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 taking a look at the historic announcement made by Senate President pro tempore Marty Looney this past weekend. What comes next for the upper chamber and the Elm City?

Plus, it’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad couple days for a certain state representative. We’ll dive into the fallout of State Rep. Nick Menapace’s controversial TikTok.

Finally, we’ve got the latest in the race to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Rumors are swirling that another installment in the Erin Stewart saga will be released this week.

Let’s dive in…

Looney announces his retirement; Duff and Paolillo are his chosen successors

Martin Looney, the longest serving president of the upper chamber, announced Saturday will retire at the end of his current term. The announcement came just as the State Senate convened to approve adjustments to the two-year budget.

Looney addressed his caucus in a pre-session meeting. Several senators who were present for the meeting described the Senate president telling colleagues, some of them tearful, that he wanted to leave on his own terms. The venerable leader injected humor into his announcement, joking that he could still mount a youthful primary challenge against Sen. Richard Blumenthal in 2028. A sustained standing ovation followed the conclusion of Looney’s remarks.

As news broke, words of praise flowed into reporters’ inboxes one after the other.

In a statement, House Speaker Matt Ritter called Looney “a giant of the Connecticut General Assembly.”

Jason Rojas, the House majority leader, called him “a model of principled leadership.”

“No one has ever worked harder or delivered more for New Haven over as many years than Marty Looney,” Mayor Justin Elicker said.

Gov. Ned Lamont said Looney is a “steadfast, principled voice” for working families.

“Marty Looney will go down as one of the all time greats of the state legislature,” Sen. Chris Murphy wrote.

On the other side of the aisle, the superlatives came all the same.

John McKinney, the former Republican minority leader who served opposite Looney for eight years, called him “one of the finest public servants I have ever met.”

State Sen. Steve Harding, who was born six years after Looney was first elected to the House, said Looney set an example that he has looked to as the Capitol’s most junior legislative leader.

"I look up to Marty in so many ways,” Harding said. “I'm gonna miss him in this building.”

The tributes to Looney’s public service are far from over. Ever the pragmatist, Looney said he does not want to delay legislative business with the lengthy floor speeches that often accompany the retirement of a longtime legislator. Later this month, senators will return to Hartford to formally wish him well during a special ceremony.

As the political world digested the news that Looney’s history-making tenure as a Senate leader will come to an end this year, speculation about what will happen next picked up in earnest. In the statement announcing his retirement, Looney threw his support behind State Sen. Bob Duff to succeed him as Senate president.

“I have the utmost confidence that the Senate Democratic caucus will continue to produce superb public policy under the leadership of Senator Bob Duff, who is primed and supremely ready for the challenge,” Looney said.

State Sen. Gary Winfield appears poised to make a run for the position of majority leader and few doubt he’s in the pole position to win.

As for what happens to Looney’s Senate seat, the New Haven political establishment is already coming out to boost the all-but-official campaign of State Rep. Alphonse Paolillo Jr.

Looney himself said he supports Paolillo in an interview with News 8. State Rep. Roland Lemar and State Rep. Steve Winter both offered their support on Saturday, too. There has been some speculation that Caroline Tanbee Smith, the Ward 9 alder who has become something of a social media phenomenon in the state’s political scene, might kick the tires on a run. Doing so would put her on a head-on collision course with Looney allies who wield immense influence in New Haven and could tee up a marquee August primary battle. Smith has made no public indications of her intentions.

Presenting no evidence, Nick Menapace accuses Greg Howard of harassment on the job

By now, most people who regularly walk the halls of the Connecticut State Capitol have seen the TikTok posted by State Rep. Nick Menapace following last Thursday’s debate over a Democratic-backed bill to restrict the activities of federal immigration officers in Connecticut.

Menapace accused a Republican colleague, State Rep. Greg Howard, of using his job as a police detective and his post in the General Assembly to harass people. Menapace’s anger stemmed from Howard’s numerous proposed amendments to the legislation, including one that sought to create a misdemeanor crime for intentionally harassing a police officer.

“The guy who did it, he’s a police officer,” Menapace said of Howard. “He’s used his job to harass people. He’s harassed other state representatives.”

Menapace delivered his accusations with certainty. The next day, that certainty gave way to equivocation and justifications that no other legislators corroborated.

Asked to provide evidence for the suggestion that Howard used his job as a detective to harass people, Menapace could not offer any evidence other than to point to a dispute between Howard and a Stonington schoolteacher. Howard had accused the teacher of violating the student privacy rights of one of his sons. An investigation by the school district found that the teacher did, in fact, violate both federal law and district privacy policy but that it was an accident. The teacher was formally reprimanded.

Asked who, exactly, Howard had harassed in the legislature, Menapace immediately offered up the name of State Rep. Corey Paris. 

Paris declined to comment on Menapace’s claim, and a spokesman for the House speaker’s office said they had no knowledge of an issue between Paris and Howard. 

The speaker himself said he’d never heard any reports of harassment by Howard. Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said the same.

Beyond that, both leaders expressed frustration and, in Candelora’s case, outrage that the freshman legislator would level such accusations without evidence.

In a particularly memorable line, Ritter excoriated the use of social media to lob serious accusations.

“It’s easy to run your mouth on social media,” Ritter said. “Go look someone in the eye and make those same accusations. If you can stand by them then I’ll feel better about that. But be man-to-man about it.”

Ritter’s sharp tone gave way to mild confusion when asked about another claim Menapace made. As he was facing questions from the press, Menapace referenced the threats Paris received last year after a popular conservative activist harshly criticized him for making a social media post relaying reports of immigration enforcement agents in his district. 

At the time, Ritter and Candelora issued a bipartisan statement condemning the threats. Menapace asserted that the leaders were referring, at least in part, to Howard.

“I don’t know where that’s coming from,” Ritter said. 

Candelora similarly confirmed that Howard was not in any way the focus of the statement and seemed befuddled at the notion that Menapace would think that. In reality, Howard was among Paris’ defenders, writing on social media that the threats were “absolutely unacceptable.” He also described Paris as a “good-hearted and kind gentleman.”

As if all that wasn’t enough, Menapace found himself in even hotter water after another Republican, State Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, turned the tables and said that Menapace, not Howard, was the one who had a history of cross interactions with colleagues.

Mastrofrancesco recalled an incident in which Menapace allegedly uttered aloud that he wanted to punch her in the face during floor debate. She said colleagues who sit near Menapace relayed this to her. State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria was among them. Klarides-Ditria was outraged.

Asked about that claim, Menapace issued terse denials in between equivocations when pressed on the specifics.

First, he claimed he never “said that I was gonna threaten to punch a colleague in the face.”

That phrasing was odd enough to beg a follow-up. Nobody had alleged that Menapace had directly threatened Mastrofrancesco.

Had he ever expressed that he felt like punching her in the face? Another wordy answer followed.

“No, I gotta be really honest, I can't say that that's happened,” Menapace replied, adding that he never actually would punch a colleague in the face.

Asked if he thought Mastrofrancesco was lying, Menapace responded that he had “no idea what she said.” By that point, Menapace had fielded numerous questions relaying the substance of Mastrofrancesco’s claims. Pressed again, Menapace said he never directly told Mastrofrancesco that he’d like to punch her in the face which, again, was not what he was being accused of. 

Watch videos of Menapace’s performance under questioning here and here.

Oh, and there was yet another damaging development for Menapace to top it all off. Leaders on both sides of the aisle confirmed that he had to write a formal apology to a committee staffer after an angry interaction. "I was angry, and I misdirected that emotion at you," Menapace wrote.

Fazio enters new phase with a campaign HQ and a confident outlook

It was standing room only on Sunday in the North Haven office space rented by State Sen. Ryan Fazio’s gubernatorial campaign.

Fazio’s campaign estimated the crowd around 200 – enough to fill the entire ground-level office space and heat each room to the point where cracked doors and fans were necessary.

In addition to throngs of people, the office was also populated by all the hallmarks of a campaign headquarters. Drop panel ceiling tiles hung over tables littered with signs and campaign literature. Maps hung up on the wall. Three gargantuan sub sandwiches kept staff and supporters fed. Someone had already begun stocking the refrigerator with all the necessities to keep a campaign awake – and sane.

“We are going to win this,” Fazio told the crowd, which included several state legislators and supporters from as far as Windham County and southern Fairfield County.

The confidence projected by Fazio was shared by many in the room. Like him, they sense momentum behind his campaign buoyed, at least partially, by the string of negative headlines about Erin Stewart.

In addition to loyal supporters, a handful of more undecided Republicans came to the event. One of them, 19-year-old Noah from Granby, had been leaning toward Fazio and wanted to ask him about how to stop large investment firms from crowding out young homebuyers. Fazio offered him a riff on the need to support smaller developers by lowering taxes and other costs.

The interaction with Noah, who said he will begin vocational training to become a plumber this year, reflected the more populist tinge of many Gen Z conservatives. 

“I do experience that, especially with young men that I encounter on the campaign trail,” Fazio said.

Noah said he’d grown more resolute in his support of Fazio after the interaction.

One Republican who arrived at and left Fazio’s event without officially picking a side in the GOP gubernatorial race was Matt Corey, the nearly perennial candidate who is running for lieutenant governor. Corey said Fazio invited him and he showed up as he would for any Republican candidate gubernatorial who invites him to an event. Still, his presence caused some supporters in the room to quietly speculate about the possibility of a team up. Corey’s popularity among the conservative grassroots was apparent. Several people asked to take photos with him.

Fazio was appreciative of Corey’s presence. Both men reiterated their stance that they were not seeking to join or create a ticket. But Fazio seemed to offer a bit of a hint as to his disposition toward Corey.

“I’m not gonna pick anyone,” he said. “I think the voters get to pick someone, and I’m a voter like everyone else. And I really respect Matt’s effort and his work ethic, and I think that’ll bode well for him in the convention and primary.”

Rumor mill: Another Stewart report could be coming this week

If the rumors are to be believed, another report authored by the law firm hired by Mayor Bobby Sanchez’s administration to probe city finances is set to be released some time this week. Word of a 13 or 14-page memo (maybe more) supposedly detailing alleged activities during Erin Stewart’s mayoral tenure has been flying around for several days now.

Stewart and her team will likely mount a similar defense to this rumored report as they did the last time Sanchez blasted out damaging allegations to the press corps. This time, they’ll probably be careful to avoid creating any additional headlines – like ones that require walking back tales of attempted bribes. Stewart’s circle might also start publicly asking questions about how reporters keep getting word of these reports and apparent details of their substance days in advance of official release.

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