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The purchase of the Journal Inquirer by Hearst Communications has brought quick and dramatic changes, marking the inevitable transformation of a singular Connecticut newspaper. Few family-owned newspapers endured as long as the JI in the last two decades of print retrenchment.

Nothing will diminish the JI’s years of fearless reporting in north central Connecticut. When I was first elected to the legislature in 1988, I was surprised to learn from colleagues that few represented two-newspaper towns. They knew nothing of the joys and benefits of newspapers competing with each other for stories in what was affectionately known as JI Land, the more than a dozen towns the paper covered with brio.

Reporters stayed to the end of town council, board of education and zoning meetings. Nearly every town had a reporter on the beat full-time. They all made friends with town hall and other local employees. And they were fearless–if they were not they learned how to conceal doubts.

Reporters knew how to use the business end of the Freedom of Information Act–a national model when it was enacted in 1975 with Governor Ella T. Grasso’s support during her first year in office. The paper had a particular knack for discovering mayors who’d operated their cars in ways the law did not permit but sometimes the police did. At least two thought unbeatable were defeated on the strength of JI reporting.

The paper kept a close eye on local zoning boards. Land use has long been a hive of manipulation, favors and outrage.

A reader survey a few decades ago, according to Joe Courtney (we all liked to know who was reading what), revealed readers paid the most attention to the paper’s coverage of school sports. Second were the commentary pages. Battles would break out on the letters to the editor page and rage for weeks. Campaigns hustled to submit letters from supporters before the election cutoff.

JI reporters were fixtures in local courthouses. Sometimes judges–who can be sensitive to public attention–took offense at the paper’s reporting and would disparage the paper from the bench or, in one case, wait for an opportunity to strike in a courtroom. It never worked.

The Ji newsroom was long a rollicking place doing serious work. The reporters were often young and tireless in the pursuit of a story. Their editors were supportive and savvy. For the subjects of a story, the hours between a call from a JI reporter and the paper’s publication in the afternoon could be marked by some trepidation.

Presiding over it all from her office near the front entrance was publisher Elizabeth Ellis. It’s for the best that democracies do not produce many citizens who are able to sustain a regal air. Mrs. Ellis–as she was always known–did. She possessed presence, a formidable air derived from never countenancing bullies. She did not flinch in the face of threats–and they came by phone, letter and over the transom. She reigned for five decades in the service of truth and the joy of a free press.

The day after I first won an election, I went to the JI in Manchester to place an ad thanking the voters of the 14th House District for narrowly electing me. As I sat in the waiting area, Mrs. Ellis emerged from her office, walked in my direction (I thought, “I wonder where Mrs. Ellis is going.”) and congratulated me in her distinctive voice. That I remember it clearly 35 years later is a measure of our own Mrs. Pinchot’s stature.

The Elizabeth Ellis JI made Connecticut a better place to live, serve and participate. Among her many gifts, she nurtured a newspaper with a personality, one that celebrated its own feisty reporting. On some afternoons, the paper practically vibrated with delight in telling what others had done. It was often an adventure to read and sometimes you knew you were witnessing its golden age.

Published June 7, 2023.

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.

Jack Fazzino is a candidate for state representative in a central Connecticut district. He has knocked on many doors, as eager young candidates who want to win do. Fazzino, a Democrat, made a new friend, a Republican, while hitting the pavement. He tells the story best in a piece he wrote for the Record-Journal.

Civilians may not understand the sustained pleasure that comes from months of knocking on doors of voters who are, for the most part, happy to spare a few moments. Fazzino writes a memorable 600 words. It has the advantage of sounding true.

He has a future.

Published November 1, 2022.

State Senator Eric Lesser lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts Tuesday. The Longmeadow resident made expanding rail service between Springfield and Boston his top priority during his four terms in the senate. A recent plan adds service to Pittsfield.

The Springfield to Boston rail line is central to providing modern train service between Hartford and Boston.

Lesser, who served in the Obama White House as an aide to David Axelrod, had hoped to overcome the advantages candidates from the Boston area traditionally enjoy in statewide campaigns against rivals from the sparsely populated western part of the commonwealth. With nearly 90% of the votes counted, Lesser was trailing Salem Mayor Kimberly Driscoll by 88,000 votes. Lesser was a prodigious fundraiser but found himself competing with a well-funded super PAC as the primary campaign neared its conclusion.

Driscoll joins Attorney General Maura Healey on the Democratic ticket. Healey is the overwhelming favorite to win the race for governor in November. Republicans chose Geoff Diehl on Tuesday to face the popular Healey. The most recent campaign finance report shows Diehl begins the general election campaign with less than $20,000 in cash on hand.

Springfield developer and Connecticut Republican Anthony Ravosa made news last month when he helped organize a fundraising event for Driscoll. Daily Ructions readers may recall that Ravosa was a lobbyist for Enron with close ties to former Governor John Rowland before the deluge.

Published September 7, 2022.

The Quinnipiac University Poll called Thursday night. It was the rare landline call, and I answered.

The survey took about 10 minutes and began with the usual demographic questions. The focus of the early political questions was the gubernatorial campaign and Governor Ned Lamont’s job performance. The caller asked which candidate I supported for governor in 2018 and president in 2020.

Quinnipiac wanted to know if I think crime is getting worse. As the victim of a crime last fall, it does feel more serious than what Lamont, a wealthy Greenwich Democrat, dismisses as an “uptick.” There were standard questions on the economy. I was asked to pick the most important issue from a list. There were three questions on abortion, including one on amending the constitution.

Vexing surges in energy costs received pessimistic recognition. Which rise in costs—gas at the pump and home heating were among the choices—were most worrying provided a reminder that energy costs will be a central issue this year. Candidates struggle to convey credible solutions.

There was also the horse race choice for governor: Lamont, Republican Bob Stefanowski or undecided. How likely was I to vote? How much attention do I pay to the campaign? Questions included Lamont’s handling of the pandemic and the state budget. Better off/worse off questions were included, too.

Do I approve or disapprove of President Biden, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Senator Christopher Murphy. There were no questions about Blumenthal’s re-election bid. This was my first poll call since a brief 2017 Rasmussen call on Donald Trump (strongly disapprove) and my first as an unaffiliated voter. If there were questions about the August Republican primary to face Blumenthal in November, I would not have been asked.

The poll results will be released soon, according to the end-of-survey script.

Published May 20, 2022. Updated May 21, 2022.

Shelton Democrat Jimmy Tickey is the new vice chair of the Democratic State Central Committee. Tickey, who succeeds treasurer endorsed candidate Erick Russell, is a veteran of Rosa DeLauro’s and Susan Bysiewicz’s offices and works for Jim Himes.

Tickey has proved himself a notable vote-getter in the Republican bastion of Shelton in his campaigns for the local zoning board. He’ll bring practical local experience to party central, which can sometimes become distracted by needy statewide candidates.

Students of politics will find two practical lessons from Tickey’s easy Monday night win. He began calling state central committee members as soon as Russell indicated he’d leave his party position to run for the opening created by incumbent Shawn Woden’s announcement he would not seek re-election in order to spend time with his children. Party committee members prefer being asked to being told. Tickey applied the enduring formula of an ounce of wisdom and a pound of gall to outflank at least one candidate who mistook entitlement for votes. The irrepressible Karen Murrow explains above.

The other lesson is universal. Never under estimate the power of a successful party. Tickey, Kristin Campanelli and Sam Carmody organized the hit party of the May 6th and 7th state party convention. The joint was jumping’ at the Old State House when the trio’s LGBT caucus got underway, eventually attracting Senator Chris Murphy to follow the exodus from his own party to the “Conventions are a Drag” wing-ding. The trio knows how to make it gel.

Democrats created a new position on Tuesday. The party’s first officer for voter protection is Adrienne Billings-Smith, a member of West Hartford’s town council. Billings-Smith will make her biggest impact if she addresses the state’s obstacles to ballot access.

Published May 16, 2022.

The state contracting scandal continues to engulf Governor Ned Lamont’s administration. Lamont’s strategy appears to be a series of shrugs and dismissals of each new revelation. We know that federal criminal investigators are casting a wide net to gather evidence on how and why state contracts for construction, demolition and hazardous abatement were steered to favored businesses.

 A corruption scandal of this reach always touches more than the central figures. It may ensnare the culpable and the innocent. Daily Ructions offered advice for surviving a scandal on February 6th. Recent events prompt more. 

As day follows night, home improvements are a constant in Connecticut corruption scandals. They are closing in on you if you see any of the following on a subpoena: kitchen, basement, estimates, contracts, and receipts.

If you failed to obtain building permits for home improvements, do not slither into your local town hall now to apply for them while explaining you forgot all about the application and the fees in the rush of construction.

If investigators start poking around a delightful Farmington restaurant for records and recollections of who paid for meals there with contractors, start hunting for receipts and ethics disclosures.

As you assess your situation with the assistance of competent counsel, learn what a proffer is. Criminal defense lawyers refer to it as a Queen for a Day Letter. Learn more about it here. 

Read documents. Governor Lamont continues to appear hopelessly muddled as he struggles to explain why he knew nothing and saw nothing, absolutely nothing, about the scandal that is staining his administration. The Twardy report is 42 pages of narrative. The sorry tale flows in the telling, even with some omissions. A document compiled in the summer of 2020  by building trades unions association and given to Lamont’s office is two and a half pages. In his befuddled explanation of why he did not see the document, Lamont said last week that the union representatives wanted most to talk about project labor agreements, PLAs. They never got to warnings about Kostaninos Diamantis’s abuse of the school construction grants program. The Yale business school graduate seemed not to remember that the union complaints about PLAs centered solely on Diamantis. It’s right there in that concise memo. Read the documents before commenting on them with misplaced confidence.

If an element of your defense is that you have been mistreated by the powerful, you’d better not have berated, embarrassed or made subordinates cry. If you required those who worked for to get your coffee or lunch, your bid for victimhood will be undermined. A directive to deliver documents to the boss at home is in no public employee’s job description.

Criminal investigations and the subsequent prosecutions can disrupt domestic harmony. Understand the complexities of the doctrines of spousal communications and spousal privilege in criminal prosecutions. As an example of its complexities, the smartest lawyer I know pointed out that it is intended to protect the sanctity of marriage–where it has not already been shredded by the acts of one or both spouses.

If you are sure you deserve to keep or be reinstated to your state job, insist the state labor panel hearing your claim open your hearing to the public. If you are confident of your case, let in the light. 

It is imprudent to declare how talented and accomplished you are while also claiming you saw nothing, you knew nothing. Prosecutors are not persuaded by people who insist they are smart about everything but what went on in front of them.

Published on February 22, 2022.

Popular state Representative Hilda Santiago is exploring a run for statewide office. The Meriden Democrat has been expected to make a bid for her party’s nomination for secretary of the state. She filed her exploratory committee Wednesday.

Santiago ought to benefit from her association with Senator Chris Murphy. Working in his office has allowed Santiago to cultivate contacts far beyond her central Connecticut district.

In a party that can be intermittently captured by identity politics, Santiago would be the first Latina to win a spot on a state Democratic ticket.

Posted August 26, 2021.

Early Donald Trump enthusiast Jim Campbell today joined the race for leader of Connecticut’s crumbling Republican party organization. Formerly of Greenwich, the Westport Republican hails from the region of the state where the party’s decline has been most dramatic. Campbell made no mention of Trump or his ardent support for the loathsome demagogue in a lengthy email announcement to state central committee members.

The Trump effect has eroded the party’s ranks in the state legislature to rump status. Campbell enjoys the quiet support of prominent Trumpists, national committee members Leora Levy and John Frey. Levy was nominated by Trump to serve as ambassador to Chile. The Senate declined to confirm her. Frey survived a close call in his 2018 re-election bid to the state House of Representatives from Ridgefield. He chose not to seek another term in 2020. His seat was won by a Democrat as anti-Republican fury added to its Connecticut cull.

Campbell has gloried in his support for Trump. It’s memorialized in this cringe-inducing New Yorker article, “How Greenwich Republicans Learned to Love Trump.” Much of the rest of the former Republican bastion has not. Joe Biden won 61% of the tony town’s vote in November, leaving Boris and Natasha Republicans like Campbell in a withering minority.

The former Greenwich party chair is an executive with state contractor Frontier Communications. Battered by the communications revolution, Frontier recently emerged from an extended bankruptcy ordeal as a result of changing consumer habits and expensive landline carrier purchases.

The party committee selects a new leader in June.

Connecticut Republicans selected Mary Ann Turner to fill the vacant vice chair position on their state central committee.

Turner, veteran leader of the Enfield Republicans, was incensed on January 6th when state Representative Devin Carney, also a Republican, condemned the insurrection at the Capitol that attempted to halt the counting of electoral votes. Turner, who was at the rally Donald Trump used to incite the rioters, accused Carney of “drinking the kool-aid.” She demanded Carney resign from his seat in the House of Representatives. Read the alarming story here.

Turner told Carney he “should be praying for what little of America is left.” That ugly view of the world was endorsed and elevated by the state Republican organization on Tuesday.

Turner made an unsuccessful bid for the House in 2020.