The Wall Street Journal’s Alyssia Finley includes a rant from a Connecticut union leader at a New Haven anti-Israel rally in a column analyzing the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) disappointing response to the October 7th slaughter and kidnapping of Israelis by Hamas terrorists.

Finley writes:

“Our bosses, our government want us to think [Hamas] are enemies of working class people, but they are not,” Kooper Caraway, executive director of the SEIU Connecticut State Council, exclaimed at an anti-Israel rally in New Haven, Conn. “Our enemies are the CEOs,” and “our comrades are in Gaza,” he added before denouncing capitalism, “colonialism” and “occupation.”

The Wall Street Journal is widely read, particularly by capitalists. Caraway’s characterization of Hamas will add to their impression of Connecticut as a place hostile to business. Worse, absent universal denouncements, Caraway’s declaration portrays Connecticut as home to influential actors who have abandoned decency.

Published October 16, 2023.

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Shhhhh, Attorney General William Tong did not want you to read about this. His Firewall PAC solicited contributors by phone, no emails allowed.

Tong is on maneuvers. He held a similar leave-no-fingreprints fundraising event in Fairfield on September 27th at the Brooklawn Country Club, where “modest bathing suits are required in the pool/pool area” and “all baseball caps must be worn in the proper forward position.” An odd–or maybe not–venue for Tong to hold an event. Here is its philosophy of membership: “Brooklawn is a private club that seeks new members through personal connections with current members. Potential members must be sponsored and endorsed by current Brooklawn members known to them.” [Emphasis included on the club’s website, Thurston.] Requiring member references is a traditional manner of thwarting racial diversity in private clubs.

Tong has made much of seeking a role civil rights actions. Holding a fundraiser at private country club suggests his commitment to civil rights may have limitations.

One contributor of note was Arthur Linares, former Republican state senator. Linares is now owner of Connecticut Social Equity, LLC, an entity doing business in the highly regulated cannabis industry. Linares made a maximum $1,000.00 contribution. Linares is also raising money for Republican Chris Christie’s faltering presidential campaign.

Tong’s PAC raised $70,000 in the third quarter of this year. Its haul included few small donors.

Tonight’s event will be at Carbone’s Kitchen in Bloomfield, where one need not provide references to dine. This event also featured invitations by phone only. Ticket sales are said to be brisk.

The competition between Tong and Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz to extract commitments from activist Democrats for 2026 is said to have caught the attention of the state’s leading Democrat–and he is not pleased.

Published October 11, 2023.

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Former state senator and 2018 Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Joe Markley has dealt a blow to mindless political tribalism in Southington. Markley released a riveting and reasoned 10 minute YouTube video in which he calmly, thoroughly explains the abandonment of all standards of appropriate conduct in the leadership of the Southington party leadership.

Markley brings his customary calm married to a precise statement of facts to delivering a devastating indictment of local party leaders. One need not live in Southington to find the video instructive.

This is how it is done.

Published October 10, 2023.

Superior Court Judge Willam Clark has issued a pre-trial order. Evidence shall begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 12th. The order requires the plaintiff to provide a list of exhibits and witnesses for the first three days of trial by October 10th.

Governor Ned Lamont will appoint Ronnell Higgins, former Chief of Police at Yale University as the state’s new Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP). Higgins became associate vice president of public safety and community engagement at Yale last year.

The announcement Wednesday that Higgins will replace Commissioner James Rovella has been carefully timed to draw a line under more revelations about conduct in the ranks of the State Police.

Colonel Stavros Mellekas is also expected to be replaced.

The State Police has been a nettlesome problem for Lamont. Republican Bob Stefanowski had only one line in his 2018 rematch with Lamont that irked the Greenwich Democrat. It was troopers’ vote of no-confidence in Lamont. That sealed Rovella’s fate. An ongoing scandal over motor vehicle tickets continues to cause dismay within the administration. More unhappy surprises are expected to follow–and you won’t need your GPS to track them.

Published October 4, 2023.

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Video of candidates and John Gomes supporters placing ballots in two Bridgeport absentee boxes provide a sample of the bewildering amount of evidence Superior Court Judge William Clark is likely to see in the litigation over the result of the September 12th Democratic primary for mayor.

The results are being challenged by Gomes, who claims incumbent Joseph Ganim’s 251-vote win was obtained through fraudulent absentee ballots. Members of Team Gomes are seen in a video compilation depositing ballots in two of the city’s four absentee ballot boxes.

Thousands of hours of video have been provided to the Gomes legal team. Thousands of absentee ballot applications, envelopes and ballots have also been turned over to the parties. Bridgeport police officials have objected to some disclosures ordered by Judge Clark. They claim they would interfere with an ongoing investigation.

Published October 3, 2023.

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Avangrid, which aspires to become “the leading sustainable energy company in the United States,” has terminated its agreement to build wind power turbines in Long Island Sound. The announcement came from the Connecticut-based company Monday evening.

The company, with $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 states, wrote:

“One year ago, Avangrid was the first offshore wind developer in the United States to make public the unprecedented economic headwinds facing the industry including record inflation, supply chain disruptions, and sharp interest rate hikes, the aggregate impact of which rendered the Park City Wind project unfinanceable under its existing contracts.

“Since that time, Avangrid has been transparent and collaborative, working diligently with state and federal officials and stakeholders to find solutions to the economic challenges facing Park City Wind as we continued to advance the permitting and development of the project. After exploring all potential solutions to the financial challenges facing the project, and engaging in good-faith and productive discussions with Connecticut state officials regarding these challenges, it is clear the best path forward for Park City Wind is in the termination of the Power Purchase Agreements and a rebid of the project.

“Pursuant to the contracts, Avangrid and the Connecticut Electric Distribution Companies have agreed to terminate the PPAs which will allow all parties an opportunity to pursue an expedient path forward.”

The CT Mirror provided a primer on the Park City project and the state of wind power development generally last spring. Read it here.

Published October 3, 2023.

For something completely different, read my Substack newsletter, Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is Army veteran and Digital Dunkirk refugee leader Alex Plitsas.

Middletown’s distinctive brand of politics is in full view Monday evening. Some members of the Common Council continue to complain that Chief of Police Erik Costa has not met the city charter’s requirement that he live in Middletown—as Costa’s one year extension to meet the requirement expires this week.

Costa has rented an apartment, establishing his residency. The mewling continues among some council members. Their arguments require translation into Middletown-speak. the Common Council groans under the influence of retired members of the clubby local constabulary. Costa is an outside hire. That sets off alarms among the many Middletown insiders who like the chief to come from the ranks of the insider caucus.

Apartment dwellers are residents too. They enjoy all the rights invested in those who live in single family homes.

Former state budget director Melissa McCaw rented an apartment in Hartford when she was that city’s finance director and was required to be a city resident. Her husband and children did not move to Hartford with her. Middletown has not been home to an official as powerful as McCaw for years. She left the Lamont administration in early 2022 for a fresh start in East Hartford.

Before council members contort the plain meaning of in pursuit of their petty agenda they might ask each other, ”Are our spouses residents of Middletown?”

Published October 2, 2023.

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) this week appointed his colleague state Senator John Fonfara (D-Hartford) to the MIRA Dissolution Authority. The appointment came 15 days after Fonfara received the fewest votes of the three candidates competing in Hartford’s Democratic primary for mayor.

The appointment will give Fonfara enhanced influence in determining what role the 80-acre former trash-to-energy plant site can play in the development of Hartford’s South Meadows. The new agency will have until July 1, 2026 to complete its tasks.

With Fonfara, who retains his influential position as co-chair of the legislature’s finance committee, on the MIRA Dissolution Authority, the new administration will discover how diffuse power in Hartford can often be, the staying power of discontent and there are substantive ways to “believe in Hartford” that transcend campaign slogans.

William DiBella memorably told an incensed legislator the Hartford Democrat outmaneuvered on a committee vote, “I’m not here to give you a civics lesson.” School is back in session. The lesson is the same, only the instructor has changed.

Published September 29, 2023.

Former Republican state Senator George Logan will launch his second bid for the 5th Congressional District on Monday, October 2nd. Logan teased the announcement Wednesday on Twitter.

If Republicans nominate Logan, the contest will be a rematch with third-term incumbent Democrat Jahana Hayes. Logan lost to Hayes in 2022 by a little under 2,000 votes. The former two-term state legislator moved from his Ansonia home in the 3rd Congressional District to a residence in Meriden, putting him in the 5th. Logan continues to own his home in Ansonia but has registered a German luxury car in Meriden.

Logan took a drubbing in the Farmington Valley, once a reliable source of Republican votes. Logan unfurled his colors as a supporter of Donald Trump when one of the twice-impeached former president’s prominent lickspittles, Representative Elise Stefanik, headlined a Greenwich fundraiser for him. Logan will travel to the heart of Q-Anon country Monday to make his announcement in Watertown—home to the state’s highest ranking openly Q-Anon supporter, state Senator Eric Berthel.

Logan is expected to devote himself full-time in this campaign sooner than he did in 2022. Continuing to work for Eversource subsidiary Aquarian far into the last campaign may have made a difference in the outcome of the election.

Republicans in and out of the district are waiting for ESPN broadcaster Sage Steele, of Avon, to decide if she will enter contest.

Published September 27, 2023.

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