You’d be nervous too.

Employees at the Hartford regional office of the Department of Children and Families will be relieved to know that a January 14th car fire in the office parking lot was a “targeted event”. The fire, Hartford police have concluded, was not set in retaliation for DCF policies or actions.

The attack on the motor vehicle had unsettled DCF caseworkers. It was first reported to state police, who referred it to Hartford fire investigators. They concluded the blaze was incendiary and called in the local police arson unit, who continue to investigate.

DCF employees have been on edge over the incident. It’s not often someone’s car is set ablaze at work. Commissioner Joette Katz’s desultory response to the workplace arson has mystified workers. The haughty commissioner has done nothing to assure employees that they are safe and the fire was not in retaliation for an official act. Katz, of course, may want to steer well clear of discussions about parking lots, but it’s no reason to let frontline employees to wonder about their safety at work.

Updates as they become available. While DCF workers breathe a sigh of relief, they can mark the 20th anniversary of “Creep”.

State Senate President Donald Williams (D-Brooklyn) has told Democratic colleagues he will not seek a 12th term, Daily Ructions has learned. Williams’s retirement will unleash a scramble for promotions among Senate caucus members. Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney (D-New Haven) would be likely successor to Williams.

Daily Ructions readers do like an election contest, so note that Oscar voting concludes today. If you are an Oscar voter and are voting online, get to it. If you have a paper ballot, deliver it by hand. Please get this done if you are voting for 12 Years a Slave. 

Deadline Hollywood explains how it works–and adds some inside dope on the campaigning for votes as the polls are about to close.

The 86th Academy Awards celebration takes place Sunday night.

On Tuesday night at Manhattan’s Fresco by Scotto (where an order of prime rib commands $60), professor of ethics, pardons and Irish real estate lobbyist Christopher J. Dodd, a member of the 1 %, will sponsor a fundraising event featuring Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy. Ducats start at $2,500 and rise to $5,000 to serve as a co-host. Checks should be made out to state Democrats’ federal fund. If you’re a Northeast Utilities customer, maybe you can get a discount on your power bill, along with parking validation.

The unpopular Malloy has spent little time in Connecticut since Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation announced last week it would shed a staggering 600 jobs.

When the immortal Duke Ellington asked the legendary Miss Peggy Lee to write lyrics to one of his melodies, this was the spectacular result.

I’m gonna go fishin’ and catch me a trout……You tell me a story. Talk to the wall.

Daily Ructions Presents Miss Peggy Lee:

George Gallo, chief of staff to the House Republicans, has resigned. Gallo, a casualty of the federal investigation of campaign practices, made his announcement this afternoon.

Gallo is a veteran of Republican politics. He served as executive director of the state party, managed John Rowland’s 2002 re-election campaign, and was party chairman. He became House Republican chief of staff when Lawrence Cafero was elected minority leader in 2007.

The investigation continues.

A tumultuous day of bombshells at Connecticut’s Legislative Office Building, Daily Ructions has learned, with federal law enforcement officials swooping on House Republicans to inquire about printing contracts. Federal agents interviewed House Republican caucus members and staffers. Inquiry is said to involve business conducted with a politically connected Florida printing firm.

The investigation will put a damper on plans for House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero (R-Frigidaire) to douse himself in quivering lips and other emotions as he announces next week he will be departing at the end of this term. He won’t need to rehearse that quaver in his voice.

House Republican leaders are said to be huddling to try to determine a way forward through the wreckage that a federal investigation into shadowy political practices always leaves in its wake.

Interviews with legislators and other interested parties are expected to continue.

Federal investigators received an introduction to some of the Capitol village’s unsavory ways during a 2012 investigation of the intersection of legislation and campaign contributions to former Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan’s congressional campaign.

More as details emerge.

State Senator Ed Meyer has begun telling fellow Democrats that he will not seek a sixth term this fall, Daily Ructions has learned. Meyer scored a spectacular upset in 2004 when he extinguished the gubernatorial ambitions of former state senator William Aniskovich in the aftermath of the Branford Republican’s slavish devotion to felonious former governor John G. Rowland.

Meyer campaigned in the 12th Senate District that year while seven-term incumbent Aniskovich headed for Paris and defeat. Meyer has been a steady advocate of open government laws and has openly taken on members of his own party in the legislature from time to time. Observers suggest that Meyer’s departure has been accompanied by a forceful shove from supporters of Ted Kennedy, Jr.

Darien Republican Jack Orchulli announced Monday night on his Facebook page that he’s seeking the Republican nomination for state treasurer. The former Michael Kors fashion partner was the 2004 Republican nominee for the United States Senate against Christopher J. Dodd in his last successful bid for re-election. Orchulli was the 2010 Republican candidate for state comptroller. He lost to Kevin Lembo.

Orchulli joins Trumbull’s Tim Herbst and C. Robert Eick in the competition to face 4-term incumbent Denise Nappier in the November election.

Rumbling among Capitol village denizens about the O’Garro/Cloud defaulted state loans. The Courant reported that Ron Angelo, deputy commissioner at the Department of Economic and Community Development was eager to the point of reckless in overriding sensible colleagues to lard public funds on Earl O’Garro’s failed Hybrid Insurance Group.

Emails obtained by the newspaper reveal O’Garro’s bid for more taxpayer money was pushed by lobbyist Christopher Cloud, who appealed to Angelo to get the loan done despite O’Garro being in arrears on his first loan from DECD. Angelo intervened and took care of the deal. The Courant notes that one email exchange includes Angelo copying Cloud lobbying partner Tony Camilliere on the “I’ll take care of it” message that paved the way for O’Garro to get a $500,000 loan as his business was unraveling. Why bother to email Camilliere? Angelo could have opened a window at his Wethersfield home and shouted the news to Camilliere. They live several houses apart on the same street and are said to be quite friendly.

It’s nice when neighbors get along and have common interests, but it does not make for sound public policy.