The authoritarian instinct is never far from the top of state Senator Saud Anwar’s intentions. The South Windsor Democrat has taken an unusual step of proposing a resolution to prohibit moments of personal privilege by his 35 colleagues during the last week of a legislative session.

Anwar, serving his fourth term in the upper chamber, may not have realized that on Wednesday, the opening day of the session, he could have proposed an amendment to the rules adopted by the Senate and the House to silence members from welcoming school students from their districts, thanking staff members or announcing their retirement.

Anwar may not realize that the points of personal privilege are helpful to the members and staffers engaged in the fraught business of negotiating and cobbling together consent calendars and agreements on which bills will be called and debated. Since Anwar is not involved in leadership decisions, he is oblivious to the role points of personal privilege play in getting things done.

Those moments that Anwar disdains can also be poignant milestones. Last year, Marilyn Moore, who started as a committee staffer and rose to become a senator, announced as the session came to a close that she would not seek re-election. Two years before, Mary Abrams, a respected member of the Senate with many affectionate friendships, announced she would not run again. Mary Abrams died recently. These important moments appeared to have irked Anwar.

Anwar may not be aware that any member may object to a point of personal privilege and request that the chamber vote on allowing it to proceed. Using that rule would make him no less popular among his colleagues.

The points of personal privilege are not the reason many of Anwar’s proposals die when each session ends. In his first campaign for the legislature, a 2016 bid for the House, Anwar cast the race as a choice between excellence and mediocrity. In the fullness of time, it has become clearer that Anwar did not represent the attribute in that pairing.

If the Government Administration and Elections Committee declines to hold a public hearing and then send Anwar’s proposal to the Senate, it will have cast its own ballot on his effectiveness.

Published January 10, 2025.

Must they torture us so soon after the promise of a new year dawned?

Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz posted battling cringe-inducing videos last week. So did Mayor Erin Stewart. Bysiewicz used a pair of socks as a prop. Stewart used and bleeped the c-word. On Wednesday, Attorney General William Tong joined the competition with what appears to be a monumental waste of state resources. What is the point of these 25 seconds of General Tong, as he prefers to be addressed and poses as an environmentalist, emerging from a gas guzzling, emissions belching SUV?

He climbs the stairs at the Capitol on the opening day of the legislature, mounts the dias to observe Governor Lamont’s address and hopes in two years to be standing in the place the Greenwich aristocrat makes his way through his speech.

The Hall of the House is the site of Tong’s lowest moment. It was there that he gave aid and comfort to anti-semites when he spiked the renomination of a Superior Court judge, Jane Emons, a Jew. Tong was co-chair of the Judiciary Committee (or as some of Emons critics would say, the Jewdiciary.

You will see no reference to Tong’s 2018 act in his video in which a jumped up GMC SUV sets the not-so-subtle tone.

Tong’s pawing-at-the-paddock candidacy continues today. His strange video will do nothing to clear the field.

Published January 9, 2025.

After 16 years in state government, Tyler Van Buren has started a communications and public relations consulting business. Monday was his last day at Treasurer Erick Russell’s office.

Van Buren joined Russell’s office two years ago after a long run in the comptroller’s office under Kevin Lembo. Van Buren took his bow Monday with a grace note. He wrote to reporters and others, “I have a great appreciation for the work you do, and I hope I have been a good partner in helping you inform your readers, viewers, and listeners over the years—if not your commenters.”

Tyler Van Buren Media, LLC, has begun.

Published January 8, 2025.

Thousands of public employees spend decades of their lives working in municipal departments and state agencies. They do not receive pensions close to what Kevin Kelly will receive when he turns 70, several years after becoming a judge this year.

Kelly, who sought and won re-election to the Connecticut Senate two months ago, will not be sworn into office Wednesday. He will not serve his eighth two-year term. Instead, the former leader of the Republican senators has made a deal to become a judge. The resident of the 21st Senate District will go without representation in the legislature’s upper chamber for the next two months. The district is comprised of Shelton, and parts of Monroe, Seymour, and Stratford,

Kelly, who is in his mid-60s, will receive a pension that is equal to 2/3 of his annual salary when he reaches 70. That would be $135,000 a year now and will likely increase. Kelly’s 12 years as an investigator at the Department of Social Services long ago and his 14 years in the Senate would not entitle him to a pension close to what a Superior Court judge receives at the age of 70.

Representative Christine “proudly serving Groton, New London” Conley, a Groton Democrat, will not take the seat she asked voters to re-elect her to only two months ago. Instead, Deputy Majority Leader Conley will become a workers’ compensation commissioner. That appointment is a generous consolation prize after Conley failed to win the approval of the Judicial Selection Commission at a recent closed meeting.

Conley applied for and received $36,095.00 in public funds for her 2024 campaign. Kelly ran unopposed and did not seek public financing of his campaign.

Candidates ought to be required to return their public financing funds if they voluntarily do not take their seat in the General Assembly in order to take a position in another branch of state government.

Published January 7, 2025.

Former Newtown state representative Chris Lyddy will return to the legislature as a senior staff member to the Senate Democrats. Lyddy served two terms from Newtown from 2009-2013. He was elected in 2008 to succeed the late Julia Wasserman, when she chose not to seek re-election. Wasserman, who fled Nazi Germany as a child, was one the legislature’s hardest working members. Lyddy ably followed her long example.

Lyddy served on the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission and was a member of the secretive and troubled Board of Pardons and Paroles. The Salve Regina University graduate was appointed to the grim Child Fatality Review Board by Republican John McKinney.

Until joining the Senate Democrats, Lyddy worked for the Dalio Philanthropies, though there is no reason to believe that Lyddy shares hedge fund total Ray Dalio’s appalling view of the People’s Republic of China as “a strict parent” while downplaying China’s dark human rights record.

Lyddy is married to State Treasurer Erick Russell, a rising star in state politics. As a legislator, Lyddy earned a reputation for working effectively with Republicans, though they have been largely marginalized by voters across the state. His challenge will be to manage the ancient rivalries between the House and Senate. Adding Lyddy gives the Senate Democrats a distinct advantage in the competition ahead.

Published January 3, 2025.

A tale of two videos on this first Friday of the year.

In the first, Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz, veteran of ten statewide campaigns since 1998, uses a prop to wish Governor Ned Lamont. That Bysiewicz used X to extend her birthday wishes suggests the widespread belief that Lamont and Bysiewicz have little direct contact. Bysiewicz has been known to suggest to fellow Democrats that they urge the 71 year old governor to take a bow and make way for the Middletown Democrat to mount her fourth campaign (2006, 2010, 2018) for governor.

Bysiewicz ends the mercifully brief video birthday card with a prop.

Erin Stewart, who spent the Christmas holiday contemplating a 2026 run for governor, released her first narrative introductory video Friday. Stewart, in her sixth and final term as mayor of New Britain, initially promoted it as a Netflix production in the run-up to its debut. It has no connection to Netflix.

The 11 1/2 minute video includes annotations explaining some Stewart references. The content is an extended recollection of a hostile encounter Stewart had with the city’s deputy mayor in her first term. Viewers will recall that Stewart won a stunning victory in 2013 at the age of 26. She ran unsuccessfully for governor and lieutenant governor in 2018.

Stewart’s unscripted tale includes details of the deputy mayor’s alcohol-fueled rant. She says she offered to have the city pay for him to go to rehabilitation.

And then Stewart, who sprinkles her trade mark foul language throughout the video, spoils it all by including a video of a news story of the encounter, which in professional hands took only a few moments to tell, with the revelation that from the deputy mayor that he had tried to apologize to Stewart but received no response from her.

If, as Stewart says in her monologue, she wanted to help a guy who has just attended his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, wouldn’t she at least listen to his apology, pretend to accept it and wish him well in recovery? The ending feels like it not only misses the point it reflects badly indeed on her.

An own goal from someone Republicans like and have high hopes for in 2026.

Published January 3, 2024.

Senator Chris Murphy won a third six-year term to the U.S. Senate on November 5th. Three weeks later he reported having a hefty $5.6 million in his never-ending campaign account.

Murphy ends 2024, both a successful and disappointing year for the career politician, by asking supporters and others for…..more money. The demagogue sent text messages “a humble request.” His “final FEC deadline” is at midnight. He needs money to “demonstrate the depth of support for our movement.” That “movement” would be the Friends of Chris Murphy campaign committee. The campaign has ended. This now becomes a slush fund with a lot of dough sloshing around.

Murphy’s movement is an amorphous concept. He is the Senate’s champion of removing the designation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist group. The Houthis have been disrupting world shipping by firing missiles on ships in the Red Sea since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of health insurance executive Brian Thompson, Murphy put on his baseball cap, looked into a camera and designated healthcare executives “killers.”

It is an odd movement indeed that is harsher on American healthcare executives and Murphy movement donors than it is on the murderous Houthis, whose slogan is “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.” Or maybe the Connecticut Democrat will use the movement funds to help the lonely young men he goes on about to find some friends.

A new year will bring new fashions and a fella can always use some money to sniff them out and run to the front of them.

December 31, 2024.

Dear Friends of Daily Ructions,

You enjoy this site–Where Connecticut’s News Begins–throughout the year. There is no subscription fee and ads do not interfere with your reading. Readers might be bereft without Daily Ructions–and so would nervous tipsters.

This year, I have a request.

You live in peace. Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in freedom do not. Thousands have succumbed to Russian genocide. Millions are in daily range of Russian arms aimed at Ukrainian civilians, hospitals, and schools. Rape has long been a Russian weapon of war. Thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted into Russian servitude.

The actor Liev Schreiber has been a heroic supporter of Ukraine since the February 2022 Russian invasion. He and others of goodwill founded BlueCheck Ukraine. Its purpose:

BlueCheck Ukraine identifies, vets, and fast-tracks urgent financial support to Ukrainian NGOs and aid initiatives providing life-saving and other critical humanitarian work on the front lines of Russia’s war on Ukraine. They have the proximity, local knowledge and access to assist those in desperate need.

I have raised thousands for BlueCheck Ukraine without making a public appeal. It is not enough. The brave people of Ukraine are fighting for us at the frontline of freedom. Their fight is our fight. And now, with the result of the 2024 American presidential election, they are in danger of being abandoned by the United States but not before being forced to accept ruinous terms of a peace agreement brokered by an autocrat and his admirer.

Winston Churchill said to Neville Chamberlain of the 1938 sellout of Czechoslovakia in Munich, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.” An incoming president and his running mate made clear during the recently concluded campaign that they are willing to embrace dishonor.

You and I do not have to choose dishonor. We can help Ukraine by donating to BlueCheck Ukraine.

To learn more, watch or listen to Margaret Hoover’s moving interview of Liev Schrieber.

Published December 23, 2014.

Sir Les Patterson will not be representing the people of Australia in the United States. Pity.

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, who won a landslide victory in July 4th’s general election and ends the year startlingly unpopular, decided to deal a blow to us for Christmas. He’s sending the Dark Prince, Peter Mandelson as our close ally’s ambassador to the United States. Mandelson was forced to resign twice from Tony Blair’s cabinet. Twice. The first time, the BBC reports, “for failing to declare a home loan from a cabinet colleague, and a second time over accusations of using his position to influence a passport application.”

Published December 20, 2024.

State Comptroller Sean Scanlon dealt another blow to Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) Chancellor Terrence Cheng’s tenure leading the troubled 85,000 student system. Republican legislative leaders were quick to call for the former University of Connecticut English professor to resign.

House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and Senator Stephen Harding, who leads the 11 Republicans of the Senate’s 36 members reacted quickly Wednesday afternoon. The two Republicans issued an emphatic statement calling for Cheng’s removal, writing:

“Make no mistake—this is a black eye for the State of Connecticut. While we appreciate Comptroller Scanlon’s proposals to address spending abuses and procedural failures within the CSCU system, restoring public trust demands bold and decisive action. 

That begins with terminating the employment of CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng. His continued leadership over a system in clear disarray undermines efforts to restore stability and confidence among students, parents, staff, and taxpayers alike. 

The troubling transactions revealed in today’s report may well be just the tip of the iceberg, emphasizing the critical need to extend the audit process and fully expose how this system has been mismanaged. Failing to act decisively not only excuses unacceptable behavior but also risks eroding trust in all our public institutions.”

The CSCU Board of Regents meets Thursday morning in Manchester. It will not be possible for even the most somnolent members to remain silent in the immediate aftermath of the Scanlon report on reckless spending of public funds. Students, faculty, administrators, and the public will expect a meaningful reaction and plan for the way forward. Regents have known about Cheng’s spending for months. Silence will no longer provide a cover for their distaste.

Published December 18, 2024.