Bob Stefanowski forgot to block his Twitter location feature. The two-time Republican nominee for governor commented Saturday on Connecticut’s policing laws—from the United Arab Emirates. Stefanowski, who spent much of the 2022 campaign declining to reveal Saudi Arabian interests were paying millions to his one-man LLC.

The former payday loan executive chose to unleash his dismay with Connecticut laws from one of the world’s most oppressed nations Saturday. Stefanowski was prompted to share his views with a free people by shootings in Hamden. Stefanowski’s 2022 rematch against Democrat Ned Lamont saw the Madison Republican highlight support from police unions unhappy with Lamont for signing 2020 police accountability legislation. Lamont defeated Stefanowski by 153,000 votes, more than three times the Democrat’s 2018 margin of victory.

The UAE, Freedom House reports, subjects “the the civil liberties of both citizens and noncitizens, who make up an overwhelming majority of the population, are subject to significant restrictions.” The Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index ranked the UAE ranked 153rd worldwide for personal freedom. Torture is not unknown in UAE interrogations and prisons.

Stefanowski was likely not in the UAE to urge the authoritarian government to release human rights Ahmed Mansoor, who the regime has held in prison since 2017. Mansoor previously offended the government with his blogging, a pursuit Stefanowski as a candidate both disdained and cultivated.

Stefanowski’s location was no longer included on his tweet late Saturday afternoon in EDT.

Published May 21, 2023.

James Sullivan, former Norwich utilities commission chairman and former chairman of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC) board of directors , was sentenced sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for misusing rate ratepayer funds for a notorious 2015 trip to the Kentucky Derby and trips to the deluxe Greenbriar resort in West Virginia.

The government’s sentencing memorandum includes a glimpse of Connecticut’s profitable and furtive political system of debts and favors. “Sullivan used his position,” the memorandum states, to authorize the expenditure of CMEEC funds for spa treatments for the spouse of William DiBella of the Metropolitan District Counsel [sic] (MDC). More specifically, in June 2015, while he was chairman of the CMEEC Board, Defendant Sullivan Sullivan approved $340 of spa charges for DiBella’s wife [Donna DiBella] at the Norwich Inn and Spa to the CMEEC master account, despite the fact that [CMEEC manager Ellen] Kachmar had specifically given instructions to the spa not to charge those expenses to CMEEC’s account.”

“Mrs. DiBella had not even an arguable business connection with CMEEC,” the government’s memorandum states. But in March 2016, Defendant Sullivan entered into a consulting contract with William DiBella and MDC for $150,000 annually commencing as of January 2016…This pattern of providing personal favors to business partners, and then later profiting from the relationship with them, demonstrated Sullivan’s utter disregard for the appropriate use of CMEEC funds when it came to benefits for himself, his friends, and his associates, and it belies the assertion that he was serving on the Commission and the Board almost completely on a volunteer basis.”

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, The Day newspaper reported, told Sullivan at his sentencing, “you lost your way.” That was an act of kindness by Judge Meyer, who appeared to give considerable thought to the appropriate penalty. Sullivan had been on a lucrative political path for decades. His profession was influence and he immersed himself in it.

That $340 spa treatment for William DiBella’s wife compliments of the municipal ratepayers tells the tale in a vivid stroke.

Is it ever enough? That you are asking the questions, one student of Connecticut’s political traditions observed Friday, provides the sordid answer.

Published May 19, 2023.

Career federal prosecutor Sandra Slack Glover faced serious headwinds during a marathon confirmation hearing Monday. Glover struggled to provide a convincing explanation of her effusive 2017 letter in support of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The letter was first reported by Daily Ructions on April 25th, the day Governor Ned Lamont nominated Glover to the high court.

Members met in closed party caucuses after more than six hours—with a break for lunch—of questioning. The members emerged shortly before 7 p.m. to begin a committee meeting that included a vote on Glover on its agenda. House co-chair Steven Stafstrom announced the vote on Glover’s nomination was postponed.

Getting the Glover nomination across the finish line may become a test of Lamont’s new team.

Published May 15, 2023.

The Rules Committee of the Superior Court holds a public hearing Monday at 10 a.m. on a proposed change to bail rules. The proposal reduces the amount a defendant may post for a cash bail from 10% to 7% and raises the bail amounts the new rule applies to from $20,000 to $50,000.

The Practice Book changes under consideration are here. The hearing will be carried on the Judicial Branch’s YouTube channel.

Published May 8, 2023.

Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz is raising money for state Democrats by sounding the alarm over “extreme MAGA judges.” The Middletown Democrat and three-time gubernatorial hopeful warns in a Wednesday email, “One month ago, an extreme, right-wing judge single-handedly overturned the FDA’s decades-old approval of the abortion pill. This unprecedented judicial overreach threatens all Americans’ access to legal and safe medication, even in states like our where abortion is legal.”

Bysiewicz warns before asking for a contribution to state Democrats, “Even though Connecticut protects access to abortion, extreme MAGA judges could upend everything.”

The second-term lieutenant governor might want to have a word with Governor Ned Lamont. He stated his intention to nominate Assistant United States Attorney Sandra Glover to the open seat on the state Supreme Court. Lamont’s announcement was made before the Judicial Selection Commission had approved Glover for the high court. That is said to have been remedied at an April 28th meeting of the commission in which the hurried Glover nomination was once more a write-in on the secret agenda.

Glover was an enthusiastic supporter of Amy Coney Barrett when she was nominated to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals by Donald Trump in 2017. Glover joined other lawyers who had served as Supreme Court clerks with Barrett in a letter proclaiming the conservative then-law professor in the high court bullpen possessed many virtues.

The former clerks wrote,

“We worked closely with Professor Barrett during our year clerking at the Court. We had the opportunity to observe her approach to the law and her interactions with others during our intense and challenging joint endeavor supporting the work of the Court. Based on our observations, we came to respect Professor Barrett’s conscientious work ethic, her respect for the law, and her remarkable legal abilities. She conducted herself with professionalism, grace, and integrity. But perhaps as importantly, she treated with courtesy everyone who worked at the Court and she was able to work collaboratively with her colleagues (even those with whom she disagreed) on challenging legal questions. She is smart, honorable, and fair-minded; all good qualities for a Circuit Court Judge.”

Because Barrett was dubbed long ago as a conservative favorite one day to win a Supreme Court nomination, her views were widely examined and commented upon before her 2017 nomination–and Glover’s letter. Susan Glasser and Peter Baker write in their book on the Trump administration, “The Divider”, that Barrett was “a hero of anti-abortion conservatives” in 2018 when Trump had his second Supreme Court vacancy to fill. He chose Brett Kavanaugh, Glasser and Baker report, and told Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, “I’m going to save Barrett for Ginsburg,” in the event the ailing justice left the Court before his term ended.

Bysiewicz, who made a famously short-circuited bid for attorney general in 2010, by now ought to know about Glover’s enthusiastic support of Barrett–and that Barrett was long a conservative favorite. None of this was a secret in 2017–and events have confirmed them.

Published May 3, 2012.

Faculty and other members employees of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system were urged to attend today’s Day of Action budget protest at the Capitol. CSCU was providing transportation and more–salaries.

“If you choose to attend,” Naugatuck Valley Community College Chief Executive Officer Lisa Dresden wrote, “I have been informed that you can code this time as REGULAR time and not code it as accrued time in CODE.” (Translation: You will be paid to lobby legislators.)

“Bottom line: If we want CSCU to continue to be the state’s primary engine of workforce development, upward mobility, and opportunity for all our residents, we need to fully find our operation,” Dresden continued.

On Tuesday, William (Terry) Brown, CEO of Gateway Community College, provided a similar note of reassurance to faculty on that campus. “Given that this is a CSCU-sponsored activity, employees are not required to use accrued time,” Brown wrote. “Employees should discuss their plans with their supervisor to ensure that we maintain department operations and services, adequate coverage, staffing, etc.” Brown noted the college was providing transportation.

In an email the day before, Brown included a line that suggests the campus leaders were receiving scripts for their dire warning.

“Bottom line: If we want CSCU to continue to be the state’s primary engine of workforce development, upward mobility, and opportunity for all our residents, we need to fully fund our operations,” Brown emphasized in italics.

The pay-to-lobby message undermines the CSCU theme that its resources continue to grow more precarious. Governor Ned Lamont’s administration has continued to refute claims from the state’s higher education institutions that his budget proposal is inadequate to meet their needs. A crisp argument continues to get lost in the haze of competing claims of how much has been spent, where it came from and how much should be appropriated in this year’s budget.

Published April 28, 2023.

Governor Ned Lamont’s nominee for the Supreme Court hailed Amy Coney Barrett’s 2017 nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sandra Slack Glover joined other Supreme Court clerks to Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s ranking member, in a letter attesting to Barrett’s “conscientious work ethic, her respect for the law, and her remark legal abilities.”

The letter came from the Supreme Court clerks who served with Barrett in the October 1998 term. Glover and the other signatories assured Grassley and Feinstein that Barrett “is smart, honorable, and fair-minded….” Many will disagree with that judgment in view of her record on the Supreme Court, to which she was elevated at the end of the Trump administration.

Glover has more immediate issues before she is asked to explain her public assessment of Barrett. The secretive Judicial Selection Commission met on March 31st to act on Glover’s application for approval to the bench. It did—but only to the Superior Court, according to the commission’s minutes. The failure to approve Glover’s application for the high court—a write-in on the meeting agenda—is an embarrassment for Lamont and the commission.

The commission will write-in Glover again at Friday’s closed-to-the-public meeting.

Published April 25, 2023.

The Legislative Office Building will be thick with presidents Monday morning. CSCU President Terrence Cheng is requiring presidents of the state’s universities, community colleges and other campus leaders to skip the business meeting they were planning to attend and serve as his gallery at his 10 a.m. press conference.

Campus leaders received the command in a Wednesday email from Alice Pritchard, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers), Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer. “Good afternoon all,” it began. “Rather than the all campus leader meeting scheduled for Monday April 24th, President Cheng will hold a press conference at the state legislative office building at 10am. Your presence is required.“

Observers are braced for an early Festivus airing of grievances. Mandatory attendance at someone else’s press conference about state budget appropriations is never to thank the governor, legislature and the people of Connecticut for their generosity. Expect Cheng to mewl about unmet and underfunded needs. Do not expect a discussion of the state’s falling college age population and its continuing contortions to fill empty classrooms and dormitory space at on especially burdensome university.

Campus leaders will be expected to nod often and applaud at appropriate moments. This will not, however, be a day of action–just unhappy talk. Action will follow on Thursday when union members will enter the halls of government and search for their elected representatives.

Cheng is at a distinct disadvantage from University of Connecticut President Radenka Maric, who threatened end UConn men’s basketball games at Hartford’s XL Center. Earlier this month when Governor Ned Lamont was not complaining about Houston, he and Mrs. Lamont were sitting with Maric at the NCAA men’s basketball finals.

Both UConn and CSCU had been told to prepare for an end to Covid-19 pandemic funds. Lamont’s budget director, Jeffrey Beckham, scolded the leadership of UConn and CSCU when they complained about the proposed immediately after its February release. “The ARPA funding was one-time federal funding, for emergencies to keep the doors open to pay their expenses, despite the fact that they didn’t have revenue because kids weren’t there,” Beckham pronounced in a rebuke, according to the Hartford Courant. “They should have been used for one-time expenses. They should not have used that for ongoing programs.”

Published April 21, 2023.

West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor continues to urge reform-resistant members of the MDC to act on the crisis of confidence they have created at the regional water and sewer authority. On Wednesday, Cantor wrote to the board members Wednesday and called upon them to enact an anti-corruption policy that could disqualify Chairman William DiBella from continuing his decades-long domination of the quasi-public agency.

Cantor wants the board to adopt and enforce a policy “prohibiting anyone from serving as an officer or attorney for the MDC who has been found civilly or criminally liable for public corruption – including violations of the state ethics code or participating in a scheme to defraud public funds.” An op-ed by Cantor published in Tuesday’s edition of The Hartford Courant called for DiBella’s removal in the aftermath of an independent attorney’s report on DiBella’s attempt to steer MDC legal business to a friend. DiBella initially refused to cooperate with the investigation.

As Cantor continues to place herself on the side of action, others continue to maintain a public silence, including the three leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for mayor, state Senator John Fonfara, former state senator and retired judge Eric Coleman and former lobbyists and Lamont administration official Arunan Arulampalam. Supporters of both Fonfara and Arulampalam on the commission’s board voted with DiBella to shutdown debate on the independent investigation.

Here is Cantor’s letter:

Re: Adoption of anti-corruption policy 

Dear Commissioners of the Metropolitan District Commission: 

Like many of you, I was deeply disturbed to read the investigation report issued by the independent counsel for the MDC. 

The MDC takes in hundreds of millions of dollars annually from consumers, as well as the state and federal governments. Despite cynical claims to the contrary, member municipalities do in fact have a vested interest in ensuring good governance of the MDC. I write to you on behalf of the 63,000 West Hartford residents I represent, as well as the countless West Hartford businesses and nonprofits who rely on the MDC to provide affordable, reliable, and clean water and sewer services. 

The investigation report concludes that serious violations of the MDC’s charter and bylaws have occurred, and the findings of fact raise grave concerns about the possibility of fraud and misuse of public funds at the MDC. 

For these reasons, I am calling on the MDC Board to immediately adopt an anti-corruption policy prohibiting anyone from serving as an officer or attorney for the MDC who has been found civilly or criminally liable for public corruption – including violations of the state ethics code or participating in a scheme to defraud public funds. Any such person should not be allowed to serve in a position of power and trust for a public utility like the MDC. 

While other reforms of the MDC are also needed, this simple policy would have likely prevented many of the abuses outlined in the investigation report. 

All of you are stewards of a public asset that provides critical services to hundreds of thousands of people, and I trust that you will act in the interest of the public you serve. 

Published April 20, 2023.

Celebrations of the legalization of cannabis in Connecticut will be held today, 4/20, around the state. This would also be an appropriate time to pay attention to the dangers loosening the state’s drug laws pose to children.

A December letter to parents from Fairfield Superintendent Michael Testani explains a threat that policymakers have not effectively addressed.

Hello Fairfield Public Schools Community,

Considering a recent report from a neighboring school district, I would like to warn our families of the dangers of drug-laced products that are being accessed by children.  

Many are consuming edible cannabis products which look like regular candy or baked goods. Therefore, I am asking all families to speak to your children about not taking any candy or baked goods from unknow individuals. These products are being sold in “copycat” packages that make them look like common candy or sweets. They are extremely dangerous because they can contain up to six times the average level of THC.  Children who eat cannabis edibles can become very sick, and may struggle to walk, sit up and breathe normally. If you observe any of these behaviors in your child, please call 911 immediately.

This is an example of how these products are being packaged and the difficulty in determining the difference between normal candy and one that contains THC.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Testani

Superintendent of Schools

Published April 20, 2023.