One hundred degrees of determination. On the wings of a strong showing at Thursday’s New Haven Democratic nominating convention, mayoral hopeful Justin Elicker’s campaign is collecting signatures for a September 10th challenge against incumbent Mayor Toni Harp.

Harp is seeking a fourth two-year term as her administration is buffeted by a federal criminal investigation. Primary voters and others can expect to hear details of the promiscuous use of a city credit card.

State Senator Alexandra Bergstein’s war on privilege and patriarchy is being met with resistance. The battle of the Bergsteins is proving an inhospitable field of conflict for the wealthy Greenwich Democrat.

Alexandra Bergstein’s incendiary response to Seth Bergstein’s motion for contempt has been vigorously contested by Seth Bergstein in a July 10th court filing. Alexandra Bergstein contends that living conditions at the couple’s Greenwich mansion hostile and unsafe, requiring her to flee the marital home. Seth Bergstein contends they were not. Rather, Alexandra “rented a separate apartment where her girlfriend now stays with her five or six nights per week.”

Seth Bergstein takes a different view of the history of the marriage. Alexandra Bergstein told the court that her marriage was meaningless in its last 15 years. Seth Bergstein dissents by alleging he returned home from a family vacation in 2010 and discovered Alexandra Bergstein in an affair with a woman. That affair, he claims, began in 2008.

Seth Bergstein also disputes Alexandra Bergstein’s claim that he took $20,000 from the family safe. He claims, “The defendant did not remove $20,000 in cash from the safe. The cash that had been in the safe was spent by the parties through the year and during Christmas vacation, as was their custom. The plaintiff’s withdrawal of $5,000 in cash was yet another violation of the [Court’s] automatic orders.“

Governor Ned Lamont’s veto of a bill that strips some restaurant workers of a right to seek full compensation under the law has roiled legislative leaders. A late session addition to a job training bill bars restaurant workers who were assigned “non-service duties” from seeking full compensation. The matter is currently the subject of class action suit.

Some legislative leaders are unhappy over Lamont’s veto and considering a full press fight for an override. The offending provision has the support of Republicans and may have been the subject of a bipartisan agreement. Sustaining the veto could further strain relationships among caucus leaders.

Here’s SEUI’s statement supporting Lamont’s veto:

Rob Baril, president of SEIU 1199 New England, issued the following statement after Governor Ned Lamont’s vetoes last Friday:

“SEIU 1199 New England thanks Governor Ned Lamont for exercising the Executive’s veto power to stand up for working people. His recent rejection of a bill that was hastily passed without debate or public hearings at the General Assembly is a positive step to protect the rights of restaurant workers in Connecticut. In the first legislative session of his term, Governor Lamont has demonstrated a strong commitment to serve in the best interests of middle-class families and low-wage workers by signing into law the $15 minimum wage, Paid Family and Medical Leave and raising reimbursement rates for nursing homes. On behalf of our union members, I want to express that SEIU 1199 New England is grateful to count on Governor Lamont as an ally as we seek to improve the lives of all working people.”

Democrat William Russo stunned the field of Democrats seeking to succeed incumbent Middletown Mayor Dan Drew by raising $48,000 in the second quarter of the year. That’s a big haul in Middletown, and it left one-time frontrunner Mary Bartolotta far behind. The struggling Bartolotta managed to collect a puny $11,000 for a September 10th primary brawl with the popular Russo.

A third Democrat, Ben Florscheim, an aide to U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy, raised $18,000, mostly from contributions outside Middletown.

The nominating convention is a year away, but the race for the Republican for state senator in the 28th district has begun. Newtown Republican J.T. Lewis has announced his candidacy by a YouTube video. Lewis will face three-term incumbent Republican Tony Hwang.

Lewis’ video emphasizes his late brother Jesse’s heroism in the December 2012 Sandy Hook killings and how it inspired his younger brother to immerse himself in activism.

Hwang was one of two Fairfield County state senate Republican to withstand the 2018 anti-Trump cull of his colleagues in the former Republican bastion.

State Police Patrol Sargent Gregory Smith was arrested Friday on charges of threatening, assault and reckless endangerment. Smith, who lives in Middletown, is posted to Troop H in Westbrook. He is scheduled to appear in court in Middletown on Monday.

Governor Ned Lamont is replacing spokesperson Maribel La Luz with NBC Connecticut political reporter Max Reiss as the Greenwich millionaire seeks to steady his drifting administration, Daily Ructions has learned. Complaints about Lamont’s communication shop have been one of the few constants six months into his erratic tenure.

Chief communications strategist Colleen Flanagan Johnson is also departing. Lamont, in what may prove a regrettable decision, has moved OPM official and Democratic functionary Jonathan Harris into his office as a senior adviser. Harris soiled his reputation with his involvement at the center of a 2014 campaign finance scandal that saw state Democrats pay a $325,000 settlement to keep finance records secret. Harris was a loyalist of unpopular former Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy.

Democrats and Republicans have found common ground in complaining about the unsteady messaging from Lamont and his team.

New Haven Democratic Mayor Toni Harp is trying to change the subject from the federal criminal investigation into her administration with this upbeat testimonial ad.

Harp has suffered some serious losses to challenger Justin Elicker as Democratic ward committees poll their members on their choice for mayor.

Read The Courant’s Chris Keating on the race for mayor of New Haven. It’s a rematch between incumbent Democrat Toni Harp and challenger Justin Elicker.

Harp’s seeking a fourth term while her administration is under siege from a federal law enforcement criminal investigation of the city’s youth services department–headed until recently by Harp insider Jason Bartlett. Harp’s hoping to keep the lid on public disquiet over the investigation. She will need to do better than comparing a federal subpoena to a request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The two are not close to the same.

A federal investigation of corruption in an administration always puts the person at the top under strain. Harp faces the challenge of balancing her legal strategy with bolstering her immediate political prospects. Neither will be served if she keeps spouting nonsense aimed at minimizing a summer of growing peril.

John W. Cerreta, a former clerk to Justice Samuel Alito when Alito was on the Third Circuit, is favored to win White House backing for the Second Circuit vacancy created by the retirement of Connecticut favorite Christopher Droney, Daily Ructions has learned.

Cerreta practices law at the multi-state firm Day Pitney, LLC. The Simsbury Republican received his undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut in 2002 and his law degree from Cornell three years later.

In the 2018 campaign cycle Cerreta made the maximum allowable contribution to Democrat Shawn Wooden and left-wing Democrat Christopher Mattei, as well as $200 to one-note Republican Robert Stefanowski.

Cerreta was on a list of three potential nominees submitted by the White House to Connecticut’s two United States senators.