The Attorney General continues to block Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Chairperson Marissa Gillett from having to answer a simple but essential question: Where is the draft she was finishing and circulating to her staff on December 15, 2024? The one Gillett said by text message to state Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport) and state Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) she would send to them “hopefully later today.”

That “draft” was what Steinberg referred to as a “release/op-Ed” [sic] in his text exchange with Gillett. Tong’s office, representing PURA in a case brought by two gas utilities, has not been able to contain its exasperation in blocking the search for a simple truth: What was that release/op-ed and why has it not been produced for anyone who has sought it? No requests for documents from under the Freedom of Information Act to PURA, Steinberg and Needleman has produced the document.

An April discovery order by Superior Court Judge Matthew Budzik produced nothing of relevance from PURA, not even the text messages Gillett exchanged with Steinberg. For those, PURA produced a graphic from its op-ed target, The Hartford Courant.

If, as Steinberg and Needleman claimed last week in prepared statements to their colleagues, they “penned” or “authored” the screed that appeared under their names on the CT Mirror website on December 19th would be in their possession–and should have been produced in response to Freedom of Information requests. The duo was pleased indeed with their wild-eyed claims that Eversource had fixed a bond ratings service to make PURA look like it was making it difficult to conduct business in Connecticut. They also excoriated media coverage of PURA decisions.

Six months ago, Gillett and Steinberg exchanged delighted texts on the reaction to the December 19th op-ed. Today they seek to shutdown normal inquiry and transparency.

The case continues.

Published June 11, 2025.

State Senator Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) has many diversions. He added one more Saturday: advising Republicans on their choices for the 2026 gubernatorial nomination.

Lesser wants Republicans to nominate Erin Stewart, New Britain’s six-term mayor, as the party’s candidate for mayor. State Senator Rob Sampson (R-Southington) has alarmed Lesser by mildly hinting he may run for governor because Sampson is “a conservative Trump supporter.” Sampson’s endurance on the Senate during debates may have caused Lesser and some of his colleagues to conclude that the Republican floor leader tanked their bills. A more likely explanation is that Democratic leaders were happy to have Sampson take the blame.

Lesser may not be paying close attention to the Republican contest as it forms. Stewart is exploring a candidacy for governor and is making headway on the formidable task of raising $350,000 in small contributions to qualify for Connecticut’s generous public financing program. She announced last month that she expects to win President Donald Trump’s endorsement–“and it will be great.” Stewart was at the White House this spring when Trump announced the nation’s energy demands will include mining and burning more coal. She was pleased–and also embraced Trump’s trade war on America’s allies.

Trump’s late cellphone intervention in the 2022 Republican primary for U.S. Senate boosted Leora Levy to a decisive win over party-endorsed candidate Themis Klarides.

Sampson is not expected to enter the contest for governor, but the prospect allowed Lesser, whose 2022 campaign for secretary of the state came to grief in a memorable three-ballot convention brawl, to offer Republicans advice on their convention next year. Lesser declined to advance to a primary against Thomas.

Lesser’s pique with Sampson may have caused him to overlook the tussles Stewart has had with New Britain’s council, which this term has a 10-5 Democratic majority. Those 10 Democrats may dissent from Lesser’s view of Stewart. Other Democrats may not welcome Lesser’s speculation that Stewart could defeat Governor Ned Lamont, should he seek a third term.

On Monday, Stewart, who possesses an eye for optics– announced she had–from her orderly desk–vetoed the budget passed by the council, including a dramatic photograph as a reminder that leading can be a lonely job.

Published June 9, 2025.

The troubles at Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) continue to buffet the 85,000 student system. The latest headache for the Board of Regents is the failure of its search for a permanent president of Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and the discovery of a false claim to be a Fulbright Scholar.

Dwayne Smith, Ph. D., was the odds-on favorite to move from interim president to the permanent head of the New Haven school. Smith, who previously served as CEO of the Housatonic branch of the state’s community college system, was picked to helm SCSU in 2023. A search for a permanent president followed in November 2024.

It all went wrong when a sharp-eyed fact checker at CSCU tried to confirm Smith’s claim that he is a Fulbright Scholar, a prestigious and competitive academic award recognized around the world. The Fulbright Scholar directory does not include Smith, though his online biography on the state’s website states, “Dr. Smith is a Fulbright Scholar, and throughout his career has served on numerous boards, committees and task forces.”

When asked about the serious discrepancy between his claimed credentials and the truth, Smith said he is a Fulbright Specialist. That is nothing like being a storied Fulbright Scholar. And Smith is not a Fulbright Specialist, a short term academic exchange program, sponsored by the United States Department of State. No sentient person would confuse one for the other. In any event, Smith is neither Fulbright Scholar nor Fulbright Specialist.

Claiming credentials one does not possess is a particularly grievous offense in academia. At SCSU it is serious enough for outgoing CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng to announce that the search for a president has failed and will begin anew. In addition, Cheng told his colleagues that Smith will not continue as interim president and will instead become Executive Director of Systemwide Advancement.

Regents, who will be disappointed Daily Ructions is the first to report this dismaying story, will need to conduct a serious investigation to learn why the search firm it hired did not discover Smith’s biography is lacking in verisimilitude. They will also have to engage in the painful process of finding out how long Smith has been claiming to be a Fulbright Scholar.

Candor started the weekend early at CSCU. Adam Joseph, Vice Chancellor of External Affairs, wrote in a statement to Daily Ructions, “The search for a permanent president of Southern Connecticut State University concluded without a permanent appointment.  Details regarding the presidential search process are confidential. The CSCU System is honoring the rights in Dr. Smith’s contract that provide retreat rights to the System Office where Dr. Smith will utilize his skillset in an area where he has had significant success.”

Cheng sounded unaware of the circumstances that terminated the search for a president of SCSU and the damage it will do to the system’s reputation. He wrote, “I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Smith for his unwavering commitment to Southern’s mission as a social justice institution. His contributions to the university’s culture of academic excellence will have a lasting impact on the Southern community.” Lasting impact, indeed.  

 Dr. Sandra Minor Bulmer, Ph.D., will serve as interim president of Southern Connecticut State University. 

Published June 6, 2025.

A dramatic change in the state’s longstanding policy on converting land far from native American reservations to tribal land occupies four consequential lines in the bond package being hurried through the last day of the legislature’s regular session. The change would likely make it easier for the state’s federally recognized tribes to add property anywhere in the state to their domains, placing it under federal jurisdiction.

This profound change in longstanding state policy would have significant impacts on currently unknown towns. The bill has had a public hearing but could not get over the finish line on its own.

The state, as the tribes point out from time to time, must treat the tribal lands as sovereign nations. By adding to their real estate holdings, a piece of Connecticut is gone. This independence came into stark view when the Mohegan Sun hesitated to comply with Governor Ned Lamont’s initial pandemic orders. They raised their status as a sovereign nation at that critical hour.

Republicans, with their affinity for local control, ought to be in an uproar. They would not undermine the primary issue that unites them, would they?

Published June 4, 2025.

The passage of the budget usually allows the House and Senate to relax and take a victory lap. Thirteen lines in an amendment to the budget has caused legislators and other to wonder what they have done. The section, posted above, takes the unusual step of requiring the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) “to grant the owner of the Wallingford Transfer Station a temporary operating permit….”

The amendment appears to have surprised DEEP. The agency was scrambling Tuesday to learn more about where this curious provision originated. Governor Lamont may want assurances that there is nothing in this provision that could embarrass him as he ponders a post-session announcement on whether he will seek a third term. The refuse business, as Daily Ructions readers aware of what can happen in the shadows, makes even the most steely government official uneasy.

Updates as events require.

published June 3, 2025.

Two hard nights for energy committee co-chairs Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) and Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D-Fairfield) as each tried to wash away the stain of their failure of candor over who wrote a wild-eyed, conspiracy-laden opinion piece that appeared on the CT Mirror website on December 19th.

On Monday night, Needleman appeared to be reading remarks as he struggled to summarize the energy bill that did not include a power grab for the chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). Needleman made a fleeting reference to the 12/19 op-ed that accused the utilities of conspiring with ratings agencies to lower their bond ratings. Neither Needleman nor Steinberg recanted their op-ed screed against the Hartford Courant’s reporting. Demagoguery remains in season.

What the damaged duo did not do on Monday, Tuesday or any other day is release the op-ed draft PURA chair Marissa Gillett told Steinberg in a text that she appears to no longer have that she had finished an op-ed and would be sending it to him—just days before it appeared in the left-leaning Mirror.

Steinberg said on the floor of the House Tuesday evening, “The rhetoric has gone way overboard, including both sides.” He added, “I myself regret contributing to the tension, including the unwarranted speculation as to the relationship between the utilities and the ratings agencies….That was was with regard to the opinion piece Senator Needleman and I penned.”

”Penned” is a funny old world. Not as clear or emphatic as “wrote.” Better would be an end-of-session announcement that he and Needleman will produce all texts, emails, attachments and metadata pertaining to the 12/19 venting of someone’s spleen. The pair’s contempt for the Freedom of Information Act has not abated. They may soon learn that a subpoena is a more powerful tool than the FOIA in the righteous search for truth.

If Steinberg and Needleman do not augment their FOI disclosures, their positions will be in considerable jeopardy when the complete story emerges.

Published June 3, 2025.

Such a night in the House of Representatives. Sly Representative Anne Dauphinais (R-Killingly) read startling titles, descriptions, and excerpts of sexually explicit books she and others discovered in some Connecticut public school libraries. WTNH’s Mike Cerulli was first with the story and an excerpt from Dauphinais sharing her findings as she the presiding officer and his gaggle of distressed aides on the dais.

Mr. Bookman, the library detective, described the situation to Jerry Seinfeld, “What about that kid sitting down and opening a book at a branch of the local library and finding drawings of pee pees and wee wees? This is about that kid’s right to open a book without getting his mind warped.”

What it took Dauphinais 12 minutes (with interruptions) to do, Mr. Bookman accomplished in less than a minute. The essential question is the same. What about that kid?

And what is a provision about the books in school libraries doing in the budget?

Libraries are about more than socks and mobs. Here’s a palette cleanser and a paean to a trip to the library and the magic of books:

Published June 3, 2025.

The final three days of the regular legislative session can be long and intense, especially for the members struggling to get their bills across the finish line. That is not an excuse for legislators to yell at staff members.

In the past 12 days there have two wildly inappropriate instances of members of the Senate Democratic caucus yelling at women staff members. The incidents occurred in the presence of other legislators who remained silent. Each woman declined to escalate the moment because they are mature adults. Other senators who witnessed the scenes could have intervened, but they did not. Other witnesses were uncomfortable and also silent.

The Capitol village has long been a man’s world. Not everyone has adjusted to the sporadic progress women have made in the established order. The two recent incidents have caused considerable comment and privately expressed scorn.

Judith Martin (“Miss Manners”) calls etiquette “a common language of behavior” that provides a foundation for our enduring civil society. Regrettably, bullies are in fashion in some quarters, but their victims are not without defenses. Bullies always cry foul in the face of an effective fightback.

This would be a good day for the shouty senators to apologize and adhere to a standard that reflects what Governor Lamont calls “Connecticut values.” It would be the right thing to do, but also the smart one because those targets of the bullies, well, it’s not their first time at the rodeo. And they have dealt with a lot worse than you, fellas.

If anyone needs a refresher on modern manners, the writer, podcast personality and Britain’s expert on proper behavior William Hanson recently written a book, Just Good Manners, that shows the way forward.

Published June 2, 2025.

The annual state property conveyance bill included a mystery: 92 Farmington Avenue in Hartford.

The building, built in 1943, has 6 floors and a basement. Its 103,000 square feet include 85,000 square feet that is usable by a tenant.

The conveyance, which did not enjoy the benefit of any testimony at a public hearing, is to the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA). It does not need the space for itself, so something else must be in the works, though no one on the floor of the House during a rare Saturday session seemed to know or was willing to disclose what that may be. Republicans inquiries were not met with a flow of information that would allow elected officials to discharge their duties properly.

Questions are likely to persist.

Published May 31, 2025.

Governor Ned Lamont has a problem: $183,000 a year Senior Advisor Jonathan Dach A report by the Shipman & Goodwin law firm concludes that Dach, Lamont’s third chief of staff, made prolific and reckless use of a state vehicle, Daily Ructions has learned.

The independent report, prompted by an extensive story by Inside Investigator’s dogged Marc Fitch on vehicle misuse, is expected to be completed in the next two days and released early next week in the rush of the final three days of the regular legislative session. There are some acts even a $2.6 billion surplus cannot divert public interest in. The chilling Dach driving dodge is one of them.

The report confirms that Dach used a state vehicle at times for personal, not government, business. In addition, the car’s technology recorded Dach, a Lamont favorite, driving at speeds the law deems reckless, a crime under state statutes. Even a Yale Law School graduate must know that one’s sense of entitlement does not include driving any vehicle at over 90 miles per hour. Dach is known for his righteous claims that he does not own a motor vehicle and uses public transportation. If a state car is included in a sweeping definition of public transportation, Dach is telling the truth.

State employees in positions not as lofty Dach’s would have been fired long ago for committing the abuses the report confirms.

The report’s conclusion will cause needless embarrassment to Lamont, who has been good to Dach. A gentleman would have shared with Lamont in private what he’d done and quietly resigned months ago. Instead, Dach allowed the charade to continue into an expensive law firm investigation while the child of privilege spent months running interference for embattled and failed head utilities regulator Marissa Gillett.

The report may also provide a clue to one of the curiosities of Dach’s tenure with Lamont: Why does he spend so much time on the shoreline visiting with former state Representative Holly Cheeseman, a Republican? Cheeseman, who narrowly lost a re-election bid in November, has been mentioned for a spot on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).

The release of the report is expected to cause Dach, who does not live in Connecticut, to leave the Lamont administration after Wednesday. That is too late. Dach should go now. Lamont is aware of the report’s damning findings but has allowed Dach to play a significant role in shaping important legislation, despite revealing himself as unsuited and unworthy to wield authority in the public’s name.

Published May 29, 2025.