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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Joining me now is Governor Lamont's Chief Marketing Officer, Anthony Anthony. Welcome back to the show. Good to be with you again, my friend. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you. Always good to see you. So, um, look, you've done some amazing things in the time that you've been in this role, and I read a little bit of a background on some of your stories when you first came to Connecticut and people looked at you like you had three heads that you were. Actually gonna live here. Tell, tell me about that and how we got here. They're not looking at me like I've that's just because of my name. No, so I, um, I started with Governor Lamont in early May of 2021 and I had to live in a hotel the first couple of weeks because we were moving in from out of state. And as I walk in with all my stuff, and the person at the front desk goes, Are you moving in? And I said, Yeah. And she goes, Where are you from? And I told her, and she goes, she, I said, Why? Which is why, and then a couple of weeks later, my wife and I go to her doctor appointment, she's pregnant with my son, and the receptionist was like, oh, you're a new patient, are you moving in from out of state? And we said, yeah, absolutely, and she goes, same thing, why? So I'm like wow what a reception. Like there's something really going on here with Connecticut. People really seem to be down on it and so that was something that really influenced me from the start with being with the governor is that uh I think there needs to be a bit of a cultural shift and that type of spirit is something we've brought to the table with everything we've done since. Yeah, so you really, I think, uh, enhanced what Connecticut is really good at. What are some of those things that, uh, you use in your campaign? You know what Connecticut, and we, we, let me pull back for a second. We really knew there was an opportunity to tell a great story about the state, and that all came from our strategic rebrand, rebrand back in 2023 when we launched that. And it was about telling the story about the people of Connecticut, not just our shoreline and hills. We're a state of makers, creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs, so we make the nation's best pizza, we make national championships, the most complex machines in the world, he. Helicopters, jet engines, and submarines, we also make safe, healthy and happy communities. So our most important makers, in my opinion, first responders, parents, teachers, they're making the next generation of, of leaders in our state with children. So I think it's really important that we highlight the best things that we have and not just focus on the areas of opportunity and growth. So you turned a time when people were. Really moving out of the state and people coming into the state and how many dollars for Connecticut tourism? Uh, when you say how many dollars for Connecticut tourism, what do you mean by that? Well, I mean in terms of people being attracted to things, let's say like UConn basketball, pizza, uh, the shoreline, things like that. So the tourism industry in Connecticut contributes, $19.5 billion direct and indirect every single year. It's, it's a huge piece of the state's GDP, you know, it's up there with things like manufacturing, so it, it's tremendously important, but I think my biggest message to everybody out there, tourism is not about people coming here from Chicago or Florida. We gotta start thinking of it as just travel from one town to the next as long as people are going out to spend some money, have a good. Time appreciate their communities that's where we really have an advantage for growth and so I think many of our campaigns are really just making people aware of all of the great things there is to do and make them proud of where they live and it really does contribute to the quality of life here. Now speaking of pizza, of course you did, uh, those amazing pizza billboards in New York City which you got to see firsthand, which we got to see firsthand and you, you did kind of tick off a few people in New York, but that's good because it got people talking and I think that's what you wanted certainly, um, did, and I'm sure you've seen this recent video that came out by state Republicans now mocking the governor that he is. Clueless on affordability, but it's all about pizza, right? Give me your thoughts on that. I have to say my immediate rebuttal would be, you want to talk about clueless or out of touch. Republicans in that ad are clueless and out of touch because do you, do you know why? Everybody else is in on the joke. New New Yorkers were in on the joke. New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit. This is all in jest. It's a really a tool to just drive conversation and enhance what our small businesses are doing in Connecticut. 80% of our pizzerias in the state are independently owned. Small business owners really drive our economy here and so if they want to attack our our efforts to drive business and support our small business owners, I'd say that they're the ones who are out of touch. Now we just recently learned that you're going to be leaving your post. Tell, tell us about that. I am, so February 6th will be my last day with the state. You know, somebody once told me it's better to go out on top than any other way at all, and I think we've had an amazing run whether it was pizza, um. Excuse me. Uh, telling the story, getting national attention for who Connecticut is and what we do, you know, putting those cheeky, uh, Welcome to Connecticut highway signs up, you know, it was never all just about pizza. It was about raising awareness of Connecticut and helping us drive the conversation. And we've done that, you know, we've we've increased recognition of Connecticut by over 847% in the last 3 years, went from an average of 4 billion earned media impressions every year. This year we're going to have last year, excuse me, we had over 32 billion. So I think those types of pieces, that type of creativity and getting the word out, it's, it's invaluable and so I think we've accomplished our mission in the short term and so I'm taking the opportunity to go out and lay down my own shingle and share my services with the world. So in about the 30 seconds we have left, uh, you are in the office till February 6th, I believe. What can we expect going ahead here for the state? That's a great question mark. We have two huge initiatives we are launching in the next couple of weeks. Next week we have an event called Content Made which connects businesses and organizations to content creators and influencers. I'm sorry, I cut you off. You're you so much for being here. No worries. Well, next, Bridgeport first responders are getting a new tech upgrade to make the city safer. How this new bird's eye view is helping to improve response time.

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The DOJ says it still has a mountain of Jeffrey Epstein material to review. It says over 12,000 documents have already been released, but over 2 million others still remain under the microscope. The DOJ was expected to release everything on the convicted sex offender by December. Officials now say they need more time to sort through papers, photos, videos, and audio files stored in the FBI's system. This week marked 5 years since the January 6th insurrection in Washington DC. Back in 2021, pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol demanding the results of the 2020 election be overturned. Capitol officers were attacked and parts of the. Building were destroyed. Lawmakers evacuated the House and Senate chambers. More than 1000 people were charged by the Justice Department in connection with the riot. However, they were later pardoned by Trump when he took office again in 2025. Public safety takes to the skies in Bridgeport as the city launches its new drone program. City officials say the company providing the service, Flock Safety is a world leader in public safety drones. The company giving a demonstration on the rooftop of the Margaret E. Morton Government Center. Mayor Joe Ganim says the drones will improve response time and allow for smarter policing and firefighting. We want to be ahead, not just for the sake of competition, but for the safety of our residents. This is one step that keeps us at least upfront on doing all that we can. Ganim thanking State Senator Heron Gaston for securing the half million dollars in funding for the system. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is closing its doors. Monday. The CPB's board of directors voted in favor of dissolving the organization following Congress's decision to end its federal funding. CPB officials wanted to place the organization in hibernation in the event Congress decided to restore its funding. However, the CPB's president rejected that plan and said doing so could lead to political manipulation or misuse. CPB made its debut in 1968 and funded PBS, NPR, and hundreds of radio and TV stations across the nation over the decades. Well, that's all our time. I'm Mark Sudall. Thanks for watching.

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Ryan Fazio, a state senator and gubernatorial hopeful, joined the show to share his thoughts on the daring U.S. operation and the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota by an ICE agent.

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