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Faculty, administration, HR, DEI battle breaks out at Trinity College. File dispute in “problematic category,” two deans declare.

Inside Higher Ed reports on an extended conflict at Trinity College that began with complaints in the school’s engineering department, furtive bullying by two deans armed with a sealed envelope, an intervention by the school ombuds, followed by meetings of the Academic Freedom Committee, and action by the Board of Trustees and college president. To summarize, administrators have made a complicated mess with collateral resentments and grievances litter the leafy campus.

Reporter Ryan Quinn explains the web of actions and conflicts at the elite liberal arts college with the help of documents he obtained and conversations with the early target of the administration, engineering professor John Mertens.

Henry Kissinger, who served on the Harvard faculty before joining President Richard Nixon’s administration at its start in 1969, famously observed, The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small.” The conflict at Trinity sounds like a right royal brawl with nothing accomplished other than a guarantee of future fights.

Published August 17, 2023.

August 17, 2023   2:38 pm   Comments Off on Faculty, administration, HR, DEI battle breaks out at Trinity College. File dispute in “problematic category,” two deans declare.

Three-way fight in Hartford primary. Brennan sole challenger to make it to New Haven primary ballot.

State Senator John Fonfara and retired Superior Court judge and former state senator Eric Coleman have qualified for the Hartford Democratic primary for mayor. They will face each other and town committee-endorsed candidate Arunan Arulampalm on September 12th.

Nick LeBron, who is a member of the City Council, did not gather enough signatures to make the primary ballot.

Liam Brennan, the former federal corruption buster, will meet New Haven’s Democratic mayor, Justin Elicker, in that intensely political city’s primary.  Tom Goldenberg and Shafiq Abdussabur fell short in their effort to collect signatures from their fellow Democrats and will not be on ballot. Elicker recently announced he thinks New Haven holds too many elections and should extend his term from two years to four years.

Published August 16, 2023.

August 16, 2023   4:35 pm   Comments Off on Three-way fight in Hartford primary. Brennan sole challenger to make it to New Haven primary ballot.

Greg Smith leaving Connecticut Lottery Corporation. Board announces search committee for new leader after technology transfer calamity.

The imminent departure of Connecticut Lottery Corporation President and CEO Greg Smith was not announced at Thursday’s board meeting. The first hint of a major change came near the end of the meeting when the board approved a motion to form a search committee for a new leader.

The lottery, which has a long history of troubles accompanied by intense finger-pointing often ending in lucrative settlements, continues to endure an embarrassing year. Its new point-of-sale technology was launched in May and has alienated lottery retailers and customers with a series of troubles that the quasi-public agency has been reluctant to highlight.

Published August 10, 2023.

August 10, 2023   3:29 pm   Comments Off on Greg Smith leaving Connecticut Lottery Corporation. Board announces search committee for new leader after technology transfer calamity.

There they go again: UConn blames Kevin Ollie for spending hikes in front-page Wall Street Journal reveal on soaring costs, burdens on students.

Not a good day at Connecticut’s fourth branch of government. The Wall Street Journal shines a light on public university spending–with an emphasis on the University of Connecticut. The state’s premier public university has increased spending, according to the Journal, by 73% between 2002 and 2022. Enrollment has risen by 47%, with much of the burden falling on students.

The Journal story, written by Melissa Korn, Andrea Fuller and Jennifer S. Forsyth, includes an examination of public university spending on athletics, highlighting UConn:

The University of Connecticut won the national championship this spring in men’s basketball, and its women’s team has been a near-constant presence in the Final Four. Yet since 2016, Connecticut’s athletic department has received more than $35 million annually in student fees and university subsidies to stay afloat. In 2022, it took in $55 million in such funds, making up more than half its total athletics budget.

The school said more than $13 million of that subsidy covered a payout to a former men’s basketball coach as part of a legal settlement over his employment contract, and that it faces unique challenges in having to pay rent and other fees for basketball and hockey games, which are played off campus. 

Overall, the University of Connecticut’s spending rose by 73% between 2002 and 2022, far faster than enrollment grew. Much of that was driven by personnel costs, with spending on benefits more than tripling.

Reka Wrynn, associate vice president of budget, planning and institutional research, said that was in part because the school was on the hook for a growing share of the state’s unfunded pension liability. Connecticut was also obligated to pay for raises that unionized employees negotiated with the state, she said.

The treatment of Kevin Ollie, the men’s basketball coach fired by ruse, remains a deep stain on UConn’s administration. That will not begin to change until the university officials who plotted to terminate Ollie’s contract, embarrass the NCAA championship coach and deny him the compensation he was entitled to in an agreement the university negotiated with Ollie endure consequences proportionate to their bad acts.

Daily Ructions readers will profit from reading the entire WSJ story.

Published August 10, 2023.

August 10, 2023   9:33 am   Comments Off on There they go again: UConn blames Kevin Ollie for spending hikes in front-page Wall Street Journal reveal on soaring costs, burdens on students.

Word Wars. Fazio and Buckbee back “Public policy changes not imposed by PURA.” Hail Gillett’s leadership on language bill description.

The tussle over explaining Connecticut’s high utility costs on monthly bills continues. Two Democratic legislators objected last month to the decision by the state’s public utility regulator, Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), to describe one of four categories of charges on consumer bills as “Public policy changes not imposed by PURA.”

State Senator Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) and state Representative William Buckbee (R-New Milford), ranking members on the legislature’s energy committee, have offered their support for the PURA description. Fazio and Buckbee’s Democratic colleagues requested PURA impose “investments to support reliability, emissions reductions, and affordability. Nor originated by PURA. Charge dependent on usage” on that contested fourth utility bill silo. Fazio and Buckbee dismiss that as “biased phrasing of the category that aims to persuade more than inform.”

“The label proposed by DEEP, ‘system benefits charges’, is a worse alternative than the one proposed by the legislators because it is not comprehensible to the average consumer,” the Republican duo wrote to Marissa Gillett, chairman of PURA.

“Your decision in last year’s docket deserves a lot of credit for adding transparency to consumers’ electric bill,” Fazio and Buckbee concluded. “There is no reason to change that decision, especially because it has the most fidelity the new public act that I co-authored. Consumers will appreciate your leadership on this matter.”

Published August 10, 2023.

August 10, 2023   8:33 am   Comments Off on Word Wars. Fazio and Buckbee back “Public policy changes not imposed by PURA.” Hail Gillett’s leadership on language bill description.

Primary petition deadline at 4 p.m. today. Democratic primaries for mayor in Hartford and New Haven expected. Republicans in West Haven.

Petitions for September’s municipal primaries are due by 4 p.m. in local registrar offices. Democrats supporting Eric Coleman and John Fonfara in Hartford were optimistic on Tuesday that each would qualify to challenge former lobbyist Arunan Arulampalam, the choice of Hartford’s Democratic town committee.

Democrats Liam Brennan, Shafiq Abdussabur and Tom Goldenberg are in the hunt to meet incumbent Justin Elicker in a primary. Elicker defeated incumbent Toni Harp in 2019–his second attempt to knock her off the Democratic ticket.

Republican Barry Cohen is expected to file enough signatures to take on party endorsed candidate Paige Weinstein for mayor of sorrowful West Haven. Cohen lost by 32 votes to Nancy Rossi two years ago. Cohen challenged the result and the handling of absentee ballots in a court action that failed. Rossi, who has brought insistent incompetence to the job, is not seeking re-election. Republican Steven Mullins is also running.

Democrats nominated state Representative Dorinda Borr for mayor. She’ll face council member Victor Borras in a primary. A former Democratic mayor, Ed O’Brien, formed an exploratory committee for mayor early in the year but endorsed Borr when she entered the race.

Published August 9, 2023.

August 9, 2023   4:07 pm   Comments Off on Primary petition deadline at 4 p.m. today. Democratic primaries for mayor in Hartford and New Haven expected. Republicans in West Haven.

Witkos returns. Former state senator running for Canton first selectman.

Canton Republican Kevin Witkos ended 20 years in the state legislature when he did not seek re-election as a state senator from the far-flung 8th District last year. This year, the retired police officer, former restaurant and bar owner and Eversource program manager is the Republican nominee for first selectman of the Hartford outer suburb, according to the Valley Press.

Witkos served on Canton’s board of education before winning a stunning upset victory over seven term Democratic House of Representatives incumbent Jesse Stratton. She was mounting a credible challenge to incumbent speaker Moira Lyons when Witkos won the seat comprised of Avon and Canton. Witkos served three terms before winning the open 8th District seat.

Witkos will face Bob Namnoum, a retired Granby English teacher and athletic coach who worked for the Connecticut Education Association as a field director and lobbyist.

Democrat Robert Bessel announced is not seeking re-election.

Published August 7, 2023.

August 7, 2023   3:36 pm   Comments Off on Witkos returns. Former state senator running for Canton first selectman.

Now you see it, now you don’t. Mysterious change in MDC August agenda meeting.

The MDC—again. The first agenda for the regional water and sewer authority’s August meeting included a significant item: “Consideration and potential, action re: drafting of new ordinance to provide the MDC the ability to expand the stormwater system capacity in Hartford specifically for future development projects through ad valorem.”

The item raises the prospect of tagging seven of the member towns with the cost of development in the eighth, Hartford. The ad valorem tax formula for sewer services requires West Hartford to pay a disproportionate share of costs. Agenda item 11 for Monday’s meeting would open a new front in the battle for fairness at the relentlessly political agency.

And then a change. A revised agenda for Monday’s meeting appeared on the MDC’s website. The ad valorem tax has disappeared. The stealth tax increase may be the subject of comment—-and the evasive discussions that are the hallmark of the agency’s meetings.

Item 11 on the revised agenda is ”Opportunity for general public comments.” The changing agenda and plans to burden other town’s with Hartford’s development costs may be discussed there. some participants may want to suggest actions on what plotters can do with their plans.

Published August 5, 2023.

August 5, 2023   7:47 am   Comments Off on Now you see it, now you don’t. Mysterious change in MDC August agenda meeting.

Losers: CT Lottery announces its terminals may not provide accurate readings of winning tickets.

The Connecticut Lottery Corporation made an extraordinary public admission of failure Wednesday. It issued a warning to customers not to trust its retail terminals when checking tickets. New technology, launched in May, has featured ticket readers providing inaccurate responses. Winning tickets are not always properly read by the expensive new equipment.

This is a significant blunder for the quasi-public agency that has a history of them. The CT Lottery wrote that it “is advising players that if they have any lottery tickets purchased since May 21, 2023 and believe the lottery terminal response was incorrect when checking if the ticket had won or not, to hold on to their ticket and contact the CT Lottery at (860) 713-2700 or CTLotterySecurity@ctlottery.org.”

The statement ignores the purpose of the terminals that read tickets after a drawing. Many customers rely on the terminals for an accurate reading of their tickets and do not check them themselves. They would be unlikely to detect a winning ticket read as a losing one. The terminals should be disabled from reading tickets if they are not accurate.

Governor Ned Lamont chose to ignore innovation when he agreed to give the state’s two federally recognized tribes and the Connecticut Lottery Corporation to run sports betting in the state. More than ever, this added responsibility looks far beyond the capability of the often-troubled CT Lottery.

Published August 3, 2023.

August 3, 2023   4:53 pm   Comments Off on Losers: CT Lottery announces its terminals may not provide accurate readings of winning tickets.

Derby Republicans endorse January 6th insurrectionist for mayor. Primary to follow.

If past is prologue, Derby election officials are in for a rough year. Derby Republican Town Committee members nominated an unrepentant election denier and insurrectionist, their chair, Gino DiGiovanni, as their candidate for mayor. DiGiovanni is a member of the local of the Board of Alderman from the Second Ward.

NBC CT broke the story last October when it identified DiGiovanni in video of the January 6, 2021, insurrection in the nation’s Capitol. “Open source surveillance video indicated DiGiovanni entered the Upper West Terrace door of the Capitol around 2:38 p.m., shortly after people inside the Capitol walked out that door, and people held it open for others,” NBC CT’s Len Bestoff reported. The mob was at the Capitol to impose by violence Donald Trump’s false claims that he had won the 2020 presidential election.

Mayor Richard Dziekan skipped the town committee endorsement contest and will meet DiGiovanni in a September 12th primary. Dziekan needs the signatures of 5% of Derby’s 1,249 registered Republicans.

DiGiovanni has claimed he was swept into the Capitol by the mob he joined on that infamous day of violence. He would, wouldn’t he. DiGiovanni has not said if he heard the chants of “Kill Mike Pence” that rang through the air. DiGiovanni joined the riot as his wife was home in Derby undergoing chemotherapy.

The winner of the Republican primary will face  former Alderman Joseph DiMartino, who lost to Dziekan by 48 votes out of the 2,812 votes cast in 2021.

Published August 3, 2023.

August 3, 2023   2:14 pm   Comments Off on Derby Republicans endorse January 6th insurrectionist for mayor. Primary to follow.