CHESTER BOWLES GOVERNOR STATE OF CONNECTICUT EXECUTIVE CHAMBERS HARTFORD July 12, 1949 Mrs. Albert D. Lasker Chrysler Building New York 17, New York Dear Mm. Lesksr: I believe you may be interested in a smy of what happened here in Connecticut at the session of ow General Assembly which has Just closed, and which was my first as Governor. You may recsll that both in my election campaign and in my inaugxal messwe, my major issues and concern3 were these: shcrtage through a public housiw program and a strong eviction law; broadened labor legislation; greatly increased state aid to education; rebuilding and modernizing of Connecticut' s shamefully antiquated firetrap mental. hospitals; abolition of segregation in the Connecticut National Guard; and reorganization of' the state government. relief of Connecticut's housiw This was a fairly ambitious progrt-im md I expected plenty of opposition. Senate here had a sdid Democratic majority, but, because of Connecticut's notorioue t'rotten borough" system, the House of Representatives WPS strongly Ropublican -- as it has been since the Civil War. Since the House had even cantested the election results and only reluctmtly admitted that I WFS Governor, I looked for at least similar reluctance if not outright opposition tc my legislative program. The 1 Got both -- and it ha6 been a most illuminating, if heated, session. The heat has been intensified because, traditionally each session of the legis- lature has been mrked by "deals" trading minor court judgeships for legis- lation. This year we made it clear at the outset that no deals would be considered. I am glad to 3ay, however, that in spite of the politicel split in our Assembly, we were able to get a great deal accomplished, For instance, our new housirq program is, I believe, one of the best state programs in the country. It will enable ua to build 10,000 new home6 in the next two years for rents of about $42 monthly for a four or four and one- half room home with two bedrooms. Last year, one out of every eleven tenants in Connecticut was evicted. new eviction law, which the Assembly passed early in the session, is, I am told, the strongest in the United States. Our We also managed to secure legislation to eliminate notorious pauper clauses in o*w Old Age Assistance Act and to bring the monthly benefits up to a point where old people can live not orfly in dignity, but with a decent level of security. We finally secured the passage of e. bill which eliminates segregation from OUT National Guard and for the first time in Connecticut history, allows every Negro citizen equal rights in the state's military services. Our mental hospital program WBB partially successful. was recommended by a non-partieon commission and which I had requegted to finance new buildtng of state instltutions WRS cut nearly in half. It ts, however, the largest building program in ths state's history. instance, be able to build completely new im%itutiom for Our 3!3XileS who are nzw carad for in OUT mental hospital3 and who are the main reasen for the tremendous overcrowding. The bond iaeue which We will, for P'halljr, the Legislature %reed to set alp B comainsion to stmQ the organ- ization of the State Governmen5 which I believe will be the forerunner of' E?. complete and 19%-overdue reorganizetion of our costly, antiq-~ated state govermlcnr;al machinery. On the other side of the. ledger, there are two 3eri:~~m omissions. Somewhat like the Corgress in Slashington, we were able ta seeiire ahs-L no action on labor legislation. Gur uneniploy-ment and workmen's compenastion laws, P,B I pointed out to the Le