Local author publishes novel on local government

Portland resident Frank Connolly has written a fictitious novel on local government politics. Frank Connolly has spent his entire career in local government in Connecticut. He was Town Manager of North Branford, Newington, and Coventry, and was Coventry’s first Town Planner.

His novel, Hidden Agenda: Inside Town Hall, reveals just how tangled and involved small-town politics can become. It follows the volatile trail of a proposed land use development in the fictional Connecticut Town of Covingford. The novel involves the roles of the Town Manager, his staff, politics, and numerous town boards.

The novel opens with a heated town meeting as residents rise up against the developers who are proposing a new shopping center on vacant land, adjacent to their established residential neighborhood. As a result of the proposal, the citizens of Covingford become split into bitter factions and experience a crash course on the murky world of local politics.

Out-of-town developers quickly get a taste of local government in the small town of Covingford. They know they need approval of the local planning and zoning commission and the support of local politicians. They underestimate however, the force of an aroused and angry neighborhood, and a little old lady who attends every meeting. On the surface, the proposed development sounds like a simple straightforward matter. Not everyone in Covingford embraces the new shopping center however. The proposal quickly turns out to be anything but, starting with a rip-roaring New England town meeting where many angry residents are not afraid to express their feelings.

To help grease the skids to ensure local approval, the developer makes agreements with local politicians, hires a prominent local lawyer, and brings in an nefarious enforcer to put pressure on Dom “the Bomb” Columbo, head of the town’s political committee. The “Bomb” is expected to exert his influence to assure the center receives approval. He soon discovers that influence is a double-edged sword. Louie the “Enforcer” suddenly appears on the scene to make it ominously clear to Dom that the proposal had better get approval, since Louie’s employer “pays for results, but also pays for no results”.

Tension builds. Janet Johnson, local news reporter, provides keen insight into the many political shenanigans as she shines light on several hidden agendas. As this inquisitive local reporter digs, her articles raise questions on the vacant land, adding fuel to the enraged neighbors. Letters to the editor further accelerate the charged atmosphere as Covingford becomes a battleground. Everyone has a side, and every side has its own hidden agenda. The stakes rise, and drastic maneuvers are undertaken. The surprise ending stuns everyone.

Mr. Connolly has written several articles on local government and is an adjunct faculty member in the Public Administration program at the University of New Haven. He is the author of the textbook Local Government in Connecticut, currently in its 3rd Edition. He was assisted in this textbook by two other Connecticut Town Managers, Phil Schenck and Roger Kemp. Local Government in Connecticut won the 2013 Wesleyan University Press Driftless Award for an outstanding book in any field on a Connecticut topic or written by a Connecticut author. Both books are available on Amazon.com. Hidden Agendas: Inside Town Hall is also available as a Kindle version on Amazon.