Chris DeSanctis
Contributing Writer
Politically Speaking
Running Monthly
Fairfield resident Chris DeSanctis teaches as an Adjunct Instructor at Sacred Heart University’s Department of Government & Politics.
DeSanctis is also an Adjunct Instructor at Norwalk Community College’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, where he teaches International Relations and American Government.
DeSanctis served on the Metro North-New Haven Rail Council (appointed by Governor Jodi Rell) and Connecticut’s Statewide Property Tax Cap Commission. He worked in the late 1990s as a Policy and Communications Aide for the Mayor of Jersey City, NJ, the state’s second largest city with 250,000 residents. DeSanctis has also been very active in non-profit development work with movements such as the Boys & Girls Clubs in Connecticut.
He is married to Deneen DeSanctis, a Fairfield based Speech Language Pathologist, and they are the parents of two young boys, Reagan Gerald and Christopher Patrick Jr.
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Don Harrison Contributing Writer
Fair View
Running Bi-Monthly
Don Harrison’s lengthy career as an editor and writer encompasses three daily newspapers and one weekly, several years in corporate advertising and a dozen years in college public relations.
Most recently, he was the founding editor of the Greenwich Citizen, a 15,500-circulation award-winning weekly newspaper. During his tenure at Sacred Heart University, he was the founding editor of the 30,000-circulation Sacred Heart University magazine, manager of the university news bureau and director of sports information.
Prior to Sacred Heart, Don was the director of advertising and public relations with Trans-Lux Corp. in Norwalk. There, he garnered nationwide publicity for the company’s products.
Harrison spent the first 18 years of his career in sportswriting, with the New York Mirror, New Haven Journal-Courier and Waterbury Republican-American. He served as executive sports editor of the Waterbury newspapers and twice was voted Connecticut Sportswriter of the Year by his peers. He chronicled two of the pre-eminent events in World Series history -- the New York Mets’ improbable triumph in 1969 and Reggie Jackson’s three-home-run game in the finale of the 1977 fall classic.
Harrison’s freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Sporting News, Connecticut magazine and many other publications. He is author of the recent Connecticut Baseball: The Best of the Nutmeg State, published by The History Press, as well as an author and contributing author of several other books.
Don and his wife, Patti, have lived in Fairfield for 36 years. They have three daughters, Rachel (Mrs. Jeff) Anderson, Erin Harrison (Mrs. Gregory) French and Alexis P. Harrison, and two grandchildren, Lauren French and Luke Anderson.
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Robert Greenberger Contributing Writer
Fairfield Citizen
Running Bi-Monthly
Robert Greenberger is a 17 year resident of Fairfield, working as a fulltime freelance writer/editor. His public service includes two terms on the Representative Town Meeting including serving as its Moderator; the Parking Authority and the Cable Advisory Council.
A graduate of Binghamton University he has a BA in English and History, he has worked in the publishing field at Starlog Press, DC Comics, Gist Communications, Marvel Comics, Weekly World News, and ComicMix. He has written over two dozen books including fiction and non-fiction, short stories, articles, essays, and reviews.
Mr. Greenberge's writings may also be found on his blog Notes from a Final Frontiersman
To contact Mr. Greenberger email him at
RGreenberger
Jon De Benedictis Contributing Writer
Growing Up Fairfield...
Running Bi-Monthly
Fairfield native Jon De Benedictis is a Recruiter and Adviser for Sacred Heart University. An alumnus of Sacred Heart, De Benedictis has previously served as the Upper School English Teacher at The Unquowa School of Fairfield. He has also instructed creative writing, screen-writing, and public speaking courses to high school students through the Yale/New Haven Saturday Seminars.
De Benedictis has written and directed children's theater for the Neighborhood Music School of New Haven, Magic Box Theater in Fairfield, and The Easton Junior Players.
Jon currently instructs an "Introduction to Screenwriting" course for Fairfield Continuing Education.
Twice a month, De Benedictis will take Fairfield Online News readers back to the Fairfield he knew growing up -- as he says, "through rose-colored glasses."
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October 3, 2009
Politically speaking
The Meaning of Brown
by Chris DeSanctis
Who would have guessed? It was 1946 when a Republican last held what became Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. That Republican, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., lost the seat to John F. Kennedy in 1952, and Ted won it after his brother became president. Now, after 64 years of Democratic control, Republican Scott Brown holds what’s become the “people’s seat”.
For the Democratic Party, Tuesday was not a good day, as most of Massachusetts’ ten congressional districts went for Scott Brown. To say the election results caught the attention of Democratic congressional members would be an understatement.
For their part, however, Republicans should also realize Scott Brown’s victory wasn’t a complete endorsement of the Republican Party. Having faced major electoral defeats of their own in 2006 and 2008, the GOP would do well to recognize Brown’s victory was more about public resentment of big, overly intrusive government than about public support for a Republican candidate. When Republicans stray into the big-government mold they also lose.
So, what does Scott Brown’s success really mean?
In short, Americans want a government that’s smaller, more efficient, and limited enough to preserve their economic freedom but strong enough to protect them from national security threats. When government grows too big, wasteful spending, inefficiency, and an erosion of freedoms follow. Our 40th President summed this up well: “Mankind is free when government is limited… when government expands, liberty contracts.”
Scott Brown captured this by making opposition to nationalized health care a major centerpiece of his campaign, and he subsequently watched his poll numbers jump.
Brown’s stunning upset sent a message not only to Congress but also to the president. What lesson can President Barack Obama learn from Brown’s victory? Well, the president should remember President Bill Clinton. Clinton ran in 1992 supporting the death penalty and discussing welfare reform and balanced budgets. He, at least symbolically, emphasized center-right positions, and he won re-election in 1996. Right now, Republicans like Brown are communicating a center-right message, and they are winning major elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Massachusetts.
The bottom line is that Brown’s success illustrates that government should follow two very basic principles that every person and family living on a budget follows: Spend nothing more than you make, and borrow only what you can manage to pay back.
Unfortunately, here in Connecticut, these two simple concepts seem beyond our state majority leadership’s ability to practice. They have had a long time to try.
Yet, the movement for a more accountable state government and job growth in Connecticut might have reason to celebrate as the 2010 midterm elections roll in. Maybe this election will bring the kind of change in Connecticut’s state leadership that will abolish our state’s inheritance tax, lower the state income tax, and reduce other local and state taxes. Maybe it will bring leaders who will stop growing government at the expense of balancing budgets and creating jobs. Maybe it will bring leadership more focused on freedom than on control.
But these “maybes” will become reality only if we first grasp the meaning of Brown.
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January 10, 2010
Fair View
Scanning the Headlines
By DON HARRISONWhen I wrote columns on a thrice-weekly basis (with the Waterbury Republican-American), many readers seemed to enjoy my comments on current headlines. I hope you feel the same.
Headline: Dodd steps aside
Well, hallelujah. Democrats and Republicans agree on few issues, but this is a decision both sides have embraced. With his popularity among voters slipping week by week, Connecticut’s senior senator announced Tuesday that he would not seek re-election for a sixth term this fall.
Chris Dodd, 65, isn’t elderly by political standards (a misnomer?), but the man has worn out his welcome with many of his constituents.
As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he took a major hit during the economic collapse of 2008. His abortive run for the presidency – accompanied by his relocating to Iowa prior to that state’s caucus – made us feel that he had abandoned us. And the Dodd reputation was further tarnished by his all-too-cozy relationship with Wall Street brokerage houses and insurance companies.
During his 30-year career in the U.S. Senate, his campaigns were financed, in large measure, by significant sums from Wall Street. Since 1989 alone, 36 of his top 50 donors were investment firms or insurance companies, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. They gave him nearly $5 million in donations over that period – about two-thirds of which was collected from his top 50 donors. (The now-collapsed Bear Stearns and the troubled insurance giant, AIG, rank among his top five.)
I concede that Dodd’s early accomplishments, most notably his advocacy for children’s issues, were admirable. He devoted considerable time and effort gathering support for the Family and Medical Leave act.
But most of his recent headlines carried considerable negative weight. Clearly it was time for him to bid adieu.
Headline: Blumenthal comes off bench for Senate run
Democrats are delighted that Richard Blumenthal, the Nutmeg State’s popular – and highly visible – attorney general, has declared his candidacy for Dodd’s seat.
Quicker than you can say Blumenthal never met a camera he didn’t like, the Republican challengers, Rob Simmons, Linda McMahon and Philip Schiff, have been transformed into underdogs. The 63-year-old Greenwich resident has great name (and face) recognition, and is perceived on both sides as a fighter for truth, justice and the American way.
One example: Blumenthal was among the leaders to abolish the system of zone pricing of gasoline in Connecticut. In Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien and other communities on Connecticut’s Gold Coast, gasoline typically sells for 25 to 40 cents a gallon more than at most other locales in the state.
As editor of the Greenwich Citizen, I devoted several editorials and columns to this unfair practice. Late one afternoon, the telephone rang in the office and to my surprise Blumenthal was on the line. The attorney general was calling to personally thank us for our campaign to halt zone pricing.
Headline: How Goring
Is it just me, or are you tired of reading about the UConn women’s basketball team’s nightly 40-point romp over opponents? This clever headline in the New Haven Register captured the Huskies’ 84-42 victory over South Florida Monday night.
They’re simply too good. Coach Geno Auriemma and his staff have assembled too much talent. All-America Maya Moore, who was the consensus national Player of the Year as a sophomore; 6-foot-4 Tiffany Hayes, Tina Charles, Kalana Greene, Caroline Doty and some of their teammates are heads and shoulders over the opposition.
I actually watched UConn’s game against No. 2-ranked Stanford prior to Christmas, at least for a while. Stanford actually led at halftime, but when the Huskies took charge and went in front by 17 points in the second half, I lost interest. The final score, 80-68, was not indicative of UConn’s superiority.
Even including the Stanford game, the state university’s women’s team has outscored its 14 opponents by an average of 41.8 points. In their Big East opener, the Huskies trampled Seton Hall, 91-24 – on the Hall’s home court.
Some observers, though, believe there is one team that could give Auriemma’s undefeated women a game – the UConn men.
Headline: Dawson elected to Hall of Fame
You’ve got to admire Andre Dawson’s longevity. Across 21 major league seasons, he was a solid citizen…438 home runs, 314 stolen bases, 1,591 runs batted in.
But if you look more closely, his lifetime batting average was a so-so .279, he topped the 100-RBI mark just four times, and in only three seasons did he surpass 30 home runs. These are not Hall-of-Fame credentials for a slugging outfielder.
The most worthy candidate on the ballot? Try second baseman Roberto Alomar, who compiled a lifetime .300 average in 17 seasons, with 2,724 hits, 474 stolen bases and 10 Gold Gloves. He played on two world championship teams with Toronto (1992, ’93) and, in 58 post-season games, was a .313 hitter.
Alomar did remarkably well in his first year of eligibility, falling just a handful of votes shy of election. He’ll make it next time.
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January 5, 2010
New Board of Education
By Robert GreenbergerThe Board of Education met November 24 and elected its new officers and immediately sat down to work and did the usual…defer items.
There is growing pressure on the BOE to get some decisions made because much like the deferred maintenance that came back to haunt us by having to rebuild McKinley, we’ll be facing some dire choices thanks to waiting.
What are we waiting on? Let’s start with the biggest issue: redistricting. We knew it was needed as the elementary school bubble was readying to leap to the middle schools. We also knew that for something like six years in a row, the enrollment projections were wrong so we had new elementary school concerns. The Board knew the town was going to renovate Stratfield and had pods going in at Sherman and Osborn Hill in addition to the inevitable need to build some sort of extension at Fairfield Woods Middle School.
So, rather than use that data and craft a redistricting plan, the last year was spent either creating competing plans or sticking their collective heads in the sand. At the June meeting, the final three plans – 6, 7, and 8 – were presented and debated. Parents came in force because after all, it’s all about them, not the kids. Of the three plans, only one, #6, would leave all 11 elementary schools under 100% enrollment. Sure, it’s the one that moves the most people but also leaves the town in a better position for when the enrollment would be wrong…again. And that’s the one most savaged by the parents.
An aside: my kids were constantly redistricted so I have a frame of reference. Robbie moved from Riverfield to Osborn Hill; Kate from Tomlinson to the newly opened Ludlowe; Robbie from Warde to the newly rechristened Ludlowe. They grumbled, but they adapted and thrived. My advice, therefore, is that unless the plan is monumentally stupid (such as suddenly busing walkers), the parents should observe and remain mum.
Frankly, the best plan would be to use #6 but adopt the phase-in notion that made #8 more attractive. But, rather than act in June, they deferred. And here we are in December, no closer to a plan.
The other issue is how to deliver to the best education when the budget is so incredibly tight. To accommodate move forward costs on salaries, insurance, utilities, etc. cuts need to be made elsewhere, but it’s also clear that won’t be good enough. After all, another deferred issue is the 70 hours of instructional time our high schoolers are missing compared with the rest of Connecticut. Dr. Clark tells us it would mean adding seven new teachers and other related costs so she yanked it from last year’s budget and now it’s being discussed as being deferred yet again.
Instead, we need the operational audit to find savings. When I inquired last spring about the last time one was performed, the Central Office’s answer was essentially, “No habla Ingles.” We the People publically pushed for such an audit and everyone from the Board of Selectmen to the RTM, Board of Finance and Board of Ed all nodded vigorously. Now, the BOE has dumped the issue on a sub-committee, and lord knows how long it’ll be before we hear from them and get started. Obviously, too late to do any good as the Board prepares the 2010-2011 school budget. Instead, the 70 hours will be lost for another year.
To his credit, the now part-time Deputy Superintendent Jack Boyle asked the Board for direction and a set of priorities. He quickly ticked off: staff differentiation, racial imbalance, redistricting, building maintenance, or the high school schedule. Here’s a chance for the newly elected members (Tim Kery, Perry Liu, Paul Fattibene) to show us why they deserved our votes. Rather than a nuanced and informative debate, the Board nodded sagely and decided to, you guessed, discuss it later.
Newly appointed chair Sue Brand has her work cut out for her. The previous BOE ground to a halt in its effectiveness, and now she has fresh blood to work with. The key for her is to know when to move things along quickly, and when to stop and listen to the debate. She should also know when the time comes to thank the parents for their passionate input and then go make the hard decisions considering the needs of 11 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and 2 high schools, not the needs of any one neighborhood pocket.
She also needs to develop a less rancorous working relationship with First Selectman Flatto while bringing the Board of Finance (and perhaps even RTM Finance Chair Peter Ambrose) to the discussion before the hearings begin in March. Some hard choices will have to be made and need to be done, not deferred
November 9, 2009
CHRISTMAS IN (FAIRFIELD) CONNECTICUT: PART I
by Jon De BenedicitisAs I jogged my memory of Christmases Past to prepare to write this column, I remembered the fact that the first few Christmases that I spent as a youngster in Fairfield were always a little different than those experienced by my friends and classmates. Aside from my immediate family, all of my other relatives lived in either Italy or the Boston area as I was growing up. Because of this, it was always a no-brainer for my family and I to travel on Christmas (to Boston, I unfortunately have still yet to experience Christmas in Italy).
Leaving town for Christmas often posed various problems and obstacles. We would always be in Boston for Christmas Eve, which meant that Santa Claus would have to pay me what my mother called a “Special Visit.” This meant that, on the last half-day of school before the Christmas break, my mother would pick me up from Roger Sherman School and bring me home where I was surprised to find that Santa Claus had stopped by our house more than 24 hours ahead of schedule. I was always leery of this and, looking back, rather angry. Sure, it felt nice that Santa supposedly went out of his way to drop off all of my toys before we did the annual Christmas pilgrimage to Roslindale, Massachusetts, but it was frustrating. Did my neighbors notice the reindeer and sleigh flying high above Rowland Road in the middle of the afternoon on December 22nd or 23rd, I wondered? How did Santa have such impeccable timing to know to stop by the house right around those hours I was in school? These things left me perplexed. What’s worse is the fact that, right around the time all of the other children would be playing with their gifts that Santa brought, I’d be up in Massachusetts, surrounded by family and missing the toys I got to play with for only one night. Nowadays the thought of spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with extended family sounds great, but when you are six or seven, it’s a different story.
Finally, after several years of making the pilgrimage, my parents decided- as my siblings and I grew older- to spend the Christmas Holiday at home in Fairfield. This was the start of a wonderful stretch of memorable Christmases. Of course, by this point, Santa was no longer visiting me (it was an age thing, not because of my bad behavior), but I quickly became quite fond of spending Christmas at home.
Rowland Road was one of the first streets in Fairfield in which its residents would light the Luminaria Candles on the front walkways of their houses. It was (and still is) a beautiful sight to see, and people would come from far and wide to drive up and down Rowland on Christmas eve, noticing the beautiful lights. In past years, we would always have to trust one of our neighbors to set these up for us, or we would simply not have any and keep the house dark. Now that we were home for Christmas, however, it was a different story.
Early on Christmas Eve, my father would go to the beach in the freezing cold weather, shovel plenty of sand and bring it home. The sand would be to keep the bags weighed down should it be windy. A candle was placed in the middle of the bag and all of the candles were lit as twilight approached on Christmas Eve. The idea was to keep the candle burning all night, into the wee small hours of Christmas morning. Of course, there were a few windy and wet Christmases that made that difficult.
Despite not visiting any family, we still had plenty to do on Christmas. Every year, our neighbors across the street from us on Rowland Road would throw an amazing Christmas Eve bash. They put out one heck of a spread, and there would be people of all ages having fun. Even better was the fact that, should I get bored or need a breather or feel the urge to snoop around the Christmas Tree, all I had to do was walk across the street and go home for a bit.
One year, a few of us youngsters decided it would be a good idea to take a walk and check out the Luminaria Candles. I had the bright idea that we should suddenly go Christmas caroling, and we did in fact end up doing that. We weren’t very good, and we made it to only about four or five houses before we decided that it was too cold to continue, but it was fun nonetheless.
The most exciting part, though, would be the opening of the Christmas presents. This would start after we left the neighbors party, around 10:30 or so, and would continue to well after midnight. The anticipation of opening the presents sometimes made the Christmas Eve bash at the neighbor’s house painful to endure, but looking back, that just added to the excitement of it all.
It is simple Christmas memories like these that made those Christmases I spent growing up in Fairfield so special. They were also indicative of a different time and mentality. Here was a time when one could easily and happily say “Merry Christmas,” and not have to worry about replacing that greeting with “Happy Holidays.” We called those candles that adorned Rowland Road “Christmas Candles,” not “Holiday Candles.” Those were wonderful times.
Fairfield was a simple yet elegant town back then, and perhaps the best display of that elegance and class were those beautiful candles that lined my neighborhood on Christmas Eve. Residents on Rowland and- now- all throughout the beach area still light the Luminaria candles on Christmas Eve. Though it’s been years since I have spent a Christmas on Rowland, I still like to drive up and down the road on Christmas Eve, take in the wonderful sights, and relive- even if just for a moment or two- those joyous Christmases spent there.
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