Saint Brandon: McGee Drafted to Broker Peace in Fonfara-Ritter Ruckus.

A weekend group text among Hartford legislators ignited an explosion of resentments between state Senator John Fonfara and Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter, Daily Ructions has learned.

Fonfara posited that Ritter’s establishment instincts are preventing him from making the most of a moment that Fonfara sees as progressive opportunities. Fonfara previously suggested that Governor Ned Lamont, a wealthy Greenwich Democrat, is not acting like a Democrat.

While Lamont largely ignored Fonfara, Ritter did not. The scion of Connecticut’s most privileged and patronage-laden political family, Ritter responded with some right royal abuse of the battle-hardened Fonfara. The South End fixture has seen off a host of opponents in more than 30 years in the tumultuous world of Hartford Democratic politics.

Local Democrats have recruited state Representative Brandon McGee to bring what passes for peace among Hartford Democratic factions. McGee, himself a remarkable survivor of shifting alliances, knows something about brokering peace.