[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 104 (Thursday, June 21, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E886-E887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      EULOGY FOR J. BRIAN GAFFNEY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 21, 2018

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to include in 
the Record, a eulogy of J. Brian Gaffney. Brian was an exceptional man, 
devoted to his family, his community New Britain, his state of 
Connecticut, his Nation, and of course Notre Dame. The world of 
politics where Brian and many of his peers came of age in was a world 
where loyalty was, and still is, a tremendous value.
   At his funeral service, the outpouring of the community had to be 
heartwarming for his beautiful and gracious wife, Mary Lou, and the 
entire Gaffney family. As they embraced a grateful public, the stories, 
the respect and the Irish humor were ever present, just what Brian 
would have wanted. I knew Brian but felt a special kinship to him from 
the stories told by Jay Malcynsky, his daughter Alicia, and his son-in-
law Fritz.
   Brian was the kind of man that when he held court, you wanted a 
front row seat to hear him. It's hard to capture the impact, the 
complexity of a man and his expansive influence. It was done in 
exceptional form by former Republican Chairman Chris Healy.
   His remarks, his candor, his insights were the talk of the wake and 
captured the essence of a great American.

        ``John Brian Gaffney had as big and colorful a ride as any 
     Connecticut politician over the last 60 years. He made New 
     Britain a Republican town, he served locally and at the state 
     Capitol, orchestrated the rise of a Congressman and then 
     Governor, knew Presidents by name, ruled like a true state 
     Party chairman, practiced law, raised six children with his 
     wife of 5 years, Mary Louise, and got in lots of golf at 
     Shuttle Meadow.
        Gaffney left this earth at age 85 this past week and with 
     it a record for the ages during a time where honor, loyalty 
     and laughter were the currency of the political realm. He was 
     a New Britain guy, through and through and never lost his 
     bearings about the important things--friendship, family and 
     loyalty.
        His life reads like a novel by Edwin O'Connor--a graduate 
     of Notre Dame University and Fordham Law School, who joined 
     the family law practice and apprenticed in the close quarter 
     combat of Hardware City politics.
        Thomas J. Meskill, also a local lawyer, who was tagged by 
     one columnist during the day as all ``Irish Fight'' lured 
     Gaffney into running for the Board of Alderman when he took 
     another shot at the Mayor's office.
        They both won and within eight years, they had lined 
     themselves up to take on the formidable Democrat machine, led 
     by John Bailey, a former National Democrat chairman and 
     merciless operator by which all others were measured.
        Meskill and Gaffney proved more than up for the task at 
     hand, hardened by their City Hall experience. Once, Mayor 
     Meskill had city police haul recalcitrant Democrat Aldermen 
     back to a meeting when they walked out to deny him a quorum.
        By late 1969, Gaffney's plate was full and overflowing. He 
     had a part-time job doing Congressional field work for 
     Meskill, practiced law, helped Paul Manafort Sr. hold the 
     Mayor's office, had a seat in the state House representing 
     the 29th District and chaired the local town committee.
        Democrats had owned the governor's mansion since 1955 and 
     1970 would be the first

[[Page E887]]

     election after Richard Nixon's close Presidential win. The 
     seat was open but there were some divisions in the Democrat 
     ranks, particularly for the U.S. Senate race where a liberal 
     challenger, Rev. Joseph Duffy challenged a wounded incumbent 
     Thomas Dodd, the latter who ran as an independent candidate. 
     The 1968 riots had scared many Connecticut cities, 
     frightening suburban voters while the Vietnam War had divided 
     Bailey Democrats from the growing Left.
        Gaffney got the word out that Congressman Meskill would be 
     willing to run for the top job and started beating the drums. 
     But there was strong competition in State Senate Minority 
     Leader Wallace ``Wally'' Barnes of Bristol and state Sen. T. 
     Clark Hull of Danbury. Meskill won the convention, watched 
     the well-oiled delegates pick Hull as his running mate and 
     avoided a primary.
        Bailey called Meskill ``Tough Tommy'' a moniker any 
     Republican at that time would gratefully accept. If Meskill 
     was the champ, Gaffney his corner man, fixing the cuts, 
     wiping the sweat and telling his man to get back in and 
     finish it. Meskill recruited and attracted a deep bench of 
     young, eager Republican operatives--known as the Kiddie 
     Corps.--including two who themselves would become state Party 
     chairmen, legislators, power brokers, lobbyists and gifted 
     players at the game. They were hungry and eager--and Gaffney 
     put them to work.
        The Corps organized at the local level while Gaffney 
     cajoled local GOP leaders, kept Meskill on a Conservative 
     message of smaller government, less spending and business-
     friendly policies. In those days, patronage wasn't an 
     obscenity and he used it appropriately as an effective 
     incentive. Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew made personal 
     appearances, including a famous parade through the streets of 
     Hartford.
        After Meskill defeated U.S. Rep. Emilio Q. ``Mim'' 
     Daddario and U.S. Rep. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., defeated Sen. 
     Dodd and Duffy, Gaffney was rewarded with the state Party 
     chairmanship. In two years, Nixon's 49-state landslide would 
     sweep Republicans into complete power in the legislature. As 
     Meskill governed, Gaffney made sure it ran as smoothly as 
     possible.
        In March 1974, everything that went well in 1972 turned 
     upside down. With Watergate in full bloom and an urge to 
     return to law, Meskill announced he would not seek a second 
     term. While some blamed a freak ice storm that Meskill was 
     slow to appreciate while out of state on vacation, the 
     national storm clouds were darkening rapidly. When 
     Republicans nominated Bob Steele, Gaffney stepped down as 
     chairman.
        In October, Meskill appointed Gaffney to the bench over 
     the protestations of the Connecticut Bar Association. Gov. 
     Ella Grasso didn't reappoint him three months later, so 
     Gaffney went back to law.
        In 1984, he and George Bennett formed Gaffney-Bennett and 
     Associates. State lobbying was expanding at a rapid clip and 
     along with a young Jay Malcynsky, also a New Britain lad, 
     they came up with a winning formula of contract lobbying 
     handled by both lobbyists from both Parties.
        Every significant Republican over the last so years 
     coveled or depended on Gaffney's counsel or high sign--Nancy 
     Johnson, Stewart McKinney, Weicker and John G. Rowland not to 
     mention scores of others who never measured up.
        Almost to the end of his storied life, Gaffney kept his 
     hand in the game, as honorary chairman of statewide campaigns 
     for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, delegating to a new 
     group of operatives and making sure the vote got out. Even as 
     he spent more time on his short game and his grandchildren, 
     Gaffney would pick up the phone to call a Republican insider 
     to find out what was going on--who was up, who was down and 
     who the next up and comer was.
        Like anyone in the game that long, Gaffney made his share 
     of enemies who felt he hadn't been straight with them or was 
     expedient in his relationships No one's street is always 
     clean, but most of those who complained the loudest were 
     masking their own failures and looking for a convenient 
     excuse to explain their defeat.
        I enjoyed my chairman-to-chairman conversations with 
     Gaffney, who always returned the ``Mr. Chairman'' salutation 
     without hesitation. He knew how to work people and I was as 
     thrilled as anyone to hear it. When we would share a timeless 
     frustration that all chairmen have endured, he would let out 
     a loud roaring laugh only the Irish can muster.
        In going through the clips, I noticed a profile done by 
     Hartford Courant report Michelle Jaklin, who quoted why a 
     long-time Conservative GOP operative was supporting George 
     H.W. Bush for President in 1988 and not her previously 
     preferred choice of Jack Kemp or Pierre ``Pete'' Dupont. 
     ``Because Brian Gaffney asked me to,'' she replied. ``Any 
     loyally you give Brian, you get back in spades. People have 
     been with him for years and years.''
        Gaffney represented a time when Democrats and Republicans 
     would beat each other senseless but when the whistle sounded, 
     they picked each other up, wiped away the blood, picked up 
     the loose teeth and went to have a cold one to make sense of 
     it all.
        He loved the game, the competition and the people up and 
     down the line who made politics serious and fun, and he did 
     it by living by a code that put a high premium on being true 
     to yourself and others in the foxhole.
        Gaffney knew how to use power during a time when you 
     could. By the late 1980's, the role of the state Party had 
     shifted to one of communication, back office and training. It 
     no longer held the cards to make candidates, reward friends 
     and punish the wicked.
        He was an Irish warlord, but with a sense of humor.
        His passing is the final chapter of a bygone era--for good 
     or bad--but one that worked.''

   It is my hope that the eulogy by Chris Healy will have future 
congressional scholars or those who peruse the Congressional Record 
understanding the rich life and contribution of J. Brian Gaffney. The 
whole Connecticut delegation joins me in honoring Brian and extends our 
sincere condolences to the Gaffney Family.

                          ____________________