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PURA loses
The title of the Hartford Courant story was worth a thousand words: PURA agrees to settle suit. And the subtitle -- “Authority [PURA] admits improper decision making by ex-chair [Mellissa Gillett]” – could not have gone down the gullet of Governor Lamont, an early Gillett enthusiast, easily. Crow is nearly always indigestible.
Lamont robustly defended his choice of Gillett as chairwoman of PURA almost to its inglorious conclusion.
Gillett was appointed to her position with great fanfare. Finally PURA was to have at its chair a woman who did not flinch in a fight with Connecticut’s energy distributors. Following an interview with David Roberts in 2024, Connecticut Commentary noted that in the interview Gillett had forcefully summarized her regulatory philosophy:
“What is the point in constructing a regulatory regime that never or rarely says ‘no’ to Big Business monopolies that can by their very weight and political influence suppress any attempt to lower increases in their price structure? What Connecticut needs, according to Gillett, is a compensating institution, PURA, that can say no to such monopolistic practices. PURA, when operating successfully, should ‘serve in place of the free market’ [emphasis mine] that has been displaced by monopolies using the governing authority to advance monopolistic interests.”
That philosophy soon collided with a rocky reality. According to the Hartford Courant, “Gillett resigned under pressure nine months later, after it was revealed that she had withheld evidence from a court in another case, and Gov. Ned Lamont since has arranged what amounts to a fresh start in utility regulation. He replaced her with former consumer advocate Thomas Wiehl and appointed new commissioners to an authority that expanded from three to five members… The utilities complained in the suit that by concealing the fact that she was delegating important decisions herself, alone, Gillett was violating law establishing PURA’s regulatory processes. Among other things, the utilities were being denied appeal rights to which they would have been entitled had they known decisions were being made by a single commissioner.”
The utilities were more than generous: “… by offering to settle in return for an acknowledgment of Gillett’s [improper unilateral] decision-making, [the utilities agreed] to the dismissal – without costs to any party [emphasis mine] – of what was shaping up as protracted, costly and ultimately losing litigation for the state.”
Looney Leaves
The Democrat dominated General Assembly recently bade a fond farewell to Martin Looney, a political fixture of 33 years at the Capitol who served his party loyally as a gatekeeper that prevented Republican rude attempts to introduce legislation to various committees, all controlled by Democrats. Looney served as President Pro Tempore of the Connecticut Senate since 2015. Previously, he served 12 years as House Majority Leader and is well known for having championed progressive legislation on gun control, tax credits for low-income workers, drug cost caps, marijuana legalization, and death penalty repeal.
Looney was polite to Republicans and permitted them to talk without obstruction. But then, Republicans would likely agree, talk is cheap and political action in a legislature dominated by Democrats dear. Bills in the General Assembly are usually fashioned by the Democrat caucus in proceedings closed to both Republicans and the general public, and the committees, also controlled by Democrats, are attached to those caucus rooms by inviolable umbilical cords.
Distribution wise, legislative action in Connecticut is far from democratic. The distribution of political forces in Connecticut has not changed much over the years: There are in the state, according to the Independent Voter Project (May 30, 2026), 35.05% registered Democrats, 21.06% registered Republicans, and 43.89% Independents or Unaffiliateds. None of the Independents are represented as such in the General Assembly.
Looney is now “out of the story,” as the Icelandic Sagas claim when a central character has made his last appearance.
He likely will be replaced by yet another neo-progressive – such is the prevailing tendency within New England northeast states, as witness the seizure of New York City’s mayoral office by Zohran Mamdani , a full-throated Marxist.
It seems only yesterday that former Mayor Ed Koch, advised that a judge who had been mugged had never-the-less given a too lenient sentence to a serial mugger, exploded, “Well, mug him again!” During his presidential attempt, Barry Goldwater advised, “If you knock off New England and California, you’ve got a pretty good country.”
Connecticut has in the past few decades adopted California and neo-progressive New England as its political template. One may be sure that Looney’s replacement will not stray far from what has become the neo-progressive norm faithfully represented by the departing Looney.
Homeschooling Reform
Lamont, we are told, has signed into law a new homeschooling reform law. The bill, we are told, has been somewhat “watered down” from a Democrat caucus approved version. But anti-democratic caucus government in Connecticut remains virulent, and bills watered down will in the future be watered up – you can bet the farm on that.
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