Recognizing the 90th Birthday of Edward Daly

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Edward Daly, Sr. of Vernon, Connecticut. Ed turns 90 this August 15th, and as he reaches this milestone, it is fitting that we take this opportunity to honor and recognize his contributions as a model citizen and passionate advocate for workers' rights.

Born 1933 to Michael and Catherine Daly, Ed was raised in Hartford, Connecticut. He was instilled with the values of service from a young age. Brought up by a politically active family, he also learned early on that one must proactively fight for effective representation, to improve the lives of working families. There is much to cite about Ed's 90 years of activity. However, it is important to emphasize that organizing--advocating for effective representation--within local, state, and federal communities became a defining mission within Ed's life.

Mr. Speaker, there were several benchmarks from Ed's life which influenced his outlook and community involvement. From 1953 to 1955, he bravely served his country in the Korean War as a radio operator. Upon his return from the Korean peninsula, he pursued an education in and achieved a degree in Animal Science from UConn's esteemed College of Agriculture. In 1969, he and his family moved to Vernon, where they have remained pillars of the community ever since.

Armed with his education, Ed continued his life of public service as a Dairy Inspector for Connecticut's Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Afterwards, he transitioned to the Department of Environmental Protection as a founding employee in the Soil Conservation Division. There, as a Land Agent, he helped establish the Open Spaces and Tidal Wetland Programs. The Department of Environmental Protection would eventually morph into the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Ed's early contributions helped nurture the Department into becoming the lynchpin of statewide conservation practices that it is today.

While Ed's trailblazing career with the State's civil service is a living piece of Connecticut history in and of itself, a more prominent aspect of his still incomplete legacy has been his penchant for advocacy. Given his upbringing, Ed viewed a workforce as a community where it was their responsibility to collectively better their own condition. He personally felt the carveouts of the federal government's 1935 Labor Relations Act which notably excluded workers protections for state public employees. Ed spurred to action and laid the foundations for a new era of organized labor in Connecticut. He championed the formation of Connecticut State Employee Association, formally franchised by Generally Assembly statute in 1975, to represent workers in disputes. Before the arrival of collective bargaining agreements for state employees, civil servants like Ed saw their hours, working conditions and livelihoods at the whims of Connecticut's annual budgetary process. Unsurprisingly, Ed has a history of leadership within the CSEA, including serving as its president in 1986.

As a union leader, Ed was instrumental in uplifting surrogate advocates for the Connecticut State Employee Association. A story that reflects his unyielding organizing efforts was his work to help elect Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso--the very person who, in their first year in office, signed the 1975 statutory recognition of the Connecticut State Employee Association into law. Convinced of her candidacy during the union endorsement convention before the general election, Ed instructed then-candidate Ella Grasso not to leave upon finishing her speech. In a sort of old fashion gamesmanship, he jumped to the stage upon the departure of the other candidate, took control of the microphone and provided a riveting endorsement of Ella Grasso before the audience. As the story goes, Grasso was elected one of the first female governors in U.S. history later that year.

Ed has existed as a backbone in Connecticut Democratic politics. He served as Campaign Manager and Treasurer for several successful local candidates and further served as the Chair of the Vernon Democratic Town Committee from 2001 to 2003, where he helped deliver majorities on the Board of Education and Town Council. I have lived in the same town as Ed for quite some time. I can personally attest that he has been there thick and thin to uplift solid candidates in and out of Vernon, Connecticut.

Mr. Speaker, as Ed initiates his 90th year, where he continues in his retirement as a serious model railroad maker and avid Red Sox fan, I find it appropriate that we take a moment to recognize this father of organizing. I count myself incredibly fortunate to represent constituents as civically minded and progress-oriented as Ed Daly. I urge my colleagues to pay a testament to his 90 well-lived years.

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