SHU poli-sci prof shines light on how local government works in his 14th book
“I guess I”™m working my way down,” Sacred Heart University professor Gary Rose joked to the Business Journal when discussing his 14th book, “New England Local Government: The Case of Connecticut” (Academica Press).
The book follows Rose”™s publication in 2017 of “Haywire: A Chronology of the 2016 Presidential Contest” and “Connecticut in Crisis: Policy Challenges and the 2018 Contest for Governor,” which arrived in 2019.
“About halfway through writing ”˜Connecticut in Crisis”™ I realized that I may have found a path to follow when it was done,” he said. “I thought that educating people about the issues we face and the state as a whole, explaining how our government actually works, was worthwhile.”
The longtime political science professor said that part of the impetus came from interacting with his own students.
“So many people are completely unaware of how things work at the local level,” he said. “They focus on what”™s happening at the national level, less so on the state level and almost not at all locally. Unless they”™re a real activist, they have a very, very limited knowledge of what”™s happening at that level ”” the area where they live is a real blank spot.”
Though it comes in at a lean 128 pages, “The Case of Connecticut” covers a lot of ground, discussing each of the state”™s 169 municipalities and how they are governed; the way they finance their public services; the makeup and role of local political party politics; and the waning influence and reach of local media vis-Ã -vis their coverage of the government.
“It”™s basically a textbook,” Rose said, “but it”™s meant to be a supplement, not the core source for a government class.”
He noted that the popular view of Connecticut as a reliably blue state hasn”™t always been the case. The state went for the Republican nominee for U.S. President from 1972 (Richard Nixon) through 1988 (George H.W. Bush); it has given the nod to Democrats ever since.
Rose said a similar thing may be happening in what he said “were rock-ribbed Republican communities ”” there”™s a very real transition taking place. A lot of ”˜Republican”™ small towns are becoming more competitive and more Democrat.”
Along the way Rose hits upon some of the state”™s less-than-stellar politicians ”” not just scandal-plagued former Gov. John Rowland but also the infamous T. Frank Hayes. The onetime lieutenant governor and Waterbury mayor was ultimately found guilty of defrauding the town of over $1 million and served six years in Wethersfield State Prison in the 1940s.
In 1937, Waterbury Comptroller Daniel Leary, also part of Hayes”™ ring, was defeated and his successor was the man who uncovered the fraud.
“The irony is that one of the people who blew the whistle on Mayor Hayes was John Rowland”™s grandfather,” Sherwood Rowland, Rose said.
Another theme examined in the book is “how there really are two Connecticuts in many ways,” he said, “not just urban communities and outliers, but racially we”™re very divided.” Recent efforts to bring more equity to affordable housing was one example that Rose said he applauded.
The professor said he has also been impressed by Gov. Ned Lamont”™s performance. “He”™s an interesting case,” Rose said. “He sort of has a foot in both camps ”” he”™s drawn a line on taxes but is a pretty strong supporter of racial equity, so he winds up pleasing different constituencies in the legislature.”