CT Gov. Lamont picks fourth chief of staff in less than 6 years

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday introduced his fourth chief of staff in less than six years and is keeping his current chief in a senior advisory role.

The new chief will be Matthew Brokman, a political insider who knows the state Capitol well because he served as chief of staff to the House Speaker and then the majority leader before joining the Lamont administration. Lamont described Brokman as a “professional chief of staff” because of his heavy involvement in handling major issues for Democrats who control the state House of Representatives over a span of nearly five years.

“I think people in this building, on both sides of the aisle, know him well,” Lamont said of Brokman. “They know they can take him at his word, and I think that’s going to be incredibly valuable for us as a state going forward for the next two years.”

The outgoing chief, Jonny Dach, will remain in a fulltime job as a senior adviser to Lamont and will work often from Manhattan, where he will be moving with his girlfriend, Mollie, who is a pediatric surgeon.

All of those involved said the chief of staff’s job requires 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, serving a key role in a huge, multifaceted operation with more than 50,000 state employees, an annual budget of $26 billion, and scores of state buildings, public colleges, and prisons.

“As Jonny alluded, the phone never stops ringing, and often it’s me,” Lamont told reporters at his Capitol office as his senior staff laughed. “It’s a really a round-the-clock job. I think you’ve seen with previous governors that there’s also some change as well.”

Dach said later that he had received two texts from Lamont on Tuesday morning before the announcement — one at 3:30 a.m. and another at 4 a.m. That was not unusual, Dach said.

Looking ahead, Lamont said that Brokman will be involved in negotiating the new state budget as the legislature returns to the Capitol in January for the next two-year cycle.

“The era of free money is over,” Lamont said, adding that billions of federal COVID dollars will be coming to an end. The money has been allocated and is still being spent, even though life has returned to normal following the depths of the pandemic in 2020.

Split between Manhattan and Hartford, Dach will advise Lamont on major issues like the price and supply of electricity, public higher education, and creating additional affordable housing.

“If we don’t have housing for young people to be where they can afford to be, we’re not going to be able to grow this economy,” Lamont said. “Jonny’s going to be able to help keep an eye on things for us going forward.”

A longtime staffer, Dach worked on Lamont’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign and transition team and has served in the administration since Day One. Previously, he served as a policy adviser with the U.S. State Department during President Barack Obama’s administration to promote women’s issues around the world.

Short tenures

The average chief of staff in Connecticut serves fewer than two years. Aside from the unusually long six-and-a-half-year tenure of M. Lisa Moody under Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, 15 different people have held the job of chief of staff to the governor over the past 28 years.

Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. had three chiefs of staff in four years, while Gov. John G. Rowland had five in fewer than 10 years. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had three chiefs in eight years, and Lamont now has four in less than six years.

Former chiefs of staff say that no one can be completely prepared for the problems and tragedies that can confront a governor.

The chiefs traditionally work behind the scenes in a small corner office and are not known to the general public, but they play a key role in helping the governor to operate on a daily basis.

The National Governors Association says the chief of staff’s job is actually 10 jobs in one. Each governor has a different style, but the chief of staff traditionally fills all or part of the following roles: chief strategist, policy adviser, office manager, chief operating officer, “guardian of the palace,” initiative manager, headhunter, gubernatorial representative, personal confidante, and crisis coordinator.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com