From the New Haven Register Online Comments section
by Shawn Flynn
" I had the extreme honor of meeting Frank Logue in 1967 at the New Politics Corner (Elm & Church) when I was a 12-year old activist committed to ending the Vietnam War. Hank Parker, Joe Lieberman, Pat Dillon, Bill Clinton, Irving Stolberg and Joe Duffy amongst others found a bit of their political soul in that converted stock market office.
Logue and his then assistant, Rosa DeLauro, would often pop in as the Moratorium Days were gaining a foothold. 1968 saw the rise of Gene McCarthy and the full-blown, anti-war movement. The New Politics Corner under the direction of Lee Wallace and Hank Parker were the leaders of the local McCarthy for President campaign. Frank and Rosa took volunteer and organizing positions.
Frank's young son, Jonathan, would occasionally accompany his dad and we began a life-long friendship. I remember with such clarity some 41-years later the patience, but yet determined, soft-spoken Logue. And, he always made time for me and my endless questions. As the thunderous, murder-wrought 60's settled raucously into 1970, Hartford minister Joe Duffy championed the anti-war movement and ran for the U.S. Senate. Against all odds he won the democratic nomination only to loose to RINO Lowell Wiecker in the general election.
Once again the New Politics Corner was the hub of anti-establishment, democratic politics by hosting the Duffy campaign's southern Connecticut operations. Yale Law student Bill Clinton was an almost daily presence at the headquarters serving as the Duffy coordinator for southern Connecticut. He also spearheaded the college student efforts for State Senate candidate Joe Lieberman helping him win his first run for political office. Logue, too, entered the fray lending his talent and support to Duffy, as well as other local candidates and causes.
Logue and Clinton were very similar in as much as they would listen, not merely hear. Both men were solution structured. With ease they formulated strategy with local business and union leaders. Without skipping a beat they were door-to-door campaign pitchmen. They never worked as a team that I'm aware of.
Frank worked hard winning his eclectic aldermanic district; the gilded-aged homes of New Haven’s first families; the religious regions of Albertus Magnus College; and the tightly packed, poverty and crime ridden Winchester Avenue corridor. Victorious in the 1971 and 1973 elections, Frank saw opportunities serving as New Haven’s Mayor. He served only two terms; a total of four years from 1976 to 1980. No one could ever question his commitment, dedication and sometimes justifiable angst in making New Haven the best it could be.
I was privileged to serve as an administrative assistant in the Mayor’s Public Office of Information along side Martin Looney from 1977 to 1979. Part of my work was constituent services, advance for Mayoral events, city photographer and media relations. All these aspects and others brought me into almost daily contact with the Mayor. Seeing and working with him up close it was undeniable that his devotion was one and only – to the city and its people. "
Reprinted with permission