Good morning and welcome back to the Tip Sheet, a weekly newsletter from Tom Dudchik’s Capitol Report written by Mike Cerulli.

This week we’re talking about, well, do we even need to say?

Let’s dive in…

“Kosta la vista”

The headlines demanded a second reading before they could be fully believed.

Yes, Kosta Diamantis fled to Greece, according to his own lawyer and federal prosecutors.

Kosta himself has been telling just about every reporter who has his number: he’s in Greece.

As for how, exactly, a man convicted on 21 counts of bribery, extortion, and lying to federal agents could have slipped out of the country undetected, your guess is as good as anyone’s at this point. Prosecutors launched an investigation after Diamantis’ attorney, the legendary courtroom brawler Norm Pattis, informed them of a phone call he received the evening before the sentencing hearing was set to take place. The feds determined that Diamantis traveled first to Florida, then to the Bahamas before flying to London.

In recent days, Diamantis has embarked on a different kind of journey, one that is winding through the digital pages of Connecticut’s media outlets.

Dave Altimari and Dan Haar both landed phone interviews with the federal fugitive. Diamantis offered Altimari a few hints on how he was able to evade detection on his way out of the country, telling the veteran journalist that he’d made contacts when he worked as a defense attorney. On Sunday, Diamantis took the leap from print to television, joining a FaceTime call with News 8. The full story on that call drops this evening. A phone interview with WTIC’s Reese on the Radio is expected this afternoon. 

Reactions to the Diamantis news came fast and furious. Sean Scanlon stopped payment of the former official’s pension, triggering a lawsuit. Ned Lamont expressed shock that his former deputy budget director was able to get away and said he hopes Diamantis faces swift accountability. Ryan Fazio was quick to pounce on the whole ordeal, using it as an exclamation point for his “culture of corruption” line of attack. Analysis flowed, too. Check out the Capitol Report panel’s thoughts here. Most of the legal talking heads seemed to agree on at least one point: it will be exceedingly difficult for federal authorities to get their hands on Diamantis given his dual Greek-American citizenship and Greece’s longstanding opposition to extraditing its own citizens.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the revelation that Diamantis fled the country has also generated more than a few humorous remarks. Props must be given to News 12’s John Craven, who gave us the headline for this week’s newsletter. Craven said he was inspired by the Manhattan Institute’s Ken Girardin.

On the Capitol Report homepage, “Opa!” was the operative exclamation. The site saw a surge of clicks, including a few from Greece, according to data furnished by Google.

Bruno Matarazzo Jr. at Hearst was the first to call Diamantis’ escape to Greece a “legal odyssey.” Colin McEnroe followed suit, tipping his hat to Craven’s embrace of humor as well.

In Bristol, Republican Town Committee chair and Fazio campaign staffer Jon Lukasiewicz found himself on the receiving end of some playful jabs. Lukasiewicz was vacationing in South Florida last week. When the joking texts came his way, he firmly denied any involvement in the flight of his fellow Mum City native.

Biden tips his hat to Duff

The former president who once entered a Greek restaurant and declared himself “Joe Bidenopoulos” sent well wishes to the man likely to become the next president of the Connecticut State Senate.

Biden penned a letter to Bob Duff to congratulate the Norwalk senator on being elected the next president of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Duff was one of the Democrats who stuck with Biden until the very end, declining to join the chorus of voices – including Ned Lamont and Jim Himes – who urged the president to step aside in 2024.

Herbst speaks

Did he ever really go away? No. In fact, Tim Herbst has been quietly operating behind the scenes in ways that might surprise some – others, not so much. The former Trumbull first selectman and gubernatorial hopeful stopped by 8 Elm Street last week for an interview with Dennis House.

True to form, Herbst offered his unvarnished view of the state of things. He even coined a new term, the “John Larson Moment.” You can check out his interview here and judge for yourself whether or not Herbst is talking like a man who hasn’t quite given up hope that there’ll be room for him near the top of a ballot sometime in the future.

Lamont and Fazio say they will not deploy witchcraft against each other

Nobody asked, but the Tip Sheet can report this week that Ned Lamont and Ryan Fazio have both ruled out the use of witchcraft in their bout for the governorship.

Well, technically someone (the author of this newsletter) did ask.

The topic of the occult became relevant last week when the governor attended the unveiling of the state’s official “haunted history trail.” The trail is an initiative of Connecticut’s tourism office in the vein of the “pizza trail” and “Christmas movie trail.”

The launch event for the state’s spooky season promotional campaign included some genuine believers in the paranormal. The governor and his challenger, however, are not among those who commune with the world of tarot cards and fortune readings on a regular basis, or any basis at all.

When asked, Lamont wryly said it is “not my style” to ask a witch (several appeared to be in attendance at the event) to hex his opponent. Fazio, in turn, said he would “absolutely not” seek supernatural intercession. Fazio also ruled out any belief in ghosts before ruminating on possible Halloween costumes. Superman, he said, is out of the picture lest he risk leaning too far into the Clark Kent comparisons, if he hasn't already.

Lamont, on the other hand, said he might have seen a ghost “on a Saturday night New Year’s Eve.” Asked if that answer was an allusion to past recreational drug use, the governor accused the author of this newsletter of jumping to conclusions.

We’re just asking questions.

That’s all for this week. We’ll be back next week with another edition of the Tip Sheet!