With just 50 days left in the race for governor, Connecticut’s candidates are in a full sprint.

WSHU’s Ebong Udoma spoke with CT Mirror’s Mark Pazniokas to discuss his article written with Andrew Brown, “Fazio, Lamont trade blame for tolerating corruption in Hartford, D.C.,” as part of the collaborative podcast Long Story Short.

WSHU: Hello, Mark. Corruption has become an issue of contention in Connecticut’s gubernatorial race following Labor Day. Why do you think Republican challenger Ryan Fazio decided to focus on corruption?

MP: Well, he’s got to make the case for Connecticut voters to fire a two-term governor, and so the basic rule of politics is you play every card you’re dealt. The governor is not personally accused of corruption or ethical issues, but he’s had some scandals of varying degrees on his watch. So Ryan Fazio is raising that as the degree to which he is in charge of government, and should he be held responsible, prime among them is a case against Kosta Diamantis, who will be sentenced this week for corruption for bribes he was convicted of taking when he was overseeing school construction. He is also accused in a pending case of interfering with an audit of somebody he knew, the Medicaid audit, and both those things reflect, to a degree, on the governor’s management; that’s at least the case that Fazio is making.

On top of that, more recently, as the Connecticut Mirror reported, a no-bid contract was given to Miguel Cardona, the former Secretary of Education in Connecticut and for the United States, and Fazio is also making that an issue, saying, you know, why was this a no-bid contract? So again, it’s you play the cards you have, and these are among the cards that he thinks he can make some inroads on.

WSHU: So what’s Lamont’s defense as far as Diamantis, the corruption he’s been convicted of? Lamont says he fired him, so what’s the issue?

MP: Yes, Lamont makes that case. He fired him at the first whiff of impropriety. Bob Stefanowski, the Republican nominee, tried unsuccessfully four years ago to make this an issue with the governor, and he didn’t get very far for that very reason. That the governor said yes, this was somebody who looked like he was doing things that were wrong, and I fired him. It’s always a good position to take when you’re the governor.

WSHU: Now, also with Miguel Cardona, he was a former education commissioner. He was the secretary for education on the federal level. That’s why Lamont said it was a no-brainer to give him the contract.

MP: The governor has no apologies whatsoever for hiring Cardona; he says he was uniquely qualified, and again, he is happy to talk about that. Now, the larger context here is President Trump continually gets in the way of down-ballot Republicans who are trying to make a case in their own races, and this was a prime example of that. Ryan Fazio’s press conference on corruption was scheduled for what turned out to be the day after the president said, “I will pay $5,000 to every adult American if Republicans retain control of Congress.” It also followed the president saying, “I want you to pretend I am on the ballot.” So Republicans quite reasonably have objected at times to the Democrats continually referring to President Trump, saying they are using him as a distraction. Well, in this case, it was not the Democrats who were making Mr. Trump an issue. It was the president himself. And the same day that Fazio had the corruption press conference, Democrats, in a previously scheduled event, had a rally, and they leaned into Trump’s comments very heavily and said, “Yes, we do believe everybody should pretend that Trump is on the ballot because Republicans, including Ryan Fazio, have refused to comment on his corruption of the amount of personal wealth he has accumulated since his retirement.”

WSHU: But Fazio had to deal with the $5,000 offer.

MP: He did so very reluctantly. His initial response when asked about the $5,000 bonus was that he’s not going to comment on everything that the president says or does, and he was pressed, saying, “Well, we’re asking you not about everything he does. We’re asking about something very specific that happened last night, which was truly astounding.” And so, yes, he said it was not a good idea.

WSHU: So, what can we expect in the next few weeks as we head into November?

MP: Well, I mean, that’s the interesting question, and I asked Senator Fazio that. I mean, is this going to be something you’re going to back up with putting money behind TV ads? And he indicated yes, but to what degree was unclear. He is publicly financed. The grant was increased, so now it’s competitive. You know he’s got an $18 million budget, so he is not without resources to make this case and amplify this point on television and digital media. But again, it remains a difficult cycle for Republicans, and of course, we have this historical trend of Connecticut voters not unseating a governor seeking re-election since the 1950s. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but it means you’re going up against history.