State Republicans will meet in Manchester this evening at 6 p.m. to signal if they want to maintain their position as one of the most unsuccessful Republican organizations in the nation. You’ll know that’s the path they have chosen to stay on if failed party chairman Jerry Labriola manages to herd the sheep into an executive session to discuss his many embarrassments.

If there are as many serious contenders to replace Labriola as chinwagging activists claim, this will be the first night for them to reveal themselves and act. They can band together to resist Labriola’s scheme to move the meeting into secret session and banish guests from Manchester’s Adams Mill. That would force Labriola to explain paying a salary summer and fall to a party committee employee who was precluded from doing work for the party at a crucial time—an election campaign.

In the absence of action from state central committee, two Republican town committees have passed resolutions calling on Labriola to resign. If other Fairfield County town committees follow the lead of Wilton and Redding, Labriola’s party-funded frequent flyer card will be cut off.

Tonight’s meeting in the City of Village Charm need not be a Night of the Living Dead.

No glad tidings from Governor Dannel Malloy’s office for Hartford mayor Pedro Segarra today. Malloy counsel and Hartford resident Luke Bronin is leaving the bunker at the end of the governor’s current term. Bronin said in a statement today that “his heart remains in public service.”

This is bad news indeed for Segarra, who has struggled in Hartford’s top job. Bronin has been scoring well in the buzz primary among Hartford insiders as they contemplate who might challenge the befuddled incumbent. Bronin is new to Hartford politics but he brings resources and connections that would help him navigate the transaction-based Hartford political culture in a 2015 bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

These are embarrassing times at Central Connecticut State University.  The school’s administration is struggling to explain the wreckage done to its standards, competence and judgment by its astounding mishandling of Professor Ravi Shankar’s prison poet affair.

Here’s an chirpy email from November 18th:

“The Faculty Senate and the Office of the President are pleased to invite you to attend an Open Forum on Tuesday, December 9 at 3:05 p.m. in the Constitution Room of Memorial Hall. The Open Forum is an opportunity for faculty and staff to engage in informal conversation and discussion (sic) any topic, question, or issue that may be of interest or concern. Refreshments will be available. We hope you take advantage of this opportunity to join us.”

The invitation was extended by Jack Miller, President, and Stephen Cohen, President of the Faculty Senate.

Yesterday morning, Miller’s office sent this forlorn announcement:

“Please note that tomorrow’s Open Forum has been cancelled. We will be scheduling two open forums during the spring semester.”

There he goes again. Prison poet and Central Connecticut State University professor Ravi Shankar has been arrested again. Readers may recall that Shankar was promoted to a full professorship last summer by the state university system’s Board of Regents while he was in and out of a state hoosegow in an unusual arrangement that allowed Shankar to accommodate his teaching schedule while serving time.

Shankar was arrested this weekend on a variety of charges arising out his alleged flight from a highway accident scene on Route 9 in Essex, Connecticut. A state police report obtained by Daily Ructions with the help of wrongful death attorney, alleges that Shankar’s 2011 Honda Fit careened across the highway, striking wire rope guide rails on both sides of the two lane northbound travel portion of the road. The report continues, Shankar “had left the scene and was later located at his residence and arrested for Evading Responsibility 140224b, Failure to Drive in the Proper Lane 14-236, Oper MV While Under Suspension 14-215, and Oper. MV W/O Minimum Insurance 14-213b.”

Shankar is scheduled to appear in court on December 18th.

Leora Levy, the Greenwich Republican who heads the state party’s fundraising efforts, is expressing an interest in becoming the next party chairman. Levy has been contacting Greenwich donors, an important constituency in the isolated circles that steer the state party organization into the shoals. As the chief fundraiser for the party and a popular figure in Greenwich, Levy enjoys a singular position to turn off the flow of money to the state party committee and force a decision on the fate of failed incumbent chairman Jerry Labriola.

Levy possesses a stirring background, having fled from totalitarian Cuba as a girl. You can read her account of her life here.

O’Garro and bride on their wedding day.

Earl O’Garro, former Hartford insurance broker, was taken into federal custody Friday morning, Daily Ructions has learned. The Malloy administration favorite will be presented in federal court this afternoon. He is expected to face a host of charges on arising our of his dealings with the City of Hartford, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in missing premiums the city wired him in an unusual transaction.

The case continues.

The magnificent Mike Nichols took his leave of this world today. Here’s his tribute to mediocrity.

Another blow for Connecticut Republicans in the aftermath of November’s disappointing result in the race for governor. David Walker, who came third in the August primary for lieutenant governor, is making noises about seeking the 2016 Republican nomination for U.S. Senate against Democrat Richard Blumenthal, the first term incumbent and faux Vietnam veteran.

Walker, who is new to Republican membership, has been talking to party leaders and notables about making the race against the 68 year old Greenwich millionaire. A persistent obstacle for the No Labels maven will be the trove of tales party loyalists collected last spring and summer featuring Walker’s astounding self-regard.

Walker’s interest in the Senate nod suggests he may break his October promise to sell his Bridgeport home and move to another state if Tom Foley did not make it across the finish line first on November 4th.

Connecticut’s Judicial Selection Commission’s commitment to its public trust will be tested next week when it considers the application of House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero’s application to become a judge of the state’s Superior Court. Approval by the commission is the first step in the process that includes nomination by the governor and confirmation by the both houses of the legislature.

Cafero, who is leaving the legislature after 22 years, will make his case in a secret session before the 12-member board. The Norwalk Republican makes his bid for the safe harbor of the bench as he continues to draw the attention of Federal criminal investigators.

Commission members will get an opportunity to ask a question that continues to dog Cafero in the aftermath of his 2012 encounter with FBI informant Raymond Soucy. When the state employee union activist put $5,000 in Cafero’s legislative office refrigerator, why didn’t Cafero call the police? Instead, Cafero returned the cash, summoned an aide (“Johnny Angel”) and accepted the laundered money for House Republican campaign committees in checks from stooges. The video of Cafero’s unseemly encounter with Soucy became a centerpiece in the 2013 trial of former Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan campaign aide Robert Braddock.

If the commission properly discharges its duties, members will want to know the details of the ongoing federal investigation of House Republican campaign practices. They will want to ask if any of Cafero’s colleagues at Brown Rudnick, the Hartford law and lobbying firm where Cafero is a contract partner, have been questioned by investigators. They also have a duty to extract details of what investigators have asked him, what he knows of the investigation, and how he’s paid for legal representation in the investigation that broke into public view in February. Has Cafero been able to provide all the records investigators have requested? Did he accept any gifts (trips, transportation, food, alcohol, cruises on the water) from any contractor doing business with House Republican campaign committees or candidates?

The commission will not need to ask the eternal question, “Would we embarrass ourselves by approving your application?” Everyone knows the dispiriting answer to that.