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The Republican State Central Committee chose Susan Hatfield to serve as its chair until a new leader is elected to a full term in June. Hatfield was elected vice chair in 2019, after losing a 2018 bid for attorney general.

J.R. Romano abruptly resigned the chairmanship of the party organization in January after announcing in October he would not seek re-election. Hatfield became the favorite to fill the vacancy after Republican National Committee members Leora Levy and John Frey’s bid to take control of the state party came to grief by violating rules to prohibit the accumulation of power in too few hands.

Connecticut Republicans’ two national committee members, Leora Levy and John Frey, were blocked from becoming interim chairman and deputy chairman until the 74 members elect leaders for a full term in June. The vacancy occurred when J.R. Romano resigned without warning after announcing in October he would serve the remainder of his term but not seek re-election.

Levy began contacting state central committee members last week to pitch the plan. She and Frey were informed by the party’s national committee lawyers Monday that national party rules prevent committee members from serving as a state party chairman. The interpretation suggests a seed of observing rules has taken root at one of the party’s most Trump-centric organizations.

Assuring party committee members “titles were never the point,” Levy and Grey nevertheless do not want to give up their titles as national committee members to lead the state Republican organization through dire times. Levy was nominated by Donald Trump in 2019 to be the United States ambassador to Chile. The Senate’s failure to confirm Levy and Trump’s defeat by 7 million votes in November doomed the Greenwich Republican’s prospects. Frey declined to seek re-election to the state House of Representative in 2020, two years after a close call.

Ben Proto, a familiar figure in state Republican circles, announced Sunday he has “decided to seek the position of Chairman of the Connecticut Republican State Central Committee.” Proto made the announcement in an email to members of the party committee.

The Stratford Republican worked on Steve Obsitnik’s 2018 race for governor. He was the Connecticut head of Donald Trump’s 2016 race.

“I am the person to get us back in the game of winning,” Proto wrote, “I have the experience, relationships, and drive to draw the line in the sand now – to demonstrate to our candidates, incumbents, donors, volunteers, and voters that Connecticut and our Towns and Cities will be better off with Republicans elected at every level of government.”

Proto is seeking the vacancy created by the resignation of J.R. Romano, who announced in October he would not seek re-election in June. Party rules require an election within 60 days to fill the vacancy. There has been talk among the battered 74 Republican committee members that they should unite behind a temporary leader who would not seek a two-year term in June.

The campaign for the next chairman of Connecticut’s Republican state party organization has begun. Milford Republican Christopher Lancia launched in an email to the party’s state central committee members. Lancia managed Margaret Streicker’s campaign in the Third Congressional District. Incumbent Democrat Rosa DeLauro defeated Streicker by 68,000 votes, according to unofficial returns.

Lancia is seeking to replace party chairman J.R. Romano, who announced before the election that he would not run for re-election. The election takes place in June.

Lancia wrote:

Hi, I wanted to reach out to everyone On the committee and introduce myself before I make a public announcement. 

I am 49 years old I am the father of 3 children I was born and raised in Bridgeport now reside in Milford I am on the RTC in Milford and was Margaret Stickers, [sic] campaign manager. I have been trying to call each one of you introducing myself and answering questions for each one of you. I will be sending out another e-mail soon explaining what I want to focus on and how I would like to take the party to victory in a PowerPoint presentation.

I will be laying out a path for everyone to be involved in as one team with one vision. Please feel free to call me with any questions. This has to be an all hands on deck.

Streicker self-financed her bid against DeLauro, who was running for a 16th term from the New Haven-area district. DeLauro won by nearly 20% but Streicker mounted the first challenge that caught the popular DeLauro’s attention and caused her to pay attention to a Republican opponent for the first time in more than two decades.

Expect others to join the race to lead state Republicans.

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.

Cromwell is a town in central Connecticut. Cornwall is 40 miles away in Litchfield County. Cromwell is home to nearly ten times more residents than Cornwall. Both towns befuddle Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.

Twice this week, Merrill’s office has sent absentee ballot applications for the August 11th party primaries to the wrong town. On Wednesday, the town clerk in Cromwell received applications for Cornwall. The next day Cornwall’s clerk discovered 250 applications from Cromwell voters. The dutiful clerks met in Thomaston—halfway between their towns—each day to correct the mistake.

Merrill spokesman Gabe Rosenberg wrote this week, “It is so easy for voters’ faith to be eroded from the electoral process….” Rosenberg might want to remind the Hartford Democrat that this is not the moment to flex her power to blunder and erode.

The Journal Inquirer’s Alex Wood has more on Merrill’s errors.

It always hurts. Litchfield Republican delegates to the 5th Congressional District nominating convention have endorsed retired federal prosecutor David Sullivan over local Republican Ryan Meehan.

Endorsement gives frontrunner Sullivan the five delegates chosen by the Litchfield party town committee. In addition, a state central committee member and state Representative David Wilson have endorsed Sullivan. Meehan, recently of Texas and Greenwich, registered to vote in Litchfield at the start of the year.

In other 5th district news, Waterbury Republican Rueben Rodriguez ended his race for the nomination Tuesday. Rodriguez offered this earnest statement on Facebook.

The virtual nominating convention is scheduled for May 14th.

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

A year ago, the grim practices of the United Kingdom’s payday lenders occupied a central place in Connecticut’s contest for governor. Republican Bob Stefanowski had spent much of the campaign (including his surprise primary win with 30% of the vote in a crowded field) touting his business experience. Scrutiny was not his friend.

Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont’s campaign spent a chunk of their candidate’s fortune shining an unflattering light on payday loan lenders. Stefanowski’s experience running a British loan shark company changed a portion of his campaign narrative. The Stefanowski campaign strained to contain the story with a “you did it too” response, claiming that Lamont had profited from an investment in a payday lender that his wife’s venture capital firm had made.

The legacy of payday lending exploitation in Britain is coming to an end. The nation’s largest player, QuickQuid, is shuttering its windows and terminating its app applications. The company will leave behind thousands of unresolved complaints.

Connecticut may get a few more rounds of loan sharking reminders in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

Susan Hatfield, the 2018 Republican candidate for attorney general, is seeking support to become the vice chair of the state party organization. Elections for state central members are held in mid-May. The newly elected members choose their leaders in June.