Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday he will nominate his departing budget director, Jeffrey Beckham of Tolland, to become a Connecticut Superior Court judge. Lamont, who praised Beckham for restoring confidence to the Office of Policy and Management following a corruption scandal, said his outgoing director also played a crucial role over the past three-and-a-half years in the state government’s fiscal resurgence. The governor also predicted Beckham’s successor, Joshua Wojcik, a key health policy leader in the comptroller’s office, would continue that fiscal progress while helping Connecticut safeguard its most vulnerable residents as federal funding for human service programs shrinks. “Jeff took over during a time of some change at OPM. I want to tell you what an extraordinary secretary he has been,” Lamont said during a midafternoon press conference at the Capitol. “And by the way, in case you’re wondering,” Lamont added, “he looks like a judge to me. I’m just saying.” The General Assembly is expected to consider that nomination during the regular 2026 session, which begins Feb. 4. Beckham, who holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a law degree from Florida State University, would not be the first state budget director elevated to a judgeship. Norwalk Republican Robert Genuario, a former state senator, served as Rell’s budget director from 2005 through 2010 until she appointed him to the Connecticut Superior Court. Beckham become OPM secretary in March 2022 following the resignation of Melissa McCaw, Lamont’s first budget chief, who left to become East Hartford’s financial director, Meanwhile, her deputy, Konstantinos Diamantis, had become embroiled in a scandal involving state construction funds that ultimately led a federal jury last month to convict him on 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators. He earned praise not just from Lamont for his handling of OPM, the state’s chief fiscal and policy planning agency, in the wake of that scandal. “He restored confidence and became a measured, principled voice on fiscal matters within the governor’s administration,” House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, and Rep. Tammy Nuccio of Tolland, ranking House Republican on the Appropriations Committee, wrote in a joint statement. Beckham, who had been OPM’s liaison to the General Assembly prior to becoming Lamont’s budget director and who has more than three decades of experience in state agencies across all three branches of government credited his relationships with helping to stabilize the budget office. “I knew most of the team. I’d come up with a lot of them,” he said, adding his familiarity with the General Assembly also played an important role. “I know its culture very well. I think I was pretty well positioned. I think we were fortuitous in that. And so, I think I was a reassuring presence for the staff.” Lamont also praised Beckham, a fiscal conservative, for his dedication to the budget caps that helped Connecticut to replace a nearly depleted rainy day fund with a record-setting $4. 3 billion reserve in just eight years, and to simultaneously dedicate about $10 billion in surpluses to shrink pension debt. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Lamont said. “You’ve been standing there every day protecting an honestly balanced budget. No more of this buy-now-pay-later stuff.” Lamont also showed confidence in Wojcik, 43 who will succeed Beckham next month. A veteran of the comptroller’s office, Wojcik has managed the Health Policy and Benefits Services Division since 2022, overseeing a $2 billion program budget and benefits for more than 270, 000 public sector workers, retirees, dependents and other individuals. Wojcik, who lives in Brooklyn, also served as a budget and policy analyst for the state Senate’s Democratic Caucus before his time in the comptroller’s office. Lamont noted that his new budget director, like his outgoing one, was very familiar with the challenges Connecticut faced during the last recession, from late 2007 to early 2010 a crisis that triggered many of the budget deficits and tax hikes of the 2010s. “You know, in ’08, ‘09, when we lost billions of dollars in just a matter of a few months,” Lamont said to Wojcik. “You understand how important it is that not only we have an honestly balanced budget but also that we have a rainy day fund that protects our people, protects our communities.” Sean Scanlon, Connecticut’s comptroller since 2022, called Wojcik “one of the smartest public policy minds that I’ve ever met. He has been an invaluable advisor to me and to my predecessors in the comptroller’s office. The work he has done as a leader in our agency and state include designing transformational health care policy that saves lives and saves taxpayer money and budgetary policy that led to Connecticut’s fiscal comeback. So, while I am certainly sad to see him leave our team, Gov. Lamont has made an excellent choice.” Wojcik said he is committed to helping Lamont continue the financial success that state government has enjoyed under his administration. One of the new budget director’s toughest challenges involves negotiating with a Democratic-controlled General Assembly that tends to be more fiscally liberal than the Democratic governor. “I’ve worked with many of them on many significant issues, particularly surrounding health care, in recent years,” Wojcik said, “and I absolutely want to be a thought-partner with the governor and [help in] trying to identify opportunities where we have general agreement.” Wojcik, who holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s of public administration from the University of Connecticut, added that when it comes to working with lawmakers, “We’re not always going to agree, of course, but you know, having that good and positive relationship that OPM has historically had, I plan to continue that.” Keith M. Phaneuf is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. org).
https://www.courant.com/2025/11/21/lamont-taps-departing-budget-director-to-become-superior-court-judge/
