Don Williams has just completed his first legislative session as Senate President Pro Tempore. This year’s session was unique in that an unprecedented number of key leaders were in new leadership roles. The governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, Senate president, House majority leader and budget secretary, to name a few, were all facing their first session in their new positions. The outcome was tough for even the pros to predict. We sat down with Williams to get his perspectives on how they’d done. Since 1993, Williams has represented the 29th District towns of Brooklyn, Canterbury, Killingly, Mansfield, Putnam, Scotland, Thompson and Windham. He is a lawyer employed as the director of professional development at the Connecticut Bar Association and resides in Thompson with his wife, Laura, and their daughter, Nina.
Mary Phil Guinan: How would you grade your first session as president pro tempore?
Don Williams: I give it a high grade for both the House and Senate. We started with a difficult budget battle and ended with a reasonable accommodation for both the governor and the legislature. I think folks across the state are very pleased with how we kept our commitments on the meat-and-potatoes budgetary issues so important to our families and our communities across the state. We did very well on cutting-edge issues involving our soldiers in Iraq and on sub base issues, where we were able to provide extra funding to enhance the strategic value of the base. And we tackled many important challenges for the state, including stem cell research, civil unions and the child nutrition bill. Unfortunately, we had chances to be a model for the nation that we didn’t accomplish.

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