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What a day Wednesday was for money in Connecticut. Governor Ned Lamont released a proposed $46 billion balanced biennial budget. His recorded speech explaining parts of the document was broadcast at noon. Always a big day for a governor, especially when it’s likely the last major address before a re-election campaign begins.

Venture capital phenomenon Ann Huntress Lamont, the governor’s spouse and most powerful adviser, was enjoying a stunning win in her investment business. Mrs. Lamont is co-founder and managing partner of Oak HC/FT, which invests in healthcare and financial technology companies.

Oak HC/FT’s stake in Sema4 received some attention when the state entered into a contract for coronavirus testing services early in the pandemic. The Lamonts, as part of their ongoing management of the state’s ethics laws and their far-flung investments, pledged to donate to charity any benefit they might derive from the deal. Sema4 is merging with CM Life Sciences in a $2 billion deal that will see Sema4 snag $793 million when it closes in the second quarter of 2021.

Read the details of the complex deal here. There’s more here.

State Auditor Rob Kane has died. The Watertown Republican was found unresponsive at his home Friday afternoon after failing to answer attempts to reach him.

Kane served in the state Senate before becoming auditor in 2017, after declining to take the oath of office for another term in the Senate.

Muad Hrezi is running for Congress in Connecticut’s First Congressional District. Hrezi, a Democrat, is making the 2022 race “because we deserve a Representative in Washington who serves us. So as this journey unfolds, I look forward to hearing your concerns, earning your trust, and, ultimately, serving you in the halls of Congress.”

Hrezi offers the aggrieved view of life in 21st century United States from the left, but latches on to the same theme as those perpetually angry Trumpist. “[W]hile working in Congress, I witnessed firsthand how greedy special interests and politicians have rigged the system at our expense, furthering divisions and risking our democracy. It’s why I grew disillusioned and left.”

Hrezi describes himself on his Twitter profile as an educator, running coach, and proud Nutmegger. He is 26 years old, was born in Tripoli, and grew up in Naugatuck. Hrezi worked as a legislative correspondent in Senator Chris Murphy’s office from 2018 until September of last year. He is a substitute teacher at Southington High School and a patient companion for Independent Living Solutions Ltd.

Democratic incumbent John Larson won a 12th term in November.  

Republican Party chair J.R. Romano has resigned. Romano announced in the fall that he would not seek re-election in June. He sent an email to members of the state party committee Tuesday evening as the House of Representatives debated impeaching Donald Trump. Romano has been a vocal supporter of Trump and presided over two calamitous election cycles, 2018 and 2020, as state voters abandon Trump.

Angry Enfield Republican Mary Ann R. Turner enjoyed Wednesday in besieged Washington, D.C., while mourning “what little of America is left.” Turner turned to Facebook to lash out at four-term Republican state Representative Devin Carney for expressing his dismay at the coup attempt. Carney called the attack on democracy “The worst day I’ve ever seen.”

Turner, who was defeated for an Enfield state House seat in November, accused Carney of drinking Koolaid, declaring the gathering of weirdoes, kooks, and insurrectionists peaceful. Turner called on The shoreline Republican to resign his office “because you have proven you are easily manipulated.”

Senator Alexandra Kasser (D-Greenwich) has spoken at length about the marriage she is seeking to dissolve in an extended proceeding. Elected in 2018 as Alexandra Bergstein, she announced she had changed her last name to Kasser and took additional swipes at her husband Seth Bergstein. 

The wealthy Democrat declared war on privilege and the patriarchy in 2019. The patriarchy of her party has struck back in the first daily bulletin of the new session, listing Kasser as Bergstein.​

Republican fixture Dick Foley has died. Foley served in the House of Representatives for a decade, beginning in 1982, from the Naugatuck Valley.

He was elected to the job he enjoyed most, chairman of the state’s Republican Party organization, in 1989. Foley came to grief in 1993 when he was indicted on a corruption charge arising out of banking legislation and a $25,000 bribe paid to Foley to influence legislation. He was convicted by a federal jury later that year. His sentence was overturned on appeal, but not before he served time in prison.

Foley returned to politics as a lobbyist and prolific campaign consultant. Foley, who lived in Danbury at the time of his death, mounted a brief campaign for state chairman in 2019.

Books, books, books. Senator Chris Murphy tells us about his book “The Violence in Us.” Connecticut’s own Jeff Benedict we were more than a way for Robert Kraft to get the attention of Massachusetts politicians in his tussle over a stadium deal. Roxanne Coady of R.J. Julia, the independent booksellers, recommends political books for the holidays. Duby McDowell and I each add one to the list.

Join us Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on WFSB.

The Capital Community College’s faculty and staff senate will take up a resolution Wednesday calling for a 25% cut in the generous salaries of central office bureaucrats. The resolution reflects the growing disquiet that the System Office is inflicting sacrifices on others that it will not impose on itself.

Here’s the lengthy resolution:

Whereas, Capital Community College exists for the primary purpose of furthering academic excellence;

Whereas, The CCC Senate is the official representative body of the Faculty and Staff;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has a lengthy history of fiscal mismanagement dating back to at least 2010 as documented in the APA1 Executive Summary, dated 10/1/2020 for fiscal years ending 2016 and 2017, which identified 32 areas requiring improvement and violations that included unspent allocations, budgetary miscalculations, and non-compliance with the 2017 SEBAC Agreement;

Whereas, Nearly all of the universities and colleges voted no confidence in President Ojakian and the Board of Regents last year;

Whereas, The Board of Regents is largely comprised of individuals who have limited to no experience and knowledge regarding institutions of higher education, and who have spent virtually no time on the campuses they are supposed to lead;

Whereas, Taking the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration, each college, university and the System Office submitted a budget for FY 2021 to the Board of Regents, which duly adopted a FY 2021 spending plan for CSCU on June 18, 2020 based upon these budgets;

Whereas, The System Office and the Board of Regents miscalculated revenue in these budgets, in particular, that of the community colleges by grossly overestimating enrollment numbers which resulted in a reported budget shortfall of $69 million;

Whereas, The Board of Regents, at its September 17 and October 15, 2020 meetings, stated that “everything is on the table” and tasked the administration to consider alternatives, including measures that have not been taken in the past and measures that “require extensive analysis, negotiation, and restructuring within the organization” to reduce the budget shortfall;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” in order to justify ‘placing on the table’ the income of the most vulnerable and poorly-compensated employees, including Graduate and University Assistants and part-time faculty;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” in order to justify attempting to ‘place on the table’ the income of thousands of faculty and staff responsible for teaching and providing services to our students and to try to break the Collective Bargaining Agreement;

Whereas, the Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” but, has failed to ‘place on the table’ reducing the salaries of administrators in the System Office and throughout the system who are the most highly-compensated employees, an action that would not require “extensive analysis, negotiation, and restructuring within the organization;”

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” however, has also stated that it will not ‘place on the table’ the exorbitant costs associated with One College and its top-heavy administrative structure, including the additional planned hiring of over $10 million worth of managers;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” and has implemented a hiring freeze and a comprehensive effort to “review and identify savings in areas including staffing, academic programming, shared administrative services and collective bargaining;” yet is proceeding with a search to hire a CSU President, an expensive position with largely figurehead responsibilities, and will not ‘place on the table’ the System Office’s bloated staffing and administrative costs, an action that would not require “extensive analysis, negotiation, and restructuring within the organization;”

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” however, has failed to ‘place on the table’ the System Office reserves of $22.42 million that could be utilized to cover revenue shortfalls;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” but has stated that SCSU, CCSU, and ECSU should contribute $1.2 million each from their reserves to make up for WCSU’s shortfall, failing to ‘place on the table’ the System Office reserves of $22.42 million that could cover this shortfall;

Whereas, The described proposals by the Board of Regents are harmful to our students, who comprise the largest population of minority and underserved students in the state;

Whereas, The described proposals by the Board of Regents would result in a reduced number of academic programs and classes and larger class sizes, and would threaten the integrity of our educational institutions; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That when the Board of Regents states that “everything is on the table,” it truly should consider all alternatives with open-mindedness in order to act in the best interests of the students and the institutions it is charged with protecting and nurturing; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Regents cease targeting the most vulnerable and underpaid university and college employees, while failing to take action in reducing the salaries of the most highly-compensated employees in the system; and be it further

Resolved, That the salaries of the highly-compensated, higher-level administrators in the System Office be reduced by 25%, as has been done at many other institutions of higher education in the country in order to deal with COVID-19 budgetary shortfalls; and be it further

Resolved, That the System Office be required to follow any cost-saving measures required of the colleges and universities, including the hiring freeze that would encompass the CSU President position and One College hires; and be it further

Resolved, That reserves from the System Office be utilized to cover revenue shortfalls of the individual universities and colleges and that the Board of 

Regents cease the practice of raiding one university’s reserves to pay off another university’s debt; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Regents consider alternatives to the System Office or at the very least, major restructuring of the organization, including measures that have not been taken in the past and measures that require extensive analysis; and be it further

Resolved, That any cost-cutting measures directed towards the colleges and universities not be circumscribed in a top-down manner, but rather demonstrate respect and invite the knowledge and experience of those who understand and work in higher education in our institutions; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Regents is called on to be advocates for and supporters of higher education and the CSCU campuses, rather than to act as agents of dismantlement.

Here’s a rule for ballot integrity in Connecticut: Don’t take a selfie with an idiotic message that you can vote twice.   Sue Schroeder, Wethersfield’s attentive town clerk, made sure it doesn’t happen here.

The Facebook post is misinformation and it has caused considerable comment. Attorney General Tong, Secretary of the State Merrill and Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo have their first case. Updates as events require.