Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Lamont names legal counsel and senior adviser

  • Politics
  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • December 10, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Colleen Flanagan Johnson

Gov.-elect Ned Lamont, who went outside the State Capitol for a chief of staff and budget director, rounded out the top echelon of his staff Monday with two experienced insiders: Superior Court Judge Robert W. Clark as general counsel and Colleen Flanagan Johnson as senior adviser overseeing strategy and communications.

Before his appointment to the bench last spring, Clark was special counsel to Attorney General George Jepsen, representing Jepsen at the General Assembly on a wide range of issues, including one demanding prompt attention from Lamont: sports betting and its impact on Connecticut’s relationship with its two tribal casinos.

Flanagan Johnson, a communications executive at Cigna and former vice president of external communications at Magellan Health, was the communications director for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s during his first year in office, then handled communications for the Board of Regents for Higher Education.

“Robert and Colleen are experienced public servants who are deeply committed to helping Connecticut become more inclusive and prosperous for all,” Lamont said in an emailed statement. “They are eager to get to work, and I welcome them wholeheartedly into my Administration.”

Flanagan Johnson, who will have the title of senior adviser, also served on the staff of former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, as did Ryan Drajewicz, the Bridgewater Associates executive who was named last week as Lamont’s chief of staff. Flanagan Johnson handled press for Dodd’s Senate office, as well as his ill-fated campaign for president in 2008.

For Lamont, the announcement said, she will oversee the “communications operation, and provide strategic counsel to the Governor and other senior officials on communications, policy, and political matters.” It is a job description that sounds similar to the broad portfolio overseen in Malloy’s first term by Roy Occhiogrosso, who was a trouble-shooter and senior adviser.

Clark, 47, who lives with his family in Durham, was confirmed to the bench in May and now presides over juvenile court in Bridgeport.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to have been chosen by Governor-Elect Lamont to serve as his General Counsel,” Clark said. “I look forward to serving the new administration at this critical juncture for the State of Connecticut.”

It was unclear when Clark would resign as a judge.

Jepsen said Clark’s experience at the attorney general’s office — where he needed to be adept in law, policy and politics — makes him an ideal choice.

“There is simply nobody better qualified than Bob, nobody close,” said Jepsen, a co-chair of Lamont’s transition team. “He is a superb lawyer, understands the legislative process and has excellent bipartisan relationships with everyone who matters.”

Flanagan Johnson, 36, lives in West Hartford with her husband, Michael Johnson, who is a lobbyist with Sullivan & LeShane, and their daughter.

“I’m looking forward to working with the Governor-elect on shaping an Administration that is dynamic, entrepreneurial, and inclusive,” Flanagan Johnson said. “He has a clear plan for taking Connecticut’s economy to the next level, and I am ready to help convey that vision to the people of this state.”

Occhiogrosso, who was not involved with the Lamont campaign, said Flanagan Johnson would be able to help the new governor quickly acclimate to the ways and personalities of the State Capitol and Legislative Office Building.

“She is smart and tough, and she knows those two buildings and she knows that office,” he said. “And unless you worked in that office, you don’t know what the it’s like — the pace, the intensity.”

At the Board of Regents, she survived a controversy over unauthorized raises that cost two other higher-education officials their jobs.

With the selection last week of Melissa McCaw as the secretary of policy and management, whose primary role will be managing the state budget, Lamont now has his senior staff largely in place, a week before the incoming administration is expected to receive policy recommendations from 15 transition working groups.

Lamont, a businessman who ran for U.S. Senate in 2006 and governor in 2010, will take office as Connecticut’s 89th governor on Jan. 9, six days after his 65th birthday. His government experience is limited to a term as a selectman and three terms on the finance board in Greenwich.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Big dollars hang in the balance as CT finance panel rushes to finish work
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Millions of dollars in proposed tax hikes and cuts remain in play as the finance committee nears its Thursday deadline.

Bill that would eliminate CT’s religious exemption from mandatory vaccines clears House
by Jenna Carlesso

The measure passed by a vote of 90 to 53 after 16 hours of debate.

Feds will not be placing migrant children in Connecticut
by Mark Pazniokas

The closed Juvenile Training School had been under consideration as a shelter

Lamont closed the restaurants. Now he is their promoter.
by Mark Pazniokas

A year after Gov. Ned Lamont banned indoor dining due to COVID-19, the industry has welcomed him as its savior.

CT lawmakers call for funding to stop ‘mass killing’ of Black and brown children
by Kelan Lyons

Lawmakers identified a $5 billion proposal by the Biden administration, and marijuana and sports-betting legalization efforts, as potential funding.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Biden is right to think big on infrastructure
by Jim Cameron

Hurrah! It was finally “infrastructure week” in Washington. In his first 100 days as President, Joe Biden has delivered a plan that his predecessor just kept teasing us with for four years:  a complete rehabilitation and expansion of the nation’s infrastructure.

Opinion My life and every other Black life matters
by Eugene Bertrand

"My life and every other black life matters." This is every black person's motto in the United States of America. In the past few months, we've seen an increase in deaths among the Black community.

Opinion Send us the children
by Kellin Atherton

Send us the children, President Biden. Send us the children, Governor Lamont. But not just the children. Move heaven and earth to find their families. Find mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. Children are coming here alone. Find someone to ease their loneliness and bring them too.

Opinion Lobbyist uses seniors and people with disabilities to protect drug company profits
by Ellen M. Andrews

Reading William Smith’s opinion (Connecticut must protect vulnerable populations from biased and discriminatory healthcare practices, April 13, 2021), I was worried that my state had passed draconian laws that were harming the health of seniors and people with disabilities. Thankfully, that isn’t the case. Our anti-discrimination laws are still in place and functioning.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO