Going easy, with a purpose

I recently interviewed New London's new mayor, Daryl Justin Finizio, for a news feature, excerpts from which appeared in Sunday's Perspective section. There is also a video of the full interview on theday.com. You can check them out here.

A couple of readers in the comment section said I went easy on Finizio. I have to plead guilty on that count. After hammering away with policy questions in our endorsement interviews and debates, I saw this question-and-answer session as a chance for the mayor to introduce himself to the community not as a candidate, but as the city's new leader. I intentionally kept the questions general and even personal.

Also, because of production schedules with that section, the interview took place well before Finizio announced many of the appointments to his administration, so I didn't have the opportunity to get into those.

Readers who follow The Day opinion pages know we've already whacked him a couple of times,  before he officially took office. I'm sure we will again. And there will be plenty of tough questions to come.

But this past Sunday, the day before Finizio's swearing-in as mayor, I decided to give "his honor" the chance to talk more generally about his philosophy for leading New London forward. I think the interview achieved that, even absent the red meat.