The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/author/mpazniokas/page/3/)
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a bipartisan pay-equity bill Tuesday at a celebration skipped by Republicans and colored by the legislature’s failure to deliver other items on an election-year agenda at least partly geared to working women: A $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and an overhaul of sexual harassment laws. Continue Reading →
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday he will try to resolve who has rights to sports gambling — the tribal owners of the state’s two casinos, licensed off-track betting parlors or other vendors chosen by the state, or a mix of the two — before calling the General Assembly into special session to consider legalizing wagering on sports. Continue Reading →
Joseph Harper, a Falstaffian, old-school Democratic politician who zealously protected his New Britain district while playing a pivotal role in the 1991 budget fight that led to passage of the income tax in Connecticut, died Sunday. He was 70. Continue Reading →
Susan Herbst told the University of Connecticut community in an email Monday she will step down next summer after eight years as the 15th president of the state’s flagship university, a tumultuous time of dealing with budget constraints. UConn will be recruiting a successor in the midst of a gubernatorial campaign. Continue Reading →
Former Hartford City Council President Shawn Wooden won the Democratic endorsement for state treasurer Saturday, but will face off in a primary with fellow Hartford lawyer Arunan Arulampalam and former Wall Street trader Dita Bhargava of Greenwich. Continue Reading →
Rep. William Tong of Stamford won the Democratic endorsement for attorney general Saturday, but will face former federal prosecutor Chris Mattei of Hartford and Sen. Paul Doyle of Wethersfield in a three-way primary for the nomination. Continue Reading →
The Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor will be settled at an August primary between former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown and Eva Bermudez Zimmerman of Newtown, whose protest candidacy blossomed into a full-blown campaign in just three days. Continue Reading →
Democrats endorsed Ned Lamont for governor Saturday, putting their stock in a wealthy Greenwich businessman who became a national figure in 2006 with his antiwar challenge of U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman. They rejected an 11th-hour plea by Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim to overlook his criminal record and place him on the primary ballot. But they offered only lukewarm support to Lamont’s running mate, Susan Bysiewicz. Continue Reading →
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy accepted the Democratic nomination for a second term Friday with a speech framing the 2018 election up and down the ballot as an existential battle for control of Hartford and Washington with a Republican Party that has lost its compass with President Donald Trump at the helm. Continue Reading →
At the chaotic conclusion of a congressional nominating convention, teacher Jahana Hayes briefly had at least 171 votes, the minimum necessary to win. Young spectators, some of them Hayes’s former students getting their first peek at politics, wildly cheered Connecticut’s endorsement of a black woman for Congress. It turned into something else, with angry questions from the NAACP, complaints about the role of a U.S. senator — and just a whiff of a voting irregularity. Continue Reading →
Intrigue over down-ballot races for lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general are expected to dominate this weekend’s Democratic convention as an unopposed U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is nominated by acclamation for a second term Friday night and Ned Lamont is poised to win the endorsement for governor on a single ballot Saturday. Continue Reading →
Two candidates who narrowly lost convention endorsements for Congress and state treasurer, Democrat Jahana Hayes and Republican Art Linares, said Thursday they will seek their parties’ nominations in primaries in August. Hayes is a candidate for Congress; Linares for state treasurer. Continue Reading →
Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, who had a conversation with gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont about the possibility of becoming the Connecticut Democrats’ first Hispanic statewide nominee as his running mate before he picked Susan Bysiewicz, said Wednesday night she will seek the nomination for lieutenant governor Saturday. Continue Reading →
The candidate is named Oz, so the tornado warning Tuesday might have been a nice touch, a metaphor for a campaign intent on disruption. But it turns out that dire forecasts, downpours and lightning don’t do much to draw a crowd for an independent gubernatorial campaign, even one with an open bar, free appetizers and live music. Continue Reading →
Susan Bysiewicz’ shift Tuesday from a Democratic gubernatorial candidate to Ned Lamont’s running mate creates a significant complication in her quest for public financing of her campaign: The money she raised for governor cannot be easily switched to a bid for lieutenant governor. Continue Reading →