Benjamin Barnes of Stratford, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s candidate to become secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, just finished a 90-minute stint before the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee, in which none of the lawmakers asked him about that former employee of the month in Stamford, Fred Manfredonia, who’s now in prison for five years after embezzling $300,000 from that city back when Barnes was financial officer and Malloy was mayor . The public session of the hearing will be held later this afternoon, but during the gentle questioning of the committee – Barnes’ eventual confirmation is virtually assured – he confided that he just sent a letter to the comptroller, Kevin Lembo, saying that the deficit is now under $3.4 billion. He said it is $3.3 billion “plus,” but every little bit helps. “If the deficit is reduced by a dollar I’d be appreciative of that,” Barnes said. “I believe there are positive signs in the economy.” Still, “It’s going to be a while before we’re back to a point where the economy of Connecticut is producing income….that Connecticut has seen in the past.’