Ridgefield Republican C. Robert Eick announced Monday afternoon that he will not take his campaign for state treasurer to an August primary. Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst won the Republican endorsement by a wide margin at the party’s May nominating convention. Despite his poor showing, Eick called the campaign “thrilling, humbling and gratifying”.

Here’s Mary Hayashi. She’s a California Democrat who was convicted of shoplifting $2,500 in merchandise from Neiman Marcus in 2011. She’s running in Tuesday’s California primary for the state Senate. Her opponent has dubbed her “Mug Shot Mary”, and made her the subject of this devastating webpage.

Take three minutes and fifty-one seconds to witness how an editorial board interview can go wrong in a way she should have anticipated. What could be in those notebooks?

She offered to pay. What’s the problem? She said she was sorry.

Heather Bond Somers will try to rescue Connecticut Republicans from their convention folly. The Groton Republican will proceed to the primary for lieutenant governor without combining her campaign funds with gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton. The two had announced an alliance early this year that had been expected to include Somers and Boughton raising money individually and then putting their funds together to reach the $250,000 threshold required to collect the public financing bonanza.

Party insiders have been urging Somers, who is close to the $75,000 needed for a $400,000 grant, to go it alone in the primary for lieutenant governor. That strategy will give Somers the resources to take the fight to and draw a striking contrast with convention-endorsed state Representative Penny Bacchiochi. On the eve of last weekend’s convention, The Stafford Republican  accused rival David Walker of engaging in a racist whisper campaign targeted at Bachhiochi’s husband and his children.

The Somers decision will likely have some serious consequences for Mark Boughton’s campaign for governor. He needs Somers’s funds to qualify for public financing in time to make an impact on the August primary campaign.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti hopes to join Bacchiochi, Somers, and Walker in the contest for lieutenant governor. He’s abandoning the race for governor and will attempt to collect enough signatures to be included on the primary ballot for the second spot. Lauretti could replace Somers on a Boughton ticket and get the Danbury mayor to $250,000.

Unsettling news from Waterbury. The Republican American reported this past weekend that federal authorities are investigating whether Waterbury police officers were on duty while they worked for Mayor Neil O’Leary’s 2011 election campaign against incumbent Michael Jarjura. O’Leary, a former Waterbury police chief and big winner in at least one local Super Bowl pool, says he is aware of the federal probe and there’s nothing there to see. Move along. What tawdry political doings could possibly have occurred in Waterbury during a fiercely conducted campaign for mayor.

One never knows where an investigation will lead, as Connecticut has often been remind. What would Waterbury be without FBI agents roaming the streets and asking questions?

The Republican-American is behind a paywall, but here are the first few paragraphs of the ominous story:

WATERBURY – A federal grand jury is investigating whether city police officers used on-duty time or public resources to help their former chief, Neil M. O’Leary, in his successful 2011 mayoral campaign.

Police and O’Leary confirm that city police officers have been subpoenaed in connection with the investigation of police involvement in the O’Leary campaign.

The FBI also has sought municipal records documenting the time that officers dedicated to a charity golf tournament that O’Leary helped organize.

After more than a week of rumors sweeping the city, O’Leary acknowledged the existence of the grand jury investigation in an interview in his City Hall office on Thursday.

He said he was uncertain of the details of the investigation because he hasn’t been interviewed or subpoenaed by the FBI or any other law enforcement agency about the 2011 election.

But O’Leary said he believes he has nothing to worry about because he repeatedly told city employees working on his campaign that all work must be done on their own time.

O’Leary sounds like he is straining to put a happy face on a damaging story. As students of public corruption investigations know, it’s a bad sign indeed when authorities have not questioned you when you or your campaign may be at the center of a criminal investigation.

Full marks to Jonathan Shugarts and Penelope Overton for getting the story.

That did not take long. Mark Lauretti, longtime mayor of Shelton, has taken out petitions from the Office of the Secretary of the State to begin collecting signatures to join the Republican primary ballot for governor. Lauretti will need to submit 8,190 signatures of registered Republicans by June 10th to qualify for the August primary.

Lauretti fell far short of winning the support of 15% of the delegates to last weekend’s Republican state convention that would have given him a spot in the primary race without having to gather signatures. The task of collecting 10,000 signatures (to have a buffer) from registered Republicans in three weeks is a formidable one.

In other post-covention news, Jerry Farrell, a Wallingford ally of the Labriola brothers, will not proceed to a primary for attorney general. Farrell endorsed convention winner Kie Westby.

Tom Foley won a convincing 1st ballot victory for the Republican nomination for governor. The Former ambassador to Ireland had enough votes to heave John McKinney over the 15% primary threshold on the end-of-ballot switches in the 4th Congressional District.

Danbury’s Mark Boughton easily qualified for the primary, setting up a three way contest for August.

Team Foley thinks a three way primary will be less destructive than a head-to-head with Boughton. That strategy caused a bundle of Foley delegates to switch from Foley to McKinney, with Stamford providing a hefty 17.

She made it up. Penny Bacchiochi lied. Rival David Walker’s campaign made no racist comments about Bacchiochi and her family. Walker has accepted her apology.

It is not often politicos see the unraveling of a malicious fantasist in two days.

Footage from a Bacchiochi campaign meeting, probably the final one. They studied many examples and came up with their own.

Trumbull’s Tim Herbst reached the $75,000 public financing threshold for his campaign for state treasurer. Herbst enters the Republican convention, which begins today, as the favorite to defeat opponent Robert Eick in Saturday’s balloting. Eick ran into some headwinds in the run-up to the convention when he was unable to explain whether or not he had marketed and profited subprime mortgage instruments in his career in finance.

Eick was a generous contributor to Democrat Christopher Dodd’s political campaigns, including his 2008 presidential bid.

Incumbent Denise Nappier will be nominated for a fifth term at tonight’s Democratic convention.

Jerry Farrell, former consumer protection commissioner and 2010 Republican nominee for secretary of the state, will announce his candidacy for attorney general Friday afternoon. The Wallingford Republican will face Kie Westby for the party nomination at this weekend’s convention.

Democrats will nominate incumbent George Jepsen for a second term this evening at their convention in Hartford.