Sleek and very 21st century. You might not want to work from home if you could go here every day.

How much will state Democrats pay to keep this week’s emails secret? Connecticut Democrats are in a twist at ads pointing out Democratic legislators’ close ties to Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s destructive policies. Alarmed that ads that began yesterday may remind voters of what they already know, state Democrats have issued a fundraising appeal to fire back–through the party’s Federal fundraising account.

This is what has 2014 Malloy campaign workers and others facing the scrutiny of a federal criminal investigation.

State Democrats seem less confident today than they were last week that Hillary Clinton will protect them from paying the price at the polls for Connecticut’s continuing economic crisis. Rickety performances on the campaign trail of incumbent state senators Steve Cassano, Joe Crisco, and Bob Duff may be adding to their anxiety.

The zealots at Labor United for Connecticut picked the wrong target when they put Dr. William Petit in their malignant sights. Through the tragedy of the 2007 murder of his wife and two daughters, Dr. Petit has a platform to condemn the labor’s online ad trying to link the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives to “attacks on women and families.”

Dr. Petit condemned the ad at a press conference outside his Plainville home. Petit’s Democratic opponent, incumbent state Representative Betty Boukus, made an appearance at the press conference and criticized the ad aimed at bolstering her endangered prospects of a 12th term.

Outgoing Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey (D-uncertain residence) drew all the wrong lessons from the attack on Dr. Petit. Sharkey would use the revealing incident to limit freedom of speech and participation in the public arena. Labor United for Connecticut’s exploding strategy to defeat a popular Republican who would not be one of their foot soldiers in the legislature has revealed who they are. This is what Republicans are up against every day in competitive races. Let all sides shine a bright light on themselves and others. Dr. Petit can take it. He trusts the people.

Now the challenge moves to other races. Will the righteous among the candidates Labor United for Connecticut condemn their nasty allies? They know who they are, and so do others.

Paul Filson, head of Labor United and director of the Connecticut chapter of SEIU, attributes Donald Trump’s nasty anti-immigrant rhetoric to Dr. Petit. What a short memory he has. Connecticut labor was silent two years ago when their ally Democratic Governor Daniel P. Malloy refused to offer assistance to child refugees from Central America. Labor’s voices were stilled when Malloy turned his back on those children during his re-election campaign.

This ad will run through Election Day.

Here’s more about it.

The nominations are open for the 2017 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Here’s the link to the nomination form.

The award, according to a message from Caroline Kennedy, Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, which administers the award process. According to Ambassador Kennedy, “[E]ach year, we rely on your help to find inspiring examples of modern-day elected officials in federal, state or local office who have chosen to govern for the greater good, even when it meant taking an unpopular stand or offending powerful groups.”

The award will bear special significance next year, the centennial of President Kennedy’s birth, in a home not far from the library that bears his name.

Hint for those submitting nominees: It’s safe to nominate someone who refused to offer any assistance to Central American child refugees. Turning away refugee children is no impediment to being awarded the prize. It also helps to be a Democrat.

“Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose your job. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job,” Ronald Reagan famously proclaimed across the country as he made his way to the White House in 1980.

Connecticut Republicans will be looking to trumpet some variation of Reagan’s formula in the aftermath of Thursday’s devastating state job figures. Connecticut has lost 5,500 jobs in August and September. August’s gain of 300 jobs was revised to a loss of 300. September saw Connecticut lose 5,200 more jobs, a stark reminder that the state’s economic prospects continue to deteriorate.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy stumbled in Friday’s post-Bond Commission press scrum. The beleaguered governor tried to distance himself from scrutiny of the $500 million Stamford Transportation Center project. The delayed project’s designated developers and generous family members provided $165,000 to the state  Democratic federal fund that expended hundreds of thousands of dollars–by conservative estimates–on Malloy’s 2014 re-election campaign. This is proving difficult to explain. State Democrats agreed in June to pay $325,000 to the state’s election finance agency to keep secret campaign communications among Malloy and his political inner circle.

Malloy told persistent reporters that he has personal relationships with transportation center developers. “I have purposely tried to stay out of this discussion to a great extent,” The Stamford Democrat also declared, “So from the very outset I tried to stay away” from the project, the two term Stamford Democrat declared. Trying is not the same as doing.

Malloy, however, has not walled himself off from the tortured negotiations on a project that was to have begun construction two years ago. His claim to have “tried” to stay away from the long and fruitless negotiations will be unlikely to stand up under scrutiny from those with the authority to inquire into the details of the curious course negotiations with the John McClutchy-led development team this summer. Malloy is unlikely to have been silent as secret negotiations reached a critical point. He may have intervened on behalf of the developers. The Department of Transportation has declined to release project communications between DOT’s commissioners and deputy commissioner and Malloy budget chief Benjamin Barnes, one of the governor’s longest serving and closest aides. Barnes’s leading role has him looking like Malloy’s surrogate.

Malloy’s claim to have tried to stay out of the Stamford Transportation Center deal reminded observers of scandal-prone John Rowland’s December 2003 false claim that cabinets in his lakefront cottage were off the shelf from Home Depot. Rowland was trying to minimize renovations to the Litchfield County hideaway. The doomed Republican governor had not counted on the hero of that chapter of his unraveling, Tammy Lauzier, wife of the cabinet maker who had provided the custom cabinets that graced the troublesome cottage.

Friday felt like a new phase began in Malloy’s year of consequences. It awaits its own Tammy Lauzier–with subpoenas.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Carter will have two spots on the November ballot. Independent Party rival John Price withdrew his disputed claim for the tiny party’s spot Friday afternoon, clearing the way for Carter to preserve the party’s status.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill will have to move with some dispatch to secure the rights of Carter and the Independnt party by making sure each ballot reflects the state of party nominations and provides a full array of choices to voters.