This will be the first most readers have heard of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s plan to hike his state’s gas tax. It seems to have caught Governor Ned Lamont’s attention as he pondered how to seize the initiative after an uneven launch of his new administration.

Capping legislators’ health benefits was unlikely to win friends in the Democratic legislature.

Ryan Drajewicz, Governor Ned Lamont’s chief of staff, tries to explain to Ann Lamont why integrity means abandoning a key campaign pledge three months after her husband was elected governor. This may be a twisted derivation of the “radical candor” philosophy practiced at the Bridgewater hedge fund where Drajewicz worked as an administrator before joining Lamont.

Ann Lamont responds with a realistic assessment of the price her husband will pay.

Not every Ann Lamont email is in my column this week. The Greenwich venture capitalist has been surprised at the organized opposition to Governor Ned Lamont’s comprehensive toll proposals. Greenwich activist and Lamont neighbor Hilary Gunn caught Mrs. Lamont’s attention.

Ann Lamont asks friend Lisa Stuart if she knows “this crazy girl Hillary Gunn who is on the RTM..stalking Ned with anti-toll signs…part of what he signed up for but a little weird to have it be a GCDS girl who lives on our street be a stalker!”

Stuart promises to “do some sleuthing.”

Oh for the days of 2006 when dissent was patriotism and a fella could be hailed for spending $20 million to challenge a U.S. senator who supported the war in Iraq and free trade.

Year-end changes in the Capitol village. Governor Ned Lamont’s legislative liaison, popular former state legislator Chris Soto, will take up a post at the education department.

Susan Bysiewicz aide Jimmy Tickey will depart the lieutenant governor’s office to become district director for U.S. Representative Jim Himes. With the Fairfield County Democrat at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry, it should be a time like no other to work for him.

Connecticut Democrats have announced that Chris Pitts “has joined our team as Interim Data Director.” Pitts, who federal law enforcement authorities identified as a conduit, a mule, a stooge in a bribery scandal that shook New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration and brought the 2018 conviction of the Democrat’s top aide, Joseph Percoco.

Connecticut Democrat Peter Galbraith Kelly, Jr., was also snagged in the scandal. Kelly made $300,000 in payments to Percoco’s wife through Pitts for sham energy education work in exchange for Kelly getting access to her influential husband, once referred to as Mario Cuomo’s third son. Pitts, a Canterbury Democrat, was named at Kelly’s trial.

State Democrats will be keeping Pitts on the payroll after they find a permanent data chief. He’ll be doing “some organizing in the second congressional district for the 2020 election cycle.”

Dear Ructions,

There’s not much room for a Connecticut Democrat to rise since the 2018 election cemented some new leaders into place. What does an ambitious Democrat do to get ahead or get away?

Sign me, 

Looking for a ladder

Dear Ladder,

You are right that the most promising opportunities were seized and won last year. Plenty of 2018 Democrats who failed to appear on that autumn ballot are searching for places to go. Not everyone can apply to become a judge. 

Go north. Find a presidential candidate you like and volunteer to help in New Hampshire. Hold signs, knock on doors, make phone calls, and attend events. Become conversant in your candidate’s stands and you may be able to serve as a surrogate at some small gatherings around the state that loves its primary marathon. You could thrust yourself onto the state with nothing but stages for the next two months. You may catch the eye of a campaign professional who will move on to another state on primary night. 

Even a losing campaign can be a path to something bigger. Supporters and staffers from losing campaigns migrate to the winners as the scope of the campaign grows. It helps to be conversant in a couple of issues. Experts get special attention. Faux experts do too. Just ask the loquacious George Papadopoulos. You don’t want to be like him. 

Don’t forget what may happen back in your own backyard. There may be volunteers here you can mobilize to spend time in southern New Hampshire, which is not far, or make calls to voters from here. Now and then the Connecticut’s primary gets some attention. In 2020, it’s part of the April 28th Acela primary of six states in the northeast corridor: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. If the nomination has not been decided by then, April 28th could be decisive. National campaigns always appreciate someone who knows the local landscape, especially state election laws. 

While you are helping your candidate, make some friends on the other campaigns. Your paths will cross again before this is done. One of them may be your lifeline to something new. 

Governor Ned Lamont and legislative leaders are meeting at this hour behind the iron gates of the Governor’s Residence. Lamont is taking a holiday week run at convincing the leaders of the four legislative caucuses to support a plan–any plan–that puts tolls on several state highways.

Lamont has proposed several plans that have met with tepid responses from Democratic and Republican leaders.

Dear Ructions,

Thanksgiving. Crowded family dinner. A of couple of voluble relatives with nothing but opinions about him. You know who I mean. How do we resist the provocations that are certain to grow through the afternoon and evening. Last year’s touch football game became a tournament of rage.

Fixin’ for a fight

Dear Fixin’,

Expand the pool of guests. Some college students are unable to spend Thanksgiving with family due to distance or athletics team commitments. Ask your hosts if you might bring a couple of them. Their presence may serve as a silent enforcer of courtesy. Make sure the students are on your football team, a caution against older players’ boozy delusions of prowess. 

Divert. At the first opportunity, which sounds like it will come early, announce the most important vote facing America is the one on The Voice. Everyone ought to agree an injustice will occur if the magnificent Katie Kadan does not win. There are certain to be other fans of the Chicago wonder at the family gathering. Make sure everyone is registered to vote for The Voice. That should kill some time and lead to other topics that have nothing to do with our fraught politics. 

Katie Kadan’s sensational turns may be causing me to overestimating the power of talent to unite for a few hours. You may be powerless to stop family members (I hope they are in-laws) from hailing, minimizing or excusing their hero’s embrace of dictators and nutty conspiracy theories. Ask them if they were in peril who they would rather have on their side: Jim Jordan, Devan Nunes and Elise Stefanik or Fiona Hill, Bill Taylor and Alexander Vindman? 

Leave early. Thanksgiving continues to be shortened by encroaching retail hours. Best Buy must be offering something you absolutely must have for on of your relatives at a never-before-low-price that is only available to the first 50 customers. Whisper that you are getting that television that includes Alexa for a niece or nephew everyone holds in great affection. 

Bargains will soothe the sharpest partisan divides. You will be free to go without incident.

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.

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.