Malloy Loyalists Lawlor and Ojakian to Assist Barnes at State Budget Office.
Democratic State Representative Michael Lawlor (D-East Haven) and Deputy Comptroller Mark Ojakian will head to the Office of Policy and Management to assist Secretary-deginate Ben Barnes in wrestling the budget beast, Daily Ructions has learned. Announcement is imminent.
Lawlor was elected to the legislature in the Democratic landslide of 1986. He made a brief bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 3rd congressional district in 1990. He is at the end of 12th term in the House of Representatives. Having served in the legislature in 1991 and voted for the imposition of an income tax on Connecticut working families, Lawlor knows the pressure legislators face from unhappy constituents. Sources say Lawlor’s portfolio at OPM will concentrate on criminal justice.
Ojakian was a key campaign aide in Lieutenant Governor-Elect Nancy Wyman’s winning 1994 race for comptroller. He has been in her office during her 4 terms.
Team Malloy has been receiving advice that Barnes alone will not be able to lead the powerful budget office bureaucracy. He’ll need help from veteran political and government operators as the new governor confronts the mess left by Republican incumbent M. Jodi Rell. Lawlor and Ojakian are highly political creatures. Lawlor has gained a reputation in a quarter century in the legislature as a partisan and contentious infighter.
2 comments
these appointments are so disappointing I can’t write what i actually am thinking – it will be bleeped out.
i’m not quite sure this is what we voted for – a democratic jobs machine? i hope someone pays attention to the salary’s and the dramatic increase in pensions these politicians will get now that they are in the executive branch.
McDonald is understandable, i guess, and to a certain extent so is Lawlor. The real danger is here that with the exception of Anne Foley, whom you do not mention, none of them have any real executive experience. We’ve got legislators, that know nothing but that – it’s much different when you actually have to do the work in the executive branch. Ojakian’s main responsibility have been to deliver the gay vote and the associated cash for our comptroller over the past few elections. ask anyone in state service – he is not that bright, and doesn’t do that much.
and Casa? the CCM lobbyist? how freakin incestuous is Malloy going to allow his administration to be?
who’s next? i hope a straight male.
Foley was a good choice, i have found her to be bright and hardworking.
but this is really disappointing ……. he’s going to end up hiring the entire legislature before this is done – hey, aren’t they the ones that got us in this mess?
with some luck the Dems will lose the seats in the special election.
HST
Who’s taking bets on whether Lawlor and McDonald are appointed to the bench 13 months hence?
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