The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-12-14
Politics
 -in Passing
Bx RAYMOND FITZPATRICK

BY RAYMOND FITZPATRICK
 selection of Senator Albert l.. Coles of Bridgeport as the choice of the 11 Democratic senators in the 1eal assembly for party leader means that he will also gain the post of chairman of the judiciary committee, one of the most impor- tant in the whole legislature set-up. Itsis automatic that the majority leader becomes chairman of the Ju- dietary committee, and 1t is this committee which submits recon. mendations on a large majority Of bills. Without the nod of the ju- diclafy committee, any observer at the Capitol can tell you, it's pretty hard to secure passage of any mea- sure of real importance.
 The Democrats may later regret
 that they did not choose Senator
 elect Joseph F. COoney of Hartford,
 a politician wise i'm the ways of
 the legislature and perhaps firm
 CT In saying "NO" than will be MT.
 Coles. The latter Is a real gentle
 man, an able young lawyer (he's
 only 31) and an unqueStionably
 sincere legislator. It may be be-
 fore the 1941 session Is over, how
 ever, that the Democrats will need
 more two-fisted aggressiveness
 than they will gentlemanlinesS.
 -
 It may be, also, that before the
 session is well-along that someone other than the party leader will be the Democratic spokesman on the floor. Such was the case at the 1889 Session, when Senator Joseph lDownes of Norwich was officially the Democratic leader but much of the burden actually fell on the Shoulders of Senator Daniel Me- lCarthy, now postmaster at Ansonia. It was the rapier-tongued Dan who shad the Republicans sitting on the sedges of their chairs and whose sQuick thinking and tactical ability .mentariari enabled the Democrats to sas . parliamentarian enabled the Democrats to outsmart their -op- sponents.
 KIN, -
 MT. Cooney has served in the
 legislature before, and he is not only experienced but he Is not [ averse to taking the offensive. In < fact, he enjoys fight and he will
 probably have many chances to entertain himself between next
 January and June.
 MT. Downes, kicked upstairs to fthe presidency pro tenn of the sen- Tate, will have little to do except preside over the sessions of the up- fper house when the lieutenant-gov- serror is absent or get his picture in gtlle paper as acting governor when ethe governor and ieutenant-gover- snor are both out of the state. The young man from Norwich didn't do "a half-bad job as leader two years Kago but at the coming session he Twill find himself in his ivory tower, sexcept at caucus time.
 The chances of MT. COOney for
 tliS majority leadership went out the window when 1t became known that Governor -elect Hurley { favored Senator Coles. MT. X DOwnes' chances of staying as x leader virtually vanished months ago when he favored the renOm-
 nation of ex- Governor Wilbur |. W Cross. Ha e5tt < The Democrats plan to organize \ the senate separately from the house should mean the placing of Senator or-elect Michael V. Blansfield 1of this city on the judiciary com- smittee. He and MT. Coles will be the < only lawyers on the Democratic side of the senate chamber. If three-man kcommittees are decided on, MT. Y Blansfield has @ good chance; If five-man committees are decided he should be fin" This speculation, of course, is entirely dependent on swhat happens between MT. Hurley. Estate Chairman John Mccarthy and the local party organization as Q result of the intention of Messrs. Hurley ond Mccarthy to attend Senator George T. Culhane's Victory Dinner.
 The separate organization plan
 of the Democratic senators means that senate and house will each
 have its own committee; each
 committee win normally consider
 bills separately and report on
 them separately. This is I'm con-
 trast t0 the normal procedure of having joint committees, repre- senting both senate and house. Joint rules were followed two
 years ago, and each committee
 consisted of three senators and 13
 representatives, with the Demo-
 erats in very small minority.
 The separate committee system win result in much duplication and confusion, as it did in 1887, but the Democrats see no benefits to be gained by agreeing to joint com mittseS. With each house organized separately, it will be a job prifl- cipally for Gov. Hurley to linravel the tangles and attempt to secure agreement.
 
 CONAN REAL MENACE
 Jerome Cowan, one of the "heav- ies" in Paratnount's Limitation of the Joseph Conrad novel, ''ivctory," !" is an exrert in the use of 47 differ ent types of lethal weapons. all of which he has employed in his vari- oals pictures.