You can pay to attend a campaign fundraising event to meet Senate Democrats. You could volunteer for a Democrat running for the state Senate. Those would provide access to Democratic members of the Senate. You still may not approach them where they conduct the people’s business: the third floor of the State Capitol.

The people continue to be banned from proximity to the legislature’s upper chamber, long after the nation has the Covid-19 virus is under control through the application of advanced science as expanded in free nations. The Democrats running the state Senate refuse to follow the science and restore the public’s right to petition its government in person.

The public’s exclusion from the Capitol’s third floor cannot be due to Covid. Look at that photograph above of Senate Democratic leaders Martin Looney and Robert Duff campaigning in a crowded room only a month ago. Duff even donned a t-shirt proclaiming himself “Unapologetically Pro-Democracy” for the Danbury event. Disappointing if that vital declaration was reduced to an electioneering prop. So it can’t be Covid.

Published November 28, 2022.

After nearly four years of acrimony former state Senator Alexandra Kasser and Seth Bergstein have ended their 27-year marriage with a settlement as their trial was beginning. The extended proceedings caused Kasser to abandon public office and Bergstein to be passed over for promotion.

The agreement, dated November 15th, required Bergstein, a Morgan Stanley executive, to “transfer the amount of sight million ($8,000,000) dollars” to Kasser by wire within three (3) days of the execution of their settlement agreement, according to court documents. Bergstein also agreed to release all claims to a Jackson Pollock painting that was the subject of a federal lawsuit commenced by Kasser’s brother, Matthew Mockary. Bergstein did get to keep Kasser’s jewelry in a safe deposit box at a local bank and a safe at their marital home, which Bergstein is also keeping.

Kasser agreed to resign as trustee of trusts established by her family for the couple’s three adult children. The children were often mentioned in the long proceedings of the case.

Kasser (elected in 2018 as Alexandra Bergstein) made much of her marriage and new life with a legislative staffer early in her first term as a state legislator. Kasser set out her stall with a TEDx talk at Wesleyan University, declaring her intention to wage war on privilege and the patrimony. She filed an action seeking a dissolution of marriage on December 28, 2018.

The divorce became the central event of Kasser’s tenure. She announced on May 28, 2019 on Instagram that she had found happiness in a same-sex relationship with Nichola Samporano. Kasser also disclosed she had long been unhappy in her marriage to Bergstein. Kasser’s public comments about her life generally and the details of her marriage and pending divorce gained considerable attention through her own acts, though she blamed Bergstein for raising the profile of the long dispute. Kasser was particularly unhappy with Bergstein’s inclusion of Samporano in some court pleadings. Kasser was re-elected in 2020 and resigned less than six months into her second term, citing the demands of her divorce and the pain of now living in Greenwich caused her.

Before resigning, Kasser convinced legislators to add coercive control by one spouse over another to the definition of domestic abuse. In 2020 remarks on the Senate floor, Kasser included a reference to her marriage when discussing the police murder of George Floyd. “I know what it’s like to live with domination and control,” Kasser declared in setting forth her support for a police reform bill. “I know what it’s like to live with someone who has taken an oath to defend and protect, but when no one is looking, actually degrades and insults.”

The use of public relations firms by each spouse was disputed and litigated to the end of the court proceedings. Kasser accused Bergstein of planting stories in the press to amplify her relationship with Samporano. Bergstein claimed in a November 14th memorandum that Kasser had been attempting to sabotage his career by making accusations against him in court documents. Bergstein’s memorandum highlights Kasser’s 2020 announcement, published in the Connecticut Post, that she had “shed the name of the person that I was unhappily married to for over 20 years, and I am dissociating with that person.” He made no public comment on the announcement but told the Court, Kasser “did not tell her children that she was changing her name. Her children were devastated by this announcement and even more devastated and confused by the plaintiff’s claim that she was unhappily married to their father for over 20 years.”

Bergstein also claimed Kasser “made numerous public appearances, speeches, social media posts and other public statements in which she criticized and defamed” him. Public hostilities escalated when Democratic consultant Lanny Davis joined Team Kasser. According to Bergstein’s memorandum of two weeks ago, Kasser’s lawyer filed a pleading on June 2, 2021, that included emails between the parties about their daughters health. “Following the filing of this pleading, the [Bergstein’s] attorney was contacted by a reporter at CNBC, Dan Mangan, for a statement. Mr. Mangan reported to the [Bergstein’s] attorney that this pleading, along with several others, had been fed to him by Mr. Lanny Davis on behalf of [Kasser].”

Bergstein required Davis to be deposed in the matter. Bergstein’s lawyer claimed Davis was unprepared and uncooperative in answering questions under oath.

The stakes in the divorce were vividly displayed in a 2021 proposed public relations contract between Bergstein and Sard Verbinnen & Company. Under its terms, Bergstein would pay the firm up to $195,000 to anticipate and respond “to Alex’s attacks in the media” and “shape the narrative in the media without any fingerprints” through the trial.

In preparation for the trial, each party submitted long lists of evidence they intended to introduce. Bergstein’s 18 pages of exhibits included a letter Kasser wrote to each of the couple’s children. Kasser had to sought to bar testimony from the children and other evidence related to them from being introduced at the trial.

The self-proclaimed champion of “Truth, Justice and Democracy” through her own commitment to those fundamental tenets into doubt as the trail was beginning. She moved the Court to ban media coverage of an open courtroom. In her November 14th memorandum, Kasser objected (in bold and underlined) “to any media coverage of this trial and to the inclusion of any press related issues at trial.” Only from the high peak of privilege would a litigant in the Constitution State make such an anti-democratic request.

Some financial documents in the matter are sealed. Nevertheless, Kasser appears to have kept her real estate in the Principality of Monaco, allowing her to take her crusade against privilege and the patriarchy to a second continent–as long as that flat on Rue Garibaldi is not near a train station.

Published November 28, 2022.

WTIC was a regional powerhouse in 1963. Its morning host, Bob Steele, reigned over a show that enjoyed the largest market penetration of any top radio market in the nation–which Hartford was 59 years ago.

This recording of that day of tragedy tells the story of how events in Dallas for the first hour reached most Americans who were not at home with the television on. They learned of it sporadically on their local radio station.

Published November 22, 2021.

Chief of Staff Paul Mounds will leave the Lamont administration as it prepares to begin a second term. He will be replaced by Jonathan Dach, a Lamont stalwart who has served as senior policy adviser and deputy chief of staff.

Lamont’s staff was informed of the change this afternoon.

Published November 14, 2022.

When Nancy Sinatra bailed on a special sponsored by Plymouth, Petula Clark, who turns 90 on Tuesday, stepped in and headlined her first American television special in 1968. Clark co-wrote ”On the Path of Glory” and sang it with her sole guest star, Harry Belafonte.

Clark putting her hand on Belafonte’s left arm during their performance caused an uproar with Plymouth executives. Clark, her husband and director Steven Binder had the previous takes of the number erased so only this one was available for broadcast.

Binder tells the tale of what became an international story below in an interview with Archive of American Television. It’s 9 minutes and 50 seconds, a brush stroke of life 54 years years ago.

Published November 13, 2022.

A reliable Daily Ructions source reports receiving an unusual robocall Friday night. It claimed to be from Ed Rollins, the 1984 Ronald Reagan campaign manager who has been dining out on that victory for 38 years.

Rollins, no one will be surprised to read, was looking for some of the green stuff that folds. The pitch? He has not lost his touch. Rollins tells the mark the only way to keep MAGA alive is to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a contribution.

DeSantis won a landslide re-election victory Tuesday. Growing talk of a 2024 presidential bid has inflamed the angry grievances of Donald Trump and inspired fundraising for money that will likely land nowhere near Trump or DeSantis.

Published November 12, 2022.

The phenomenon known as Petula Clark turns 90 years old on Tuesday. Daily Ructions will celebrate with videos of some of her most memorable performances. She is the rare female British international singing sensation, notably at ease with big orchestrations driving the melody.

She was an Ed Sullivan favorite. You see why here. According the the Sullivan show website, she performed ”I Know a Place” live and without rehearsing—shortly after her flight arrived in New York for her first appearance in the Sunday night powerhouse show.

Published November 11, 2022.

It started with a post-election declaration on Twitter by Whitney Mooney. She was the campaign manager for Democrat Rebecca Hyland, who lost her bid to oust incumbent Republican state Representative Craig Fishbein in the 90th House District (Middlefield and part of Wallingford).

Mooney deleted the tweet, but not before Fishbein (a white Republican man) expressed his dismay at the vulgar race and gender based assault. Mooney responded that she did not mention Fishbein when she posted her complaint, though he’d beaten her candidate the night before by a 10-point margin.

Fishbein retweeted a racist meme in 2020. An uproar ensued. Fishbein apologized and as a member of the Wallingford Town Council, voted to censure himself. Two years later, the Wallingford Republican is more sensitive about racially charged social media post than he was when his nearly took him out of office. His sensibilities have changed but his response to Mooney’s ugly tweet suggest Fishbein may want to learn a little about mixing one’s hashtags.

Published November 11, 2022.

A note of confusion reigns in the reporting of results from the New York Times reporting. It shows Harwinton as the only town with no results reported. In Harwinton, Republican George Logan, according to unofficial results, won 918 more votes than Democrat Jahana Hayes, 1965 to 1047.

The Logan campaign believes it holds a narrow lead.

The Secretary of the State results page has Logan ahead by 2,934 votes with four districts not yet reported. Those four may be three in Avon and Norkfolk’s one voting district. Hayes won Avon by 1187 votes (including absentee ballots) and Norfolk by 213 (also including absentee ballots).

A candidate is automatically entitled to a recount if the Secretary of the State certifies a result with a margin of victory of .5% or less.

This is going to be a heck of a ride. Connecticut has not had a recount in a U.S. House race since 2006 when Joe Courtney unseated Republican Rob Simmons.

Published November 9, 2022.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski conceded to incumbent Democrat Ned Lamont Wednesday morning. Stefanowski fell 140,000 votes behind Lamont in unofficial returns. Stefanowski’s concession claimed “the outcome was not in our control.”

“We may not have won, but we changed the course of Connecticut by advocating for the people,” Stefanowski wrote. How losing by three times more than four years before changed the state’s course will require the fullness of time to confirm.

Stefanowski returns to Madison, where Lamont defeated him by 16% of the voter, after spending $12 million his second campaign. His following among Republican activists may be considerably diminished as they contemplate the wreckage.

Published November 9, 2022.