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Goebel didn’t give an inch, insisting the agency did not take its marching orders from the state. But he couldn’t get around the fact that the NLDC got its funding from the state.

In his closing remarks, the newspaper’s lawyer took a shot at the NLDC’s secretive approach to doing business. “Is there latitude by this agency that the city government doesn’t have?” he asked. “That’s exactly why we’re here because a lot of the business they’re conducting they’re conducting in secret without following the rules. It’s the business of the city and we want it brought out into the sunlight.”

Pleased with the performance of his reporter and his lawyer, MacCluggage left the hearing confident the commission would declare the NLDC a public agency and his newspaper would get the documents it had asked for.

The chances of the NLDC’s getting a favorable ruling out of the state’s Freedom of Information Commission were slim to none, but Claire already had another feud brewing with city attorney Tom Londregan. She ended up firing off a letter accusing Londregan of being unprofessional and uncooperative for refusing to draft a resolution to her liking. Not one to be bullied, Londregan ignored Claire and stuck to the letter of the law. He went out of his way to make sure the resolution Claire wanted got drafted in public at a city-council meeting, a move that resulted in a final product that wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

Once again she wrote Londregan and voiced her displeasure with his actions.

Londregan had heard enough.

“After reading your letter … I feel that I must respond,” Londregan began, before defending his actions and hammering her for wanting to avoid the public process. “You found the City Council meeting confusing with unprofessional moments as the resolution was edited in public,” Londregan wrote. “I am sorry that you feel that way about the democratic process.” Londregan reminded Claire that he didn’t work for her; his client was the City of New London.

After getting Londregan’s letter, Claire called him and demanded he come to her office at Connecticut College. Incredulous, Londregan couldn’t wait to get there. City officials had been starting to feel that Claire had taken over the city and oversaw their roles in development and planning. In less than a year, she had announced sweeping redevelopment plans for downtown, the waterfront, the state pier, the largest beach in the city, and the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. The state had given her agency close to $100 million while telling the city it couldn’t play with the state’s money. Londregan’s political clients were feeling put upon by Claire, and he wasn’t about to let her browbeat him.

He took out some index cards and jotted down what he planned to say. He brought a member of the city council along. By the time Londregan got to Claire’s office, he was in no mood to listen.

“What I did at the city council meeting was to answer questions proposed to me by my client,” he said, with a bite in his tone. “I gave advice and counsel. If you feel such was unprofessional, then you and I have a difference in what is professional.”

Claire had a different point of view. But for each point Claire raised, Londregan had an answer on his index cards. He didn’t budge. “Anything else?” he said sarcastically. Then he left.

19

THE NEW NEW LONDON

March 8, 1999

Dear Claire.”

George Milne didn’t usually write letters to Claire on Pfizer letterhead. But circumstances called for an exception. The NLDC had applied for an economic-development conveyance for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center property. If granted, the NLDC would obtain the multimillion-dollar property at no cost, and Pfizer would secure the assurance that the property would be developed in accordance with its wishes.

“Our New London expansion requires the world class redevelopment planned for the adjacent 90 acres in the Fort Trumbull Municipal Development plan including the 16 acres of the NUWC property,