By Scott Benjamin
DANBURY – Bob Godfrey is sitting along restaurant row, on the city’s vibrant West Side which has more foreign establishments – Irish, French, Korean, German, Italian, Chinese Japanese, Brazilian, Mexican, Jamaican - than American.
In a state that for eons has had trouble attracting younger people to its cities – Millennials and Generation Z residents have a place to dance and party.
Just stop by on a Thursday night when Western Connecticut State University is in session.
Per capita the Hat City has more restaurants than anywhere in Connecticut.
Forty-five years ago, the West Side only had two major eateries – Rosy Tommorows and Chuck’s Steak House.
They were the go-to places for the Union Carbide crowd who wanted the make-your-own salad option.
Across the street is the Danbury Fair Mall, which occupies the space where Chick Stockwell used to take the checkered flag on Saturday night at the Danbury Fair race-arena. Without the mall, Danbury would not rank first in the state in sales tax revenue
Restaurant row didn’t exist when Godfrey got a call in 1988 from Paul Garavel, the Democrat who represented downtown Danbury’s 110th state House District, which today has a lot of single residents and elderly people.
Garavel said he wasn’t going to seek a fifth term and thought that Godfrey might be a formidable candidate since he served on the City Council and had been a vice president at the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce and before that a staff aide at the State Capitol.
Garavel had initially won a special election in 1980 at age 21,three months before he graduated from Western Connecticut State University.
In those early weeks there were people roaming the State Capitol that thought he was an intern.
Godfrey doesn’t have that problem.
He has been serving the 110th District for 38 years, is the deputy speaker pro tempore and will turn 78 in September.
Godfrey said Danbury has become “bigger” and “more diverse” since 1988 - the year when Steffi Graf captured the tennis grand slam and Joe Lieberman was first elected as a U.S. senator.
He will be seeking a 20th term on November 3, against Republican Anthony Rongetti.
Godfrey said the General Assembly is better today, partly as a result of a recent increase in salary.
Apparently, legislators resist increasing their salaries even more than distributing a public statement that they are addicted to Circus Peanuts.
After 21 years of an annual base salary of $28,000, in 2022 the lawmakers approved and Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) signed a boost to $40,000.Mark Pazniokas of CT Mirror has reported that it now has been increased to $43,600.
Said Godfrey, “The question is: Do you want just rich people making decisions for rich people by rich people. Or do you want the whole system open to everybody?”
Godfrey also praised the Citizens’ Election Program which provides campaign funds to candidates after they annex a large number of small contributions from residents in their district.
It was signed in 2005 by Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R-Brookfield), a friend from their days together in the state House, and took effect with the 2008 campaign.
“You don’t need to know a lot of rich people for run for the General Assembly,” Godfrey exclaimed in an interview with Patch.com. “It has made a huge difference.”
“Without the Citizens’ Election Program, some people would not be running for the General Assembly.”
Godfrey remarked, “Lobbyists are merely for information, not influence. The years of going out to dinner and the parties and receptions is long past.”
“It is a much more professional Legislature,” Godfrey commented. “You have a broad number of people from different professions, from different experiences and they bring those experiences to the job. When you have been hindered by government you bring a different perspective than a rich person, and it has made all the difference in the world.”
Six years ago, CT News Junkie columnist Susan Bigelow argued for a full-time, higher-paid General Assembly.
She wrote, “Our system was created for a time when government was smaller, the population was far less, and the business of the legislature was a lot lighter.”
“A modern, complex state like ours with tons of pressing issues can’t be run this way,” Bigelow exclaimed. “Massachusetts, for instance, has a full-time, professional legislature. New Jersey’s legislative session lasts for the entire year, as does Pennsylvania’s.”
Godfrey countered, “I’m opposed to a full-time legislature, because a full-time Congress in Washington is a disaster. The members are only interested in keeping their job. With a citizens’ Legislature they’re much more issue-focused.”
On another issue, he said he is dismayed that during the recent session a proposed increase in education funding “got put off.”
Godfrey conceded that enrollment is down across the state. However, it is “way up” in Danbury and has increased recently in neighboring Bethel.
He said Lamont indicated, “Let’s wait to next year” to take action.
Godfrey noted that the governor appointed a 23-member blue-ribbon commission and has now made school funding “a big deal” in his campaign for the Democratic primary nomination against state Rep. Josh Elliott (D-88) of Hamden.
Lamont has received high poll approval ratings and corralled about 76 percent of the delegates this spring at the state Democratic convention.
He has been called the Charlie Baker of Connecticut, a reference to the Republican moderate who served for two terms as governor of Massachusetts.
Elliott is from the Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders faction.
How much of Lamont’s success is due to polices and how much to charm?
Said Godfrey, “He certainly has both.”
“His policies have kept the government moving and provided the services [following the approval last summer of Republican President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill,]” Godfrey asserted. “It has saved Connecticut from the cruelty of Washington. Such as the SNAP [food] assistance and less education funding.”
However, with the surge in prices during Operation Epic Fury in Iran, Lamont called for a temporary suspension of the gas tax and a majority of the Democrats in the General Assembly resisted.
“My colleagues thought it was a bad idea,” Godfrey related. “We did it during COVID, but that was when nobody was driving. If you suspend the tax, what are you replacing it with to keep the roads maintained? The roads need to be paved and they need to be plowed.”
He has endorsed Lamont, but lauded Elliott, saying, “He is a great guy. He is quixotic.”
Godfrey said he agrees with Elliott that taxes should be increased on the top one percent, noting that the number of billionaires in the state has increased over the last decade and they won’t flea Connecticut if they’re paying a higher rate.
In part, Elliott – who at 41 is 31 years younger than Lamont – has appealed to Millennials and Generation Z, who have often have had more trouble in securing high-paying jobs out of college than their parents.
Godfrey said he understands their anxiety.
“When I was at Fordham [in the late 1960s] there were protests over increasing the tuition from $1,200 a semester to $1,500. Now a year of tuition costs, the last time I looked, about $80,000,” he said.
Godfrey remarked that the results of the August 11 primary will be “an indicator of where the Democratic Party is now and where it will be in the future.”
Resources:
Interview with Bob Godfrey, Patch.com, on Friday, June 12, 2026.
https://ctmirror.org/2024/12/06/ct-legislators-pay-raise-2025-2026/
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/04/16/lamont-creates-education-funding-panel-promises-substantial-funding-boost/
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