Anwar wants to silence his genial colleagues in final days of the session.

The authoritarian instinct is never far from the top of state Senator Saud Anwar’s intentions. The South Windsor Democrat has taken an unusual step of proposing a resolution to prohibit moments of personal privilege by his 35 colleagues during the last week of a legislative session.

Anwar, serving his fourth term in the upper chamber, may not have realized that on Wednesday, the opening day of the session, he could have proposed an amendment to the rules adopted by the Senate and the House to silence members from welcoming school students from their districts, thanking staff members or announcing their retirement.

Anwar may not realize that the points of personal privilege are helpful to the members and staffers engaged in the fraught business of negotiating and cobbling together consent calendars and agreements on which bills will be called and debated. Since Anwar is not involved in leadership decisions, he is oblivious to the role points of personal privilege play in getting things done.

Those moments that Anwar disdains can also be poignant milestones. Last year, Marilyn Moore, who started as a committee staffer and rose to become a senator, announced as the session came to a close that she would not seek re-election. Two years before, Mary Abrams, a respected member of the Senate with many affectionate friendships, announced she would not run again. Mary Abrams died recently. These important moments appeared to have irked Anwar.

Anwar may not be aware that any member may object to a point of personal privilege and request that the chamber vote on allowing it to proceed. Using that rule would make him no less popular among his colleagues.

The points of personal privilege are not the reason many of Anwar’s proposals die when each session ends. In his first campaign for the legislature, a 2016 bid for the House, Anwar cast the race as a choice between excellence and mediocrity. In the fullness of time, it has become clearer that Anwar did not represent the attribute in that pairing.

If the Government Administration and Elections Committee declines to hold a public hearing and then send Anwar’s proposal to the Senate, it will have cast its own ballot on his effectiveness.

Published January 10, 2025.