CONVERSATION WITH …State Sen. Jonathan Harris
Legislator attends conference for emerging political leaders
By Stacey Dresner
WEST HARTFORD n State Senator Jonathan A. Harris (D-West Hartford) recently participated in “Program for Emerging Political Leaders: Preparing the Next Generation of Leadership in America,” a program sponsored by the State Legislative Leaders Foundation and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia, and held at the University of Virginia from July 17-20.
Nominated by Connecticut Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams Jr., Harris was one of 50 young state legislators from 37 states who participated in the program, an annual conference that gathers young, “up-and-coming” state political leaders to “discuss moral, ethical and democratic principles that help make exceptional leaders.”
A native of West Hartford, Harris was elected for the 5th District, which serves Bloomfield, Burlington, Farmington and West Hartford, in November of 2004. He was elected to complete the term of Senate Pro Tempore Kevin Sullivan, who took over as lieutenant governor, and began serving a full term in January 2005.
He is chairman of the Select Committee on Aging and of the Regulations Review Committee, is vice chairman of the Planning and Development Committee and is a member of the Appropriations and Environment committees.
An attorney, Harris graduated from Hall High School, earned a B.A. from Brandeis University, and his law degree from New York University School of Law.
He recently spoke to the Ledger about the recent conference in Virginia, and what he learned as an “emerging political leader.”
Q: How did it feel to be chosen as an emerging political leader?
A: It was an honor to be nominated by the president of the senate, and of course to be selected, because there are very few people from around the nation who were selected. Just to be considered for a program with some of the incredible individuals that I was able to learn from, study with and share ideas with was humbling.
Q: What was it like spending a week with other young political leaders?
A: Most of them, like me, were younger leaders, and they were very concerned, caring, common sense-oriented and smart people.
It was stimulating. The whole week was pretty intense. We had a schedule where we really had no downtime.
Everybody openly contributed and you really wanted to hear what your colleagues had to say. It wasn’t just what they had to say about leadership, but also, what are they doing in state? Is there anything we can bring back to Connecticut?
You know, we hear a lot about red and blue states. But you learn when you are there, that we really have a lot more in common than we think.
Q: What was the overall goal of this program?
A: It was interesting because the goal was not to come up with any answers, but to explore what leadership means and to try to kind of break the mold both of how government functions and how we resolve issues. And it was completely non-partisan; no one asked or talked about which party they were with.
We read “The World is Flat” and a big part of our discussion at the beginning of the conference was what do we have to do to change, to adapt to this new world? We talked a lot about what “leadership” meant and how to approach things -- not asking the same questions or trying to resolve problems the same way, but how do you try to change, to start asking new questions, figuring out alternative ways to resolve problems n thinking outside the box in trying to resolve issues.
We weren’t really trying to come up with solutions; we were trying to train ourselves to start asking new questions.
Q: The website for the program mentions moral and ethical principles frequently.
A: We had a whole section on ethics. As a matter of fact, it permeated everything we did at times n what we thought was right and wrong in terms of being leaders.
Pretty much everything we did had an ethical component -- even when we talked about things like healthcare n an ethics piece came into it.
Q: Why was the moral and ethical component so important?
A: It is always good to think these things through. When you are in real time, things come up really fast and you have to react. I am lucky that when I get a gut feeling about something, I go with that and it has been very accurate for me when it comes to the intensive issues.
It is always very helpful to go over these things and discuss them with your colleagues, your peers. And also to take a look back at history and see how other people have handled various dilemmas, because we know we are going to face them.
Q: In your discussions of history figures, did anyone in particular really inspire you?
A: We read “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book [about Abraham Lincoln], and as a matter of fact she spoke to us from the Rotunda at UVA, which was designed by Thomas Jefferson.
Besides showing Lincoln, his make-up, and how he was really just a regular guy, who, through ambition and wanting to improve himself, did some amazing things, it also showed that he got to the White House in an interesting way.
He actually was the dark horse candidate and he won the presidency, and instead of banishing the Republicans and Democrats that opposed him, he brought them into the White House. And all of his rivals, whether it be William Henry Seward, Edward Bates, or Salmon Chase n they had positions within his cabinet. He realized they were great leaders and instead of saying, “They were against me, I won’t trust them” he brought them and that was one of ways in which he was able to be effective at building consensus…and being able to listen and hear things that he might not have wanted to hear.
Q: And you found inspiration in this?
A: Yes. I tend not to be partisan. There are times during elections when you run against someone and I guess there is partisanship there, but as far as government goes, we are in it together and you have to be able to work with both sides of the aisles. On my Committee of Aging, for instance, I get a huge amount of information, ideas and energy from my colleagues from the other side of the aisle. We have been able to do a lot in the past two years, and that is not because of me, or the party, but because of the committee as a whole that functioned well together, both intellectually and behavior-wise.
Comments? Email staceydresner@jewishledger.com