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News 12 Staff

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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power in Politics. Joining me now is Wilton First Selectman Tony Boucher. Thank you so much for being with us again. Such a pleasure. Thank you. So nice to have you on the show. Now, uh, we had you on before to talk about, uh, your first book, The Husky Effect, and now you've got a second book out called Stone Doll. Tell us all about this one. Well, actually they were written at the same time 4 years ago before I assumed another responsibility. Ability and uh it was immediately after my husband passed away and my brother called me and said Tony if you don't write the book we'll die before it gets written so it was like a punch in the gut and I sat down and it was sort of therapy grief therapy, um, and I started to pound it out and 4 or 500 pages later, uh, apparently it, you know, it turned into two books but um I I I believe everyone has a story, Mark you have a story everyone you encounter. You have to just survive your story, and mine is like a million other immigrant stories except for the very surprised ending. Hmm. So tell us a little bit more about this. This is, uh, about your life as a child in Italy. Yes, it is an immigrant story, as I said, like millions of others, um, it started, uh, from my earliest recollection, as you can see in the picture on the cover, you know, I'm cradling a stone, and, um, we, uh, I was born, um, on a, on a. On a farm uh in um central Italy in a poor community uh and as the parents went to the fields to work every day. Uh, my mother with no education, not one day in school. My father had a 3rd grade education. Those contadinos, as they were called, uh, only could afford a 3rd or 4th grade education for their sons and their daughters didn't get an education because it costs money for shoes, for clothes, for books, um, so we were left alone, my brother and I, uh, on the farm, and I remember there were no toys, um, so I picked up the stone and I. Wrapped it in my mother's dishcloth and I cradled in my arms and um and I'd always longed to have a doll and watched the older women as they had children and cradling them and so that was my um sort of pastime but my brother when you turned the age of 6 back in the countryside there uh you started to take care of other. Farm animals and his job was to watch the sheep and he was regularly losing them and getting into big trouble but you know it's funny not counting he was looking up at the sky and and there was a a theme there because later on when we did immigrate to America um he um we finally got an education in public school. and he ground his own telescope lens at the age of 12 and went to school as for astrophysics so he's a real big big bang theory and he's in the book as well, a real genius, a real prodigy in art, in music, in science, and um, so the trajectory from being on a farm, cradling a stone. Uh, to today was an amazing journey. Uh, as I said, it, it really can be retold a million times by many others coming from different countries, um, but I do have a surprise ending in it as well as a couple of delicious Italian recipes I hope people will enjoy, which I'll be opening that, but, but the beginning of the book is pretty tragic. It's my father who, um, was sent to the front lines in Mussolini's army while my grandfather was able to smuggle the two older brothers, my uncle. To America and to Connecticut, one of our both farmers actually, um, that was all they knew, um, but that allowed us uh to immigrate legally they came here and smuggled and were found out by the American government, but they desperately needed farmers and they desperately needed help and so they made a deal once they were found out and said if you disavow Italy pledge allegiance to America, we will send you to Cuba, which was an ally for a couple of weeks and you'll come. Through Legally we'll give you legal status and we need your help and work because all of our farm boys are in Europe on the front lines of the Second World War. Now this book has only been out for a very short time, but it is climbing up the charts on on Amazon. Is that right? It is, it is in in 10 days it's now number 1 in its category of immigrant biographies and actually number 2 in, uh, state and local politics because this book is, uh, not only an immigrant story. It is a woman's journey. It is a political story. It's a business miracle. uh, it, um, it encompasses what I would say is like a woman's version of a Forrest Gump story, uh, in the, in the many sense. There's so many things that occur in many eras and many political events, uh, whether it's, you know, the killing of a president JFK, uh, whether it's September 11th, the pandemic. Um, so many things happened during that period of time that that I ended up being involved in. It was a wonderful moment when I got to have dinner with Alan Shepherd and his wife, Mercury astronaut. Um, there, there was a moment in there where I got to, to dance at a wedding, a Sioux Indian chief in South Dakota. There was a moment when I spent my first married Thanksgiving 80 ft underground in a missile silo headquarters. I mean, there's so many different things that occurred, uh twists and turns a year in Argentina, um the uh the 70s uh in Washington DC going to school at American University, involved in all of the marches for civil rights, for women's rights. The war in Vietnam was raging and I was dating again, this is also a love story, uh, dating um uh someone uh that. Became an Air Force captain and so think about living those two worlds marching against the war, you know, dating someone that was, you know, in military service during that time so I, I don't mean to cut you out. I wanna make sure I get uh something else in here before we run out of time. So you came to this country as a child not able to speak English and how did you get into politics? Oh, it's again it's a miracle. OK, my brother and I came to America at to Nagata, Connecticut outside of Waterbury in a factory town because my father with no education basically got a job at a factory. Tony, I'm sorry, but we ran out. Oh my God. So anyway, there, there is a story about, uh, the educational system that gave me a voice when I had none, and I use that effectively in the political arena that I didn't ever expect to do. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, coming up next, playgrounds in Connecticut could be off limits for ICE agents. That's after a new proposal from state lawmakers.

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Federal immigration agents would be banned from dozens of places under a bill Connecticut lawmakers considered this week. Agents who don't comply could face criminal charges. He's 12 Connecticut's John Craven shows us what it means for you. In most cases, playgrounds like this would be off limits to federal immigration agents, so would dozens of other places. After months of violent clashes involving ICE, Connecticut lawmakers are considering strict new limits on where agents can detain people. Since 2025, ICE has killed 28 people alone that we know of. They're responsible for 38 injuries and 48 people have died while in ICE custody. Schools and college campuses would be off limits, so would daycare. Centers and playgrounds as well as houses of worship and medical facilities including hospitals. We shouldn't have to delay our hospital appointments because the anxiety you get thinking about it being your last. There would be exceptions if police have a warrant signed by a judge, if there's an imminent danger to the public, or if the suspect has a serious felony conviction. The state already banned arrests at courthouses after this incident in Stamford, but Republicans think the new proposal goes too far. I understand the problems that occurred in Minneapolis. We never want to see something like that happen in the state of Connecticut, but I think without Immigration and Customs Enforcement, we would have a lawless society in many areas. Officers who don't comply could face up to 6 months. Jail, but is that enforceable? The state has the sovereign right to enforce the criminal laws against federal agents regardless of what agency they work for. Look, I've got to look at the details of it. As I said, I'd like to have laws that we can enforce and make a difference. Well, with all that in mind, expect some changes to these proposals as they make their way through the General Assembly. John Craven, News 12, Connecticut. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudoff. Thanks for watching.

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President of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association Chris Herb joins the program this week.

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