Clarice Silber :: CTMirror.org Bob Stefanowski with his daughters at his polling place in Madison in 2018. His kickoff Wednesday came on the radio. Republican Bob Stefanowski opened his second campaign for governor Wednesday in the same unconventional manner he ended his first one four years ago: By calling “Chaz & AJ in the Morning” on WPLR-FM. Stefanowski, 59, who was a newcomer in 2018 when he outflanked a crowded Republican field with an insurgent campaign focused on repeal of the income tax, makes his anticipated entrance in 2022 as the presumptive frontrunner for a rematch with Go ..read more

Special Master Nathaniel Persily The 5th District “lobster claw” survives as the special master recommended minimal changes to Connecticut’s congressional map, as directed by the Supreme Court. A Connecticut congressional map recommended Tuesday by a court-appointed special master makes minimal changes in the racial, political and geographic features of districts that have produced only Democratic victories since 2008. The map drawn by Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford political scientist and law professor, was not unexpected, given the state Supreme Court’s directive that he make only the chan ..read more

New Haven Independent Rep. Sean Scanlon in May at the announcement of an expansion master plan for Tweed New Haven Airport, where is executive director. Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, is creating an exploratory campaign for statewide office Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to put down a marker on the office of comptroller since an ailing Kevin P. Lembo quit the post last month. Comptroller is one of Connecticut’s six statewide constitutional offices, responsible for the often-prosaic tasks of keeping the state’s books and overseeing the administration of state employee payroll and benef ..read more

MARK PAZNIOKAS :: CTMIRROR.ORG Congressman John B. Larson announces his reelection in person and on Zoom. EAST HARTFORD — U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, staged a modest campaign kickoff Friday, formalizing what never was in doubt: He is seeking reelection, typically a desultory affair in this safe Democratic district. Larson, 73, has held public office for most of the past 45 years, moving from the Board of Education and Town Council to the state Senate, then landing in Congress after winning a fierce Democratic primary for an open seat. That was 24 years ago. He has not been cha ..read more

Mark Pazniokas :: CT Mirror Gov. Ned Lamont announced in March 2020 that he was declaring a public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Gov. Ned Lamont established a bargaining posture Wednesday towards lawmakers on the question of his emergency COVID-19 pandemic powers, making clear an intention to share the responsibility with the General Assembly. Lamont said he will ask the legislature to codify in state law a short list of executive orders issued to manage an emergency that was declared 22 months ago and is set to expire on Feb. 15, a week after the legislativ ..read more

Yehyun Kim :: CT Mirror Chief State’s Attorney Richard J. Colangelo Jr., at a news conference in July. The commission with the power to hire and fire top prosecutors in Connecticut is awaiting completion of an independent investigation of how Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. came to hire the daughter of a top state budget official while he lobbied the budget office for raises. Justice Andrew J. McDonald, the chair of the Criminal Justice Commission, said in an interview that no action will be taken until former U.S. Attorney Stanley A. Twardy Jr. reports the findings of his inqu ..read more

U.S. Capitol A mother and daughter from Canterbury have pleaded guilty in federal court to entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th, 2021, telling a judge that they both climbed a bike rack to get into the building. Carla Krzywicki and her mother, Jean Lavin, faced four charges related to breaching the U.S. Capitol but were allowed on Tuesday to plead guilty to just one of them: parading or demonstrating in a Capitol building. They both traveled to Washington D.C. last year from Norwich on a bus. Lavin said the trip was to hear then-President Donald Trump speak at a rally. Lavin testified ..read more

Screen shot from the GOP ad. The spot and one posted by Stefanowski on Facebook both connect Lamont to Cuomo. [This story has been updated.] The Connecticut Republican Party attacked Gov. Ned Lamont’s integrity and his management of the COVID-19 pandemic Monday with an inexpensive digital ad geared at garnering free exposure in press coverage and on social media. The ad released on Twitter comes in what otherwise is a lull before the 2022 campaign begins in earnest: Lamont declared his candidacy two months ago, but the Democrat has yet to create a campaign website or hire a communications s ..read more

CT-N Nathaniel Persily, the special master, conducted a virtual hearing Monday. Connecticut’s deadlocked Reapportionment Commission was invited Monday by a court-appointed special master to meet one final time to seek an agreement on congressional district lines. Special Master Nathaniel Persily noted at a virtual hearing that the maps submitted by Democrats and Republicans on the bipartisan Reapportionment Commission were close enough to suggest a compromise might be possible. “Let me just do something a little out of the ordinary here, which is to see whether it is possible for you all to ..read more

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas Supporters of President Trump had demonstrated their allegiance — and belief in fraud — during a rally in Hartford. The first week of 2022 marks the start of a midterm election year and the anniversary of the stunning assault on the U.S. Capitol by protesters egged on by Donald J. Trump’s demonstrably false claim that the election was stolen. Trump’s insistence the election was rigged and his animus to Republicans who say otherwise is a distraction that GOP candidates in Connecticut say they are intent on ignoring, while Democrats promise to make that impossible. With ..read more