Category — Posts

More troubles at the Connecticut lottery. The agency announced on it website Monday that it could process no more winning tickets. The announcement remained on its website early Tuesday morning.

A critical element of the sale of lottery tickets is that winners—who beat formidable odds—will be able to redeem their tickets at will. Lottery administrators appear to have lost the plot on this. Earlier this year the lottery’s new point-of-sale machines were unable to accurately scan tickets.

A $2 million winning PowerBall ticket was sold in Connecticut several weeks ago. Paying out a rare big prize may have upended daily life at the lottery’s new Wallingford headquarters.

Published November 13, 2023.

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For a sure bet for entertainment an enlightenment, read and subscribe to Now You Know –The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is popular WVIT meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan.

Beloved former Republican National Committeewoman Pat Longo has died at 86. The generous Wilton resident spent nearly 40 years encouraging young people to get involved in politics and then provided help as they navigated campaign shoals.

Pat was a loyalist but challenged the established party order when the moment called her. As corruption deluged the Rowland administration in 2003 into 2004, state Republican party committee members met to elect two national committee members, a man and a woman. The incumbent woman representing Connecticut, Jo McKenzie, was a Rowland confidant and a minor player in the scandals that were consuming his administration.

Pat Longo allowed her name to be placed in nomination against McKenzie, who had held the seat for 14 years. John Rowland, the New Haven Register reported, stood in the back of the room while the committee met. McKenzie defeated Longo, 46.5 to 31.5. These were people with no history of bucking party leadership, especially the first Republican elected governor in 24 years. Pat Longo had, but allowing her name to go forward, stiffened many spines.

Two months later, Rowland would resign. A few days before Christmas he would plead guilty to federal corruption charges.

After the deluge, Pat Longo succeeded McKenzie and serve on the RNC for ten years.

Not every RNC duo from each state works in harmony. Pat Longo and John Frey were more than colleagues. He was a loyal and essential friend to Pat in her final years, a reminder that politics can create bonds that transcend elections.

Published November 7, 2023.

Quinnipiac law school professor Sarah French Russell failed to provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with a March 2020 letter calling on Governor Ned Lamont to empty the state’s jails and prisons as the global pandemic approached Connecticut.

Russell was nominated last month for a seat on the federal bench in the District of Connecticut. Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) asked Russell about the substance of the letter and why she failed to include it in documents submitted to the committee as part of the confirmation process. Russell appears as the 669th signatory on the letter that excoriates Connecticut’s criminal justice system.

Russell was not much help in answering Kennedy’s questions. She said she did not recall the letter. A letter from Russell to the committee explaining her demands of Governor Lamont seems inevitable. Republicans seem likely to highlight the contents of the letter and Russell’s failure to provide it. The video had nearly 850,000 views by Sunday evening, November 5th.

Senator Ted Cruz (D-Texas) also questioned Russell about the letter. He pointed out it called for a moratorium on incarceration.

The committee appointed by Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Christopher Murphy to screen applicants for Connecticut vacancies on the federal bench meets in secrecy and imposes that secrecy on applicants. A more open process might have revealed the extraordinary letter during the early stages of the selection process..

Published November 5, 2023.

Finding significant evidence of the mishandling of absentee ballots in Bridgeport’s September 12th Democratic primary for mayor, Superior Court Judge William F. Clark ordered a new primary a week before the November 7th municipal election.

The ruling is a triumph for challenger and former Ganim supporter John Gomes. Ganim edged out Gomes by 251 votes. Gomes defeated Ganim on votes cast at polling places on primary day but lost to the incumbent when absentee ballots were counted. Video recordings emerged several days after the primary of Ganim loyalist Wanda Peter-Pataky repeatedly putting absentee ballots in a depository at the Margaret Morton Government Center.

“Quite simply the defendants ask this court to ignore the significant mishandling of ballots by partisans that were caught on video flouting the mandatory provisions of Connecticut law,” Judge Clark wrote in a decision released Wednesday afternoon.

Published November 1, 2023.

Governor Ned Lamont’s deputy chief of staff, Nick Simmons, is expected to seek the 2024 Democratic nomination for state senator in the 36th District, Daily Ructions has learned. The seat is held by Republican Ryan Fazio. He’s likely to seek a third term.

Simmons may not enjoy a coronation to the Democratic nomination. Democrat Trevor Crow, who lost to Fazio in 2022 by 89 votes out of the 42,845 cast, may take a second run at Fazio. With that narrow margin, Crow would have a strong claim to the nomination. The district includes Greenwich and portions of Stamford and New Canaan. Fazio recaptured the traditionally Republican seat in the summer of 2021 in a special election caused by the resignation of Democrat Alex Kasser. Kasser claimed her contentious divorce made it impossible for her to continue to live in Greenwich.

Nick Simmons is the brother of Caroline Simmons, who is serving her first term as mayor of Stamford. She has been in a prolonged battle with local Democratic activists. They could use a low turnout summer primary between Simmons and Crow to send a firm message to the high-handed mayor about her own political prospects.

A former currency trader, Nick Simmons did a turn at the U.S. Department of Education before returning to the Lamont administration as deputy chief of staff at the start of the governor’s second term.

Published November 1, 2023.

Tuesday brought evidence of more growing pains in the ocean-based wind power industry. Orsted, the Danish wind power company, announced it is scuttling two significant wind proposals off the coast of New Jersey, according to the AP.

The company pointed to supply chain problems the big cost of financing with interest rates rising to unanticipated levels when the project was planned. Orsted is on the hook for a $100 million guarantee it posted in October for the completion of the projects.

Orsted said it will continue with its Revolution Wind project in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

“Today’s decision by Orsted to abandon its commitments to New Jersey is outrageous and calls into question the company’s credibility and competence,” Governor Phil Murphy said. Murphy has been an enthusiastic advocate of wind power to reduce carbon emissions. The blow comes a week before the state’s legislative elections in which the wind projects have been an issue in some contests.

Wind power developers and their state government partners have misjudged the economics of an industry that is new to the United States. Companies have complained that their government subsidies are inadequate to changing market conditions.

Avangrid announced a month ago that it was abandoning its Park City Wind project due to the same supply and financial challenges that it is incapable of withstanding. It will pay the state a $16 million penalty for terminating the deal.

Tuesday did bring good news for Dominion’s wind power ambitions. The Biden-Harris administration approved the energy giant’s plan to build 176 wind turbines 20 miles off the coast of Virginia.

Published November 1, 2023.

Old Lyme residents awoke Sunday to see swastikas painted on a Republican campaign sign.

A Democratic sign was defaced, though the message is not as clear.

Vandals revealed their obscene misogyny on a Republican campaign sign.

Published October 29, 2023.

Nearly 2,000 of the world’s sociologists have shared their view of the world and it is chilling. The sociologists issued a rant that condemns Israel amidst a load of pernicious nonsense.

Here is a sour helping of the ugly screed:

We are witnessing internationally supported genocide. This latest siege comes as a continuation and escalation of the daily violence Palestinians faced for decades from Israeli colonization; an apartheid regime whose occupation is in clear violation of international law, but persists with the support of powerful governments globally. In 2023 alone, the United States has sent $3.8 billion to prop up the Israeli military and consistently legitimized Israel’s human rights violations on a global stage. The European Union too has brazenly supported Israel’s aggression, while failing to reflect on the historical irony to “never again” commit genocide.

There is no mention of the more than 200 hostages Hamas terrorists continue to hold. Nor do the sociologists find space to mention the October 7th slaughter of Israelis by Hamas. (And they use “foregrounds” as a verb, which may reveal a telling detail about the process of obtaining an advance degree in sociology.)

The useful idiots are joined by University of Connecticut Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies David G. Embrick. Mishal Khan, Yale postdoctoral fellow and Kayla Thomas, a Yale sociology PhD candidate, lent their names to the jumped-up harangue.

The document descries “the dehumanizing language used by heads of state, military leaders, and journalists throughout the West,” but makes no mention of the October 7th slaughter of Israelis by Hamas. It refers to the violence of the last week, but Hamas’s barbarity was visited on Israelis 17 days ago. That goes unacknowledged.

“As educators, it is our duty to stand by the principles of critical inquiry and learning,” the poisonous bloviators continue, without calling for the release of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas.

A response by “the Israeli sociological community along with concerned sociologists and other academics from around the globe” expresses their sadness and disappointment over the letter. The response points out “the blatant lack of any recognition of the heinous massacre carried out by Hamas in the south of Israel on October 7th.”

Michael Oren explains Hamas and the way forward for Israel in this edition of Dan Senor’s Call Me Back podcast.

Published October 24, 2023.

One of their own inflicting “threatening and abusive behavior” on local housing authorities makes no impression on House Democratic leaders. Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas will be the special guests at state Representative Geoffrey Luxenberg’s political action committee fundraiser marking his 40th birthday.

The Manchester Democrat has been the subject of complaints by mostly female housing authority employees who dealt with him and his real estate business. One West Hartford housing authority official wrote in an email, Luxenberg ”has consistently been abusive and unreasonable at a level I have never before experienced,” and that he is “just plain mean.”

Luxenberg threatened an unhappy prospective tenant in a text, writing, “They likely will just take away your voucher if you keep lying. I think you should just move out and get a new place.” The tenant told housing administrators she found Luxenberg “somewhat racist.” She wrote,  “I had the worst experience with Geoff demanding money.” When a unit he was attempting to rent to a tenant with a tenant eligible for a government rent subsidy failed inspections, Luxenberg claimed he was being “discriminated against regarding my learning disability.” 

None of this matters to House Democratic caucus leaders when measured against contributions and event ad book purchases flowing into campaign coffers.

Lobbyists and entities that do business with the state have received the tiered-donation invites. The October 30th birthday squeeze will take place at West Hartford’s GastroPark. Anyone who gives or raises $1,000 can be a “Birthday Celebration Host.” Raise more and you do have to be a host.

Hand over $40.00 and become a “Birthday Basher,” which may trigger painful memories from some who emerge feeling basked from contact with the volatile Luxenberg.

Published October 24, 2023.

For something completely different, read and subscribe to the new Substack newsletter Now You Know–The Cultural Lives of Others. This week’s guest is violinist and senator Gary Winfield.

The mask slips.

As the week began, the Wall Street Journal highlighted a nasty rant by CT SEIU executive director Kooper Caraway—who was forced to resign Thursday—declaring that workers’ enemies are CEOs capitalists and colonialists. Enemies are not in Gaza (where murderous Hamas terrorists hold 200 hostages). Caraway took a moment to weave birthday wishes to his partner, Puja, into his hymn to hate. It included a call to impose a regime of misery on her and the rest of the world. He announced, “there is no greater gift we could give her than to pledge that this will be the last birthday she has to celebrate under colonialism, under occupation, under capitalism and under imperialism.” Translation: a cliche-ridden nightmare.

Puja reciprocated Caraway’s dream of eradicating freedom to create and thrive under the rule of law. Puja announced on X (formerly Twitter) that she’s awfully proud of Caraway and just in case you had any doubts added the radical left’s call for genocide: From the river to the sea. There it is. It’s not about peace. They want a war that ends in the deaths of millions of Jews. It is the Hamas creed—embraced by some among us.

Published October 20, 2023.

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For something completely different, read and subscribe to Now You Know—The Cultural Lives of Others, a new and free Substack newsletter. Chief Justice Richard Robinson is this week’s guest and he does not disappoint.