Connecticut Politics At The Zero

But never met this Fellow

Attended or alone

Without a tighter Breathing

And zero at the bone.

—Emily Dickinson

Connecticut’s far left – Governor Dannel Malloy and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy – have offered public endorsements to New Haven mayoralty candidate Toni Harp, not the brightest thing to do during a Democratic primary campaign. The endorsements have disappointed Hartford Courant commentator Colin McEnroe. The irritant in his shell has produced the following pearl of wisdom:

“Meanwhile, Murphy endorsed Harp. I have no idea why anybody thought this was wise or necessary. It could be an act of solidarity among people who have had difficulty paying their taxes on time, although in this arena Murphy is kind of a penny ante player, with a history of chronic sloppiness about paying his property taxes, but we're talking just a few months late on a few thousand dollars. Meh.”

Columnists live for these moments.

In the meantime, former State Senator Edith Prague has thrown a pitchfork at Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie. Mr. Rennie earlier harpooned Ms. Harp, and Ms. Prague rushed to her defense, berating Mr.Rennie as a “character assassin” and calling upon him to retire. Ms. Prague, the senator from AFSCME , retired from her labors at the General Assembly after about three decades and was rewarded with a $100,000 a year position as the Commissioner of The Department of Aging.

Mr. Rennie’s response to Ms. Prague’s scurrilous attack on journalism may be found here: Never one to hold back i8n a barroom brawl, Mr. Rennie retorted:

“The holder of a make-work commissionership and former legislator, Prague has dipped into her barrel of bile before when I've pointed out Harp’s shortcomings as a guardian of the public trust…”

The 2014 campaign is now officially opened.

Casey Chadwick’s Uneasy Life after Death

Casey and her mother Wendy "I just started grief counseling. I'm always sad. I'm sad and in pain and I miss her." Wendy Hartling Hartling is the mother of Casey Chadwick, murdered in 2015 by Jean Jacques , an illegal Haitian immigrant. Jacques was convicted of the murder of Chadwick in a New London Superior Court jury trial and sentenced by Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed to a 60 year term in prison. Since Jacques is 44 years of age, the sentence was, in effect, a life sentence. Connecticut Commentary coverage of the Chadwick murder may be found here , and here and here . Jacques could not have been sentenced to death because Connecticut’s Democrat dominated General Assembly, under pressure from the state Supreme Court, had abolished Connecticut’s death penalty law in 2012 . The slaughter of Chadwick was particularly brutal. Her body had been found by a friend who, opening a door to a closet, discovered Chadwick stuffed in a dark corner drenched in blo...

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Lamont Surprised at Suit Brought Against PURA

Marissa P. Gillett, the state's chief utility regulator, watches Gov. Ned Lamont field questions about a new approach to regulation in April 2023. Credit: MARK PAZNIOKAS / CTMIRROR.ORG Concerning a suit brought by Eversource and Avangrid, Connecticut’s energy delivery agents, against Connecticut’s Public Utility Regulatory Agency (PURA), Governor Ned Lamont surprised most of the state’s political watchers by affecting surprise. “Look,” Lamont told a Hartford Courant reporter shortly after the suit was filed, “I think it is incredibly unhelpful,” Lamont said. “Everyone is getting mad at the umpires. Eversource is not getting everything they want and they are bringing suit. It was a surprise to me. Nobody notified me. I think we have to do a better job of working together.” Lamont’s claim is far less plausible than the legal claim made by Eversource and Avangrid. The contretemps between Connecticut’s energy distributors and Marissa Gillett , Gov. Ned Lamont’s ...

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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