Another week of pain for federal employees at the hands of their own government ended abruptly Friday — temporarily, at least.

Connecticut rang in a new year and Washington swore in a new Congress last week, but even with the changes in personnel, politics seemed the same old drama begun the year before.

There is nothing like a nice quiet week of federal governance in the week before Christmas. There was, in fact, nothing like that. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria, the subsequent resignation of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and the looming, then eventual, partial shutdown of the federal government generated more than their share of pre-holiday angst.

Donald Trump’s presidency was like Dow Jones Industrial Average last week, down from setbacks both foreign and domestic: Yemen, the farm bill, and court appearances by his former close- associates-turned-felons underscoring the president’s loose affiliation with objective truth and the rule of law.

A great American was laid to rest last week, but there are dozens of matters here and in Washington that certainly were not — most notably the implications of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s latest filing in the investigation into Russian involvement in the last presidential election.

Transitions are seldom easy. Just ask Ned Lamont, or Jahana Hayes, or Jim Himes, or Jim Smith and Robert Petricelli. Or NASA.

With the elections over, (with one notable exception) Connecticut began getting re-organized last week. And it took some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday, too. Early in the week, Gov.-elect Ned Lamont returned from an orientation for new governors promising to assemble a top-notch group of departmental appointees. He and Lt. Gov.-elect Susan Bysiewicz have […]

It was all about the numbers in Connecticut last week – counted in votes and dollars. Fates were sealed for candidates of previously undecided elections. The resolution of the state’s budget deficit, on the other hand, will be Gov.-elect Ned Lamont’s (and the new legislature’s) ongoing challenge even though the numbers appear to be improving.

As if it were possible, Connecticut’s government last week got even bluer than it was before Election Day, but the new governor-elect has opened his dialogue with the public with a different message: unity.

The mass shooting of 11 members of the Temple of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh horrified anew a nation that was still getting over a recent pipe-bomb attack. It also helped amplify Connecticut’s reaction to an anti-Semitic campaign mailer produced for a local state senate candidate.

Is all of politics, at their most fundamental, a struggle to make society more fair? Certainly in Connecticut there has been plenty of social inequity to talk about. As the Nov. 6 election approaches, of course, the candidates for governor, U.S. Congress and the state legislature identify all sorts of social and economic disparities that, one way or the other, need to be addressed.

It’s the time of year when candidates seem to compete to see who can run the most TV ads telling voters as little as possible. Lately the two major party candidates for Connecticut governor, Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski, seem to be about tied in ad expenditures or on their behalf.