The only way the new mayor will be effective, according to several prominent Hartford Democrats, is if he puts his own council together.

"The commuters will be paying something," said Senator William A. DiBella, a Hartford Democrat who is the co-chairman of the committee.

"There was no audited bookkeeping," said State Representative Thomas D. Ritter, a Hartford Democrat and the Speaker of the House.

"I don't think Americans are going to stop using airplanes because of a rise in fuel" costs, said United States Representative Barbara B. Kennelly, a Hartford Democrat.

Mr. Rak, 25, is a legislative assistant to Representative Barbara Kennelly, a Hartford Democrat.

Mr. Kennelly, a Hartford Democrat, was Speaker of the State House from 1975 to 1979.

"And it's daylight out," said House Speaker Thomas D. Ritter, a Hartford Democrat.

Thomas D. Ritter, a Hartford Democrat who, as the House Speaker, is one of the state's most influential political figures, has offered similar sentiments.

She would succeed Thomas Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, who did not seek re-election.

United States Representative Barbara B. Kennelly, a Hartford Democrat who came within a whisker of running for governor in 1990, withdrew from consideration.