Connecticut Senator Alex Kasser resigns, blames bitter divorce battle waged by husband

Connecticut’s state Senator Alex Kasser announced her surprise resignation from the post on Tuesday, stating that her ability to do her job has been badly hindered amidst a bitter divorce battle waged by her husband, Seth Bergstein, a top Morgan Stanely executive. A month before Kasser had revealed she had added New York attorney  Robert Cohen to her litigation team. Kohen had represented Melinda Gates in her mega billion-dollar split from Microsoft founder Bill Gates along with Ivana Trump and Marla Maples, the first and second wives of ex-President Donald Trump.

“It is with deep sadness that I announce my resignation as State Senator. Serving the residents of Connecticut’s 36th Senate district has been a profound honour and a great joy. However, due to personal circumstances, I cannot continue,” Kasser wrote in the statement.

It is with deep sadness that I announce my resignation as State Senator. Serving the residents of Connecticut’s 36th Senate district has been a profound honor and a great joy. However, due to personal circumstances, I cannot continue. My statement is here: https://t.co/5pvUrTUwnv pic.twitter.com/oYDirA4BUX

— Alex Kasser (@Alex4CT) June 22, 2021

Two years prior to the stunning announcement, Kasser had gone public with her romantic relationship with a woman who had previously run her first Senate campaign and then briefly worked in her legislative office. Kasser told her husband more than a decade ago about her sexual orientation, that she’s a lesbian, according to an op-ed she wrote in The Stamford Advocate newspaper last fall.

Kasser also charged on Tuesday that Bergstein “has tried to destroy with lies about our relationship and harassing court motions that mention her 56 times for no relevant reason — she had nothing to do with ending my marriage. I will not stay silent as a homophobic, entitled man attacks my partner”, she said.

Bergstein, 55, is a senior managing director and head of global services at Morgan Stanley.

Kasser, who is now resigning her seat which represents Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan also stated she no longer has contact with her three children with Bergstein, she wrote, “In addition, I can no longer live or work in Greenwich as it is loaded with memories of the 20 years I spent raising my children here. It is too painful to be in Greenwich now that I’ve been erased from their lives, just as their father promised would happen if I ever left him.”

In an interview with she said her divorce case “has become such a dominant feature in my life that I can’t do my job. It prohibits me from doing my job.”

When she was asked as to why she went into such explicit detail explaining her personal situation in her official statement of resignation, Kasser said, “First of all, I have a duty to my constituents and to the public to explain my resignation. And I’m fighting not just for myself, but for everybody in this situation, and to use my voice and whatever I can bring to the table.”

“I am truly sad. I am truly disappointed” about having to resign, she said.