enough state assistance–and it’s all Republican incumbent Ryan Fazio’s fault, don’t you know.

The graduate of the exclusive all-male Brunswick School declined to acknowledge that, err, Governor Ned Lamont is a Greenwich Democrat (and once a longtime member of a lily white Greenwich country club) who has rather a lot to say about how well Greenwich does in the state budget. The town’s three seats in the House of Representative are all held by Democrats.

One more thing–Simmons is Lamont’s deputy chief of staff, a position that someone with a little savvy on how these things work ought to be able to turn into something that would benefit the suffering souls of Greenwich.

Simmons’s complaints about the injustices visited upon tony Greenwich by a state government controlled by his fellow Democrats did not go unnoticed in Governor Lamont’s office or by Greenwich legislators not named Fazio.

Published January 26, 2024.

Governor Ned Lamont and Democratic legislative leaders will not call lawmakers into special session to adopt California regulations that will begin to restrict the purchase and sale of internal combustion engines in Connecticut. The decision comes two months after the administration withdrew the regulations before a vote of the bipartisan Regulations Review Committee that was set to reject the sweeping new rules.

The decision is another blow to the reputation of Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes, who is notably unpopular with legislators, both leaders and members of the rank and file in each party.

Many legislators are said to be reluctant to vote to begin an election year by beginning to narrow consumer choices as their first act.

The news of the retreat by the Lamont administration comes in the same week the president of Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, predicted EVs will never account for more than a third of motor vehicle sales.

Eversource, the state’s largest utility, has warned Connecticut’s electricity grid cannot provide power to a significant increase in electric vehicles, many of which will have to be powered at private residences.

Published January 25, 2024.