Martha Dean, who ran for attorney general in 2010, isn’t the worst candidate for high office Connecticut has produced in the past century or so though her recent activity gives her a huge sympathy vote for that distinction.In considering our worst, however, let us not forget Philip Giordano, who was arrested after losing to Joe Lieberman in the 2000 Senate race and is serving a very long term in federal prison for using the phone in the Waterbury mayor’s office to arrange to have sex with little girls. Giordano was then occupying that office, not just borrowing the mayor’s telephone. If you’re looking for the worst candidate ever, Giordano’s the man.But this column is devoted to Martha Dean, her posting of a vile video about the Sandy Hook shootings on her Facebook page and our good fortune in not having her as the state’s chief lawyer. It also affords a rare opportunity to compliment former Gov. John Rowland. Radio talk showman Rowland was the first to conduct an extended interview with Ms. Dean and in an hour on his WTIC program, he effectively demolished her claim she was merely sharing viewpoints when she disseminated the cruel, lying video.I normally do not like listening to Rowland because I feel it is bad form for a disgraced former governor to constantly second guess a successor. That said, I did enjoy his confident assurances that Mitt Romney would be elected president.However, I come to compliment, not to cavil. Rowland knows how to talk on the radio and he showed in his questioning of Martha, he can be a very good interviewer when he wants to be. He is usually too tolerant and unquestioning of his many extremist and often wacky callers, but he made an exception this time with rewarding results.But first, let us introduce Dean. She’s a graduate of Andover, Wellesley and UConn Law, where she was an editor of the Law Review. She has practiced law with the SEC, the prominent Hartford law firm, Robinson and Cole, and for 16 years, she’s been in private practice in Avon. That’s the good part.Before she posted the video that cast doubt on even the existence of the Sandy Hook massacre, Dean was known for that one, unsuccessful run as the Republican nominee for attorney general in 2010 and vaguely remembered for having been trounced for the same office by Dick Blumenthal in 2002. Campaigns for attorney general are mostly overshadowed by the contests at the top of the ticket, but Dean in 2010 was an attention getter, particularly for promising, if elected, to see to it that all school children, Boy and Girl Scouts and little campers, be trained to use guns. “We teach sex education in school, yet we omit the most basic skill needed to exercise fundamental constitutional rights,” argued Dean. It will no doubt shock you to learn she is a life member of the NRA.She was easily defeated by George Jepsen, getting 480,310 votes to Jepsen’s 591,725, which begs a question: Does Connecticut have at least 400,000 people who will vote for anyone?At any rate, Dean was relatively quiet after her defeat until she posted the horrible video, which, she contended, she only did because she’s a real believer in sharing ideas. These ideas ranged from the incredibly bizarre — the killings never happened, what you saw on television was a movie — to the incredibly hurtful — parents lying about their children being dead.Dean said she questioned why the killer was able to kill everyone and not wound some, whether people stopped in the vicinity and released were accomplices and whether the government of the United States had a role, which, she conceded, was highly unlikely, though “theoretically possible.” Dean did disown conspiracy nuts who say a parent seen smiling on the video was evidence that the killings didn’t happen but couldn’t resist speculating the smile could be a “red flag” to investigators. There’s much, much more but this should be enough to convince our great political parties to exercise a bit more caution about whom they nominate for major offices. Dean said Sunday that Republicans who criticized her were afraid she will run for high office again.They should be.Simsbury resident Dick Ahles is a retired journalist. Email him at dahles@hotmail.com.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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