Gov. Ned Lamont is out of the office.
“He’s been gone since Friday,” Max Reiss, his spokesman, said on Sunday. “His family takes a summer trip to Maine. Some years it’s been as long as a month that they go up there. This year he’s taking two weeks.”
Reiss said Lamont will be spending time with family. He’ll also be doing some work, holding regular briefings with staff and commissioners, and checking his email. He may come back to Connecticut if he needs to. But, mostly, he’ll be a family man.
One thing he won’t be?
Governor.
“If she’s in state,” Reiss said, “Susan Bysiewicz is governor of the State of Connecticut.”
The state constitution provides that, in the event of a governor’s “absence from the state, the lieutenant-governor shall exercise the powers and authority and perform the duties appertaining to the office of governor until... he has returned.”
One reason this might seem noteworthy -- it’s not something the state’s been used to, at least over the last eight years. Reiss said Lamont’s predecessor, Dannel Malloy, wasn’t really a vacationing type.
“Malloy didn’t really take vacations,” Reiss said. “That’s not something he did. And Gov. Lamont -- he’s allowed to take a vacation. But he’s also very much in tune with everything that’s going on in the state.”
Lamont will be in Maine until Aug. 25.
