Attorney and columnist Norm Pattis combines both his jobs in a stinging Connecticut Law Tribune piece on the federal grand jury investigation of criminal justice in Waterbury.  Mr. Pattis represents Martin Minnella, a Waterbury criminal defense attorney, whose relationship with State’s Attorney John Connelly is the subject of federal investigators’ scrutiny.  Pattis, whose column is behind the Law Tribune’s pay wall, proclaims and warns, “I rarely write so directly and openly about a case I am handling. But I write about this case because I believe the investigation presents a clear and present danger to the bar of this state. I write to say to those among the Waterbury bar using the pending federal grand jury investigation of Connelly and Marty to settle personal and petty scores of their own: Shame on you.”

Attorneys Pattis and Minnella are feeling aggrieved by the investigation, which has included federal agents meeting with former–and perhaps current–clients of Minnella.  The column is a Valentine to Minnella’s legal career and minimizes the Minnella-Connelly friendship. The column confirms that investigators are bringing to bear their considerable resources.  Pattis pooh-poohs their efforts, saying his instincts tell him they will be fruitless.

The column is probably not a way to get Minnella out of the line of fire.  These sorts of broadsides usually cause investigators to employ more intense measures.  Pattis’ claim that he’ll see to it the investigation fails to nab his client sounds like a dare.  A risky declaration to issue, as is the assertion that “there is a good reason to believe the feds are playing footsie with a former associate fired for taking liberty with firm funds and having potential tax issues all his own.”  That appears several sentences after Pattis accuses the feds of trafficking in veiled threats and salacious rumors.

A saga is taking on the well-worn path from Waterbury to the federal courthouse in New Haven. Substantial developments are imminent.  United States Attorney David Fine knows that opportunities like this do not often occur.  He’ll keep the bloodhounds on the trail as the stench scent grows stronger.

You think it’s hot outside?  Check your mailbox.  Republican United States Senate candidate Linda McMahon has unleashed a scorching attack on opponent Richard Blumenthal’s false statements about his military service that have shadowed the attorney general’s campaign since they were reported by The New York Times in May.

The brochure, which declares on the front, “Honor Demands Truth” and identifies itself as “An Important Message From Veterans For McMahon” can be seen in full in this pdf: McMahon Vets Attack Blumenthal.  The piece includes a message to Mr. Blumenthal from 46 veterans.  The tone is aggressive regret.  It includes the explosive phrase sentence, “You’ve lied.”  The veterans accuse the 5-term attorney general and Marine Reserves veteran of being “dishonest” and “dishonorable.”

The piece also continues the theme of the McMahon campaign that “Dick Blumenthal Is Not Who We Thought He Was.”  We’ll find out how much of a fighter he is when we see his response to this barrage, which will no doubt be accompanied by television commercials.  Mr. Blumenthal needs to come out of his foxhole and engage.

Tom Foley’s fierce, consistent opposition to taxpayer financing of political campaigns resonated with many Republicans in his narrow victory over Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele three weeks ago for their party’s nomination for governor.  Mr. Foley raised the issue of using public funds for political campaigns often during the long slog to the nomination.  He emphasized the ill-considered program’s expense as the state faces historic budget shortfalls for the next several years.

The former ambassador to Ireland should be able to use the issue to good effect against his Democratic opponent, former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who’s sitting on a fat $6 million in public cash, delighting in the legislature’s doubling the amount he would have received before Democrats increased the amount a candidate for governor receives.  The Greenwich businessman, however, appears to have softened his opposition to public financing.  He sent a fundraising email Monday asking for contributions of up to $100 (the maximum allowed under the public financing law) to Jeff Wright, the Republican candidate for state treasurer, who is trying to raise the $75,000 in small contributions necessary to collect the public bounty.

Mr. Foley writes in his message that  ”[o]ur state deserves someone who will look out for their tax dollars and will put a stop on the reckless spending that has taken place over the last 12 years.”  That guardianship of tax dollars does not extend to the $750,000 Mr. Wright is hoping to snag in public funds.

The temptation of that public funding bonanza makes politicians contort themselves in the pursuit of it.  Mr. Foley’s joined a crowd he disdained a few weeks ago.

The Hartford Courant published an editorial praising University of Connecticut Board of Trustees Chairman Larry McHugh for putting the brakes on some last minute changes that outgoing UConn President Michael Hogan wanted to make in May.  Those included a reorganization in the government relations office and a bigger bonus for post-season play for Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley “will respect and preserve the appointment decisions she makes.” He adds a caveat that ought to relieve the state’s court administrators:  ”However, after I am elected Governor, I will not appoint more judges until the Judicial branch says it needs more, because the state simply can’t afford it.”

The state’s judicial branch has made it known that it doesn’t need and can’t afford additional Superior Court judges.  That resistance has strained relations with the executive branch.

I am sorry for the delay in getting this posted.  I’ve had a mysterious email glitch with the Foley campaign that we are trying to figure out.

Getting candidates to accept debate invitations and then working out the format rules remain much on the minds of campaigns and media outlets.  ”Meet the Press” has announced three debates, according to The Hotline Online.  The first, featuring candidates for the Unites States Senate from Florida, takes place on Sunday.  Two of the three candidates have accepted.  Whether independent Governor Charlie Crist would participate was still in doubt.

The hotly contested Illinois and Colorado races will be featured in October.  An invitation to debate on Meet the Press is one of the informal benchmarks of a campaign, signaling its competitive and noteworthy.  Republican Linda McMahon accepted an invitation several weeks ago from NBC to participate in a Sunday Meet the Press encounter with Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal.  No date’s been announced because it’s not clear that the 5-term attorney general has accepted the opportunity to appear on a national forum with Mrs. McMahon.

As economic news goes from grim to dire, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Cook Report early this week “expects to downgrade the ratings of an additional 10 Democratic [House] seats.” We’ll see if any New England seats are among them.  Watch for a post this week on Daily Ructions on the competition among Republican House candidates in Connecticut and other New England states for funding and attention from national Republican organization.

My column in the Sunday edition of The Hartford Courant was about University of Connecticut former President Michael Hogan’s determined attempts to get raises for several of high-ranking UConn officials as he departed for the University of Illinois at the end of May.  Mr. Hogan and Board of Trustees Chairman Larry McHugh went many rounds in emails over the changes the exiting president wanted in place before he left.

Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway’s bonus arrangements, never committed to writing, were the subject of considerable to-ing and fro-ing.  Negotiations between the administration and Mr. Hathaway had gone on for months with no resolution.  Mr. Hathaway sounds particularly persistent in making his case for a 50% increase in his bonus as Mr. Hogan was packing his bags.

Mr. Hathaway wanted to extend the post-season bonus provision beyond basketball and football.  Mr. Hogan wanted the Board to authorize a three-month payment and then work out the language later.  Failing to win over Mr. McHugh, the outgoing Mr. Hogan tells Mr. Hathaway he’s done all he can and leaves him with a wish that you can see here:  ”Hope to see you in the Big Ten.”

Mr. Hogan see his high hopes realized in part when UConn faces Big Ten favorite Michigan, where Gerald Ford starred in the 1930s, in Ann Arbor’s big house this weekend.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Malloy tells Daily Ructions he’ll review any interim judicial appointments lame duck incumbent M. Lisa Moody Jodi Rell makes in the waning weeks of her administration.  In order to get nine (9) white lawyers with political connections appointed last spring, Rell agreed to nominate some minority lawyers to the bench before she exits her office in January. Those nominations are expected soon, but may include another round of political favorites.

Those “Friends of Lisa” may not, however, be appointed for a full 8-year term in January if front running Malloy wins in November.  Mr. Malloy said Thursday afternoon that Mrs. Rell has the right to nominate judges until January 5th.  Any Rell appointments would require approval by the legislature’s Judiciary Committee.  Unless the legislature took them up in a special session this fall–and Democrats would have no incentive to do that–the appointments would have to be re-submitted by the new governor.

Mr. Malloy will apply his own standard of review if he’s elected, and it’s different than Mrs. Rell’s.  That would include budget considerations, but he “can’t guarantee where it fits in.  It would be a factor.”  He believes a fast-acting and vibrant judiciary is important.  In a major change in policy from the Rell administration, Malloy “would weigh what the judicial branch says it needs.”  That would be bad news indeed for any last-minute cronies elevated to the bench.

The former Stamford mayor, fresh off a landslide victory over Ned Lamont and with $6 million of taxpayer money funding his campaign, sounded vigorous and realistic about the challenges ahead.  ”Winning a primary is liberating,” he said, giving him “more room to be specific.”  He chastised Republican opponent To Foley for his gossamer proposals and what Republicans used to call “fuzzy math.”  Mr. Malloy points out that Mr. Foley’s proposed spending cuts would not come close to closing the projected budget deficits the new governor will confront.

Mr. Malloy sounded dubious that current budget projections will prove accurate when January arrives, which suggests he understands the storm ahead.

Republicans Tom Foley, the party’s candidate for governor, and Janet Peckinpaugh, the G.O.P. nominee in the 2nd congressional district, stood with vanquished U.S. Senate hopeful Rob Simmons Thursday at their odd event warning that the Groton sub base is once more in danger of being closed.  The candidates excluded rising Senate challenger Linda McMahon, who administered a 21 point thumping to Simmons on August 10th.  Republicans took note of the curious line up.

Mrs. McMahon, who has been garnering national attention as she steadily closes what had been a yawning gap between herself and frontrunner Richard Blumenthal, was not invited to the event, which included at least one candidate for the legislature and a former state senator.  The McMahon campaign will have taken note that Foley, who won a narrow primary victory over Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele, failed to extend include her but paid fulsome tribute to Mr. Simmons, who has not endorsed Mrs. McMahon.  Relations with Ms. Peckinpaugh, when the McMahon campaign pay her struggling campaign a thought, have been chilly.  This won’t improve them.

The Foley campaign needs Mrs. McMahon to attend a September 8th powwow at Mr. Foley’s Greenwich home.  The purpose of the gathering is to unite Greenwich Republicans and get their formidable resources behind the former ambassador.  Invitees, however, have been asking a thorny question, “Will Linda be there?” They want to see the candidate who’s beginning to look like a winner, and that’s not Mr. Foley.  Mrs. McMahon may be otherwise engaged that day, but maybe former Congressman Simmons will find time to attend.

The Linda McMahon campaign is sending a lot of mail to voters in the quiet period between the primary and Labor Day.  Here’s one that unaffiliated and Democratic voters started receiving this week.  Click here to read a pdf of the McMahon mailer on Blumenthal PAC event. It continues the theme of undermining Attorney General Richard Blumenthal as someone other than the person the public thought he was with his high-falutin’ talk of not taking PAC contributions in his ill-fated MSNBC interview at the start of the Democratic frontrunner’s United States Senate campaign this year.

The primary purpose of mail is to persuade voters, but a collateral benefit can be the torment it inflicts on an opponent.  The target of these pieces can never be sure where they’re going, so it’s difficult to respond with precision.  A broad response may draw more attention to the hit than it originally received.  The McMahon campaign has invested in significant micro-targeting of voters, so a mailing like the one  attached  may go to a narrow range of voters and every Democratic town committee member in the state, to make it seem like it’s reached a broader audience.  That would play to the growing anxiety among Democrats who support Mr. Blumenthal that this race is slipping away from him.  More on the specifics of that in another post.