Farrell arrives at Republican convention

From Jerry Farrell Jr., state commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection:

It's Sunday morning here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., where the Republican National Convention will start tommorrow. I traveled here yesterday with my aunt, Attorney Lynne Farrell, who is also a delegate to the convention.

Though Lynne practices law in Wallingford with my former law firm, Farrell, Leslie and Grochowski, she lives in Shelton, where she is an alderwoman. She also sits on the State Board of Education, as an appointee of Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

We flew out of Westchester airport, layed over and changed planes in Detriot, and got to the Minneapolis airport by 9 p.m. The Connecticut delegation is staying at a hotel in the St. Paul suburb of Maple Grove. A few delegates, likes ourselves, were on their way early. On the plane ride, Lynne and I talked at length with Redding First Selectwoman Natalie Ketchum about many of the issues facing government today.

There was several other familiar faces already gathered at the hotel as we arrived at 10 p.m. Wallingford Town Council Chairman Bob Parisi would probably find it interesting that his name was the topic of conversation at the hotel bar, as several people who were long ago connected with former Congressman Larry Denardis, R-Conn., also a delegate to this convention, discussed the salient points of Larry's 1980 and 1982 campaigns. Bob, of course, had run those campaigns, winning the first and losing the second. I just took the conversation in and listened, remembering having been a 14-year-old volunteer on that 1982 campaign.

Most delegates are expected to come today. Since Lynne and I are a bit ahead of the curve, we are going to spend a few hours at the Minnesota State Fair, which we hear is quite the event.

We need to be back to our hotel by about 4 p.m, from which the whole Connecticut delegation will travel to the Minnesota Convention Center to attend an event called Civic Fest. It is a prelude to the convention. Rell and Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele are expected to arrive sometime this afternoon. At the conclusion of Civic Fest, the delegation returns to our hotel for a poolside party.

So, that's all the news for now, from your intrepid Record-Journal correspondent!