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

In this week’s Tip Sheet, we’re breaking down three major changes made by the GOP’s legislative leaders.

Plus, the end of an election year always brings with it key personnel changes across the state government landscape. Who is on the move?

Let’s dive in…

The GOP’s new “money committee” leaders bring new blood – and fresh ambitions

In the last few months, as insiders speculated over which Democrats would be elevated to committee leadership positions amidst a logjam of ambition and legislative talent, Republican legislative leaders were quietly weighing three major shakeups of their own. Those moves were made official last week.

Behind-the-scenes angling to fill Holly Cheeseman’s seats on the Finance Committee and State Bond Commission yielded an announcement from Vin Candelora that Joe Polletta, the 36-year old Watertown Republican, would be the man for the job. The Tip Sheet first reported that Polletta was poised to become the ranking House Republican on the Finance Committee early last week.

Over the course of a decade, Polletta has traced a unique and unpredictable path to power under the golden dome. He first appeared on the ballot as a candidate for state representative in 2014, when he ran against Eric Berthel and was endorsed by the Democrats, the Working Families Party, and the Independent Party. Three years later, Polletta won the seat as a Republican in a special election after Berthel ascended to fill Rob Kane’s State Senate seat.

Since being elected, Polletta has earned the trust of senior Republicans, most notably Candelora, and a reputation as an affable, capable legislator. His name is frequently floated as a potential successor to Candelora when the time comes for the two-term leader to hand off the reins of the caucus.

While Polletta has not yet signalled where his ultimate ambitions might be aimed, he’s been taking steps to build his political profile – opening a political action committee that has raked in more than $16,000. Thus far, the two largest individual donors to Polletta’s PAC are Linda McMahon, the Greenwich business tycoon and nominee for Secretary of Education, and J. David Kelsey, the real estate investor and principal backer of the CT Examiner.

Last week also brought with it the news that Polletta would not be the only new Republican leader on the Finance Committee. Steve Harding, fresh off re-election to his first full term as the Republican leader in the State Senate, announced that Ryan Fazio would succeed Henri Martin as the committee’s ranking Republican senator. Martin is Harding’s chief deputy, a role that he will now be able to focus more on now that another senator is running point on finance.

Harding also tapped Heather Somers to replace Eric Berthel as the ranking Republican senator on the Appropriations Committee.

The appointments of Fazio and Somers to be the top Republican senators on the legislature’s two “money committees” caught the eye of many Capitol insiders, in part because they were replacing colleagues and in part because both senators, like Polletta, are the subject of speculation about their future ambitions.

Somers, a Groton resident and entrepreneur, is widely believed to be eyeing a run for higher office – possibly the 2nd Congressional District or governor. Fazio has attracted attention for his high-profile leadership on energy issues and his commanding re-election victory in a race many thought was likely to yield a red-to-blue flip. The Greenwich senator will remain as ranking member of the Energy Committee (where there is a new House ranking member, Tracy Marra). Fazio’s ability to defy political gravity in Connecticut’s suburbs has attracted the attention of his fellow Republicans.

“I said to Ryan, 'You know, you’re the future of the party quite frankly,'” Tom O’Dea, a New Canaan state representative, said in an interview following the November election.

Fazio himself insists he’s not actively eyeing higher office.

“I don’t actually think very far ahead,” Fazio said in a recent interview. “I wouldn’t close the door on anything but I really mean it when I say that I love this job.”

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On the move…

There’s been a lot of movement among the ranks of staffers in and around the state Capitol. Here are some of the end-of-year moves that have caught our eye in the last few weeks:

• Josh Barnes is headed to Sean Scanlon’s office. Barnes has previously served as campaign manager for John Larson. He’ll serve as director of external affairs for the comptroller who has made no secret of his interest in running for governor. In hiring Barnes, Scanlon is sending another not-so-subtle signal that he’s got ambitions beyond his current job.

• Francesca Capodilupo will depart her senior role with Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves for a senior position with the Darien nonprofit Person to Person. Capodilupo is a well-respected political operative who has served as campaign manager for Jim Himes and on the faculty of Yale's campaign school. Her title at Person to Person will be chief philanthropy officer – a role that will make her close colleagues with Corey Paris, the organization’s chief impact officer.

• Hannah Lemek will be leaving the Senate Republican office to lobby for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. The CCM now finds themselves with a well-connected addition to their lobbying arsenal. Lemek is a press aide to both Ryan Fazio and Heather Somers – giving her access to leaders on some of the legislature’s most-lobbied committees. She did a stint at Liam Sweeney and Chris VanDeHoef’s lobbying shop before decamping for her current press gig with the Senate Republicans. 

• Grace Brangwynne is now with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. The UConn alum comes to CBIA by way of Joe Courtney’s re-election campaign.

• Wyatt Bosworth has moved from CBIA over to Amazon, where he is now leading the ecommerce and cloud computing giant’s lobbying efforts in Connecticut.

• Jacqueline Kozin and Gabe Rosenberg are both departing their senior roles in the Stephanie Thomas’ office. Kozin has served as Deputy Secretary of the State. Rosenberg has served as chief of staff and general counsel. Kozin will be replaced by Jennifer Barahona, a nonprofit executive.

Are you or someone you know making a career move that Tip Sheet readers would be interested in? Did your office, caucus, agency, or firm make a hire that you want to announce to the Tip Sheet’s thousands of plugged-in readers? Drop us a line: Michael.Cerulli@protonmail.com.

That’s all for this week, folks!

We’ll be back next week.