A dramatic night at the East Hartford Democratic Town Committee. State Representative Jeff Currey announced he has resigned his position on the ballot. He will not seek a sixth term.

Currey told local Democrats—once among the state’s mightiest local organizations—that he has a career opportunity that would require a special election if he took it. Speculation on Currey’s future includes a position in the Lamont administration. This would likely prompt a long series of turf tussles.

Currey was in the news this spring when he proposed an ill-judged change in the state’s school construction finance program that opened a path to corruption by project construction managers.

Published July 25, 2024.

State Senator Paul Cicarella continues to make the wrong kind of news. The second term Republican appears to have fallen out with his benefactor, Cicarella’s popular predecessor, Len Fasano. In a motion in a case centered around Cicarella’s 2022 construction of significant improvements at his North Haven home, including the installation of an in-ground pool, Fasano asked the court to allow him to withdraw from representing Cicarella because their “attorney-client relationship has broken down irretrievable.”

According to a complaint filed in Superior Court last year, Cicarella’s aggrieved neighbor, Andrew Koutroumanis, told Cicarella that his construction project was encroaching on Koutroumanis’ property. Cicarella refused to halt construction when Koutroumanis commissioned and produced at A-2 survey confirming the trespass and encroachment.

Koutroumanis accuses Cicarella of submitting inaccurate, false and misleading information to North Haven building officials. Koutroumanis paints a compelling character portrait of Cicarella as a nightmare neighbor. The Superior Court docket indicates the case has been settled but the settlement is not included. Daily Ructions, however, has learned that the settlement included Cicarella agreeing to pay his neighbor $40,000 and to remove the various encroachments Cicarelli placed on his neighbor’s property. Koutroumanis agreed to consent to a variance Cicarella needs for the addition to his house to remain.

The settlement appears to confirm that despite being asked not to proceed and being shown an A-2 survey that confirmed Cicarella was building an in-ground pool on property he did not own, the Republican nevertheless proceeded.

That was not the end of the matter. Cicarella, who has a taste for litigation, has filed claims against the pool company, surveyor, construction company, business that provide the propane tank and title insurance company. It does seem all of this could have been avoided if Cicarella had listened to his neighbor.

Mr. Koutroumanis alleges that Cicarella submitted false documents to local zoning officials. That is a serious allegation that may interest voters in the five towns that comprise the 34th District. Cicarella ought to come clean and explain how he managed to make his neighbor’s life miserable after being confronted with a survey that turns out to have been correct.

The dispute may not be confined to North Haven. The construction company Cicarella is suing, Donmar Development Corporation, is owned by the DiGioia family, also popular members of the community. Michael DiGioia is a maximum contributor to state Senator Heather Somers’ political action committee, Somers PAC. DiGioia gave Somers $1,000 last October. That contribution came two months after the groundbreaking for Triton Square, a new apartment community in Groton, the heart of Republican Somers’ district. The apartments are being built on the grounds of the former William Seeley School.

Published July 18, 2024.

The value of a state Republican party convention endorsement continues to decline. Delegates chose Beacon Falls first selectman Gerry Smith as the endorsed candidate for the U.S. Senate at its May convention. Smith won the endorsement by a wide margin over late entry Matt Corey. Corey, the 2018 Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, won nearly 30% of the delegate votes, surpassing the 15% required to advance to an August 13th primary.

Winning the convention did nothing for Smith’s ability to raise money from the shrinking class of regular Republican donors in the state. Smith reported in his 2nd quarter campaign finance report that he raised $18,022 between April 1st and June 30th, bringing his total since launching his bid in February to $61,506.18. As of June 30th, the campaign had $5,610 in cash on hand. This is a campaign for the U.S. Senate, not the State Senate.

Smith’s biggest expense was to consultant Brian Werstler, of Avon. He was paid $16,950 for consulting fees and $3,500 in expense reimbursements. Smith said in June that he fired his campaign manager and fundraiser when he learned of a fundraising email that claimed crosses were being burned on his lawn. Nobody, Smith told WTNH’s Dennis House, was burning crosses on his lawn.

Werstler is now on the Mike France campaign in the 2nd Congressional District. France’s campaign had $53,000 cash on hand on June 30th. France’s opponent, Democratic incumbent Joe Courtney, reported having $625,000 in cash on June 30th. The two faced each other in 2022.

Corey, the challenger in the August Senate primary, has raised $25,000 and made a $5,000 loan to his campaign. He had $28,000 in cash at the end of the 2nd quarter reporting period.

Smith has declined to debate Corey. Early voting begins August 5th.

Incumbent Democrat Christopher Murphy had more than $13 million and had $9.7 million of it in the bank on June 30th.

Published July 16, 2024.

On August 20, 1984, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick delivered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century at the first night of the Republican National Convention. Ambassador Kirkpatrick, a Democrat, represented the United States at the United Nations, doing battle for freedom.

The speech became famous for its refrain of San Francisco Democrats (where the party had held its convention) always blaming America first. It was, the Democrat Kirkpatrick began, the first Republican convention she had ever attended. In 20 minutes for the ages, Kirkpatrick explained the world to the world. She was liberty’s Boudica.

On this grim day, Donald Trump announced a running mate who will join him constantly denigrating America and portraying the blessings of freedom as the elements of a dystopian nightmare. Today, no one would be invited to deliver a speech like Kirkpatrick’s enduring masterpiece.

“We need friends and allies with whom to share the pleasures and protections of our civilization. We cannot, therefore, be indifferent to the subversion of others’ independence,” the Georgetown professor declared, “or to the development of new weapons by our adversaries or of new vulnerabilities of our friends.”

Today, Republican delegates nominated Trump for the third time to lead their party into a presidential election. For the first time, they will nominate a running mate who called Trump “America’s Hitler.” “Bewildering” is inadequate to describe the obliteration of the Republican commitment to democratic values.

Jeane Kirkpatrick was a great tribune of truth 40 years ago, and that has not changed.

Published July 15, 2024.

No wonder Republican John V. Lindsay won the 1965 campaign for mayor of New York. Stephen Sondheim wrote the Silk Stocking congressman’s theme song—and Ethel Merman recorded it in her singular style.

As Republican delegates head for Milwaukee to shame their names for generations and Democrats dither, revive your faltering spirits with this musical marvel.

Published July 12, 2024.

“With a heavy heart,” Ginnie-Rae Clay has resigned as Executive Director of the Social Equity Council. Her last day on the job will be August 1st. She made her announcement by email Tuesday morning.

Clay makes serious claims in explaining her sudden decision. She wrote:

Regrettably, my final days in this role have been marred by unsubstantiated allegations, threats, and publicly leaked false narratives, all of which have unjustly called my character and integrity into question. Throughout life, one’s reputation is a cornerstone to be built and protected. To safeguard the reputation I have diligently cultivated, I find it necessary to conclude my tenure with the SEC at this juncture.

Concerns about the operation of the SEC prompted its board to halt making grants to eligible communities. The debate over that action revealed deep fractures among its members. The Office of the State Comptroller, at the request of Governor Ned Lamont, is conducting an audit of the cannabis program’s finances.

Earlier this year, Lamont appointed Andrea Comer to replace Paul O. Robertson as the head of the agency’s board.

Clay’s departure is not expected to be the conclusion of upheavals at SEC.

Published July 9, 2024.

Michael Massey is the Republican nominee for the House of Representatives from Connecticut’s Third Congressional District. On Monday, Massey joined conspiracy crazed nihilist Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia).

Massey traveled to Danbury to show support for Donald Trump ally and podcaster Steve Bannon as he reported to federal prison in Danbury to begin serving a four month sentence for contempt of Congress. The former Goldman Sachs investment banker and film producer used the opportunity to rail at the nation’s “ruling elite.” The Supreme Court declined to consider the 70 year old Harvard Business School graduate’s appeal to stay his sentence.

On his final day in office in 2021, Trump pardoned Bannon for all charges arising out of an alleged fraud scheme that duped donors into supporting Trump’s proposal to build a wall at the nation’s southern border. Bannon’s Danbury sentence arises from his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House’s special committee investigating the January 6th attempt to prevent the House and Senate from counting and certifying the 2020 Electoral College votes.

Massey was inspired to become involved in politics, as he tells the tale, when he heard a Trump speech while serving a prison sentence for a 2008 armed robbery of a Naugatuck bank. He will face incumbent Democrat Rosa DeLauro, who is seeking her 13th term.

Published July 3, 2024.

Governor Ned Lamont is expected to announce Tuesday morning that Jonathan Dach, Lamont’s third chief of staff, is leaving the administration, Daily Ructions has learned. The governor will appear at the State Capitol at 10:15 a.m. to make the announcement.

Dach has been with Lamont since the governor took office in 2019. He joined the administration as a top advisor and has continued in that role with different titles.

Matthew Brokman, also senior advisor, is expected to replace Dach. Brokman is considered politically savvy and his appointment will unleash a holiday week round of speculation on what the change means for the popular Lamont’s likelihood to seek a third term in 2026.

Dach’s departure and his replacement by Brokman will ease tensions in the executive suite.

Published July 2, 2024.

On June 21, 2004, Governor John G. Rowland announced in a brief speech broadcast to the state from the Governor’s Residence that he would resign his office on July 1st. Rowland’s decision came as the legislature’s impeachment inquiry was growing closer to removing the three-term Republican from office.

At the same time, a federal criminal probe was gathering momentum. It would conclude with Rowland entering a guilty plea for corrupt practices six months later, on December 23rd.

The anniversary of the Rowland scandals provides a moment to reflect on the essential role a free press plays in reporting acts of the powerful to the public. Hartford Courant reporters Jon Lender, Dave Altimai and Ed Mahony were indispensable in altering the public and law enforcement officials to the betrayal of the public trust that came to mark the Rowland administration. While a hot tub and cabinets in a lakeside cottage came to symbolize the scandal, it was about much more. High ranking officials in Rowland’s office also went to prison for corruption, as did state contractor William Tomasso.

The far reaching scandal included revelations of gold coins and an attempt to persuade the Mark Twain House foundation to publish a children’s book.

Some learned lessons from the public ordeal, others did not. One that endures: subscribe to a newspaper that is not afraid to find and follow a trail.

Published June 21, 2024.

Retired teachers opposing a switch in their healthcare benefits from traditional Medicare to Aetna Medicare Advantage scored a landslide win over a slate associated with United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew, who leads 200,000 educators and others who work in the public school system.

At stake in the election were 25 leadership positions and 300 seats reserved for retirees in the 3,400 member city union assembly, its legislative body. The insurgents, the NY Post reports, appear to have swept the contest by a 2-1 margin.

A New York judge ruled last year that the switch to Medicare Advantage violated city agreements with retirees, writing in July, “have shown that numerous promises were made by the City to then-New York City employees and future retirees that they would receive a Medicare supplemental plan when they retired, and that their first level of coverage once [they] retired would [be] Medicare.”

The healthcare contract for 250,000 retirees was a big catch for Hartford-based Aetna, owned by CVS. The process of awarding the deal was mired in several years of litigation between and among health insurers fighting to overturn city decisions and retirees arguing Medicare Advantage does not provide the benefits they were promised. City officials estimated the Medicare Advantage plan would save $600 million a year.

Published June 17, 2024.