33 Votes

Serving his fifth term as mayor of the city of Waterbury (pop.: 98,000) and his second as Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, husky, ruddy Democrat T. Frank Hayes last October got a setback galling to a political boss--his hand-picked Waterbury comptroller, Daniel J. Leary, lost an election to Republican Sherwood L. Rowland by 33 votes. Republican Comptroller Rowland took a good look at the accounts of the eight-year Hayes regime, called in State's Attorney Hugh M. Alcorn. Attorney Alcorn took another look, called in a grand jury.

Last week, the grand jury handed down a scandalous 20,000-word report. It charged that "millions of dollars" of Waterbury money had been spent in an illegal manner since 1930. Bench warrants were issued for the arrest for fraud of Lieutenant Governor Hayes, ex-Comptroller Leary, 24 of their henchmen and associates, including the State Commissioner of Statute Revision, several State Senators. The "rampant corruption" of which they were accused: cashing unnumbered city checks, spending city funds without vouchers, splitting fees with contractors for imaginary services, bribing State legislators (notably to get a law passed requiring the use in public toilets of sterilization equipment in which Lieutenant Governor Hayes and colleagues were interested). Strictly nonpartisan, the indictment named Republicans as well as Democrats. Honest, fussy, old (76) Democratic Governor Wilbur Lucius ("Uncle Toby") Cross, who was dean of the Yale Graduate School until he retired eight years ago to politics, demanded that Lieutenant Governor Hayes and other State officials involved hand in their resignations.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.