Daniel O’Connor covers rural government at Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor. Dan studied at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism for two years before his move to Maine. Working alongside his master’s program, he covered corporate behavior, trade and tariffs as a business reporter for pet industry publication GlobalPETS, wrote consumer stories for The U.S. Sun, and freelanced political news for New Jersey Monitor. Dan is a 2023 graduate of Seton Hall University, where he served as the editor of The Setonian, building out award-winning datasets to track COVID on campus for the student newspaper. While there, he reported from New Jersey’s state capitol as an intern at Politico. Becoming a corps member has brought him back to his roots; he got his start at his high school paper covering small-town budget meetings.
Beat: Rural government
Maine’s rural governments are facing a crisis as they struggle to hire people to run key positions, provide services or even just manage public money. The driving forces stem from rising division, lack of skill and remoteness. This reporter goes beyond the surface conflict to uncover what’s behind it. Why are towns seemingly grappling with so much dysfunction? What are the larger forces driving it? What can be done about it?