Veteran Bristol Republican Gary Schaffrick resigned this week as the state party’s treasurer in the aftermath of his arrest on a charge of risk of injury to a minor. Schaffrick continues to work for the state party in a part-time position. In addition, he remains a member of the party’s state central committee from the 31st Senate District.

Schaffrick is said to be working on arrangements for the party’s May nominating convention.

Samaia Hernandez has left her job as Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s communications director in the third month of the new, struggling administration. A press release from Bronin states she left to pursue “new opportunities.”

Hernandez has been replaced by Brett Broesder, the former spokesman for the hapless former mayor of Bridgeport, Bill Finch. “I’m honored to join Mayor Bronin and his team,” said Broesder. “It’s an exciting time in the state’s capital city. I look forward to working with folks across the city to share Hartford’s story.”

The chain of command in the Bronin administration is said to be jagged to the point of veering out of city hall. This has caused some tensions as people try to do their jobs.

A 201o News Times story tells the tale–Bethel’s Will Duff possesses a mighty spirit. A race for the 2nd House District seat Republican Dan Carter is giving up to run for the U.S. Senate may not seem like much of a challenge compared to what Duff’s endured in overcoming cystic fibrosis.

Republican Duff will start as a well-known and well-liked contender in the four town district.

Read Duff’s story here. Prepare to be inspired.

State Representative Dan Carter (R-Bethel) is moving closer to seeking his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate. A Carter candidacy would give state Republicans an alternative to the flailing mess that is the Augie Wolf campaign.

Carter is serving his third term in the House. He won the multi-town seat in 2010 by defeating incumbent Democrat Jason Bartlett.

Carter served in Desert Storm. If nominated, he would face Vietnam fantasist and incumbent Democrat Richard Blumenthal.

In 2012, Carter was an early and prominent supporter of 5th Congressional District hopeful Lisa Wilson Foley. The Simsbury Republican, her husband, and former governor John Rowland were convicted of campaign finance violations.

It’s a busy day in Connecticut’s democracy. Both chambers of the legislature are in session today and hundreds of constituents want to talk to their elected officials.

It’s agriculture day under and around the dome, always a cheerful occasion for the state’s farmers to remind legislators and curious staff members what they do to feed the state. It’s also the day hospitals have chosen to hire buses and fill them with employees who want to talk to representatives and senators. Hundreds of them have been arriving this morning and they have a lot on their minds a they make their way around the capitol battleground over state funding of healthcare services for the poor.

Members of a non-profit alliance will also be at the capitol today making the case for funding of its services.

Today’s astounding jobs report from the administration of Governor Dannel Malloy means Connecticut has not returned to its pre-recession job levels. The administration somehow misplaced 12,200 jobs last year while ballyhooing fake robust job numbers at various times throughout the year.

The Yankee Institute explains the grim implications of today’s nasty revelation.

State Senate Republicans will wish they had more candidates like Glastonbury’s Lorraine Marchetti. The former board of education and town council member announced her candidacy for the 4th Senate District in January. This weekend Marchetti raised the $15,000 from more than 300 small donors required to qualify for public financing of her campaign. Even an incumbent will tell you that Marchetti’s haul in just over a month is an impressive feat.

Marchetti would face Democratic incumbent Stephen Cassano, of Manchester, should he seek a fourth term. Cassano has been a loyal supporter of Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s failed economic policies.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s executive order number 51 reveals Connecticut’s chief executive at his grabbiest. The order provides another device for Malloy to carry on his war on the state’s hospitals. The order imposes a moratorium on hospital affiliations involving Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Hospital System, two of Malloy’s most frequent targets in his ongoing assault on healthcare. The order directs the Office of Health Care Access (OCHA) and the Department of Social Services (DSS) to take no action on certain applications for Certificates of Need (CON).

The order establishes a large task force to review the CON process and report to Malloy at the end of 2016. The suspension of the CON process will continue until January 15, 2017.

The state legislature has authorized by statute a complicated scheme of regulating healthcare providers, particularly their ability to adapt, grow and contract to changing circumstances. Nowhere in those statutes or, tellingly, in Malloy’s order, is a law cited that permits the governor to shutdown the process. Malloy may soon find his authority under question by the hospitals in a court challenge.

The order only applies to in-state hospitals, not to out-of-state healthcare organizations seeking to move into Connecticut.

Malloy, who has carried on about compensation in hospital executive suites for all but the burdensome University of Connecticut Health Care Center, has been unhappy with hospitals since his ill-considered 2011 budget. The hospitals have been hindered in dealing with Malloy and his office by their decision to use the inept Connecticut Hospital Association as their collective vessel. The hospitals could save millions in wasted spending by making major changes–or disbanding–that expensive mess.

Larry Kudlow’s skedaddle from the edge of the contest for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat and the implosion of the Augie Wolf campaign combined to give rise from the ashes to a Draft Jack for U.S. Senate Facebook page. That’s Jack Orchulli, the last Connecticut Republican to face professor  lobbyist and former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd. (Orchulli lost.)

Orchulli, a retired fashion industry executive, also made a brief bid for his party’s nomination for state treasurer in 2014.

Marine veteran Angel Luis Cadena is seeking the the Republcian nomination for the House of Representatives in Connecticut’s 3rd CD. News of Cadena’s candidacy was announced at a meeting of the the pro-gun Connecticut Citizens Defense League, Daily Ructions has learned. 

The Shelton Republican made an unsuccessful bid for his party’s nomination for State Comptroller in 2014. 

The 3rd CD has been represented since 1990 by Rosa DeLauro, left wing Democrat and generous house mother of disgraced Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.