Team of Rivals: McDonald and Occhiogrosso to Take Positions in Malloy’s Office.

Governor-Elect Dannel Malloy will add state Senator Andrew McDonald (D-Stamford) and confidant Roy Occhiogrosso to the inner sanctum of his administration, Daily Ructions has learned.  McDonald will serve as legal counsel with a broad remit, a change from the role permitted legal counsels in the Rell administration. Occhiogrosso will helm communications and politics.  Each has traveled a long road with Malloy and knows that influence often ebbs when you are not in the center of power when it’s finally won.

Chief of Staff Timothy Bannon will face a challenge in managing the two hard-driving politicos.  The appointment of McDonald will require a special election to fill his seat in the legislature.  It will likely be held soon after Malloy unveils his budget proposal to close the gaping whole in Connecticut’s finances.

McDonald’s move to the executive branch will create an opening in the co-chairmanship of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee for Senate Democrats to vie for in the next 2 weeks.

Malloy will announce the appointments Thursday at noon in Stamford.