Popular political professional Joe Dunn has left his post as chief of staff for 5th CD U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes. Dunn departs less than six months after Hayes took office.

What is it about that 5th District office? Murphy, Esty and now Hayes. Business, community, and political leaders hold Dunn in high regard and will be puzzled at his leave-taking after so short a time with Hayes.

Governor Ned Lamont may be able to restore his credibility and fix roads and bridges. Here’s a way forward.

New Haven Mayor Toni Harp’s re-election campaign either had its email hacked or has come unhinged. The campaign responded with a bizarre statement to the not-so-surprising news that federal law enforcement is taking a keen interest in the affairs of Harp’s administration.

Harp’s campaign manager, Ed Corey, concentrated his fire on Harp challenger Justin Elicker’s wife, Natalie. She’s a lawyer at the U.S. attorney’s office. Corey concludes that Natalie Elicker is the manipulative genius who connived to get her office to examine Harp and her crew. It all sounds nutty and desperate when you read it, as you can do here:

Today, New Haven Mayor Toni Harp’s Campaign Manager, Ed Corey, came out swinging back at the barrage of accusations and the impending investigation into the Harp Administration.

“It is nothing more than a political hit job by an otherwise desperate campaign,” Corey said, pointing out that Justin Elicker’s spouse, Natalie, is an Assistant U.S. Attorney working in the Trump administration.

“It is easy to surmise that certain DTC leaders coordinated with the Elicker campaign to leverage Natalie Elicker’s influence to initiate a baseless FBI investigation. It is apparent that candidate Justin Elicker had inside knowledge of the investigation into City Hall. Attorney Elicker clearly had her hand in manipulating the FBI into moving forward, which is reminiscent of the FBI’s sloppy meddling in the 2016 election. It is no surprise to me that Attorney Elicker is willing to use the same tactics that got her boss elected, to get her husband elected. 

Mayor Harp has previously reaffirmed that her administration will cooperate fully in any investigation. We are confident that this baseless investigation initiated by disgruntled political opponents of the Mayor will turn up nothing.”

Corey concluded, “Justin Elicker likes to talk a lot. My question to Justin is, have you been completely honest about your record? That remains to be seen as far as I’m concerned. We’ll see what the voters think on Tuesday, September 10th.”

Harp and Elicker will face each other next month when the Democratic town committee meets to endorse a candidate.

What sort of people were running the Department of Children and Families (DCF)? The malicious thin-skinned crew around Joette Katz, who served as commissioner during the Malloy administration, were averse to oversight and criticism.

Chief of Staff Elizabeth Duryea spotted Senate Republican Leader Fasano (or “Lenny,” as she refers to him) in February 2018 as ate dinner. The text appear to have been sent as Duryea was dining. Her notion of an insult was to send him a couple of shots of Sambuca with Katz’s compliments. “Alas cooler heads prevailed so now [sic] buca.”

Josh Howroyd, running the legislative affairs office of DCF, chimed into the group text with a “TAKE A SHOT!!!!!!!” graphic.

Sambuca is an Italian liqueur. Fasano is of Italian descent. Another Duryea text message commented on Fasano’s dark skin. These texts come from a malignant place.

New Haven Mayor Toni Harp will be raising money in Stamford today for her embattled re-election campaign as federal authorities continue to probe her administration. The New Haven Independent broke the story Tuesday that a federal subpoena was served earlier this month on Corporation Counsel John Rose, keeper of some of the city’s documents.

The subpoena follows other more informal inquiries around the city by federal investigators. Harp had been hoping to hold off public acknowledgement of investigators’ interest in her administration until after September’s primary.

Attorney General William Tong is headlining tonight’s Harp fundraising. The state’s chief civil law enforcement officer sponsoring a money event for a mayor with a federal criminal investigation hovering over her may not be the look the Tahoe Tong seeks to create among a crowd of ambitious Democratic rivals hungry for opportunity.

UPDATE: The Harp-Tong fundraising event has been postponed. Instead, the duo will be attending a community event in New Haven, where Harp faces a difficult Democratic primary in September.

Former Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz fostered an atmosphere of contempt for legislators during her catastrophic eight-year tenure. Katz’s chief of staff, Elizabeth Duryea, delighted in this dark-face photoshop of Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano as a Willy Wonka character. Fasano was a critic of the department under Katz. Duryea sent the photos to Katz and were discovered on the former judge’s cell phone earlier this year. The malice toward critics, and sometimes others in the department, is a frequent theme in hundreds of pages of text messages obtained by Daily Ructions under the Freedom of Information Act.

Duryea was moved into a high-paying protected civil service job at DCF before the Malloy administration ended in January. This is part of their legacy.

Katz now practices law at the Hartford firm Shipman & Goodwin.

Former DCF Commissioner Joette Katz’s text message reveal a long vicious streak toward critics. Katz’s chief of staff, Elizabeth Duryea delighted in taking aim at the secretive agency’s critics, covering her boss is praise, and providing Katz with frequent traffic reports.

On September 1, 2015, Duryea delighted in sending Katz a photoshopped creation of Senate Republic Leader Len Fasano spanking Child Advocate Sarah Eagan. Fasano and Eagan were critical of DCF’s fatal failures in protecting the state’s most vulnerable children under Katz. The former high court judge and her palace guard reveal thin skins and preening self-regard in hundreds of pages of recently discovered text messages obtained by Daily Ructions through a Freedom of Information Act request. They probably would declare themselves feminists. Their treatment of other women in government who dared to disagree suggests they are not.

Dave Mathus, former head of the Union League Club, withdrew Tuesday morning from the contest for chairman of Connecticut’s state party organization. The Mathus announcement clears the way for incumbent J.R. Romano to win a third term after leading the party to stunning losses last November.

Connecticut Democrats may need more than Tito’s at tonight’s annual fundraising dinner (formerly known as the Jefferson Jackson Bailey). There will be tension in the air.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Washington’s shrewdest politician, is tonight’s guest at the Connecticut Convention Center event. The San Francisco Democrat has been deftly keeping the lid on caucus members’ urge to begin an impeachment inquiry of loathsome demagogue Donald Trump. Party activists are more eager to act than Pelosi.

Senator Richard Blumenthal appears to be on the side of those who wish to proceed. Earlier this month, Blumenthal was raising money on the observation that “Donald Trump would be in handcuffs, criminally charged, if he were not the sitting President of the United States.” [Emphasis Blumenthal’s] or would have faced charges similar to that of being arrested for DWI in Hempstead. The state’s five Democratic U.S. House members have had little to say on impeachment, which would start in their chamber.

State legislative Democrats are pleased with their own performance in the recently concluded legislative session. Worries abound, however, that the Lamont-Bysiewicz administration is in a frequent state of confusion. Experienced Democrats are frustrated with the new governor’s aversion to taking a stand and staying with it.

A growing number of Democrats have been eyeing each other warily as news spreads of national press reporters making inquiries about U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy. The Cheshire Democrat has been through this sort of examination before but never with such intensity. Murphy’s long known a career in politics is usually a marathon, not a sprint, until it does become a sprint so that it can resume being a marathon.

Break out the Tito’s, it may be a bumpy night of celebration.