Nix tears from the list of negotiating tools available to Senate Democrats to heave a budget across the finish line before the legislature adjourns on May 4th. The tears, nevertheless, have been flowing. On Monday, a gaggle of Senate Democrats let their leaders know that they were not onboard with a new proposal to close the gaps that keep appearing in spending plans as revenue reports disappoint.

The leaders need 18 votes and Democratic Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman as a tie breaker to get a budget through the upper chamber. The challenge is corralling those 18 votes for a tough budget that Governor Dannel P. Malloy will not veto. That’s not one of the alternatives. Some Democrats are resisting going on record for a budget that makes cuts that will not be in the final version of whatever the legislature manages to cobble together fixes to next year’s ballooning deficit.

Enough Senate Democrats at Monday’s caucus refused to be stampeded into a vote that leaders had to cancel their trip to Malloy’s office to let him know they were ready to vote. Confused negotiations continue.

Not a good day for 5th CD hopefuls and Newtown Republicans Matt Maxwell and Bill Stevens. Their 10-member hometown delegation to the congressional nominating convention will support Sherman First Selectman Clay Cope.

Maxwell and Stevens have struggled to raise money and snag delegates in the contest to face incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Esty. The Newtown rebuff won’t help the two ambitious locals. Cope has raised more than both and appears to be on course for a decisive first ballot win when delegates meet in May to select a nominee.

Credit popular Newtown First Selectwoman Pat Llodra with vouching for Cope’s virtues as a candidate and local leader.

There are no pleasing choices on today’s Connecticut primary ballot. Nevertheless, you must do your duty and hope for better times.

Befuddled House Minority Leader Themis Klarides (R-Derby) is skedaddling away from her ill-considered appearance at Donald Trumps Saturday appearance in Bridgeport. Klarides says her speech to the gathering was not an endorsement. Speakers at a presidential candidate’s rally are rarely neutral. Klarides descended into a riff to stir the mob by referring to their “hatred” of surly Governor Dannel P. Malloy, reminiscent of the Democrat’s ugly comments about Republican Linda McMahon.

Klarides remained at the rally to meet the candidate she appears to be supporting, as these photos reveal. She may have been first in line–after Trump’s private meeting with felonious Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim.

Tom (#HeThrewItAway) Foley is making calls to Connecticut Republicans to see if state party committee members might toss his wife Leslie enough votes for her to defeat Leora Levy in a contest for the Republican National Committee seat being vacated by veteran Pat Longo. The initial calls are being received with considerable surprise. Leslie Foley has not been considered a stalwart party booster. Levy, on the other hand, is a tireless fundraiser and party booster.

Levy was a key fundraiser in 2014 when Foley, who had disparaged the public financing of campaigns, signed on for millions from taxpayers to pay for his second unsuccessful campaign for governor. Foley disappeared from Connecticut Republican politics after his second, wider defeat by unpopular incumbent Democrat Dannel P. Malloy.

No word on a challenger to incumbent John Frey. If there is to be a contest for one seat, ambitious Republicans may decide it’s a good time to add a more effective member to the second Connecticut position on the RNC.

Republican stalwart Pat Longo will not not seek another term as Connecticut’s Republican National Committeewoman. The Wilton Republican has served in party positions since 1961. She was elected to the RNC in 2007, after 14 years as the state party’s vice chair. In 2004, Longo made a brave run for the RNC against a crumbling Rowland administration favorite while many others were silent–or worse–in the face of corruption. 

Greenwich Republican fundraiser Leora Levy, a Ted Cruz supporter, is expected to make a bid for The beloved Longo’s seat. 

Vietnam conscientious objector turned Iraq warrior Christopher Shays accompanied presidential hopeful John Kasich on Friday at a campaign stop in Fairfield, Connecticut. The Sacred Heart University event included testimony from Parson Shays on Kasich’s faith. Kasich has developed the unhappy habit of equating public policy stands on earth with one’s odds of gaining admission to Glory, Glory, Glory after departing this funny ol’ world.

Kasich, a former Lehman Brothers bigwig who cashed in on his government service, won a resounding second term as governor of Ohio in 2014. Shays has not won an election since 2006. He received 27% of the vote in a thrashing by party favorite Linda McMahon in their 2012 U.S. Senate primary.

Reverend Kasich leads the Democratic presidential prospects in most polls, even besting them in some reliably Democratic states. He’s having the devil’s own time among Republicans, having won only his home state. Connecticut’s April 26th primary ought to be a promising contest for a minor Kasich breakthrough–unless Marylander and former U.S. Representative Shays becomes the whining voice of his state campaign.

As a member of Congress, Shays was a persistent antagonist to free speech.

Connecticut Republican operative Justin Clark is the state director of misogynist Donald Trump’s campaign in the run-up to the April 26th primary. The closed primary will allocate 28 delegates to the Republican convention.

Clark, a West Hartford Republican, has plenty of experience working for wealthy candidates who think they know everything. He was the campaign manager for Tom (#HeThrewItAway) Foley’s 2010 and 2014 losing gubernatorial bids. Clark had been working on Governor Chris Christie’s presidential bid before it ended in New Hampshire and on the George Washington Bridge.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin appears not to be much of a negotiator. The first-term mayor’s original spokesperson, Samaia Hernandez, lasted three months in her $80,000 a year job. Hernandez was replaced by Democratic operative Brett Broesder, whose salary working for the Bronins is $95,000 a year.

Bronin has been struggling to explain to local residents, state legislators, and an assortment of union leaders why he should be given expanded powers to deal with public employee contracts. Someone who spent more than $170 a vote in last summer’s Democratic mayoral primary may think $15,000 is chump change. Others will disagree. Some who pay attention to identity politics will be struck by the big difference between what Bronin paid a woman to do the job and what he’s paying a man.

An inquiry on Thursday afternoon last week about Hernandez’s salary elicited this strained Friday night explanation from Bronin chief of staff Thea Montanez:

“We’ve reduced the communications budget by more than $60,000 compared with the Segarra administration, since we have permanently eliminated an assistant communications director position. Brett is assuming a broader range of responsibilities, yet his salary is still lower than than the director was paid in the prior administration. When Samaia joined the city, she was given a salary that was $5,000 more than she was making at her last job. Conversely, Brett took a $25,000 pay cut from what he was making in the private sector.”

Broesder made $91,304 a year when he began working for Bridgeport mayor Bill Finch in 2014, which makes his $95,000 deal in Hartford look pretty good, bearing no resemblance to a sacrifice. Finch was defeated for re-election last year.

With five weeks to go before their May 9th nominating conventions, state Republicans are anticipating late entries into the contest for party’s U.S. Senate nomination to face incumbent and faux Vietnam veteran Richard Blumenthal. Next week will bring the formal launch of state Representative Dan Carter’s campaign. He is likely to arrive on the shoulders of his House colleagues. Jack Orchulli, the party’s 2004 nominee for seat, is also giving serious thought to beginning a late blooming campaign.

No week in the race would be complete without bumbling hopeful Augie Wolf relaunching his campaign with the announcement of a new management team. Two of Wolf’s new hires are veterans of the Ben Carson presidential campaign, so they have experience in dealing with a candidate who speaks in non-sequiturs, riddles and assorted nonsense.