Record-Journal – Thursday, January 4, 2007
Adinolfi takes oath at MidState
By Tiffany Aron

MERIDEN — Illness was not enough to keep state Rep. Alfred C. Adinolfi, R-Cheshire, from being sworn in Wednesday, the same day as the rest of his colleagues in the General Assembly.  Adinolfi had planned to be in Hartford for the ceremony and official start of the legislative session, but he was diagnosed with pneumonia on Dec. 29 and was admitted to MidState Medical Center the next day. And that’s where his swearingin ceremony took place Wednesday, with Adinolfi wearing a camel sport coat over his mint green hospital gown.  Adinolfi serves on four legislative committees — Aging, Appropriations, Judiciary and Labor — and he said he has never missed a single meeting in his three terms as state representative from the 103rd District. For him, January is about getting back to business and putting politics aside, so the thought of being absent on the first day weighed heavily on his mind. “People talk Republican or Democrat, but we work well together up there,” he said. “It’s important that I’m sworn in when they’re sworn in, like you’re really part of the team.”  Adinolfi could have delayed his swearing-in by a couple of weeks, but he worried that if one of his committees was scheduled to meet before then, his votes might not be counted. Since he was already feeling better Tuesday, Adinolfi decided that if he couldn’t make it to the party, he was going to bring the party to him.  Adinolfi was sworn in by Wallingford Town Clerk Barbara Thompson. His wife, Lillian, daughter, Jo Ann and 12-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, joined him, as did John White, a longtime friend and Cheshire Republican Town Committee member, and Gil Linder, Adinolfi’s campaign treasurer and neighbor.  Adinolfi had kind words about MidState and the level of care he has received. He compared the facility to a hotel and said that as a patient he was treated “like a member of a family.”  MidState Executive Vice President Jeff Flaks could not recall a previous swearing-in ceremony for a legislator, but he said many other special events have taken place at the hospital. Staff members, especially the nurses, have coordinated the wedding of a patient’s grandchild, a baby shower and even a family reunion. “We work hard to ensure that we’re able to treat (patients) as a whole, in mind, body and spirit,” Flaks said. Adinolfi said he had observed a lot during his stay and one of the first orders of business when he returns to work, he said, will be to address health care in Connecticut. He is scheduled to be released from MidState on Friday and expects to be at the Capitol on Monday.