New London Day: DeStefano Keeps Fast Pace in Race for Governor

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New London Day: DeStefano Keeps Fast Pace in Race for Governor

The New London Day June 13, 2006

by Ted Mann

Montville - The schedule said John DeStefano would be dropping in to Radgowski's Deli on Route 163 to talk about universal health care, one stop among the many the New Haven mayor will make this summer as he tries to persuade fellow Democrats to choose him as their candidate for governor.

Whatever the schedule said, DeStefano got an impromptu refresher course in the issues that animate this and other towns in eastern Connecticut, former bastions of small industry and agriculture that now host two of the world's biggest casinos.

The talk was of a shortage of affordable housing - both for first-time homebuyers who locals said were being priced out of the towns they grew up in, and for the legions employed by Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun, many of them immigrants who have crowded into existing housing in the surrounding towns.

"So all the folks working in the casinos, where are they living?" DeStefano asked Montville Mayor Joseph Jaskiewicz, in the midst of a small crowd gathered in front of the cold case.

"All over," Jaskiewicz replied.

Did the town have limits on the number of non-relatives who could share dwellings, like New Haven does, DeStefano asked.

Not yet, Jaskiewicz told him.

"You know what a hot-bed is?" someone asked, referring to the shared apartments used by some casino employees, where planning officials worry that residents have skirted zoning regulations by sleeping in shifts.

DeStefano nodded.

The New Haven mayor will face Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, who eked out the party endorsement at a convention last month, in the Aug. 8 primary. The winner will oppose Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell in November.

Thus, the current DeStefano push: a morning press conference in Willimantic, a chat at a radio station in Norwich, a few stolen moments at the deli to talk health care, an appointment down the road at the Thomas G. Faria Corp., to talk jobs.

Among those tagging along was Sam Gejdenson, the former Democratic congressman from the 2nd District, who seconded those concerns about the booming growth along Interstate 95 and around the massive casinos.

"It's early enough in the process that we can protect a lot of what we have," Gejdenson said.

DeStefano would have a better grasp of this region's needs, he added later, as the mayor prepared to take his leave.

The congressman - who helped DeStefano guide the conversation nearer to the appointed topic, noting the number of employees of large businesses who nonetheless depend on the state for help with health care - said he thought the mayor would take the primary after his convention setback, and said it took "guts" to propose universal coverage.

Meanwhile, the mayor was on the move: Aides began to scatter for the drive to Faria, and DeStefano himself bade his goodbyes and headed for the door.

A few lingered momentarily, with the discussion returning to the casinos, and the workers they have brought to town.

"When they first came, there was a culture change," Jaskiewicz said, everything from concern about overcrowding to complaints about the sight of the workers themselves, walking to the casinos along the shoulders of Route 32.

But with time, he added, "I think the people of the town have adjusted."