There were three more firings this week of Rell-administration political appointees - both high-and low-level - who landed on the permanent state civil-service payroll during the waning months of Republican M. Jodi Rell's governorship. Officials in the new Democratic administration of Gov. Dannel Malloy have been reviewing recent Rell hires while the new people are still in their probationary periods and can be readily removed.
The latest three:
--Philip Smith - the longtime appointed undersecretary in Rell's budget office, who specialized in transportation issues - was terminated Wednesday from the $111,992 job he'd been hired into on Dec. 31 at the Department of Transportation.
--David Gasior, a young aide in Rell's office who had been transferred as of Dec. 31 into a Connecticut Careers Trainee position at the transportation department, was terminated Wednesday from his new position.