The speaker’s election officially takes place at
the opening of the session. But because the actual selection is usually made in
the majority party caucus, there is no record of the debate or members’
discussion. In 1979, when Representative Ernest N. Abate was chosen speaker,
published reports of the battle for incumbent Speaker James J. Kennelly’s
position made little mention of the two‑term precedent. When Speaker
Irving J. Stolberg was replaced by Speaker Richard J. Balducci in 1989, reports
that two two‑year terms was “enough” surfaced along with calls to honor
that tradition. Speaker Stolberg addressed it as well, citing the need for two
consecutive terms to accomplish his goals (his two terms as speaker included a
hiatus when he served as minority leader). Magazine and newspaper accounts of
the ouster in each case focused more on the upheaval caused by a major power
shift than on the two‑term tradition, leaving the impression that the
incumbent’s defeat was the more striking event, not the potential break with
the two‑term tradition.
1699 TO 1817
In 1698, Connecticut’s General Court was divided
into two branches; one was the Governor and Council and the other was the House
of Representatives. The representatives were to elect one of their own members
as speaker. From 1699 until the adoption of the Constitution of 1818, the
legislators, who were elected annually in May, met twice every year, in May and
October. They elected a speaker each time they met. The business of the early
sessions was conducted and completed in a matter of days. While these sessions
got progressively longer, during this period the House usually adjourned after
no more than several weeks.
The list of speakers of the House from 1699 to
1818 appears in Appendix A. Two of them were each elected to preside over 10
sessions, Roger Newton of Milford and Shubau Conant of Mansfield. Another two
were elected nine times: Thomas Welles of what was then Glassenbury and William
Williams of Lebanon. Several of the speakers were elected six, seven, or eight
times, but none consecutively for as long as six years. You should note that we
do not include special sessions called by the governor during this time. At
special sessions, members elected a speaker who often was the one who had
presided over the prior regular session, but not necessarily.
1818 TO 1886
With the adoption of the Constitution of 1818, the
General Assembly met annually; between 1818 and 1875 sessions began in May
(Article III, § 2, Constitution of 1818) and from 1876 until 1886, sessions
began in January (Article XVI, § 3 of the Amendments). There was no
constitutionally mandated adjournment date during the entire period. During
this time, a speaker of the House was elected to preside over each session.
LaFayette S. Foster of Norwich was elected to preside over four different
sessions (1847, 1848, 1854, and 1870)—more than any other speaker during this
period. Two others were elected three times to serve during three of the annual
sessions: Samuel Ingham of Saybrook (1833, 1835, and 1851) and William W.
Boardman of New Haven (1838, 1839, and 1845). No legislator served as speaker
for six sessions. (Appendix B, from the 1995 State Register and Manual,
lists the names of speakers since 1819 and the years of their terms.)
1887 TO 1970
Amendment XXVII to the Constitution of 1818
changed the schedule for convening the legislature. Rather than conducting
annual sessions, the Assembly met biennially and continued to do so for a while
under the Constitution of 1965. Those biennial sessions began in the January
after members were elected. There was no mandatory adjournment date until
Article XXXV of the Amendments to the Constitution of 1818, adopted in 1912,
required adjournment by the beginning of June. Of the 13 regular sessions held
between 1887 and 1911, one adjourned in May, six in June, two in July, two in
August, and one in September. One session ended in a deadlock.
During this period, no speaker was elected more
than twice. Those who served for two terms (presiding over a House that met in
regular session only once in two years) were Frank E. Healy of Windsor Locks
(1915 and 1917) and J. Tyler Patterson, Principal Analyst. of Old Lyme (1963
and 1965). William R. Ratchford of Danbury presided over sessions spanning the
transition (1969 and 1971‑2) and was the first to serve as speaker under
the system we have today.
1971 TO PRESENT
Article III of the amendments to the state
constitution established the current arrangement under which the General
Assembly meets from January until June in odd‑numbered years and from
February until May in the next year. Since 1971, the effective date of the
amendment, the House membership has elected eight different speakers, five of
whom were chosen to preside over four regular sessions each: James J. Kennelly
of Hartford (1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978), Ernest N. Abate of Stamford (1979,
1980, 1981, and 1982); Irving J. Stolberg of New Haven (1983, 1984, 1987, and
1988); and Richard J. Balducci (1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992). All of them served
for consecutive years, except for Stolberg who served two separate two‑year
terms. In 1996, the current House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter will complete the
second year of his second term.
CHANGES IN LEADERSHIP AFTER TWO TERMS
Of the cases mentioned above, Speakers Abate and
Balducci did not run for reelection to their House district seats and therefore
were not in a position to seek a third term as speaker. However, both Speakers
Kennelly in 1979 and Stolberg in 1989 expected to be reelected as speaker.
After the 1978 election, incumbent Speaker
Kennelly was challenged in his bid for a third term as speaker by
Representatives Joseph S. Coatsworth and Ernest N. Abate. The prior legislative
session had been a tumultuous one, ending abruptly in the House with a number
of major bills left to consider. Kennelly's ouster the following year was
described as “a political coup that caused a major shift of power in the
Democratically‑controlled House (“Coatsworth Expected to Resign From
Assembly,” Hartford Courant, November 9, 1979). In the State Library's
clipping file on the subject, we find only one reference to the fact that, had
Speaker Kennelly been reelected to the speakership, he would have been “the
first man in the history of the state to have been elected three times,” (“The
Leaders of Tomorrow,” Hartford Advocate, November 22, 1978).
The election of speaker in 1989 was also
considered a “coup,” but there was more discussion of the two‑term House
tradition. Speaker Stolberg was the first sitting speaker since 1943 to be
removed by a vote of the full House (Kennelly’s defeat had come by way of a
caucus vote). On January 4, 1989, the first day of the session and the day on
which the vote was taken, the Hartford Courant quoted Stolberg as
acknowledging that “some were opposed to his receiving a third term as speaker
. . . but reiterated his contention that his first and second terms were
separated by two years in the minority and that he wanted two consecutive terms
to achieve some legislative goals.”
In the reports of Speaker Balducci’s selection,
the Courant noted, “In a departure from past practice, Stolberg was
aiming for a third term, a move which rankled traditionalists and provided
grist to those seeking justification for his removal, (“Stolberg Reign Ends
After Two Terms,” January 5, 1989). Stolberg was reported as concluding that
“perhaps he had run headfirst into a law of the political jungle: that two
terms as speaker may be all one can survive without making too many enemies.
‘It may be that four years is a self‑enforcing limitation,’ he said,”
(“Stolberg Calm, Philosophical on Post‑Speaker Outlook,” January 5,
1989).
In an article in Governing magazine (“A
Coup in Connecticut: The Unmaking of a Leader—And Its Consequences,” August
1990), Alan Ehrenhalt generally described the conditions and atmosphere
surrounding the unseating of Speaker Stolberg. As he recounted the 1988 post‑election
Democratic caucus, “there was a little bit of controversy: Nobody had ever
served more than two terms as speaker before. But the two‑term limit was
informal, and besides, it was commonly understood to mean two consecutive
terms. Stolberg's tenure had been interrupted by the period of Republican
control in 1985 and 1986” (p. 77). The removal, or more particularly how it had
come about, was described as “shocking.” Ehrenhalt, the author of The
Pursuit of Office, has studied the changing nature of legislatures
generally, and theorizes here that if Stolberg had changed the way he dealt
with members, “he might have remained as speaker as long as he wished,” (p.
78).
The new Speaker Balducci is reported to have
“fervently believed that no one should serve more than two terms as speaker, a
post which, he said, carries substantial power, ‘offering the opportunity for
good and presenting the risk for abuse’,” (Michele Jacklin, “Conservative
Democrats Are Victorious in Connecticut House,” State Legislatures,
April 1989, p. 14).
APPENDIX A
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF CONNECTICUT—
1699 TO 1818
Term
of
Name Town Service
John
Chester Wethersfield May
1699
Oct
1699
Oct
1700
Thomas
Hart Farmington May
1700
Oct
1704
Oct
1705
May
1706
Oct
1709
Peter
Burre Fairfield May
1701
Oct
1701
John
Elliott Windsor May
1702
May
1703
Oct
1703
May
1704
May
1705
Oct
1708
May
1709
Samuel
Eells Milford Oct
1706
Oct
1707
May
1708
Joseph
Talcott Hartford Oct
1710
John
Sherman Woodbury May
1711
Oct
1711
May
1712
Oct
1712
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
Richard
Bushnell Norwich May
1713
May
1715
May
1717
May
1719
May
1720
John
Hooker Farmington Oct
1713
May
1714
Oct
1715
May
1718
Oct
1718
Oct
1720
William
Whiting Hartford Oct
1714
Jonathan
Law Milford May
1716
Oct
1716
James
Wadsworth Durham Oct
1717
Roger
Wolcott Windsor Oct
1719
Hez
Brainerd West Haddam May
1721
Oct
1721
May
1722
Oct
1722
William
Clark Lebanon May
1723
John
Burr Fairfield Oct
1723
May
1724
James
Rogers New London Oct
1724
May
1725
Oct
1725
May
1726
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
Thomas
Kimberly Glassenbury Oct
1726
May
1727
Oct
1727 Oct 1728
May
1729
Oct
1729
Roger
Newton Milford May
1728
May
1730
Oct
1730
May
1731
Oct
1731
Oct
1733
May
1734
Oct
1734
May
1735
Oct
1735
William
Pitkin Hartford May
1732
Oct
1732
May
1733
(Elected in May 1734, but took seat in Upper House)
Samuel
Hill Guilford May
1736
May
1745
May
1746
Ebenezer
Silliman Fairfield Oct
1736
May
1737
Oct
1737
May
1738
Oct
1738
Jonathan
Trumbull Lebanon May
1739
Oct
1739
May
1752
May
1754
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
Elisha
Williams Wethersfield May
1740
Oct
1740
May
1741
May
1753
Andrew
Burr Fairfield Oct
1741
May
1742
Oct
1742
May
1743
Oct
1743
May
1744
Oct
1744
Oct
1745
Thomas
Welles Glassenbury Oct
1746
May
1747
Oct
1747
May
1748
Oct
1748
May
1749
Oct
1749
May
1750
Oct
1750
Christopher
Avery Groton May
1751
John
Russell Branford Oct
1751
Jonathan
Huntington Windham Oct
1752
Shubau
Conant Mansfield Oct
1753
Oct
1754
May
1755
Oct
1755
May
1757
Oct
1757
May
1758
Oct
1758
May
1759
Oct
1759
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
Joseph
Fowler Lebanon May
1756
Oct
1756
Jabez
Huntington Norwich May
1760
Oct
1760
May
1761
Oct
1761
May
1762
Oct
1762
May
1763
Oct
1763
Abraham
Davenport May
1764
Oct
1764
May
1765
Oct
1765
Zebulon
West Tolland May
1766
Oct
1766
May
1767
Oct
1767
May
1768
Oct
1768
May
1769
Oct
1769
Jabez
Hamlin Middletown May
1770
Oct
1770
May
1771
Oct
1771
May
1772
Oct
1772
Ebenezer
Silliman Fairfield May
1773
Oct
1773
May
1774
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
William
Williams Lebanon Oct
1774
May
1775
Oct
1775
May
1781
Oct
1781
May
1782
Oct
1782
May
1783
Oct
1783
Erastus
Wolcott East Windsor May
1776
Titus
Hosmer Middletown Oct
1776
May
1777
Oct
1777
Benjamin
Huntington Norwich May
1778
Oct
1778
Andrew
Adams Litchfield May
1779
Oct
1779
May
1780
Oct
1780
Eliphalet
Dyer Windham May
1784
James
Wadsworth Durham Oct
1784
May
1785
John
Chester Wethersfield Oct
1785
May
1786
Oct
1786
May
1787
Oct
1787
Jonathan
Trumbull Lebanon May
1788
Oct
1788
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
Pierpoint
Edwards New Haven May
1789
Oct
1789
May
1790
(Elected
in Oct 1790, but resigned)
Thomas
Seymour Hartford Oct
1790
May
1791
May
1792
Oct
1792
Uriah
Tracy Litchfield May
1793
Joshua
Coit New London Oct
1793
David
Daggett New Haven May
1794
Oct
1794
May
1795
Oct
1795
May
1796
Oct
1796
William
Edmonds New Town May
1797
(Elected in Oct 1797, but resigned)
Zephaniah
Swift Windham Oct
1797
May
1798
Elias
Perkins New London Oct
1798
Oct
1799
May
1815
Elizur
Goodrich New Haven May
1799
Oct
1802
John
Cotton Smith Sharon May
1800
(Elected in Oct 1800, but resigned)
Oct
1807
May
1808
Oct
1808
APPENDIX
A (Continued)
Calvin
Goddard Plainfield Oct
1800
May
1801
May
1807
John
Chester Wethersfield Oct
1801
May
1802
Timothy
Pitkin Farmington May
1803
Oct
1803
May
1804
Oct
1804
May
1805
Oct
1805
Lyman
Law New London May
1806
Oct
1806
May
1809
Oct
1809
May
1810
Oct
1810
Sylvanus
Backus Pomfret May
1811
Oct
1811
May
1812
Oct
1812
May
1813
Oct
1813
May
1814
Oct
1814
Charles
Denison New Haven Oct
1815
May
1816
Oct
1816
May
1817
William
Bristol New Haven Oct
1817
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