On Sept. 24, 2005, my son Isaac called home to tell his mother he had a terrible headache and felt lousy; chills and a fever. He was a very healthy young man who worked out every day and took pride in how and what he ate. Thinking it was the flu, my wife told him to get some sleep and drink lots of fluids. He called again at 4:16 to report that the headache was even worse and he felt even sicker. His mother re-assured him that it was probably the flu, so get some rest. I agreed with the diagnosis. But it was not the flu. It was type B meningitis eating at his body and brain.

Secret backroom deals, it has been proved time and time again, may be good for the deal-makers, but they are terrible for taxpayers. Yet, despite the debacle of the Hartford stadium dominating the news — a deal that was done in secret, with no public input — officials from the Connecticut Airport Authority, the town of Windsor Locks and MMCT (the joint venture of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes) spent much of the past year hatching a secret plan to transform Bradley International Airport into a mega-casino.

Ralph Nader, a Winsted native and longtime Connecticut resident, may have influenced more liberal legislation and regulations than any man in the 20th century. Following his 2000 campaign for the White House, many Democrats not only still blame him for siphoning votes away from Al Gore in Florida and electing George W. Bush, but they’ve used his third-party campaign as a cautionary tale to keep disillusioned party members from starting a Tea Party of their own. Here, in a lightly edited and condensed conversation with Connecticut Mirror Publisher Dave Daley, Nader talks about the current political climate, Hillary Clinton’s record and the influence of Wall Street money on politics.