In an early stumble in his campaign for governor, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew admitted “an error in judgment” Thursday and apologized to city employees for obtaining a mailing list from the city that his campaign used to solicit contributions.
campaign finance
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Counterattack at GOP effort to repeal public financing
Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, says she is grateful that she never ran for state office in the days before Connecticut’s public financing system, when a major portion of fundraising took place in Hartford and was geared to collecting checks from lobbyists and their clients. But that didn’t stop her from voting Friday for a budget that would repeal the system.
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Lauretti, Lembo score big in fundraising debuts
Republican Mayor Mark Lauretti of Shelton and Democratic Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo each raised about $145,000 in their first months as a candidate or exploratory candidate for governor in 2018, new highs for non-incumbents in the era of public financing in Connecticut. Democrat Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor seeking office for the first time, raised $118,343 in his first two-plus months as an exploratory candidate.
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Connecticut House tests limits of regulating ‘dark money’
On a partisan vote of 79 to 70, the House of Representatives approved a bill Thursday that could test the limits of the states’ ability to regulate campaign finances in the post-Citizens United era by imposing rules intended to end the use of untraceable dark money in Connecticut elections.
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Democrats back ban on ‘dark money’ in state campaigns
With a bill that could test the limits of the states to regulate campaign finances, the House Democratic leadership is asking the General Assembly to effectively ban dark money from Connecticut elections and restrict the role of independent expenditures in the 2018 races for governor and legislature.
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Before and after Trump speech, Democrats pitching for cash
An email solicitation from Connecticut Democrats anticipated bad news Tuesday night in President Trump’s congressional address: “You can expect the GOP Congress to stay on their fee clapping as he talks about defunding Planned Parenthood, stripping away gun reforms, and repealing Obamacare.” But what’s been bad for the Democratic agenda has been decent for its fundraising.
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Esty, Cope differ sharply, and sometimes agree, in a civil race
WASHINGTON — Overshadowed like other congressional races in Connecticut by the loud and vitriolic presidential race, the matchup between Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Esty and GOP challenger Clay Cope has been a civil contest between party moderates.
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Blumenthal-Carter contest a quiet race in a stormy election year
WASHINGTON — While the odds that Sen. Richard Blumenthal will be re-elected are among the highest in this year’s U.S. Senate races, he’s also under constant fire from a Republican opponent, state Rep. Dan Carter, who has laid siege to the popular Democrat.
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Challenger Carter steadily attacks, but Blumenthal remains aloof
WASHINGTON — The campaign tactics of Sen. Richard Blumenthal and his Republican challenger, state Rep. Dan Carter, are as different as they can be in politics. Blumenthal has largely ignored his challenger, while Carter is waging a death-by-a-thousand-cuts campaign, launching a blizzard of attacks.
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Malloy’s ’14 re-election yields new GOP campaign complaint
A Republican official, Trumbull First Selectman Timothy A. Herbst, filed a complaint Wednesday with the State Elections Enforcement Commission over the Connecticut Democratic Party’s acceptance of free legal representation in defending against a previous GOP complaint.
Posted inJustice, Politics
U.S. attorney opens probe of Malloy’s 2014 campaign fundraising
A federal grand jury with the power to subpoena documents and compel testimony is trying to do what state elections regulators could not: Resolve whether the Democratic Party and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy broke the law in raising money for his narrow re-election in 2014.
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A postscript to Malloy campaign case: Did anyone pay a legal bill?
State law does not require an accounting, and the Connecticut Democratic Party won’t provide one. But in the process of defending the party against allegations of using illegal campaign contributions to support the governor’s re-election, David S. Golub may have become its biggest benefactor. There is no record of his charging for a case that other lawyers say could easily have cost six figures.
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Malloy, Fasano challenge each other on fundraising issues
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, whose Democratic Party just reached a record $325,000 settlement to resolve allegations of improper fundraising, exchanged jabs Tuesday with Republicans over whether the Democrats owe voters the release of emails and documents related to the allegations.
Posted inJustice, Politics
SEEC OKs record $325,000 settlement in Malloy campaign case
The Connecticut Democratic Party and the State Elections Enforcement Commission agreed Monday to settle a case that threatened to undermine campaign finance reforms inspired by the scandal that forced Gov. John G. Rowland from office in 2004. The party will pay a record $325,000 over 27 months to settle allegations of impropriety involving use of state contractor contributions in 2014 to support the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
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Connecticut lawmakers trouncing challengers in political fundraising
WASHINGTON – Connecticut lawmakers have raised and spent millions of dollars in political cash, even if they have no challenger or the ones they have are woefully underfunded. It’s the system, analysts say. And they say it’s not likely to change.