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Kasser gets $8 million payment from Bergstein in divorce settlement. He gives up the Jackson Pollock. She resigns from children’s trusts. Former Democratic state senator wanted press banned from trial.
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.
November 28, 2022 Comments Off on Kasser gets $8 million payment from Bergstein in divorce settlement. He gives up the Jackson Pollock. She resigns from children’s trusts. Former Democratic state senator wanted press banned from trial.
Bergstein v. Bergstein: The Patriarchy Strikes Back.
State Senator Alexandra Bergstein’s war on privilege and patriarchy is being met with resistance. The battle of the Bergsteins is proving an inhospitable field of conflict for the wealthy Greenwich Democrat.
Alexandra Bergstein’s incendiary response to Seth Bergstein’s motion for contempt has been vigorously contested by Seth Bergstein in a July 10th court filing. Alexandra Bergstein contends that living conditions at the couple’s Greenwich mansion hostile and unsafe, requiring her to flee the marital home. Seth Bergstein contends they were not. Rather, Alexandra “rented a separate apartment where her girlfriend now stays with her five or six nights per week.”
Seth Bergstein takes a different view of the history of the marriage. Alexandra Bergstein told the court that her marriage was meaningless in its last 15 years. Seth Bergstein dissents by alleging he returned home from a family vacation in 2010 and discovered Alexandra Bergstein in an affair with a woman. That affair, he claims, began in 2008.
Seth Bergstein also disputes Alexandra Bergstein’s claim that he took $20,000 from the family safe. He claims, “The defendant did not remove $20,000 in cash from the safe. The cash that had been in the safe was spent by the parties through the year and during Christmas vacation, as was their custom. The plaintiff’s withdrawal of $5,000 in cash was yet another violation of the [Court’s] automatic orders.“
July 18, 2019 Comments Off on Bergstein v. Bergstein: The Patriarchy Strikes Back.
Bergstein Opens New Front in Her War on Privilege: Joint Bank Account With Estranged Husband.
Oh, the burdens of wealth. State Senator Alexandra Bergstein, the Democratic class warrior from Greenwich, has opened a new front in her war on privilege. Bergstein is seeking access to a joint account maintained with her estranged husband, Seth Bergstein, in their acrimonious divorce.
Alexandra Bergstein complains in a June 14th motion that Seth Bergstein “interdicted and prevented” her from using a joint account. Alexandra Bergstein asserts in her motion that Seth Bergstein made Eight Million Dollars ($8,000,000) in 2018 and has earned an additional Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000) from his employer, Morgan Stanley, so far this year. She is seeking “access to their joint Morgan Stanley account in order to pay her reasonable living expenses, as well as her reasonable counsel and professional fees.”
Alexandra Bergstein is an advocate for charging working people do drive on the state’s major highways.
June 21, 2019 Comments Off on Bergstein Opens New Front in Her War on Privilege: Joint Bank Account With Estranged Husband.
Notes from a Divorce: Bergstein Fights War on Privilege from Enemy Headquarters. $20k in Cash Gone from Marital Home Safe.
We bewail the vexing troubles of the rich. Such burdens they lug around in their Teslas. The tale is told in vivid detail in a May 10th court filing (excerpts posted above) by state Senator Alexandra Bergstein (D-Greenwich), refuting claims of her defendant husband, Seth Bergstein, about her spending marital assets.
Alexandra Bergstein declared at Wesleyan University recently that is she now free to fight a war on privilege. Perhaps it was that $20,000 in cash that went missing from the safe in the marital home. Mrs. Bergstein accuses Mr. Bergstein of taking it. She is aggrieved.
Mr. Bergstein spent $47,000 on tickets at Madison Square Garden. The rich have to be many places. She is aggrieved.
Then there was the check to the Adirondack League Club. She accuses him of tearing it up when a fee was due to the tony 53,000 acre elite club. How could he do that when he had just joined the Harmonie Club, New York’s second oldest social club? He already belongs to five social clubs. She is aggrieved.
To pay $5,000 a month to rent a place to live is a mere bagatelle for Alexandra Bergstein, and Seth Bergstein should not be complaining, don’t you know. She is no longer surrounded by the furnishings, artwork and other luxuries to which she became accustomed during what she characterizes in her public motion as a loveless marriage for the past 15 years. She is aggrieved.
Bergstein’s war on privilege is an erratic affair. Her office is on the second floor of the Legislative Office Building (LOB), which is the ground floor of the east side of the building. There is a heat vent outside the building near Bergstein’s office. It has been there for many years. A woman who appeared to be homeless would stand there, near the exit from I-84, to warm herself during the winter. Alexandra Bergstein objected. She complained to the Capitol police. The privilege warrior wanted the woman removed and her own security increased, Daily Ructions has learned from multiple sources. Her requests were denied because the poor are allowed to seek warmth in public places to which have sadly had become accustomed. They are aggrieved.
May 22, 2019 Comments Off on Notes from a Divorce: Bergstein Fights War on Privilege from Enemy Headquarters. $20k in Cash Gone from Marital Home Safe.
Senator Bergstein to Challenge the Surly Bonds of Privilege. Mr. Bergstein May Disagree.
State Senator Alexandra Bergstein (D-Greenwich) declared to a TEDx event at Wesleyan University on Saturday that she’d had enough with privilege and the patriarchy.
The Wesleyan Argus provides this summary of Bergstein’s contribution to the event:
Alexandra Bergstein ’88, a state senator for Connecticut’s 36th district, discussed a similar experience to Hayes regarding resistance to her candidacy, but in her case, the problem was internalized rather than external. Bergstein says that patriarchal values shaped the course of her life, holding her back from pursuing what she wanted. However, at the insistence of her friends, she ran and became the first woman to hold the position of state senator for her district, and the first Democrat in 88 years.
“When I turned 50, I made a simple decision that changed everything,” she began. “I decided to live fearlessly, and to reclaim my narrative of what success was. Because after 50 years on the same path, I realized that I had been giving my power away to two of the strongest forces in our society: patriarchy and privilege.”
“I have never felt more alive and fulfilled, and I didn’t even know it was possible,” she said. “And the more I put myself out there, the more love and purpose I got back. And all those layers of conditioning telling me who I should be and what I should want melted away. I was breaking the bonds of patriarchy and privilege and anything else that told me I was not enough.”
Bergstein’s taste for privilege may be winning her internal war against it. An April 4th contempt motion filed by Seth Bergstein, the defendant in Alexandra Bergstein’s divorce action, asks the court to intervene to put the brakes on the victim of privilege’s spending. The motion included examples and also mentions Senator Bergstein’s hiring a private aide to assist her in discharging her public duties duties.
Privilege is an especially heavy burden when you try to persuade others you don’t possess and enjoy it.
April 30, 2019 Comments Off on Senator Bergstein to Challenge the Surly Bonds of Privilege. Mr. Bergstein May Disagree.
State Senator Bergstein Has Rules of Deportment for Speaking to Her.
State Senator Alexandra Bergstein does not want a freewheeling exchange of opinions at her community forums. The wealthy Greenwich Democrat has rules of deportment. At least seven of them, including banning signs. Signs? They are just not done in her tony precincts.
Bergstein, who invested hundreds of thousands of her own dollars to defeat Republican incumbent Scott Frantz last fall, may be wary of spontaneity. My source: Bergstein’s rattled response to a question at the end of a radio debate late in the campaign that pierced the polite atmosphere.
January 23, 2019 Comments Off on State Senator Bergstein Has Rules of Deportment for Speaking to Her.
Kasser Wants to Know What She Once Denied: Was a Crime Committed at Ex-Senator’s Home in 2014?
In the run-up to the 2018 election, Democrat Alexandra Kasser–then known as Bergstein–denied during a local radio program that a crime had been committed at her tony Greenwich home. Caller Felicia asked Kasser, running for the state Senate from the Greenwich-based district, how she justified her women’s rights credentials when she had “covered up a sexual assault in your own home.”
Felicia was able to pose the essence of her question before being cut off. The host asked Kasser what the caller was talking about. “I have no idea,” Kasser offered as her first response. She expanded her answer, revealing she did have an idea. “I’ll tell you what that is. That is an unfounded rumor that has been circulating and there is no basis whatsoever in it. I can only imagine what the source is.”
“We don’t like ugly rumors on the Lisa Wexler Show. We only like true rumors,” the host added. Wexler may have been an unwitting witness to a true rumor, it now appears.
In 2019, Kasser declared war on privilege and the patriarchy. The battleground seems not to have included what may have happened to a young woman at Kasser’s home–until weeks before Kasser’s divorce trial begins.
Four years after she won and a year after she resigned her seat, Kasser now thinks there is something to the story of a 2014 sexual assault at her home. On September 1st, seven weeks before the trial in her contentious and high stakes divorce action against husband Seth Bergstein begins, Kasser wants any evidence he may possess of what happened at their marital home in Greenwich in October 2014–and what may have flowed from it.
In a court filing, Kasser seeks from Bergstein, “Copies of all correspondence, payments or other proof of involvement Defendant [Seth Bergstein] had in managing or suppressing a potential criminal investigation involving an incident that may have occurred at 18 Flower Lane, Greenwich in October 2014; including but not limited to all communications, by text or email, with Brunswick School, any parent of a Brunswick student, any parent of a Greenwich High School (GHS) student, any GHS resource officer, any Greenwich police officer or any attorney of other person with whom Defendant may have spoken to delay an investigation or cover up of an incident.”
Seth Bergstein responded in a September 7th court filing that he “did not manage or suppress a potential criminal investigation.” He further claims “the request is overly broad, unduly burdensome, intended to annoy and/or harass the defendant, and cannot be provided by the defendant with substantially greater facility than could otherwise be obtained by the plaintiff.” Bergstein also objects to the request because it “calls for information protected by the attorney-client privilege.”
If there was no incident in October 2014, it is difficult to see how Kasser’s request violates Bergstein’s attorney-client privilege.
In a 2018 case filed in federal court, Paula Scanlan v. Town of Greenwich, (the case was originally initiated as Jane Doe v. Town of Greenwich) the plaintiff Scanlan claimed the Greenwich police violated her civil rights by not properly investigating her complaint of a 2016 sexual assault. In a memorandum in opposition to Greenwich’s summary judgment motion Scanlan alleged “a years-long pattern of the Greenwich Police Department (“GPD”) to apply a less rigorous approach to investigations of criminal activity alleged against students of Brunswick School (“Brunswick”). Brunswick employed a back channel of communications with GPD designed to allow the school and its headmaster to intervene immediately in any case of possible criminal charges with the intent of dissuading victims from pursuing criminal charges and influencing witnesses to provide statements to the police that followed alternate narratives to avoid the potential for prosecution.”
The memorandum refers to an October 2014 alleged assault as evidence of a pattern by Greenwich police. Without revealing the location of the alleged incident or any names of parties who may have been involved, Scanlan’s memorandum claims, “On October 6, 2014, Greenwich Country Day School (“GCDS”) Security Director Mike Reynolds contacted the Greenwich Police Department (“GPD”) to report that the school had received a video of an apparent sexual assault of an unconscious teenage girl by a boy that was observed and video recorded by other teenage boys (“First Sexual Assault Video”). The video came with a text message from an anonymous source and showed ‘a juvenile male [who] appeared to be digitally penetrating [the girl’s] vagina under her shorts.’ The text message stated that a ‘[Brunswick boy] fingered [a Greenwich Academy girl] on the couch in front of everyone. . . . [the Greenwich Academy girl] is passed out and that’s rape.’” (Defs. Ex. 35 at TOG 1034). The video was one of two recordings of the sexual assault made by the boys, which were circulating widely among the high school students. One of the videos was recorded by a Brunswick School (“Brunswick”) student and the other was recorded by a GCDS student. (Defs. Ex. 35 at TOG 1040; Pl. Ex. FF at WICK 866).”
“Two days after GPD received the criminal complaint, on the morning of October 8, 2014, [Brunswick Headmaster Tom] Philip notified by email the school’s Upper School Faculty about the sexual assault investigation. In that email, Philip explained that ‘an impromptu gathering [was] held at the home of a Freshman boy’ during which ‘alcohol made its way into the gathering and in a somewhat circuitous way, [and] the party has gained the attention of the Greenwich Police.’ There was no mention of an unconscious girl being digitally manipulated by a Brunswick boy, with the assault being video recorded and the recordings being widely distributed by two other boys, one of whom was a Brunswick student. Philip had in that short time begun to construct a new narrative about the sexual assault that took place at that ‘impromptu gathering’ – that it was merely a case of underage drinking. (Pl. Ex. FF at WICK 864).”
The fall of 2014 was a busy time for Greenwich police and young locals. According to Scanlan’s memorandum, “the mother of a female Greenwich High School student raised an alarm to GPD about two incidents involving Brunswick students. The mother, who is a medical doctor (“Dr. X”), picked up her daughter from a party held at the home of a Brunswick student (“F”). The father of the Brunswick student (“Father F”) walked her daughter out to the car and directed her into the back seat. He said nothing about the girl’s condition or about why he needed to walk her to the car. Dr. X watched her daughter with alarm because she was unable to walk by herself and was stumbling. When she got into the car she reeked of vomit, was very disheveled, and obviously drunk. The girl’s sweatshirt was on inside out and had vomit across the entire front. (Pl. Ex. W at 7:22-24, 8:1-5, 9:10-18, 12:6-14, 20:8-12, 21:4-25, 22:1-25). Dr. X was so alarmed by her daughter’s condition that she later made a complaint to GPD’s anonymous tip line about the underage drinking that occurred that night, as well as the fact that the parents were aware of the drinking as evidenced by the father’s lack of concern when he walked her daughter to the car. Dr. X provided the address of the residence and told them that the parents had to have known about the drinking because the father clearly knew her daughter was drunk when he walked her to the car. Dr. X was also upset by the fact that Father F was so nonchalant about her daughter’s condition, as if it were no big deal. (Pl. Ex. W at 31:9-21, 42:6-25, 43:1-8).
“GPD personnel testified that for all complaints received, an investigation file should be opened even if it is found to be without merit. (Pl. Ex. JJJ at 86:3-24; Pl. Ex. R at 66:18-67:12). In contravention of this policy and practice, there is no evidence that any investigation was conducted in response to this complaint by Dr. X. (Pl. Ex. W at 31:6-8, Pl. Ex. Q at 214:17-25).
“In addition to finding her daughter incoherent and disheveled, Dr. X made another alarming discovery on the night of the party. Since her daughter was too inebriated to answer her mother’s questions about what happened at the party, Dr. X took her daughter’s cell phone to see if there was anything she could find out. She found a group text with a video that showed ‘a girl who was completely naked. You could not see her face and she was laying face down with her head in the distance. And there were a group of boys on the side. One of them was digitally manipulating her. And she was obviously unconscious because she wasn’t moving when this was happening. And the boys were all laughing. . . .’ (Pl. Ex. W at 23:10-25, 24:1-6). The video (the “Second Sexual Assault Video”) Dr. X described was very different from the video confiscated in the First Sexual Assault Video investigation. In the First Sexual Assault Video, the girl was clothed; in this video she was ‘completely naked.’ In the First Sexual Assault Video, the girl’s face was visible; in this video, she was face down with her head in the distance. Capt. Zuccerella saw the First Sexual Assault Video and testified that it was different from the description of the Second Sexual Assault Video. (Pl. Ex. Q at 228:5-25, 229:1-4, 234:21-25, 235:1).”
The two alleged incidents were followed by an unusual announcement by the GPD. According to Scanlan’s memorandum, “GPD provided information about the First Sexual Assault Video investigation to the press. (Defs. Ex. 41). In a November 13, 2014 article in the Greenwich Time, then Lt. Kraig Gray,5 GPD Public Information Officer, was quoted as saying ‘[t]he Greenwich Police Department does not generally comment on rumors, . . . but based upon the level of misinformation and confusion, we can say that we chased down two allegations that turned out to be unfounded.’ (Defs. Ex. 41 at 3) (emphasis added). In fact, in addition to being a departure from normal practice, the statements made to the press by GPD were entirely false. (Pl. Ex. Q at 208:8-25, 209:1-25; 210:1-20, 214:17-25). Lt. Gray is reported as saying that GPD ‘investigated at that time and determined the allegations were unfounded.’ The article further states that ‘[p]olice interviewed multiple students, parents and administrators, and determined that no crime had been committed.’ (Defs. Ex. 41 at 1). In fact, the First Sexual Assault Video case/incident reports established beyond refute that the allegations were true and that charges were not filed only at the request of the parents of the victim, not because no crimes had been committed. (Defs. Ex. 35). Further, neither the victim nor the attacker, nor the videographers were interviewed. (Defs. Ex. 35).
“The Greenwich Time article also quotes from a November 12, 2014, letter from Brunswick Headmaster Tom Philip to the parents of students of Brunswick’s middle and high school. In that letter, Philip falsely stated that ‘Brunswick students . . . acknowledged that cell-phone images had been taken at various points’ but that none of the Brunswick students admitted to ‘participating in (or having knowledge of) any instance of sexual assault.’ (Pl. Ex. O at WICK 778). As the First Sexual Assault Video case/incident reports reveal, those statements are false because neither the Brunswick boy who digitally penetrated the victim, nor the Brunswick boy who video recorded the assault, denied they had done so to the police. (Defs. Ex. 35 at TOG 1041).
“Philip’s letter goes on to describe that ‘[c]oncurrent to this inquiry, the school learned of yet another party, again involving students from multiple schools and of varying ages, at a private home, where alcohol was available.’ (Pl. Ex. O at WICK 778). The Greenwich Time article also refers to this second party, stating that ‘[t]he headmaster’s letter also made reference to a second party, which police addressed as well. . . . Shortly after their first investigation, department officials became aware of another alleged incident of assault at a high school party under similar circumstances. A similar investigation turned up the same result as the first one did, police said.’ (Defs. Ex. 41 at 2-3). This other party discussed by Headmaster Philip and Lt. Gray may have referred to the GPD anonymous tip line complaint filed by Dr. X about the party her daughter attended at F’s house, and it may have referred to the video recording that Dr. X. turned over to Lt. Keegan. However, there is no record of any second investigation, and no one at GPD can recall anything about this second party or investigation. (Defs. Ex. 36 at Interrogatory 2; Pl. Ex. Q at 214:17-25). However, since these statements given to the Greenwich Time are contemporaneous evidence of a second party and video, which is corroborated by the testimony of Dr. X, who had personal knowledge of both, a jury could conclude that Brunswick and GPD took steps to cover them up.”
Scanlan’s memorandum depicts one of the world’s wealthiest towns as a nest of connections that combine to protect the privileged from the consequences of their acts and deny their victims justice. The Bergstein divorce trial may inadvertently shine a light on a town where injustice can be accompanied by a hefty price tag. Scanlan is appealing in the Second Circuit the district court’s granting of defendant’s summary judgment motion in May.
Kasser would be remarkably incurious if only now has her interest been stirred in an alleged incident at her home. It would be willful ignorance for Kasser not to have known something about the alleged incident at her home that she dismissed as mere unfounded rumors. What Kasser might not have realized is that her 2018 emphatic public denial of an assault at her home would have been preserved—and is included above.
Published September 13, 2022. Updated on September 14, 2022.
September 13, 2022 Comments Off on Kasser Wants to Know What She Once Denied: Was a Crime Committed at Ex-Senator’s Home in 2014?
Kasser Tells Court She and Partner Were “Shunned” in Hometown, Forced to Leave Connecticut. Democrat Who Abandoned Constituents Seeks $2 Million for Legal Fees in Her Bitter Divorce.
Former state Senator Alex Kasser’s divorce action against husband Seth Bergstein grows odder and odder. Kasser claimed in a July 8th motion that her same-sex relationship that began when her partner was Kasser’s subordinate caused the Democrat to be shunned in her hometown of Greenwich.
Kasser claims in the court document, “As a result of Defendant’s (Bergstein) defamation and public gay-shaming, the Plaintiff and her partner were shunned in their hometown and eventually had to leave and move out of state just to get away from the distress and damage Defendant has caused.”
A brief chronology of the personal drama Kasser frequently shoved into the public arena shows the opposite of her claim. The Greenwich Democrat, elected in 2018, announced in May 2019, the first year of her first term, that she’d “found purpose as a public servant and love with a partner who respects and supports me, I feel fulfilled and free.”
Kasser filed for a divorce from Bergstein shortly after the 2018 election. She she announced in 2020 she had changed her name from Bergstein to Kasser. Kasser transformed the personal into the political by proclaiming the misery she had endured what she has repeatedly characterized as an abusive marriage.
But Kasser’s community did not shun her. It re-elected her to a second term in 2020. The first Democrat to represent the Greenwich-centered district in 88 years more than doubled her margin of victory in 2020. Kasser was embraced, not ostracized. The former Connecticut resident defames the people she represented by accusing them of shunning her because she publicly rejoiced in her same-sex relationship with a subordinate.
Kasser resigned her seat in the state Senate in June 2021, six months into her two-year term. She wrote, “I can no longer live or work in Greenwich as it is loaded with memories of the 20 years I spent raising my children here.” Kasser continued, “Because of the enormous time and energy this consumes, I can no longer serve my constituents to my fullest ability.” Kasser made no mention of the community shunning her—because it had not.
Kasser’s motion also asks that Bergstein “be barred from bringing the adult Bergstein children into this divorce proceeding, through motions or at trial.” Adult children, however, may possess relevant knowledge of the truth of Kasser’s myriad claims against Bergstein and may be able to provide credible testimony in the high stakes dissolution of the wealthy couple. The three Bergstein children, who Kasser claims her husband has turned against her, may be as estranged from their mother as she claims. That does not disqualify them as witnesses to the ugly allegations Kasser continues to hurl at Bergstein.
In an August 8th motion, Kasser seeks a court order allowing her to withdraw from a frozen joint account “$2 million as reimbursement for attorney’s fees and expenses since January 7, 2019.”
The 17-day trial is scheduled to begin October 25th and conclude December 6th.
Published August 24, 2022.
August 24, 2022 Comments Off on Kasser Tells Court She and Partner Were “Shunned” in Hometown, Forced to Leave Connecticut. Democrat Who Abandoned Constituents Seeks $2 Million for Legal Fees in Her Bitter Divorce.
Fazio Defeats Gevanter in Senate Special Election.
Republican Ryan Fazio put one on the board for his beleaguered party Tuesday night by recapturing the Greenwich-based 36th Senate seat after two election wins for Democrat Alex Kasser. Fazio defeated Kasser-endorsed corporate lawyer Alexis Gevanter by about 500 votes, according to unofficial results. Fazio received 8888 votes to Gevanter’s 8416. Petitioning candidate John Blankley, a Democrat, received 391.
A strong result for Fazio in Greenwich and a poor turnout in Democratic Stamford were crucial to the Republican’s win.
Gevanter moved to Greenwich three years ago. Fazio is homegrown and graduated from Greenwich High School. Fazio entered the race shortly after Kasser announced she was abandoning her office to concentrate on the contentious divorce action she brought against husband Seth Bergstein shortly after she was elected to her first term in 2018.
Special elections in Connecticut are notably anti-democratic. No primaries are allowed. The party endorsed candidate is the nominee. Stalwart local Democrat John Blankley petitioned onto the special election ballot after being boxed out of his party’s nominating convention. Fazio, the 2020 Republican nominee for the seat, defeated Republican National Committeewoman Leora Levy for the nomination. State Representative Harry Arora dropped out of the contest on the eve of the convention vote.
Fazio joins 12 Republicans in the 36-member upper chamber. The legislature’s next regular session begins in February. The young Republican’s win consigns Kasser’s odd tenure to the annals of political curiosities. Tapping her personal fortune as suburban voters expressed their revulsion for Donald Trump was a combination that Gevanter could not duplicate.
August 17, 2021 Comments Off on Fazio Defeats Gevanter in Senate Special Election.
Kasser Resigns Senate Seat. Cites “Personal Circumstances and Ongoing Divorce.” Claims “Too Painful to be in Greenwich.”
State Senator Alex Kasser (D-Greenwich) has resigned. The second term Democrat cites “personal circumstances and ongoing divorce litigation” as the reasons for her shock announcement.
Kasser has commented often in public about her marriage to and divorce from finance executive Seth Bergstein.
Kasser posted a statement Tuesday morning on Medium explaining her decision. She explains that living in Greenwich has become an ordeal and that she no longer has contact with the three children. Kasser earlier complained in a court filing that the location of the $5,200 a month apartment she was renting near a Greenwich station was noisy and had caused one of her children not to want to visit Kasser there.
Kasser announced in a 2019 speech delivered early in her first term that she was going to take on privilege and the patriarchy. A slew of declarations followed, including that she was seeking a dissolution of her marriage and changing her last name. After that she started to find attorneys for family law who would take up this case. And then She got help of the lawyers from a reputed law firm like Jensen Family law firm. You can learn more from Jensen Family Law about divorce and the legalities related to that. Bergstein countered in a court filing with the help of lawyers from Worcester O’Connor Family Law that the couple’s children learned about the announcements when they were made public.
Kasser’s resignation is effective immediately, triggering a special election this summer. Special elections do not allow party primaries.
June 22, 2021 Comments Off on Kasser Resigns Senate Seat. Cites “Personal Circumstances and Ongoing Divorce.” Claims “Too Painful to be in Greenwich.”