Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the most powerful leaders in all the land, came home this week to endorse a small-time politician of long-standing: Milford Mayor Jim Richitelli, a Republican in a tight race against a young and popular Democrat.

It was a slap in the face of state House Speaker James Amann—a Milford native and arguably the most powerful Democrat in Connecticut—who endorsed Kerri Rowland, the Democratic mayoral candidate, just days before. Amann went out on a limb for Lieberman last year, breaking with his party to stand by Lieberman (who ran and won as an independent) after he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Amann's decision cost him the support of progressive Democrats and briefly made him blogger enemy number one. On Sunday, Lieberman repaid Amann for sticking his neck out by headlining a fund-raiser for the candidate Amann's campaigning against.

Asked whether he feels he's embarrassed his buddy Amann, Lieberman said, "Jimmy and I, we have a very deep friendship and we have, in a very mutually respectful way, agreed to disagree about this one." Amann didn't return calls for comment.

In introducing Lieberman, Win Smith, the former state senator and current GOP chairman in Milford, painted the Richitelli endorsement as the return on a favor. "A year ago, when the good senator was in the midst of a very difficult campaign," said Smith, "and our mayor stepped forward and—regardless of party affiliations—endorsed the person who he thought was best for the state of Connecticut, the good senator said, 'If there's anything I can ever do to help you, please do let me know.' This year, when our mayor found himself in something of a competitive race, he went back to the good senator and it took the senator about that long to say, 'whatever you want.'"

This sort of political pay-back is hardly surprising. But why is Lieberman more interested in repaying a favor to a small-town Republican mayor than a major, state-wide political player?

Ed Anderson, a former Lamont supporter and blogger who was amongst the anti-Lieberman protesters outside Richitelli's fund-raiser, believes he knows. "He's spite-driven," Anderson said of Lieberman. He's sticking it to the state's rank-and-file Democrats for failing to support him.

Kerri Rowland wouldn't offer any theories of her own. "It's not worth my comment," she said. What she would say is that the same day Lieberman's endorsement of Richitelli hit the local newspapers, her website received a flood of donations and her Saturday fund-raiser brought in close to $10,000. Richitelli's call on Lieberman is a sign that he's worried, she says.

Lieberman's not shy about having abandoned the Connecticut Democratic base. "In my office on August 8, which was the day the primary was last year, they brought a cake in to me, and it said 'Liberation Day,'" recounted Lieberman onstage at the fund-raiser. "In a way what happened last year liberated me to do what was in my heart to do."

Why I'm Closing the Hamden Daily News

I created the online Hamden Daily News because I wanted to do real community reporting. The way it used to be done. That means digging and exposing, the bad and the good. Not caving into local powerbrokers and advertisers. Caring about what you're doing and telling the whole truth.

And people dug it. They were hungry for it. So I endured long, long hours and low pay because I believed in what I was doing and saw readers did, too. But on Oct. 6, about two years after launching the cyberpaper, I had to fold due to a sudden withdrawal of support.

My sponsor, Quinnipiac University, bailed out with no explanation. Less than a year ago, Quinnipiac backed the HDN with open arms. Why the swift change of heart? I emailed QU president John Lahey to find out, but he never responded.

However, I don't believe Quinnipiac was as much the downfall of the HDN as was the local Democratic machine, which fought me tooth and nail. The party chair sent me insulting, hostile emails about stuff I reported on. Particularly irksome to him were my exposés of the Democratic mayor and his administration. But I couldn't be swayed or quieted.

Then Quinnipiac pulled out and I was left with no choice but to close shop. Granted, it is difficult to make a financial go with an online newspaper, especially when covering just one town rather than a city or cluster of communities. Even with Quinnipiac's support, I was hobbling along. I also had 60 monthly subscribers and a small nucleus of ongoing ads.

Perhaps the most painful part of putting the Daily News to sleep is seeing how much I have disappointed my readers, as they're letting me know email by email. A compliment, for sure. But also heartbreaking that my one-woman show had meant so much to them and I had to take it away.

One reader summed it up this way: "I will miss the HDN for a great number of reasons: chief among them was that you, and virtually you alone, made the mayor sweat. Like Flip Wilson, you called a spade a spade (his was a mark of humor/yours was a call of fact)...Thank you for your dedication and drive. Job well done."

—Sharon Bass