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A stunning morning in a Hartford courtroom. Judge Stuart Rosen declared a mistrial in Geoffrey Luxenberg v. Michael Farina. The case, filed in 2019, is a dispute over the payments Luxenberg claims Farina owed him from the operation of Vinci Group, a well-known Democratic campaign consulting firm.

The trial was expected to reach the jury this afternoon for deliberations. The schedule was upended Thursday morning when jurors notified Judge Rosen of an issue. At least one juror discovered that Luxenberg had viewed his or her LinkdIn profile while the trial was going on.

Judge Rosen, whose background in private practice is in civil litigation, is known to have a calm disposition. Daily Ructions understands that he was visibly dismayed at Luxenberg’s actions. Jurors are a no-go zone in Connecticut and every other jurisdiction that honors the rule of law.

Posted Thursday, December 2, 2021.

Uh-oh, legislative employees. That overpayment is not yours to spend.

UPDATE: Senator Rob Sampson writes in a Wednesday afternoon statement that he was in touch with Looney Letter to America organizer Wendy Rogers but did not give his permission to include his name.

Here is Sampson’s statement, including praise of Rogers:

“It’s come to my attention that it is being reported that I have added my name to Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers Letter calling for a 50-state audit of the 2020 election.

“I have not signed this letter. In late October, I had my legislative assistant contact Senator Rogers in response to inquiries from several constituents suggesting I should sign on.  We followed up by email to Senator Rogers asking her to provide us with a copy of the letter, her justification for requiring an audit of all 50 states, and any evidence she had collected in support of that effort.  

“She responded by letting me know that nearly 200 other legislators had signed the letter and to reply by email if I wished to be added. There were no answers to my questions and no evidence provided so I chose not to.  

“My duty and responsibility is to my constituents right here in our state.  Anyone following election law and process in our state knows that I am loudest and most committed voice fighting for election integrity in Connecticut. I serve as the ranking Republican member of the Government Administration and Elections committee and year after year, I have proposed legislation for audits, for photo identification, for signature verification, and for improving our election system so that the results are something every person regardless of their political party can and will trust. 

“It is true that our state has significant election integrity issues, particularly with mail-in voting – which I have detailed in hours of senate debate, but they are different from the issues in Arizona and around the country.  I appreciate Senator Rogers’ efforts to draw attention to election integrity.  However, find it improper to call for the decertification of any election without first providing proof.”

Original Post: It is a roll call of the anti-democratic furies. State Senator Rob Sampson (R-Southington) joined 285 deluded Republican state legislators to call for a “forensic audit” of each state’s 2020 election results. Their goal: restore the loathsome demagogue Donald Trump to the presidency.

The letter bases the call on the strange audit of Arizona’s 2020 results. Arizona voters awarded their electoral votes to Joseph Biden, an election night Fox News call that threw Trump and his enablers into a right royal state. The Arizona audit found that Biden’s vote had been slightly undercounted.

Sampson is the only Connecticut legislator to sign the letter to everyone in general and no one in particular. One more shriek of a cult at war with modernity and democracy.

The screed was organized by Arizona state legislator Wendy Rogers.

Published November 24, 2021.

Peter Lumaj disclosed on Facebook that he is returning from a Florida vacation to announce his campaign for the United States Senate. Lumaj will seek the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democrat Richard Blumenthal, who is seeking a third term.

Lumaj was the Republican candidate for secretary of the state in 2014. In that campaign, he introduced himself to voters with an ad that in which he spoke of growing up under the brutal Communtst dictatorship that ruled Albania.

Lumaj made bids for the Senate in 2012 and governor in 2018. The Fairfield Republican received 22 votes from the 1,209 delegates at the 2012 Republican nominations convention that endorsed Linda McMahon.

The Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) meets today. Its published agenda reveals it will call itself to order, approve minutes from a previous meeting, go into closed session to interview candidates for prosecution positions similar to special accommodations for militaries, and appoint several prosecutors, and adjourn.

The commission will not address Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo’s 2020 decision to hire Anastatia Diamantis as a $99,000-a-year executive assistant. Ms. Diamantis is the daughter of Kostantinos Diamantis, the deputy state budget director who retired upon being suspended from that powerful position over a “personnel matter.” Kostantinos Diamantis told the CT Mirror that Colangelo’s hiring Ms. Diamantis was a “pretext” for suspending him.

Inquiries into the sordid matter were conducted by top advisors in Governor Ned Lamont’s. Members of CJC are oddly incurious into their agencies role.

Posted November 18, 2021.

State Representative Whit Betts (R-78) will not run for re-election in 2022. The six-term Republican announced his decision Wednesday morning.

“I want to thank and express my deep appreciation to the voters of Bristol and Plymouth for putting their trust in me to be their state representative in Hartford. For over a decade, they elected me to represent them and advocate on their behalf in the General Assembly. Serving the people of the 78^th district in this capacity has been the honor of a lifetime,” Betts said in a written statement released by House Republicans.

Republicans will be optimistic that they can hold the seat as Bristol has become a Republican stronghold. The party scored a sweep of municipal offices in November’s local elections.

Betts is the son-in-law of the late Wally Barnes, a legend Connecticut public life during the second-half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.

Posted November 18, 2021.

What a differences a jarring financial scandal makes. Not long ago, state budget director Melissa McCaw praised West Haven officials for “the fiscal integrity and discipline built into the city’s decision-making.” On Monday, McCaw, running the state budget office without the assistance of her deposed friend and deputy, Konstantinos Diamantis, sent a letter demanding answers from often confused Mayor Nancy Rossi. West Haven officials have been slow to explain how more that $600,000 in federal Covid-19 federal relief funds disappeared, allegedly stolen by Michael DiMassa, a former state employee who resigned his seat in the state Hiuse of Representatives last month.

West Haven’s finances are under state supervision. Rossi and her team have not provided documents and explanations OPM has been seeking for months. “Staffing to adequate levels should not be delayed to the next budget.,” McCaw wrote. The letter claims OPM and the West Haven oversight board have been “persistent in exhorting” West Haven to meet its obligations by making required changes in how it operates.

Here’s the McCaw missile:
November 15, 2021

Dear Mayor Rossi,
The purpose of this letter is to follow up on my September 17, 2021 letter to you in which I advised the City to provide OPM with a plan for resolving prior year audit findings and for addressing persistent outstanding items in the FY 2021 Memorandum of Agreement between the City and OPM. My request was reiterated by me, and affirmed by members of the MARB, at the October 6, 2021 and November 3, 2021 board meetings.

As of Friday, November 12, 2021, my office has only received a response from the City regarding issues related to the purchasing function. However, there are remaining open items related to audit findings, the Personnel Department, staff training on the Munis financial system and staffing of the Finance Department.

This correspondence is formal notification that Municipal Restructuring Funds will not be distributed until the City is in full compliance with the MOA, and until the City’s annual financial audit and the CohnReznick audit are both completed. Further, the City has been placed on notice that if either audit indicates that the City’s delays in taking corrective actions to address audit findings were contributing factors to any misuse of Covid Relief Funds, those conclusions would warrant withholding MRF.
While the City’s improvements to its balance sheet and overall financial condition have been recognized, both OPM and the MARB have been consistent in urging the City to strengthen its financial management infrastructure by hiring the necessary staff to support that infrastructure and implementing and enforcing necessary internal control systems. OPM and the MARB have been persistent in exhorting the City to take steps to resolve audit findings and make improvements outlined in the City’s Memorandum of Agreement with OPM. OPM has consistently supported the City in these efforts.

There is no question that that City must fulfill the requirements of the MOA and do so with the greatest of urgency. As has been repeatedly requested, the City must submit a full plan for achieving compliance that commits to deadlines, assigns responsibilities for completing tasks, and ensures accountability in regular reporting.

This plan must include steps and timelines for hiring any positions deemed necessary for ensuring proper controls in the areas of finance and procurement. Staffing to adequate levels should not be delayed to the next budget. Current vacancies, and any additional needed positions, should be filled with qualified individuals as quickly as a responsible recruitment process will allow. If necessary, the City’s contingency funds should be made available to cover any related unbudgeted salary and benefit expenses for the remainder of the current fiscal year.

Sincerely,
Melissa McCaw, Secretary

Posted November 16, 2021.

Matthew Brokman will replace Jacqueline Kozin as executive director of the state Democratic party organization. Brokman is chief of staff to House Majority Leader Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford), a position he held under former Speaker of the House Joseph Aresimowicz.

Rojas announced Monday that he had “some good news to share.” Brokman will be taking the party role and staying on at the House Democratic caucus. Until the next legislative session begins in February and after it ends in May, “Matt’s hours will be reduced at the state as he works to help elect Democrats.”

Brokman is married to Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the state’s Working Families Party (WFP).

The news will disappoint state Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven). Winfield has emerged as a powerful influence in Democratic politics and was promoting Christine Bartlett-Josie, an experienced campaign operative for the position. Bartlett-Josie’s DNA campaign management outfit helped eke out a victory last week for the beleaguered Nancy Rossi, mayor of West Haven.

Posted November 8, 2021. Updated November 9, 2021.

Sergeant John MacDonald resigned from the Connecticut State Police Thursday, the day after he was placed on administrative suspension. McDonald was facing two internal affairs investigations.

MacDonald was operating a motor vehicle in September 2019 when he crashed into another car, injuring the mother and daughter in it. McDonald had left a retirement party for a colleague at Black Hog Brewery in Oxford when the collision occurred. McDonald reached a plea agreement in May that allowed him avoid jail, participate in an alcohol education program, and perform 100 hours of community service. It is important for finding a good alcoholism treatment center, especially for people who have a problem with drinking and are seeking treatment.

The disposition of McDonald’s criminal case allowed state police to complete its internal affairs investigation. That eventually became two investigations, one arising out of the drunk driving crash, the second arising out of McDonald’s reassignment to administrative duties on the team that oversees the Kronos scheduling and time keeping system used by Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), according to Brian Foley, assistant to Commissioner James Rovella.

McDonald’s resignation will put the investigations in abeyance, Foley said Thursday. McDonald will begin the process of applying for retirement benefits, which will be significantly reduced from what he would have been eligible for if had completed his career, Foley said in response to an inquiry from Daily Ructions.

The state police administration concluded that allowing McDonald to resign would save the state the risk of losing litigation that might arise if McDonald was fired, Foley said. The state will begin the process of decertifying McDonald as a law enforcement officer.

Posted November 4, 2021.  

Jacqueline Kozin is leaving her post as executive director of the state Democratic party organization. Governor Ned Lamont’s 2018 deputy campaign manager will serve as Special Adviser and Chief of Government Relations at the state’s new Paid Family Medical Leave Authority.

Kozin announced in a message that she is “thrilled” with her new job. She managed Kevin Lembo’s first two comptroller campaigns and also worked in his office on legislative, intergovernmental, and community affairs.

Lamont has shown a taste for rewarding Democratic operatives with state largesse. He can expect to hear more about that in the year ahead as Connecticut’s unemployment rate continues to exceed the national average. Friends first may be a governing policy that Lamont comes to regret.

Posted November 3, 2021.