If Monroe Webster had won a seat on Waterbury's Board of Alderman- he recently lost a democratic primary- party leaders would have nudged him to give up his seat on the city's Democratic Town Committee.

Hartford Democratic Party leaders also ask town committee members to resign if they win seats on the town council, school board, state Legislature or other public offices.

"We feel it's a conflict," said Yolanda Castillo, vice chairwoman of the Hartford party committee, referring to serving in both positions.

Bridgeport Democrats, on the other hand, have no such self-imposed prohibition.

Twelve members of the 20-member City Council serve on the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee. Two state legislators also serve on the committee, along with a member of the Board of Education.

Although no state or local laws prevent someone from serving on both a town committee and another elected position, Castillo said it's common sense not to mix the roles.

The reason, she said, is that the main function of a town committee is to nominate candidates for office, which means a member simultaneously serving on both the city council and the town committee could vote for his own nomination.

"We ask them to resign. They don't have to, but it's not ethical to stay," said Castillo.

She acknowledged, however; that party leaders' requests aren't always followed: two legislators serve on Hartford's town committee.

In Bridgeport, 80 percent of the 89 members serving on the

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Democratic Town committee- there's one vacancy- are connected to city government in some way.

They either work for the city, have a spouse or relative who works for the city, serve on a board or commission or hold elected office.

So is Bridgeport's intertwining of town committee members and city government unusual, or is it simply par for the course in Connecticut's big city politics?

Both Castillo and Webster, who is vice chairman of the Waterbury Town Committee, said their committees are not tied into city government as Bridgeport's. That claim could not be verified.

But political science professors are not as sure Bridgeport is so unusual.

"I think it's broadly typical," said Douglas Rae, a political science professor at Yale University and a former administrator for New Haven.

It does not surprise me. If you add in the unions, you have a cozy relationship in which no one else gets hired," Rae said.

Town committees, whether Democratic or Republican, trace their roots to the turn of the century, said Rae, an expert in the political economy of cities, politics and power relations.

They initially were used as s mechanism for immigrant populations to get a foothold in the middle-class economy, he said.

The most notorious political presence in history was probably Tammany Hall, the name given to the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in New York City from the 1790s to the 1860s. It was a dominate player from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 through the election of Fiorello LaGuardia in 1934. The name most associated with Tammany Hall was William "Boss" Tweed.

"In the 1930's, the majority of city jobs were held by the Irish. Italians got a foothold in the 1940's in New Haven. The Republicans had similar arrangements until the New Deal coalitions. Democrats drove Republicans out of the competition in the Northeastern Cities," Rae said.

"What's wrong with it is there is not a lot of accountability. It can lead to corruption, or it can harbor and protect corruption," Rae said.

"The mission is to sustain itself, provide jobs," he said, adding that the system has been unraveling." Between the unions and the civil service, there are fewer jobs to hand out."

Castillo said she doubts her city's town committee is as intertwined with city government as Bridgeport's. "I would be surprised. I've never looked at it in detail. There are some, but not that type of majority. I'd be shocked if it was that high," Castillo said.

Referring to Bridgeport, Castillo noted, "That's interesting. And it's sad. That's why some people avoid getting into politics. They say, ' What's going on? It's the same old people.' I hear this all the time."

Webster also said Waterbury's town committee is not as connected to city government as Bridgeport's.

"I don't think that's the case. I'm trying to picture who's on the roster. Our town committee has an older population. There is not that type of a percentage of city employees. Our assistant town clerk is on the committee, but that's all I can think of," Webster said.

"I think we purposely avoid getting ourselves in those types of situations," Webster said.

Scott McLean, a political science professor at Quinnipiac University, said other big-city Democratic town committees are probably similar to Bridgeport's.

"That's what goes on. It's a conspiracy of silence. I won't look at what you are doing if you don't look at what I'm doing," McLean said.

"There is a clubishness. In political science, there is an interest in social control, the network of connections. It's what gives us the ability to interact with people who are different from ourselves," McLean explained.

"But here is an example of bad social control. It's the kind of connections that allow a small strata in a community to monopolize a committee. How can you have reform when you have people benefiting from the present system?" McLean said.

Nancy DiNardo, chairwoman of the Democratic State Central Committee, said she doubts Bridgeport is unique among cities, but added that the breakdown is probably different in the suburbs.

"I don't know if this is unusual in the cities. There are more jobs to be offered than [in] the suburbs," DiNardo said.

"My impression of the Bridgeport town committee is they are a very diverse group. It's hard to get them to agree on stuff," she added.