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.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know—The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is acclaimed actress Maureen Anderman.

Superior Court Judge William Clark issued an order Monday stating that he “expects to schedule evidence to begin during the week of October 6, 2023, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and to continue daily until complete, subject to logistical adjustments as necessary and as approved by the court.”

Because Connecticut holds municipal primaries in mid-September, challenges to the result require parties and courts to engage in intense and timely reviews of a challenge for the November general election. Courts are reluctant to postpone election dates because doing so can reduce voter turnout.

Plaintiff John Gomes and his team will need to immerse itself in thousands of hours of video recordings and review thousands of absentee ballot applications, the ballots themselves and the envelopes they arrived in. It is tedious but essential work. The ballots themselves were separated from the other documents when they were counted on September 12th.

Gomes and Ganim are both on the ballot for the November 7th contest for mayor. Ganim would enjoy an advantage over Gomes if he is the Democratic nominee for mayor.

Published September 26, 2023.

For something completely different than the battle of Bridgeport ballots, read this week’s edition of Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is acclaimed actress Maureen Anderman, a happy Connecticut resident.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy each accepted generous contributions from the PAC of their indicted colleague, Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. Blumenthal received $10,000, presumably by check, from New Millennium PAC for his 2022 re-election campaign, according to Opensecrets.com.

Murphy received $7,500 from his fellow Democrat’s PAC for his 2018 campaign for a second term.

Blumenthal, who has nurtured a reputation for rectitude, accepted the Menendez maximum contribution after Menendez escaped conviction for corruption when a federal jury deadlocked in 2017. The Senate Ethics Committee admonished Menendez in 2018 because he “knowingly and repeatedly accepted gifts of significant value from” a doctor he used his position to assist.

Menendez was represented before the committee by Marc Elias.

Neither Blumenthal nor Murphy have called on Menendez to resign after he and his wife were indicted for accepting bribes that included “cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle and other items of value.”

In 2012, the Menendez PAC contributed $7,500 to Dan Roberti’s losing primary campaign in Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District. Roberti was defeated by Elizabeth Esty. She went on to serve three terms in the House but ignoring a chilling case of harassment in her office caused her to abandon her bid for a fourth term in 2018.

The Menendez PAC also contributed $5,000 to Rep. John Larson in 2012, though he faced no serious opposition.

Blumenthal could have afforded to be more discriminating in soliciting and accepting contributions. Tribal loyalties cannot have blinded him to what Menendez is. But the instinct to grab every buck he can in an easy re-election campaign caused Blumenthal to abandon the standards he’s spent 40 years trying to convince the public he would always honor. For $10,000? Because he was worried Themis Klarides or Leora Levy might come within 10 points of him?

Blumenthal, Murphy and Larson might do the decent thing and engage in some contribution washing by divesting their never ending campaign committees of the amounts they received from Menendez but it won’t change the rules of the game to take whatever they can from whomever offers it.

Published September 25, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know—The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is actress Maureen Anderman.

Defiant Bridgeport mayoral candidate John Gomes’s legal team will have an opportunity to examine under oath the city employee their client has claimed is the woman depositing absentee ballots in a dropbox in the early morning hours a week before the September 12th primary. A preliminary witness and exhibit list submitted Friday by Gomes lawyers William Bloss and Christopher Mattei includes Wanda Geter-Pataky and Bridgeport’s Democratic Registrar of Voters, Patricia Howard.

Gomes and his supporters have said they believe Geter-Pataky is the city employee seen depositing ballots in an absentee ballot drop box by the entrance to the Margaret E. Morton Government Center. One video released by the Gomes campaign appears to show Geter-Pataky directing an unidentified man to deposit absentee ballots in the same box.

Gomes’s challenge is expected to threaten Incumbent Democrat Joseph Ganim’s narrow September 12th primary win by showing with the videos and other evidence a pattern of conduct that has made an accurate count of absentee ballots impossible.

The rising temperature in the Ganim campaign is evident in Matt Caron’s Fox61 report on the dispute. A Ganim aide called police when Caron and his crew appeared in the mayor’s office and asked for an interview. Previously, Ganim, a poor loser and a worse winner, called Gomes and company “losers.”

Ganim is seeking a third four-year term after his first run as mayor was interrupted by a federal prison term for corruption.

Published September 22, 2023.

Judiciary Committee members meet today to congratulate Nora Dannehy, former federal prosecutor and former counsel to Governor Ned Lamont, on her nomination to the State Supreme Court by Lamont. After a public hearing, they will vote to advance Dannehy to the full legislature.

Members of the public submitted testimony to the committee. As of Wednesday morning, more than a dozen opposed Dannehy. They identified themselves as belonging to various groups, including Latinas for Trump, Keep the Promise, People Over Elites, Latino Justice, People’s Party Project and Say No to Anti-Trump Nominee. There’s also someone who described himself as “a concerned citizen.”

Lawyers Eugene Riccio and William Dow III submitted testimony in favor Dannehy’s nomination. Dow is a titan of the Connecticut defense bar. They say more than the enigmatic Dannehy is likely to reveal herself.

Four people comprise the list of members of the public who wish to offer oral testimony.

Committee members will have an opportunity to pose questions to Dannehy after members of the public speak. A nominee to the high court who has not previously served on the bench often has little written record revealing a philosophy of the law in theory and practice. Dannehy spent most of her career as a federal prosecutor, with stops at UTC (now Raytheon) and state attorney general’s office. How Dannehy advised the aeronautics manufacturer to do business in an authoritarian state like Saudi Arabia, for example, might provide a look at her views when acting in a role considerably different than a prosecutor.

What Dannehy sees as the limits on the growing surveillance state, if any, should also be of some interest to legislators. Must the constitutional right to confront one’s accuser give way to the camera? What is state’s obligation to fund local education under the State Constitution? Views matter. No nominee to the state’s highest court arrives as a blank slate.

Nine years ago the State Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty law in a 4-3 decision. The majority opinion set out a new standard of review, “contemporary standards of decency,” to reach its decision. Dannehy ought to be asked what she thinks that means. What are our “contemporary standards of decency”? And what are hers? Does she see areas of the law where they are not met?

There will likely be no questions like that. The deal has been done. Today will bring a festival of congratulations and none of the traditional probing. In return, the next opening on the State Appellate Court will go to a Superior Court judge who has been chosen. She will receive a similar reception to Dannehy’s.

In the meantime, shhhh.

Published September 20, 2023.

Sports broadcaster Sage Steele left ESPN in August, announcing, “I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely.” Republican leaders and donors in Washington and Connecticut hope the popular personality will fulfill that ambition by running for the House in the state’s competitive 5th CD, Daily Ructions has learned.

Steele would face three-term Democratic incumbent Jahana Hayes in the general election. Hayes eked across the finish line first last year in one of the nation’s closest House races, defeating former state Senate George Logan by 1,800 votes. Logan is reported to be contemplating a rematch with Hayes. A Steele candidacy would upend those plans.

Steele left Bristol-based ESPN two years after criticizing the corporation’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Steele complied with the requirement and called it sick on the “Uncut with Jay Cutler” podcast. Steele talked about her dispute with with ESPN on Fox News in August.

Steele was a guest last month at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.

The broadcaster joined ESPN in 2006. She has spoken often of her conservative political views. A Steele-Hayes contest would draw national attention from activists, media and the donor class that drives many party decisions.

Steele has many choices. Having left ESPN but not begun a new career, the Avon resident would likely be able to devote herself to the congressional race full-time. That would give her a significant advantage over Logan.

Delegates from both parties in the district that runs from the northwest corner of the state to Meriden in central Connecticut will meet in May to endorse a candidate. The district includes all or part of 41 towns. The Cook Partisan Voting Index gives it a D +3 rating.

Published September 18, 2023.

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Beleaguered public defenders face an ordeal of struggle sessions as a for-profit three-person firm set forth its proposal in a September 11th document to the Division of Public Defender Services (DPDS).
Thought Partner Solutions pledges to align with DPDS’s “commitment to a more equitable and inclusive workplace.

The two-phase plan begins with an “Organizational Assessment ‘Acknowledgement.'” The implication is that members of the agency will be acknowledging bad things within it. The first phase will include a “Racial Equity Organizational Profile.” The agency is headed by a Black woman, TaShun Bowden-Lewis. Her failure to hire fill more than a dozen vacancies in the agency in more than a year as its leader will fit neatly in the accountability category.

Phase two will feature exploring cultural competence and “building resilience through emotional acknowledgement.” It will also include “operationalizing equity, managing organizational conflict, sharing power, implementing new practices, and sustaining the initiative.” An advance course in jargon is not included but appears essential.

The estimated cost “falls within the range of $50,000 to $150,000, subject to further refinement as we engage in detailed discussions about the project’s scale.” Thought Partner Solutions estimates its duration at 1-3 years. “Further refinement” may lead to an escalating price tag.

The proposal makes no mention of the agency’s mission: providing legal representation for people of little means who have been charged with a crime.

DPDS employs a $146,000 a year Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Daryl McGraw. The thicket of tasks Thought Partner Solutions sets out in its proposal sound like what he was hired to do.

The Thought Partner Solutions expenditure may have to wait until the Public Defender Services Commission determines if the agency’s growing swag budget can make room for other costs unrelated to achieving the best results for clients. Spending has become another minefield of conflict in the agency, as The Courant’s Ed Mahony reported in an alarming story of accusations of racism by Bowden-Lewis against commission chair, Richard Palmer.

The Bridgeport Democratic organization is living up to its reputation as the state’s most prodigious generator of absentee ballots. As of Friday, 4,363 Bridgeport Democrats had requested an absentee ballot for Tuesday’s municipal primary. As of Monday morning, 1,179 Hartford Democrats had applied for an absentee ballot, 625 ballots had been returned.

New Haven’s Democratic primary for mayor has prompted only 571 absentee ballot requests.

In three Republican primary contests, 27 party members in Derby, 64 in Brookfield and 125 in West Haven had applied for absentee ballots.

Absentee ballots provided the margin of victory in Bridgeports mayoral primary four years ago when state Senator Marilyn Moore won the machine votes, only to lose the race to incumbent Joseph Ganim when the absentee ballots were counted. Moore unsuccessfully disputed the result and failed to secure a the number of signatures necessary to secure a spot on the ballot for the fall contest that year. This year, the Democrat fell short of the number of signatures necessary for a primary challenge.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) recently referred the results of its investigation into the 2019 Bridgeport Democratic primary to the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.

Published September 11, 2023.

The closing of Stone Academy on February 15th of this year has brought attention to the erratic regulation of for-profit nursing programs by the Office of Higher Education (OHE) and the Department of Public Health (DPH). The crisis, now in its seventh month, has seen OHE offer little or no assistance to more than 1,000 abandoned students.

Statistics complied by DPH show that Stone Academy was not alone in graduating students who failed to pass the national nursing exam on the first first time they took it. Porter and Chester campuses showed dramatic fluctuations in exam success. Only Stone closed, though Porter and Chester also had a 43% pass rate at its Waterbury and and now closed Stratford campus.

The numbers suggest systemic issues that OHE and DPH have declined to address in anything but an ad hoc manner, allowing more striving students to become saddled with debts they are unable to pay.

Published September 11, 2023.

For something completely different, read and Subscribe to Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is Hartford’s Mayor Luke Bronin, who completes two terms in office on December 31st.