As Republicans brace for a November 3rd deluge of disappointments, some are beginning to contemplate how to emerge from the wreckage. The maneuvering for advantage in what’s left of the party after Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Connecticut punishes candidates in down-ballot races.

Candidates eyeing the party’s 2022 nomination for governor may begin to reveal stalking horses in the early competition for advantage. Party leadership contests provide a narrow arena to test their support and fighting skills.

A contest may come in an early race for party chairman. Incumbent J.R. Romano could have trouble holding on until his term reaches its natural conclusion in June. Republicans will be looking for immediate change after November 3rd in the only political entity they control: their shambolic party organization. June will not be soon enough for those who want to try to begin the post-Trump era and begin a soft launch of the race for governor.

Lobbyist, Friend of Angelo and former Senator Christopher Dodd will join Governor Ned Lamont Wednesday morning on a virtual fundraiser for Connecticut Democrats. A donation of any amount will get a contributor into the breakfast without breakfast event.

Dodd, who served for 30 years in the Senate before becoming a lobbyist, is coming off a hard summer. The Harvey Weinstein favorite failed to torpedo the vice presidential prospects of Senator Kamala Harris from his perch on Joe Biden’s search committee. Harris and her allies made short work of Dodd’s attempt to boost the prospects of Representative Karen Bass. The California congresswoman’s affinity for late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro quickly deflated her Dodd-inspired boomlet.

The invitation:

Tomorrow, October 14th at 8:30 a.m. ET, you’re invited to join me and Governor Ned Lamont for coffee and conversation!

During this informal virtual event, we’ll talk about how important it is for the nation and the world that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are elected in November. Additionally, I will share some of my personal reflections and take your questions.

Register today by making a contribution of ANY amount to the Connecticut Democratic Party.

Morning Coffee and Conversation w/ Former Senator Chris Dodd
Hosted by Governor Ned Lamont
Wednesday, October 14th, 2020
8:30 a.m. ET
Zoom Invite Upon RSVP

RSVP Now

I’ll see you tomorrow!

— Chris Dodd

Duby McDowell and I are the new co-hosts of WFSB’s Face the State. Our first show will air this Sunday, October 18that 8:30 a.m.. We are living through an unsettling era of change, with no notion of how long it will last. The press and wider media face their own upheavals. We hope to help Connecticut understand this new age.

I would not have been considered as co-host of Face the State if I had not enjoyed an informal but enduring relationship with the state’s most storied public affairs program. I owe that to Dennis House. Much of what I have learned about the dynamic nature of television comes from watching and appearing with Dennis. He is both teacher and friend, and I appreciate him in each role. I know what a great friend he is. We are about to discover what sort of student I’ve been.

Political committee FixCT officials Scott DePetris and Lawrence McGonegal will pay hefty fines to settle an ongoing State Election Enforcement Commission (SEEC) complaint that FixCT “made disallowed contributions to the Steve Obsitnik for Governor campaign committee.” Obsitnik sought the 2018 Republican nomination for governor.

DePetris served as chairman of FixCT, McGonegal as treasurer. DePetris, according to the October 7th consent agreement reached with the SEEC staff, served as a fundraiser for Obsitnik’s campaign committee and had critical contacts with Obsitnik. FixCT expended more than $88,000 in support of Obsitnik’s unsuccessful race for governor.

The SEEC found that McGonegal as treasurer was responsible for the illegal FixCT expenditures. The agreement notes that both DePetris and McGonegal were “responsive and cooperative with this investigation” and did not knowingly violate the law.

DePetris will pay a fine of $20,000, McGonegal $5,000. The agreement will be presented to the commission for approval.

A footnote warns, “Allegations concerning respondents to this matter not named herein shall be addressed in a separate document.” That may refer to Obsitnik. Evidence of his contacts with DePetris is mentioned in several critical paragraphs of the consent agreement.

Obsitnik’s bid for governor gained momentum at the Republican nomination but stalled when he had trouble qualifying for public financing. The Westport Republican finished fifth in the party’s primary.

Mike DiGiovancarlo is the Democratic nominee for the House of Representative from the state’s 74th District. The Waterbury Democrat serves on the city’s board of aldermen and is an ally of Mayor Neil O’Leary.

A Waterbury patrol and community relations officer, DiGiovancarlo contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign committee in 2016, according to Federal Election Commission reports. DiGiovancarlo may be ready to give up his day job. He is endorsed by the Working Families Party, which has been in the forefront of the movement to defund the police.

DiGiovancarlo faces two-term incumbent Republican Stephanie Cummings.

There was no misunderstanding. State Representative Cara Pavalock-D’Amato thought a neighbor whose uninhabited house had been foreclosed left a crude note on her windshield. The Bristol Republican responded with a cruel message to the neighbor. The neighbor had not written the note, but that did not keep Pavalock-D’Amato-D’Amato from unfurling her ugly instincts.

Pavalock-D’Amato’s message appears above. The incident occurred Saturday evening. A social media dustup and condemnation from Bristol’s mayor, Ellen Zoppo-Sassu, and press inquiries preceded a statement issued Tuesday by Pavalock-D’Amato, according to The Courant. The third term legislator wrote, “I apologize for any inconvenience or misunderstanding caused over the weekend in my Bristol neighborhood. I brought my two-year-old son with me to an event Saturday night and parked nearby. When asked to move my car, I did.”

Pavalock-D’Amato’s instincts are jarring but not surprising to Capitol denizens who have observed her. Zoppo-Sassu dropped a revelation in her statement that ought to add to voters’ worries. “In the three years I have been mayor, I have never had a conversation or a phone call from Rep. Pavalock, nor has she ever responded to any emails about the city’s legislative agendas or wishlists that I send to the Hartford delegation,” Zoppo-Sassu said in a statement Tuesday.

In the competitive world of available property listings, it’s not uncommon to hear of individuals searching for that perfect home that matches their previous standards of living. Take, for instance, State Senator Alex Kasser’s scenario, which seems to illustrate this trend vividly. Last year, she made headlines by declaring a war on privilege, yet recently, she voiced her dissatisfaction through a court motion. Kasser described her current $5,200 a month Greenwich apartment as a significant downgrade from her former “palatial…modern mansion on two manicured acres.” Amidst her ongoing divorce, Kasser is adamant about selling the marital home, where her estranged husband and children currently reside, in hopes of procuring a more spacious residence for herself from the available property listings that match her accustomed luxury.

The apartment, the Greenwich Democrat claims, makes one of her children “uncomfortable and unwilling to spend time” with her.

Kasser, elected in 2018 as Alex Bergstein before changing her surname, made the unusual decision to use her access to publicity as an elected official to fight her high-stakes divorce from Morgan Stanley investment banker Seth Bergstein. The Greenwich Democrat filed for a dissolution of her marriage in December 2018.

In July, Kasser delivered a monologue of her complaints against Seth Bergstein on the floor of the Senate during the legislature’s special session to consider a police accountability bill that Kasser supported.

Seth Bergstein has responded. He complains in a September 23rd court filing that Kasser’s desire to play out her divorce publicly and in the press negatively has consequences. Bergstein’s motion claims Kasser’s “posting extensively on Instagram announcing to everyone her relationship with her 31 year-old girlfriend without so much as letting her children know that she was doing so, giving a TEDX talk at Wesleyan, available online, during which she criticized [Seth Bergstein] and their family life, filing a motion in which she inappropriately included deceptive portions of emails and alleged misconduct by [him] which was then picked up by CNBC and many high profile networks, and changing her last name to Kasser, announcing it publicly without ever letting her children know, and then giving a press conference stating that the reason she was doing so was to ‘disassociate herself with the person she was married to.'”

Bergstein denies that his behavior toward Kasser was ever “threatening, volatile or intimidating. It is the plaintiff [Kasser] whose behavior was irrational and abusive.” He claims in a response that the $30,000 a month in alimony he pays Kasser and her additional $21,000 a month income are sufficient to afford “a more luxurious home for herself…” without forcing the sale of the home where her children live.

Seth Bergstein points out that Kasser owns “a multi-million-dollar two house compound in the two of Nantucket.” In addition, Kasser owns a home in New Milford that she designed and “spends significant amounts of time at this residence, including many weekends.”

The pending dissolution continues with disputes over the parties’ scores of millions of dollars of assets. Bergstein claims Kasser has undervalued her assets, including a $19 million trust fund. Kasser alleges that Bergstein manipulated her financial decisions throughout their decades-long marriage. She asserts in a motion that she “has no experience in finance.”

Bergstein responded that he “only began depositing his income into an account of his own name after the commencement of this actions. Prior to that, the entirety of the Defendant’s income for the entire course of the parties’ marriage was deposited into the parties’ joint accounts.” Bergstein continues, Kasser ‘stopped depositing the earnings from her investments into joint accounts after [Bergstein] found out she was having an affair with a woman from Greece in 2008.”

Bergstein says Kasser’s claim of ignorance of finance “is concerning given her claimed proficiency in finance during her successful campaign to become a Connecticut State Senator as well as her position as the Vice Chair of the Banking Committee.” Kasser is the co-chair. Bergstein points out that Kasser was an associate at a large New York law firm “for four years working on complex financial and real estate transactions.”

Kasser, according to Bergstein’s pleading, “has admitted under oath that she did not include a variety of assets on her five financial affidavits” submitted over the course of the contentious action.

This makes sense. The energy bill the legislature is expected to consider at this month’s special session invites competition into the state’s energy efficiency programs. Not everyone is pleased, but changes in monopolies always cause some resistance.

The bill, according to Energy News Network, “would potentially make utilities compete for control of the energy efficiency programs they’ve operated for more than 20 years.” It has always seemed counterintuitive to put the distributors of power in charge of efficiency programs. Innovation has never been a characteristic of monopolies. The proposal would invite independent entities to promote and test their ideas to reduce energy consumption. That seems like a sensible policy to adopt.

The distribution of energy does not lend itself to the benefits of competition, as Connecticut residents are reminded at unhappy intervals. Generation and conservation do–as long as regulators restrain the instincts of monopolists.

House Minority Leader Themis Klarides (R-Derby) became the First Lady of EversourceCT Sunday with her marriage to the power monopoly’s general counsel and executive vice president Gregory Butler.

The cakes marking the occasion celebrate love of things. The tower of luxury consumer brands appears to be an announcement by Klarides that if she runs for governor in 2022 it will be in the previously undetected Marie Antionette lane.

The self-proclaimed shopping addict is leaving the legislature in January after eleven terms, three of them as minority leader.

Connecticut employers added 20,400 jobs in August, a disappointing drop from the 32,000 the state picked up in July. Connecticut began the year with nearly 1.7 million jobs. In August, that number was at 1.56 million.

The global pandemic has added to Connecticut’s economic troubles. The state has the fourth highest per capita death rate from Covid-19 in the nation. Before this year of sorrows, Connecticut had not recovered all the jobs lost in the 2008 financial crisis.