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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt that “he favors allowing states struggling with high public employee pension costs amid the burdens of the pandemic response to declare bankruptcy rather than giving them a federal bailout,” according to a Bloomberg report.

Hewitt pointed to California, Illinois, and Connecticut as high pension obligation states that may need federal money as the Covid-19 pandemic increases expenses while revenues decline. McConnell said bankruptcy protection has “saved some cities” and allowed them to address long term deficits.

Connecticut will see a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars this year, but the state’s finances are robust enough to make longevity payments to state employees this week.

Retired federal prosecutor David X. Sullivan has built a commanding lead over rival candidates for the 5th CD Republican nomination to face first term incumbent Democrat Jahana Hayes. Sullivan reported at the end of the first quarter of the year raising around $135,000.

Bizarre hopeful Robert Hyde, of Simsbury and the bar at the DC Trump hotel, has raised a few dollars shy of $25,000. That’s a couple of thousand dollars more than Ryan Meehan, recently of Texas and Greenwich, who recently moved into the district to make the race. Meehan’s poor fundraising will come as a disappointment to his campaign consultants. A fourth candidate, Ruben Rodriguez, a Waterbury Republican, has raised less than $4,000.

The unique coronavirus has halted traditional campaigning and fundraising. Town committees meet by phone or internet, if at all. Delegates are unavailable for the usual get-together with eager candidates. Glad-handing is verboten. Delegate isolating is especially hard for candidates who entered the race late, like Meehan, though will be a mercy for Hyde and party activists who want to avoid him.

Delegates will meet by some means in May to pick an endorsed candidate.

Governor Ned Lamont Thursday thanked Amneal Pharmaceuticals for donating 400,000 tablets of hydroxychloroquine for distribution to state hospitals. “Making sure that medical facilities have the resources they need to treat patients who are in dire need of our support is an absolute priority. I want to thank Amneal Pharmaceuticals for their generous donation, along with DCP, and the Connecticut Hospital Association for working to ensure this medication goes to the right place. What we’re going through is unprecedented, and it will continue to take public-private partnerships like this to get through it,” Lamont said, according to Fox 61.

Amneal is a defendant in a price-fixing lawsuit against generic drug manufacturers filed last year by Attorney General William Tong.

Hydroxychlorine, a drug used to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases, has been approved by the FDA for use on patients hospitalized with COVID-19. It has been championed by Donald Trump. Doctors on the frontlines have expressed doubts about the drug’s effectiveness.

Honore Daumier painted this haunting picture of Jesus before the mob, mocked and derided on this day of his ordeal, the most solemn day of the Christian year.

Read more about it here.

Hebron Republican Steve Weir’s campaign for the 19th State Senate District received a boost with a formidable list of endorsements from inside and outside the 10-town district. A global pandemic is a difficult overlay on every campaign. Hebron Republican Weir’s fast start raising money allowed him to qualify for public financing in a primary—if there is one—and the general election contest against incumbent Democrat Cathy Osten, Weir has been quietly working the district and gaining support in an uncertain time.

Weir faces Hebron Republican Kelley Peck at next month’s nominating convention.

Here are Weir’s endorsements:

Fred Allyn, Ledyard – Mayor

Jami Allyn, Ledyard – Republican Town Committee member

Rob Anders, Norwich – Republican Town Committee member

Chuck Catania, Vernon – State Central Committee Representative, 35th District

Rob Dempsky, Norwich – Republican Town Committee Chair

Barbara Dardeen, Lisbon – Republican Town Committee member

Linda Davis, Ledyard – Town Council Chair

Mark DeCaprio, Lebanon – Former State Representative candidate, 48th District

Heather France, Ledyard – Former Republican Town Committee member

Mike France, Ledyard – State Representative, 42nd District

Liz Gorgoglione, Marlborough – Republican Town Committee Chair

Robin Green, Marlborough – State Representative, 55^th District

Mann Hasen, Hebron – Republican Town Committee Deputy Treasurer

Peter Kasper, Hebron – Board of Selectman

Amy Lounsbury, Sprague – Republican Town Committee member

Mark Lounsbury, Sprague – Former State Senate Candidate, 19th District

Michael McCormack, Hebron – Board of Finance, Former Republican Town Committee Vice Chair

Keith Petit, Hebron – Board of Education

John Rodolico, Ledyard – Republican Town Committee Chair, Former Mayor

Jeff Rodgers, Montville – State Central Committee Representative, 20th District, Former Town Council Member

Heather Somers, Groton – State Senator, 18th District

Kathy Shea, Hebron – former Republican Town Committee Chair

Prasad Srinivasan, Glastonbury – Former State Representative, 31^st District, former Gubernatorial Candidate

Amanda Veneziano, Hebron – Republican Town Committee Vice Chair, Board of Education

Southbury Republican Cindy Harrison launched her campaign Monday for the open 69th House District seat. Incumbent Arthur O’Neill is retiring after 18 terms.

The district includes Southbury, Bridgewater, Roxbury, and Washington.

Harrison is a CPA with an MBA and has served in Southbury’s municipal government.

Judge Barbara Bellis kept her word. The Superior Court judge presided over a controversy arising from an extended 2017 Bridgeport city council primary. Absentee ballot manipulations caused the Democratic primary for the 133rd Council District to be held three times.

During the extended proceedings, Bellis announced that her ruling would be sent to elections administrators and law enforcement officials. She did and FBI agents have made inquiries about absentee ballot practices in Bridgeport, Daily Ructions has learned.

The absentee ballot investigation appears to have expanded into other areas of Bridgeport politics. The story was first reported Saturday by Only in Bridgeport and included considerable detail. It included a geshrai of pain from first term state Senator Dennis Bradley, who is feeling the business end of a federal investigation. Investigations of Bradley’s campaign finance practices are also pending at the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

The cases continue.

State Representative Kim Rose (D-Milford) will not seek a sixth term in the House. Rose announced Friday that serving the people of “the 118th district has been such a blessing and the honor of a lifetime.”

Senate Democratic staffers are off to Sprague to help save embattled First Selectman and state Senator Cathy Osten. Under Osten’s leadership, the southeastern Connecticut community has become one of just three towns to fall under the authority of the Municipal Accountability Review Board.

Local elections provide a more direct form of municipal accountability, which is why Democratic staffers will be parachuting into Sprague.

Incumbent Republican First Selectman Jeff Manville defeated endorsed candidate Jennifer Naylor in their Southbury race. Manville defeated Naylor 1047 to 621.