November 22, 1963 was a Friday. Here’s the WTIC radio, a regional powerhouse at the time, covered the breaking news from Dallas as it carried on with its venerable Mic Line afternoon program.

Dennis House provided more on Face the State on the 50th anniversary of that day that changed the world.

Office of Policy and Management (OPM) Secretary Melissa McCaw made a major announcement Wednesday. McCaw’s friend Konstantinos Diamantis will serve as her deputy undersecretary beginning Thursday. Diamantis has been at the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) overseeing the state’s school construction program.

Diamantis will be bringing the school construction program to DAS. That means political operator Robert Ficeto, who is a Diamantis subordinate at DAS, will be moving to OPM. McCaw’s decision to bring the DAS duo to OPM has caused concerns within the political and professional ranks of state government. McCaw’s oddly fulsome email announcing Diamantis’s appointment will do nothing to relax furrowed foreheads.

You can read the long announcement/testimonial/valentine here:

From: McCaw, Melissa <Melissa.McCaw@ct.gov
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 4:12 PM
To: OPM-DL OPM All Staff <OPM-DLOPMAllStaff@ct.gov>
Subject: Agency Appointment

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis as Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management.

Kosta brings a unique and diverse background and skillset to his position as Deputy Secretary, with over 30 years of experience combined in the public and private sectors; practicing law, serving in the state legislature, and most recently, working at the Department of Administrative Services. Throughout these experiences, he has developed a deep understanding of the legal, legislative, policy, financial, and operational functions of state government and his role in strategic negotiations makes him uniquely qualified to support me and the Office of Policy and Management.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis as Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management. 

Kosta holds a J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law School and was a sole practitioner for over 28 years. His practice focused on criminal defense, including work in juvenile court, abuse neglect cases, and contracts.  Additionally, Kosta served in the General Assembly from 1992 through 2006, and followed with a role as Special Counsel to the Speaker of the House James Amann. During his legislative tenure, he was named House Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and served as the House Subcommittee Chair of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Judicial and Corrections. His legislative work also includes service on various committees, such Executive and Legislative Nominations, Insurance, and Health and Human Services. Kosta will immediately begin to support the agency’s work in the areas of Intergovernmental, Criminal Justice, Capital and other programs and policy.

Some of you may know Kosta from his time at DAS, where he previously served as the Director of School Construction, Grants and Review and most recently the Director of Construction Management. Together with his team, he continues the mission to provide adequate learning environments and facilities to meet the programmatic needs for our students as well provide state of the art facilities, while simultaneously maintaining frugality with state resources and over time reducing the annual outlay of required bond allocations from $850 million to under $500 million through active management of design, construction process, change order review, site review and payments.

In order to ensure the cost efficiencies in administering the school construction program and consistent with OPM’s responsibility to administer various municipal grants and municipal aid programs, Kosta will continue to supervise the school construction program, whose staff will be relocated from DAS to OPM in the near future.  For this reason, Kosta’s functional title will be Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management and Director of School Construction Grants, Review and Audit.  In addition, efforts will be made in the upcoming legislative session to transfer the statutory responsibility for the administration of school construction grants from DAS to OPM. The OSCGR unit and function will leverage synergies with OPM’s extensive work supporting our municipalities.  

Please join me in welcoming Kosta to OPM effective Thursday, November 21 and wish him success in his new role. I am confident I can count on each of you to orient Kosta to our great agency and the important work we do in the service of our great State. Without a doubt, he will come to know and appreciate the outstanding expertise and team members we are fortunate to have in OPM.

Best regards,

Melissa

McCaw’s plan to win retroactive legislative approval of her de facto transfer of the administration of school construction grants from DAS to OPM may prompt considerable scrutiny. Diamantis will not need to spend much time getting to know and appreciate team members at OPM. McCaw’s tribute announcement suggests the synergies are ready to launch.

The position was briefly held at the start of the Lamont administration by Natalie Wagner.

Republican Chris Williams, one of three Republicans on the West Hartford town council, will support popular West Hartford Democrat Beth Kerrigan when the council meets tonight to elect a mayor and deputy mayor, Daily Ructions can report. The new council, elected on November 5th, will continue to be comprised of six Democrats and three Republicans.

The council Democrats decided in private–without Kerrigan–to upend the local tradition of electing as deputy mayor the second highest town council and dump Kerrigan. Democrat Shari Cantor placed first and will be re-elected as mayor by the council.

The council Democrats plan to replace Kerrigan with incumbent Democrat Leon Davidoff, who was first elected to the council as a Republican. The Democrats have declined to comment on their plan to demote Kerrigan. If the three council Republicans join Kerrigan Tuesday night, she will need one other Democrat to break ranks and continue a longstanding local political tradition.

Dear Ructions,

With local elections and Governor Lamont’s transportation plan unveiling done, this feels like the right time to start looking at changes in 2020.

There aren’t many openings for progressive Connecticut Democrats. A meaningful vacancy may not appear for years. People waiting for a challenger to step forward. What would be the harm to an ambitious rookie in running for Congress and taking the fight to one of our long term representatives? Many counsel patience. Why should someone itching to run wait?

Sign me,

Ready to be part of something big

Dear Ready,

Why indeed? If you wait until there is a vacancy, one of those tiresome establishment figures will leave you where you are now—tending to that aching heart. “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you,” declared Margaret Thatcher. There was little she did not know about tipping over the established order.

Here’s some advice to anyone contemplating a run at an incumbent. The First Congressional District fits the profile of districts with primary voters receptive to a challenge. You will need to begin with some supporters, savvy family members and loyal friends, who are committed to you alone. Without them, the logistics can become overwhelming. 

Town committees are chosen in January. That may provide opportunities to make friends among the discontented. The 2018 quiet revolution on the Middletown Democratic Town Committee had far reaching consequences. Start sniffing around West Hartford. Fury at the treatment of second highest town council candidate Beth Kerrigan may be the start of something. A rebellion there will help you identify potential allies in a significant town. 

Plenty of Washington consultants have been wondering when 2018’s rumblings along the Queens to Boston fault line will be felt in Hartford. Raise some money and hire a few pros—and listen to them. Start reciting the incumbent’s fundraising sources in 11 campaigns. They won’t change in the 12th. Put some feelers out to former staff members, several of whom are said to be, (what is the right description to use?) disgruntled and looking for someone to listen to their tales. No honest environmentalist can be anything but appalled at the Larson plan for a tunnel through Hartford and under the Connecticut River. Others who pay attention to who gets what in politics shake their heads at the jobs given to one family at the expense of qualified candidates. 

There will be no statewide primaries next August. You can petition your way onto the ballot for a primary that will attract a low turnout. Anything can happen. After 22 years, an incumbent’s ties to local party organizations fray. (He won his first term in the state Senate by defeating an incumbent in a primary almost 40 years ago.) Find a veteran of the 2006 Lieberman v. Lamont primary. Quit your job in January. Watch what local camps form around Democratic presidential candidates. Go to their events. Make supporters out of their supporters. Devote your full measure to leapfrogging the timid entitled who crowd our elected offices. 

You will feel discouraged now and then but you must not show it. The worst that can happen is you return to where you are now. The best? You know the answer. Proceed to the starting gate.

If you are impaled on the horns of a dilemma and want to risk receiving advice, send a message to kfr@dailyructions.com. Identities will be protected. Messages may be edited.

Former Connecticut resident Matt Lieberman was in Hartford Wednesday raising money for his long shot bid for a Georgia United States Senate seat. About two dozen Democrats gathered at a Hartford law firm to reminisce and jolly the Liebermans.

Lobbyist Joe Lieberman, who served four terms in the Senate from Connecticut, and Hadassah Lieberman attended. The Liebermans’ ties to the Connecticut Democratic party were forever changed when the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee lost the party’s nomination for re-election in 2006 to Ned Lamont in an epic primary battle.

Lieberman defeated Lamont by running as an independent that fall and winning overwhelming support from Republican and unaffiliated voters. Lieberman won more attention when he supported Republican John McCain over Barack Obama in their 2008 contest for president. Lieberman, once known as a national security hawk, earlier this year registered as a lobbyist for the Chinese telecom firm ZTE-a company that causes serious national security concerns in the United States. As Joan Rivers would say, “He better have someone at home who’s very sick and needs the money.”

Matt Lieberman is running in Georgia as a Democrat. Georgia voters have not been kind to the children of famous Democrats. Sam Nunn’s daughter and Jimmy Carter’s grandson were defeated in their attempts to win high office.

The initial response to Wednesday’s fundraiser was not robust. Late invitations were sent telling recipients to ignore the suggested donation levels and just please show up.

Senate Republicans will unveil their plan for transportation spending without tolls today at 11 a.m. The 14-member caucus has become an unexpected key element in pass a transportation plan as their Senate Democratic counterparts, with 22 members, have conditioned their support for a plan on bipartisan support.

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) has immersed himself in transportation policy, especially funding sources. If the past is an indication of future performance, Fasano will be more conversant in transportation issues than most policymakers when he leads the released of the Republican plan.

This will be a time for choosing for Governor Ned Lamont and his new transportation guru, Ryan Drajewicz, his chief of staff. If the Senate Republican plan is a credible toll-free life line, Lamont and Drajewicz will have to decide if they should declare victory by putting together a bipartisan coalition to pass a plan without tolls or risk a damaging defeat by insisting Democratic legislators pass a tolls plan without Republican support.

Republican legislators’ opposition to tolls has grown more resolute as Lamont and Democratic legislative leaders isolated them from high profile issues during the legislative session earlier in the year. Republicans had no hand in the passage of increases in minimum wage, paid family and medical leave legislation, and Lamont’s first biennial budget.

That didn’t take long. Move CT Forward, a coalition of road-building interests, has purchased billboards on I-84 in support of Governor Ned Lamont’s most recent toll plan.

The billboards proclaim, “Want a Faster Commute? Spend More Time At Home Less Time in Traffic. Check Out the Plan CT2030.com”

Expect more tangible construction industry support if Senate Democrats start to make an unexpected move toward supporting Lamont’s plan as legislative elections grow nearer.

Dear Ructions,

It’s done. I will not be holding an elected office in my community. I had not until now given much thought to what I might do next. Local politics came to occupy many hours of each week. I won’t miss the times I felt surrounded by people who could be ridiculously sensitive. I know I erred in not tending to other parts of my life while consumed with serving my community, winning votes, and defeating unworthy opponents.

There’s going to be a hole in my daily life. How do I fill it without looking like I’m waiting for my next chance? Don’t tell me this is a chance to spend more time with my family. They seem filled with dread at that prospect and have dropped hints that I need to find reasons to get out of the house. (I’ll address this on my own the next time one of them needs to be dropped off at the airport or faces a looming tuition payment.)

Sign me,

Looking into the Gap

Dear Looking,

Choices await you. The first should be to observe a period of quiet reflection. No one ever suffered by making a graceful exit. 

There are many ways to serve. State auditors reported last week that Governor Lamont has not been tending to his appointments. Hundreds of vacancies on state boards and commissions lie fallow. Get the list and see if there are openings on a board that interests you. 

Volunteering falls off after the holidays. Local food banks can often use a boost in the winter. You must know enough people in your community—even subtracting the ones bulldozed—to organize a mid-January food drive, including donations of pet food for the local animal shelter. Go about good works quietly. 

It’s not clear if you lost an election or left of your own accord, though your tone suggests you may not have been the master of events. In either case, everyone can benefit from some bibliotherapy. Read a biography of Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt, both of whom overcame setbacks that would have defeated the rest of us. If you are thinking about something completely different from politics, try episodes of the How To Academy podcast. The accomplished share their paths to success in friendly interviews.

No matter how tempting, you must not jump into any local brawls. Do not plot, scheme or recruit in the service of mischief. You are on a sabbatical from settling scores. If you cannot resist contemplating revenge, let this be your silent mantra for now: “A dish best served cold.”

Send boxes of soothing Christmas cards next month, many to people who will be surprised to receive one from you. Try not to append angry notes to them.

Senators enjoy referring to themselves as members of the Circle, not a circular firing squad. Thursday’s Senate Democratic meeting on tolls left the Capitol village buzzing about the uncertain way forward. Wary Democrats enjoy decisive control of both legislative chambers but continue to resist Governor Ned Lamont’s various plans to levy billions in tolls on state residents.

State Senator Cathy Osten’s dramatic star turn during a briefing on the toll plan from Lamont aides overshadowed the dreary presentation. An agitated Osten displayed angry wounds from her Tuesday defeat for re-election as Sprague’s first selectman. The retired corrections officer blamed the prospect of tolls, not the mismanagement of local finances, for her stinging loss. Senate Democrats, who mounted a failed rescue mission of their colleague with troops and treasure, agree. Osten’s frequent, vivid interventions left Lamont’s ambassadors miffed and witnesses worried about Osten, tolls, and their Senate majority.

Democrats suspect that Osten’s bitter fate provided a preview of what awaits them if they support tolls less than a year before facing voters alone in 2020. Lamont, whose popularity peaked on election night in 2018, enjoys a four year term. Senate Democrats do not want to become the frontline of voter discontent in a year when presidential candidates ignore Connecticut, neither U.S. senator is poring millions into ginning up Democratic turnout and the five U.S. representatives confront token Republican opponents. That could leave legislative Democrats with no buffers between themselves and infuriated voters who believed Lamont’s 2018 trucks-only toll pledge.

The Connecticut Democratic Party organization released talking points to jittery allies to assist in making the case for the latest version of Governor Ned Lamont’s transportation plan. Many Democrats will strain to explain the disproportionate benefit going to wealthy Lower Fairfield County as others pay tolls and the gas tax but see few comparable benefits.

The talking points fail to explain why Lamont abandoned the tolls for trucks-only pledge that allowed him to win his 2018 race for governor. They also don’t address why Lamont’s budget took more than $1 billion intended for the Special Transportation Fund and put it in the state’s general fund if a transportation crisis was upon us.

Here are the talking points:

CT2030 – Transportation Plan

Quality of Life Improvements 

• CT2030 is a series of transportation projects that will improve the lives of Connecticut residents. Rebuilt bridges, exits, intersections, and historic improvements in Metro North will take time off commutes, giving more time for Connecticut residents to be at home with loved ones rather than sitting in traffic.
• With the completion of some projects, the state could take as many as 20 minutes off commutes every day, close to two hours a week that commuters won’t spend in their car or on a delayed train.

High level points

• Historic investment in the state’s infrastructure sends a message to the region and the country that the state is forward-thinking and open for business.
• Unprecedented $5 billion commitment to modernize Metro North, the most important commuter rail in the United States.
• Nonstop service from Waterbury to New York City. 
• Connects cities and towns in Lower Fairfield County to New York City like never before, leading to increased property values and more attractive development and expansion opportunities. Makes places like Stamford, Bridgeport and Norwalk specifically part of the New York ecosystem.
• Biggest investment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take cars off the road in the state’s history. Increased capacity on Metro North combined with targeted highway improvements means the state is making one of the biggest and most public commitments to the environment through transportation investment in the country.
• Shores up the Special Transportation Fund beyond 2030, providing a reliable revenue stream and reducing the amount the state finances and borrows to pay for transportation infrastructure.
• Protects the state’s annual $750 million in federal grants by getting the state’s transportation infrastructure to a state of good repair through the plans laid out in CT2030.

Economic Output

• The 77 enhancements and dozens of other will keep the construction and engineering industries busy for years. That economic activity will help drive Connecticut’s economy.
• By improving all segments of the state’s infrastructure, it provides predictability and reliability for employers. More people will be able to get to work more efficiently, reducing wasted times on congested commutes.
• Improved infrastructure will lead to better opportunities for affordable housing and Transit Oriented Development.

Why user fees?

• User fees include payments from out of state vehicles.
• User fees allow specific projects to have direct funds to pay for completion. The revenue allows other funds to be spent on other projects. 
• User fees provide a new revenue source which could be used to qualify for BAB TIFIA loans, providing a significantly less expensive option to taxpayers. Using GO authority is essentially borrowing to borrow.
• User fees allow for cashflow to pay for projects, which would the projects to be done more quickly. 
• Gov. Lamont wants to avoid using the state’s credit card in an irresponsible way. This method guarantees the super-low interest loans will be paid back, keeping the state’s debt at lower levels than through traditional transportation funding means.

What are the discounts for CT residents?

• 20 percent discount for all CT vehicles.
• This is the least expensive and skinniest possible user fee program.
• Goal was to provide the steepest discount to the most residents.

What are the prices?

• .50 – $1.00 for non-CT drivers
• .40-.80 for CT EZ-Pass Holders
• $3.50-$7.00 for Heavy Trucks

What happened to the income tax break for low income residents?

• Under this proposal the user fee rates are the lowest possible rates while maintaining a responsible borrowing and financing level.

Can’t we just do all of this work without user fees?

• Not in any responsible way.
• The Wall Street Journal just editorialized about Connecticut saying that state is finally getting out of a fiscal hole that had been dug for years, in part because we are no longer digging the hole.
•  
• Bo to pay for CT2030, you are digging the hole deeper and deeper. The user fees act as the payback mechanism which is responsible and dedicated.
• By utilizing the TIFIA and RRIF loan programs, these allow for the cheaper financing with the support of user fees. If you were to eliminate the user fee element of the financing, then the low-cost federal financing is no longer an option, changing the financing of the entire plan.
• If Republicans or Tea Partiers have another idea on how to qualify for the federal financing with a different stream of revenue, the administration is all ears.

What will stop the government from just stealing this federal money to pay for other stuff? $171 million was stolen from the STF to cover other expenses. Why is this any different?

• This is different for multiple reasons. The loans are secured by the federal government and the Trump Administration requiresan acceptable and approved payback mechanism. If the state changes that, sweeps funds, moves money around, that can put in jeopardy other federal transportation grants and funds the state qualifies for. It would be reckless and irresponsible for the legislature or governor to even consider such a concept. The Trump Administration is very clear on what Connecticut can and cannot spend Build America Bureau funding on. 
• The state has never had an achievable vision like this before. This isn’t 50 years, 30 years, or 20 years. It’s 10 years and it’s spelled out how to pay for it. No administration has ever done this before in Connecticut’s history.

A few months ago, Gov. Lamont was talking about the dire funding situation of the State Transportation Fund (STF). Does this address that? What’s changed?

• Nothing has changed. This is a different and innovative way to solve the state’s funding crisis. 

Why theses projects?

• These are projects that are already in the CTDOT pipeline. In some cases, most of the engineering and environmental work has been completed. These projects will yield immediate results for Connecticut residents.
• In other instances, projects are the initial work on larger projects with long-term goals. 
  • For instance, one priority rail project is replacement of aging bridges on Metro North, with the next project to improve the track itself. 
  • Another example is rebuilding the service road along I-84 in Danbury. That project, once completed, allows for improvements to the exit structure in Danbury on I-84.
• In the case of the SOGR projects, they have been identified as necessary to ensure the state receives its proper share of federal grants. A reduction or lack of commitment here could jeopardize the $750 million the state receives from Washington.

Is there room for compromise with CT2030?

• This proposal is a compromise after listening to the concerns expressed and negotiating with key stakeholders.

• The only plan to fix Connecticut’s roads was produced by the Lamont Administration. This plan is the result of months of discussions across the aisle both in Hartford and in Washington.

Why does this have to happen now? Can’t we wait until next year or 2021?

• The time to act is right now. The budget is balanced and stable for the first time in years.
• Credit and ratings agencies are giving Connecticut positive outlooks and commending the state on its efforts to stabilize it finances.
• The state has to keep momentum going and have a plan in place for the next decade that keeps the state moving in the right direction.

Isn’t this just the GOP Prioritize Progress Plan with tolls?

• This is a responsible financing and borrowing plan that relies on modest user fees to pay those loans back. 
• Prioritize Progress essentially squeezed out any other bonding without a stream of revenue to pay for it. This abides by Gov. Lamont’s debt diet, while also providing reliable revenue.

Why pass it now?

• If Connecticut doesn’t address the funding crisis with the STF now, it will only get worse over the next year, making the solutions far more politically tenuous.
• Raises the spectre of a wide-scale sales tax or gas tax increase, or an even larger scale toll program than was proposed during the 2019 legislative session.