Former state Representative Themis Klarides paid $57,000 for consultants, legal fees, film production and website production in forming a campaign operation for governor. Klarides filed her first finance report Monday. More than half the committee’s expenses, $30,000 went to Battleground Strategies, a Republican consulting firm operated by Jim Barnett, Jim Conway, and Elissa Voccola.

Legal fees were paid to Mutha Cullina LLP and The Garber Group, LLP. The Self-Funded Candidate’s Expenditure Statement also reports paying Sebastian Rougemont $13,000 in consulting fees. Rougement was employed by Donald Trump’s 2020 New Hampshire campaign.

Alexis Gevanter did it in 24 hours. Ryan Fazio did it in half that time. One gets the feeling the campaign for the 36th Senate District special election is going to be competitive on every front.

Gavanter, Greenwich Democrat, announced Thursday that she had raised in the 24 hours after winning her party‘s nomination on Tuesday the $12,000 in small contributions needed to qualify for public financing of her campaign. Fazio declared on Twitter Sunday morning that he’d done the same in the 12 hours after he’d defeated Leora Levy, Donald Trumps choice to be ambassador to Chile, in a lopsided 20-9 vote by Republican delegates.

Another Democrat in the three-town district, John Blankley, also had news this weekend. He’s collected more than 1,000 signatures to petition onto the the August 17th ballot. That’s hundreds more than the veteran active Democrat will need to secure a spot on the ballot.

Republican Ryan Fazio won the Republican nomination in 36th Senate District, defeating Republican National Committee member Leora Levy. Fazio, the party’s 2020 nominee, won by a convincing margin in the brief contest since Democrat Alex Kasser resigned to devote her energy to her contentious divorce from Seth Bernstein.

The special election is August 17th.

State Representative Josh Elliott (D-Hamden) has formed an exploratory committee for statewide office. Elliott is has been taking soundings for a run for secretary of state since incumbent Denise Merrill announced she would not seek a fourth term.

A stint as the state’s chief elections officer and keeper of business document would allow the busy leftist at last to supervise employees who make more than the minimum wage.

Elliott will need to get by a host of more popular prospects for the job. The most formidable prospective candidate is state Representative Hilda Santiago (D-Meriden). Elliott would struggle in a race against the highly regarded Santiago, which may be why he included state Representative as one of the offices he is exploring.

State Representative Harry Arora R-Greenwich) ended his brief candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 36th Senate District summer special election. Arora expressed gratitude and disappointment after several days in this unusual arena. He was able to assemble a list of more than 1,000 supporters in a trice. Not many Connecticut Republicans could match that accomplishment.

Convinced he is the strongest candidate with everyone but the 31 delegates who will meet Saturday, Arora warned, “Should we lose this seat, the delegates should be held accountable.”

State law precludes primaries in special elections. Connecticut continues to have restrictive ballot access rules that favor party insiders.

Alexis Gevanter announced Thursday night she had met the requirements to qualify for public financing in her campaign for the 36th Senate District special election. The Greenwich Democrat shared the news on Twitter, two days after winning her party’s nomination in the three-town district.

The state’s generous public financing program has different rules for special elections. A major party candidate for the August 17th contest is required to raise $12,000 with at least 225 contributions from residents of the towns included in the district. Qualifying candidates will receive $77,966.25 in public funds.

Republicans select their candidate Saturday.

Greenwich Democrat John Blankley made a last-minute bid for delegate support at this evening’s party nominating convention. The 36th Senate District Democrats are expected to nominate Greenwich newcomer Alexis Gevanter in the August 17th special election to replace Democrat Alex Kasser. Kasser resigned last month to concentrate on the divorce she kept in the public spotlight during her two and a half years in the Senate.

On Monday evening, Blankley shared with a dozen Greenwich Democrats an anonymous email detailing a long list of anti-worker business clients represented by the San Francisco law firm Gevanter worked for before moving to Connecticut.

The lengthy message alleges. in part, Gevanter “worked in the Employment and Law practice in a firm, Sheppard Mullin, who during the time of her employment in that division worked on significant litigation to water down or eliminate the rights of labor to organize, and to pay unfairly in the case ‘Scott vs. Chipotle Mexican Grill’.” For employment attorneys, you can click here to know the best ones in town!

The message continues, “Such cases were not unique to her San Francisco firm, as their firm is extraordinarily anti-union https://www.sheppardmullin.com/labor-union-management-relations . Prior to her work at Sheppard Mullin, she work at the Dentons firm, in New York, and represented a firm called Solidifi US in 2014, charged, again, with offenses such as wage theft, retaliation and other offenses. https://www.nlrb.gov/case/03-CA-129330“

Gaventer’s work for large corporate law firms put her firmly on the side of privilege and the patriarchy.

Democrats at tonight’s nominating convention may pay little attention to Blankley’s accusations, but Republicans will be committing them to memory and repeating them at frequent intervals. Taunts may be the theme of the short campaign.

State Representative Harry Arora (R-Greenwich) has released a list of 1,000 supporters of his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 36th Senate District special election. Arora joins Greenwich Republicans Leora Levy and Ryan Fazio in the contest that will be decided Saturday by party delegates.

Arora has made a success of a special election before this one. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 after incumbent Republican Fred Camillo resigned to become first selectman of the tony metropolitan New York enclave. Arora was re-elected to a full term in November.

As the ranking House member on the legislature’s labor committee Arora received considerable praise this year for fighting his corner fighting a tidal wave of proposals intent on sending jobs and opportunity scurrying to other states.

State Representative Minnie Gonzalez (D-Hartford) is seeking a mileage reimbursement payment of $1,785.00 from the Joint Committee of Legislative Management. The request from the 13-term veteran covers 21 years, from January 1997 through December 2018.

A June 30th memorandum from Caroline A. Beitman, a human resources administrator at the legislature, explained that Gonzalez’s request would require special approval. “Legislator and staff travel regulations require submission of requests for mileage allowance no later than 90 days after the completion of the two-year legislative term,” Beitman wrote. “Payment beyond the 90-day period requires the majority approval of the Committee on Legislative Management’s Personnel Policies Subcommittee.”

The subcommittee has made no decision on Gonzalez’s request for 21 years of mileage reimbursements.

The early innings are going well for Bobby Valentine’s Stamford mayoral campaign. There popular baseball personality raised $300,000 in his first two months as an indy candidate for the city’s top job.

A Tuesday morning statement from Valentine’s campaign ballyhoos 500 contributions totaling $125,000 from Stamford residents and $95,000 from contributors living in neighboring towns.

Democratic incumbent David Martin and state Representative Caroline Simmons are expected to compete in a September primary for their party’s nomination. Simmons, like Valentine, is a prolific fundraiser.