The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jonathan XV, children testify at legislative committee
Took part in hearing on ‘novelty’ bills
Elementary school children and a live dog’s testimony started off the General Assembly’s normally combative Government Administration & Elections Committee on Friday, adding a cheeful note to end of the week.
Both Democrats and Republicans — for a few minutes anyway — enjoyed themselves as they heard testimony in favor of novelty legislation that included the possible designation of a new state candy, state dog, and state insect.
Jonathan XV, the Siberian Husky who is the current mascot of the University of Connecticut, testified virtually from the Storrs campus in favor of his species being named the “state dog.”
The 10-month-old puppy who only recently took over his official duties from a retiring Jonathin XIV, pressed his wet nose into the camera as his UConn student respresentative, Laura Centanni, read his testimony. They noted that Jonathan I, who arrived on the campus in 1935, was named after Connecticut’s first Governor, Jonathan Trumbull. “Obviously being one myself, one could certainly accuse me of bias when championing the traits of a Siberian Husky,” Centanni read in the remote testimony with the dog sitting nearby in a chair, mugging for the video camera.
And while committee members praised the school kids who in their testimony called the current state insect the European mantis — a violent foreigner that eats pollinators, — they were non-committal over the two previous attempts to unseat the mantis from the perch it’s held since 1977, when then-Gov. Ella Grasso arrived at a Vernon School in a helicopter to give the good news to that generation of children.
But sweets started the public hearing in the Legislative Office Building with Jacqueline Glick, a sixth grader at Roger Ludlowe Middle School in Fairfield, promoting the lollipop, invented in New Haven in 1908, for a new designation as the “state candy.” Fairfield students have been pushing the legislation for four years in a row, in testament to how long some bills take to come to fruition. This year it has been combined with the state dog appellation.
“Lollipops are one of the most-popular candies in the world and we should claim it,” Glick told the panel. “They are part of Connecticut’s candy history and a symbol of our pride. Currently, there is no state with a state candy.” Cheering on Glick was Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, who noted that Gov. Ned Lamont is a big fan of the Orange-based Pez candies and dispensers. Glick noted, however, that a commercial company cannot win the state designation.
“When are you going to run for state rep?” asked first-term
Rep. Seth Bronko, R-Naugatuck.
State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the committee that typically focuses on election-related legislation that often sharply divides Democrats and Republicans, seemed glad to have a lighter subject for a change. He complimented Glick for researching the origin of the name lollipop, which was the nickname of a horse owned by the inventor of the flavored-sugar-on-a-stick treat.
Blumenthal also noted Glick’s four-year campaign for the sticky sweet. “Unfortunately, one of the things you’ve learned is that things often take a while,” he said.
Connecticut designations include dozens of items, from the Sperm Whale as the state mammal, to the American Robin as
the state bird and Nathan Hale as the state hero.
Katherine Boye-Williams, an 11th grader at the private, 275-student Watkinson School, said she spent hundreds of hours researching and promoting the insect issue, finally winnowing down a list of 19 state insects to find the perfect one to represent Connecticut. “By having the non-native European Praying Mantis as the state insect, we are overlooking the thousands of native insects that are present in Connecticut eco-systems,” she told the committee.
State Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, co-chairwoman of the committee, was also realistic about the dueling proposals to topple the praying mantis and give the state insect crown to the native Spring Azure Butterfly, as promoted by the Watkinson students or the Autumn Meadowhawk Dragonfly, the candidate from the same Vernon school that promoted the praying mantis in 1977.
“If we can’t come to consensus on this, could we potentially charge you and your fellow students to sit down with your fellow students from Vernon and look at the dragonfly and the butterfly and maybe do some additional research?” Flexer asked. “I’m a little concerned that we may not be able to make the determination this year.”
“We would be willing to do that,” Boye-Williams responded.
First-term state Rep. Kevin Brown, D-Vernon, speaking for fifth grade students at Vernon’s Center Road School, looked back to reports of the 1977 visit by Grasso when the praying mantis won the title. “However, that current state insect is not a native species and is known to eat some of our pollinating insects, such as bumble bees,” he said, adding that the Vernon students first proposed the change in 2022, when they were in third grade.
After the student testimony, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas asked the committee to approve a resolution for an amendment to the state Constitution, which would have to be approved by voters, to allow 16year-olds to pre-register to vote, taking effect when they are 18.
“I can think of no better reason for proposing this bill than all the young people we just saw here today,” Thomas said. “That is what we are trying to do: Get more young people engaged politically before they turn 18.”