WASHINGTON — Almost five years ago, then-Hearst Connecticut Media editor Bobbie Roessner asked me to start a column, kind of a “Washington whispers” consisting of juicy D.C. nuggets with a Connecticut twist. It was to be irreverent, sassy, right up to the edge of downright snarky.
Now, 159 columns later, this is my last Buzz. I am retiring from Hearst Newspapers after 32 years covering Washington for all our papers, with a particular focus on Connecticut since the beginning of 2015.
I’m a New York City native but we had a summer house on Compo Cove in Westport, right up against Sherwood Island State Park. I remember the corner grocery with the gray, colorless editions of the Bridgeport Post and the Norwalk Hour stacked on the counter. I could hardly imagine I’d ever write for these papers one day.
Column-writing has been a once-a-week thing for me, spliced into my regular beat of reporting on any and all D.C. news of relevance to Connecticut. I’ve had varying levels of feedback on it, including one rather persistent critic who wondered why the column was on a page labeled “news” instead of one marked “opinion.”
I never saw the column as a vehicle for investigative reporting, to be honest. And tackling complex subjects was also a risky proposition. Rep. Jim Himes once tut-tutted me for writing about his views on financial-services reform, Dodd-Frank, regulating Wall Street. I didn’t take his advice.
Some critics, mostly conservatives, faulted me for being too much “in bed” with the subjects I wrote about. But exposure of any deceit or dishonesty among the Connecticut lawmakers was always reserved for regular news stories. In those stories, I exposed mistakes and wrongdoing as needed. And I held up on reporting bombshell stories that just didn’t pan out.
(Pardon the soap-boxing but this is a little-understood piece of the journalist puzzle — sometimes it’s not what you write but what you don’t write. Of course, no one gives you credit for not writing, but it’s definitely a major arrow in the journalistic quiver.)
The column always was meant to be a look at the lighter side of the personalities of D.C. with a Connecticut connection. I wasn’t supposed to be outright snarky, but I can confess I got close to the line a few times. Himes, Sens. Richard Blumenthal & Chris Murphy, Rep. Rosa DeLauro … yes, their hair color, sock choice, strident intensity was grist for my mill.
Earlier this month I had the privilege to travel to New Haven to take part in a panel discussion at the Institute Library, a wonderful throwback at 847 Chapel Street. The emcee, John Stoehr (essayist, columnist, Yale fellow, true Renaissance man), said that with retirement I can now say what I really think about the Connecticut Congressional delegation …. Or anything else for that matter.
I skipped over that subject in the panel discussion but now I feel I can offer up some closing thoughts.
I don’t know where Himes finds the time to indulge all his hobbies, which include maple syrup tapping and production, clam digging and honey-bee tending. (Much as I love honey in tea, the threat of stings alone would be a deterrent.) And with his role on House intelligence as No.-2 Democrat, his free time likely will be even more limited. Don’t be shocked if he becomes chairman of the committee one day.
With the purple hair streaks, big rings and art-colony jewelry, Rep. Rosa DeLauro is clearly the most comfortable in her own skin. And as chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that controls the federal government’s major social service budgets (think departments of education, labor, HHS, CDC, the list goes on) she’s a kid in a candy store dispensing federal dollars to fulfill the liberal vision of what activist government looks like.
If anyone is not totally comfortable in their own skin, it might be Murphy. Intense is the word that comes to mind. He’s wound up tight, and goodness knows his portfolio is broad _ from guns to foreign policy. He could be mistaken for a town prosecutor or a Rotary Club member but there is a wellspring of ambition underneath the placid exterior.
This is not to say he lacks passion. Getting before a crowd talking about guns and you’ll see what I mean. Democratic candidate for president in 2024 or 2028? Could be.
Blumenthal, I have to confess, was something of a favorite. Always returns my calls, always solicitous, and a truly funny guy beneath the stuffed-shirt rectitude. He even came to my journalist retirement party on Wednesday night. Yes, he’s got some thin skin at age 73, but it’s mostly about not getting interviewed-quoted when others in the delegation are. And that’s only a rare occurrence.
Blumenthal says he never takes a vacation and I pretty much believe him. Strange considering his net worth is among the highest in the Senate, if not highest. I want to say to him “c’mon live a little, rent the ski chalet in Switzerland, swim among the humpback whales in Maui.” But it’s not my place to do so, pardon the Victorianism.
Rep. Jahana Hayes I don’t know very well. But in the short time she’s been on Capitol Hill, I’m seeing another very intense, serious legislator who does not suffer fools gladly … big time!
Just ask Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Hayes’ dressing-downs of DeVos are a sight to behold. And they’d serve up a dose of PTSD to any John F. Kennedy High School student in Waterbury who was ever late with a homework assignment.
So that’s about it. I came to D.C. in 1987 to cover the Iran-Contra hearings and the Supreme Court confirmation battle of Robert Bork. I leave in the midst of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. So I’ve never known a dull moment.
The great White House correspondent Helen Thomas always used to say to me when a big story broke, “can you believe they pay us to do this?” Always wish I was paid a bit more, full confession, but Helen had a good point.
I’ve been very, very fortunate and I hope I’ve done something to serve you, our readership, in the process.
