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

The Tip Sheet is back after a particularly festive few days of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations last week. This week, we’re going through a string of interesting staff changes across the Connecticut political landscape.

Plus, we’ll give you three interesting reads to start your week.

Let’s dive in… 

A shake-up on Team Blumenthal

What’s the hardest job in Connecticut politics?

The answer to that question probably depends on who you ask. Some might say that municipal chief executives, with their tight budgets and buck-stops-here mandates, sit atop the hierarchy of hardship. Others might say the 187 members of the General Assembly have it particularly hard with their long commutes and constant juggling of part-time responsibilities.

But no survey of the hardest jobs in Connecticut politics would be complete without considering the staffers whose job it is to manage the calendar of Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

We’ve all heard the cliches.

There must be Blumenthal body doubles…

The man never sleeps or eats…

He’d cut the ribbon at a garage door opening…

For the team of schedulers in Blumenthal’s state office, those cliches are their reality. Or, they were their reality. The Tip Sheet has learned that Rhett Hoskinson and Sophie Khanna, Blumethal’s former state scheduler and deputy state scheduler, have both departed the senator’s office for other opportunities. No word yet on who will take their places, but the state scheduler job listing is still available online.

Hoskinson will pursue law school. Khanna will join the office of Congressman Jim Himes, managing outreach efforts to community organizations throughout Connecticut’s 4th congressional district. Khanna’s move to Himes’ office represents something of a homecoming for the Greenwich native. She’ll be working in a role once held by Tyler Mack, the former Bridgeport City Council member and aide to Senate prez Marty Looney who recently made a run for the State Senate. Mack is getting reacquainted with the halls of the Capitol in his new role with the liberal advocacy group, The Connecticut Project.

Are you hiring for a new role at your office or firm? Drop us a line and we’ll get it in front of the Tip Sheet’s readers. Michael.Cerulli@protonmail.com.

Spencer on the move

There’s a cliche in obituaries, retirement announcements, and other proclamations of major life transitions that metaphorically grieves the “loss of a giant” or describes how the subject “loomed large.”

Today, we lost a giant of such-and-such…

So-and-so loomed large in the field of…

You get the point.

Well, the State Senate’s Democratic caucus has lost a giant who loomed large over the Capitol.

Literally.

Nate Spencer, the 6-foot-8 staffer once described by Dan Haar as a “rising young Democrat,” has departed the Senate Democratic Office (SDO). Spencer served as an aide for State Sen. Norm Needleman and also serves on the planning and zoning board in Middletown. His career transition reads like the itinerary of an insurance salesman traveling between two nondescript Midwest cities: SDO direct to OSC.

For those not in tune with the over-acronymed parlance of the Capitol, that means Spencer has landed at the office of State Comptroller Sean Scanlon. The Tip Sheet understands Spencer will fill a role similar to the one Kevin Kurian, Scanlon’s former right hand who departed the office for law school at that storied Cambridge institution, once held.

News of comings and goings on the teams of ambitious Democrats with an eye on the next gubernatorial contest always causes a swirl of insider analysis. Scanlon has been particularly active with his hirings and promotions as he weighs a future that could include close-in political knife fighting with opponents who’ve cultivated their own benches of loyalists.

As far as knife fights – or pickup basketball games – go, Nate Spencer is a good addition to any team.

DPH hires an Elm Street alum

Brittany Schaefer is trading in late-night shifts behind the anchor desk for a new job with the state’s Department of Public Health. The Emmy-nominated now-former journalist has taken over as communications director for the agency.

Schaefer will be familiar to viewers of News 8’s evening broadcasts. She’s served as an anchor and reporter at the New Haven-based station since 2022. As The Laurel has already reported, Schaefer is not the only WTNH alum entering state service. More on that next week.

Three reads to start your week

In case you’ve forgotten, the Bridgeport absentee ballot saga is still going on. Suspects charged with a slew of crimes related to the 2023 and 2019 elections have been making appearances in court this month. The Government Administration and Elections Committee is weighing yet another set of reforms, including a specific measure addressing alleged conduct of city councilmember Alfredo Castillo. Andy Brown has the story for the Mirror.

The New Yorker Magazine recently profiled one of the most interesting figures in the online political discourse: Hasan Piker. As the profile explores, Piker is a rare leftist in the world of streamers and podcasters. As Democrats struggle for a way to connect with Gen Z men, Piker offers a success story – though not one every Democrat will be necessarily pleased to read. Sen. Chris Murphy has a mention in this in-depth and enjoyable read.

The Washingtonian magazine’s April edition featured a personal look at the marriage of Congressman Joe Courtney’s parents. Courtney’s father was a career “G-man” at the FBI and his mother was a secretary for the bureau. In the article, Courtney describes how his parent’s service impacts his current fights against the Trump administration – particularly efforts to remake the FBI. The story is available to Washingtonian subscribers here.

We’ll be back next week with more!