Thursday, January 22, 2009
Ethics Commission Finds against Alderman Catanzaro
It is sad that the New Britain Ethics commission did not address the conflicts that Alderman Catanzaro exposes the city to by his being and Alderman, Board President of the HRA Agency and a city Employee all at the same time.
As I have stated some four years ago in a local newspaper that he should resign from two of the positions.
The Ethics commission of the city found that the Alderman violated two sections of the city ordinances and unfortunately did not raise the issue of the continued conflicts by the Alderman.
Alderman Sherwood’s statement, after the meeting, that the Ethics commission should not be used as a political baton is outrages for a city Alderman to say especially when he is directly involved in attempting to draft a council resolution on “Ethics”.
Frank, you weren't there. If you had been your story might be different. Lou Salvio admitted under oath that he illegally leaked confidential information from an executive session where Paul had been exonerated on a 2 to 1 vote. At worst Catanzaro violated an ethics code. That is a far cry from deliberately and for political malicious purposes, leaking confidential information Whether you like unions or not frank, I hope that Paul's union brings Lou to court.
ReplyDeleteFrank, you've made yourself clear where you stand on paul. For credibility purposes you really should listen to the tape of last night before weighing in on the evidence you were not able to hear.
I went into this thinking that Paul may have pushed the envelope to much. I walked away confident he did nothing wrong and also with a sense that an Alderman just admitted under oath to deliberately breaking the law in leaking information.
The questions remains, who told alderman salvio about the meeting as he was not in the executive session. Who is the other person? Frank you should be asking this as well to be fair. You think city employees should not be on the council? Fine, there's a good argument to be made there. You want to attack others you feel are out of line? Fine, that's your right and you do it well.
But last night was much much bigger and noteworthy than your post suggests...and it had nothing to do with catnnzaro.
Response to Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteYou have stated that at worst Catanzaro had violated an ethics code. And then your statement continues by stating that the Ethics meeting of last night had nothing to do with Cantanzaro.
I missed something somewhere wondering why this meeting was called for in the first place.
And why did the Ethics commission render its finding against the Alderman.
You raise questions as to Alderman Salvio’s motives which are not in my prevue to evaluate. That is a question for the City Council to review and only then I will make my assessment.
Big surprise. An entirely Mayor appointed commission votes to go after the mayors potential opponent.
ReplyDeleteNew Britain Alderman...Paul D. Catanzaro welcomes you to visit his Website...
ReplyDeletehttp://aldermancatanzaro.com/
This provides a great taste for self-appointed "ethics czar" Sherwood to put his money where his mouth is. If the Council does not censure or otherwise make note of this ethics ruling against Catanzaro, that shows these hypocrites for what they are. All the ethics legislation in the world is useless if you don't enforce it. So get to it boys and girls.
ReplyDeleteAnd who appointed Sherwood the moral authority of this City? When he lashes out against someone (like Salvio) he's on the side of right - but anyone who criticizes (like posters on this blog) Sherwood and his cronies has alterior motives. Come off it. Their protestations are a smokescreen to avoid having to really DO something.
If Alderman Catanzaro did nothing wrong, why has the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development withheld badly needed funding--citing the conflicts of interest that exist with Aldermen Catanzaro and Trueworthy? Am I missing something that the hearing had nothing to do with Alderman Catanzaro? Obviously the federal government thought so when they withheld the funding.
ReplyDeletewhat ordinances did they find him in violation of?
ReplyDeleteBig surprise. An entirely Mayor appointed commission votes to go after the mayors potential opponent.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't stop laughing when I read this one!!! This guy would lose so badly against Mayor Stewart, that maybe even a guy who seems to have no shame would finally be ashamed to show his face in public after an embarrassment like that one!
What a joke!!!!!!!!!
Sherwood certainly is quiet when the federal government acknowledges that two of his fellow Democrats are in conflicts of interest. Can you imagine if it were two Republicans, you wouldn't be able to shut him up, but when Democrats violate the law, he goes into hiding.
ReplyDeleteI AM GETTING A HEADACHE!
ReplyDeleteWhat does the 5-0 verdict mean?
Ald. Sherwood. Is your argument like saying someone is "half pregnant"? Either you are or you are not. To make your "ethics" movement believable Tureworthy and Catanzaro must leave their posts.
The Democrats pushed for the existing ethics system, not Ald. Salvio. So basically your opinion is Ald Catanzaro was wrong to propose it but you would rather "shoot the Republican messenger".
If Salvio is the bad guy, why is it that the ethics commission ruled against Catanzaro, and not Salvio??
ReplyDeleteNow that I have had time to evaluate the first blog I received regard the comments and defense for Alderman Catanzaro it appeared to be from an Alderman that appeared at last night's meeting.
ReplyDeleteThe shocking thought about this is that a fellow Alderman is sanctioning Catanzaro’s ongoing conflicts of ethics.
Lou says:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous should stick to his job at the Capitol.
His blog sends a clear message as to who he and that he is willing to throw bricks at me and Frank Smith but will not post his name to his post on this blog.
Does he think anyone will have trouble figuring out who he is?
I just heard them refer to Hillary Clinton on talk radio as the person with more conflicts of interest than anyone in the world, and I wanted to call in to the show and tell them that they are wrong, Catanzaro holds that title!
ReplyDeleteTo make your "ethics" movement believable Tureworthy and Catanzaro must leave their posts.
ReplyDeleteLET THEM KEEP PLAYING THEIR SLEAZY GAMES, PAYBACK IS COMING IN NOVEMBER! Didn't Catanzaro just squeak by with 50 or 60 votes last time?
Obama hardly gets a chance to start his presidency when the conflicts with his cabinet choices erupt. Geithner, who is chosen to watch the country’s money proves to be less than honest(he can't figure out how to pay his taxes), Richardson (Ariz) pulls out, Kennedy, decides she shouldn’t chance it, Burriss is confirmed under a cloud, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteHere in CT we have our own version: Donovan appoints Amann to a $120K job; Dodd refuses to release his mortgage deals documents with Countrywide, Donovam recycles his stupid health care plan under someone else’s name and then, locally Philthy Phil Sherwack protects the conflict of interest problems of Paul Catanzero of the Common Council. In the meantime we learn that 9 out of 13 NB Common Council members have potential conflicts of interest in their dealings.. Centeno, Gerratuna, Sherwood, Collins,Trueworthless, Bielinski, Catanzerro, Black and Heranowski.That’s about 70 % of the Dems on the Council. Catanzaro gets caught with his fingers in the till but Sherwack and others say it’s Salvio’s fault. When, if ever, will it stop?
Catanzero hires a lawyer,(who paid for her?) to badger DeMaio and Salvio. She gets nowhere with those two. Phil Sherwack gets his shill, Rick Guinness of The Herald to print some prevarications and on we go. Stay tuned - pretty soon they’ll blame everything on the Mayor, Frank Smith or anyone else the Dems can think of..
Where is the New Britain Ethics Czar, Phil Sherwood? When is he going to publicly condemn Cantazaro's actions? I thought he stood for high ethical standards, or is that only when it applies to Republicans?
ReplyDeleteNew Britain is so screwed up, that if you made a movie about it, everyone would think it was fiction!
ReplyDeleteI guess Phil is showing his true colors! The perfect name for the high and mighty Sherwood would be PHONY PHIL!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteShouldn't the ethics Commission be investigating the reports that Mr. Catanzaro spends city time goofing off at restaurants when he is supposed to be on the clock working for the city? Isn't this alleged behavior unethical?????
Frank Smith originally said: since the municipalities are unable to bring reform on themselves, it desperately needs to be mandated by the state.
ReplyDeleteWith every day that this Catzanaro scandal drags on, this statement becomes more and more true.
Anonymous...said:
ReplyDeleteLet's have a contest--guess how many chins Catanzaro has!
I guess 7 chins, what is the prize if I win?
After reading all this stuff on here, I went to Alderman Catzanro's web site to check out who this guy is, and all the links on his site are dead, just like his brain! If he works as well as his web site, no wonder this city is in so much trouble.
ReplyDeleteThe Phantam Diner said...
ReplyDeleteThe Mayor could layoff Catzanaro and no one would even notice, or is he afraid of the impact that would have on so many New Britain restaurants?
what a disgrace
ReplyDeletewhat a disgrace
ReplyDeleteI forgot one:
ReplyDeleteAlderman Catanzaro voted along with another Alderman with both having a conflict on voting on a council resolution between the city of New Britain and the employees of AFSCME Union local 1303 resolving a personnel issue decide to vote.
They were both former presidents of local 1303 and were cautioned by a few council members along with Mayor Stewart that they were entering into a gray area of conflict but they both voted regardless.
This was at the December Council meeting held in the year of 2003.
That was a conflicting issue I neglected to point out about Alderman Catanzaro's brash attitude of who dares to question his motives.
You dare to question the word of the great and powerful Catanzaro?
ReplyDeleteyou can blog all day and night about whatever you want,but the truth remains that out of the 10,000 voters who cast every two
ReplyDeleteyears in new britain,not enough care about what is written about here.November will yield the same
democrat majority on the council
and a defeat for Tim Stewart.
To the first anonymous post: Me thinks thee protests too much, Mr. Sherwood!!
ReplyDeleteNew Britain Herald: December 23rd
ReplyDelete"However, Salvio and Mayor Timothy Stewart confirmed separately Tuesday that they are against the proposed ordinance.Stewart confirmed Tuesday that the local ethics panel had met Monday night to discuss a complaint against alderman Paul Catanzaro brought by Lou Salvio."
Uh, oh, looks like Lou isn't the only one that broke the law...is it time to lawyer up?
Assuming that Timothy Stewart will run for re-election this year, Catanzaro has a snowball's chance in Hell of winning. The comparison is hysterical!!!
ReplyDelete"If the Council does not censure or otherwise make note of this ethics ruling against Catanzaro, that shows these hypocrites for what they are. All the ethics legislation in the world is useless if you don't enforce it."
Remember when the ethics commission recommended censure of Richard Lopes regarding his registering his cars in West Hartford? We're still waiting! Lopes is/was such a sleaze, I always wondered why Senator DeFronzo keeps him on. The point is, the Democrats are so hypocritical of the opposition, they are blind to the ignorance they have of their own "allies".
Assuming that Timothy Stewart will run for re-election this year, Catanzaro has a snowball's chance in Hell of winning. The comparison is hysterical!!!
ReplyDeleteTHIS GOES TO SHOW YOU JUST HOW DYSFYUNCTIONAL THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF NEW BRITAIN REALY IS, THAT THE BEST THEY CAN COME UP WITH FOR MAYOR IS A SLEAZE LIKE CATZANARO. MY DOG WOULD STAND A BETTER CHANCE OF BECOMING MAYOR.
you can blog all day and night about whatever you want,but the truth remains that out of the 10,000 voters who cast every two
ReplyDeleteyears in new britain,not enough care about what is written about here.November will yield the same
democrat majority on the council
and a defeat for Tim Stewart.
THIS IS HILARIOUSLY FUNNY! ARE THESE THE SAME VOTERS WHO CAST THEIR VOTES EVERY TWO YEARS THAT RE-ELECT TIM STEWART BY A MASSIVE, MASSIVE, MASSIVE LANDSLIDE EACH TIME, OR DID ACORN BUS IN THOUSANDS OF PHONY VOTERS AT THE REQUEST OF PHIL SHERWOOD TO TURN THE ELECTION THROUGH FRAUD? THESE DEMOCRATS ARE THAT OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY, AREN'T THEY?
Frank,
ReplyDeletePlease publish some comments from Ethics Commission members. Rick Guiness did not quote one of them in their 5-0 vote sanctioning the alderman of an ethics violation.
The commission is chaired by Democratic ex-Mayor Bill McNamara.
Why do we still allow the Herald to continually quote Council Democrats only? Where is "fair and balanced"? I hope the new owner will bring journalism back. Maybe the subscriptions will increase when the one party sensationalism BS stops!
Mayor Stewart has not talked to Rick Guiness in over a year.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe that Guiness "quoted" Mayor Stewart regarding a secret Ethics Commission meeting.
I believe the libs are in for a surprise as the new owner is a conservative! Hopefully Phil Sherwood will no longer control the local newspaper, as I can't imagine this new owner giving him the time of day.
ReplyDeleteNovember will yield the same
ReplyDeletedemocrat majority on the council
and a defeat for Tim Stewart.
****Isn't Republican Tim Stewart the most popular vote getting mayor New Britain has ever seen election after election?
I wouldn't be too worried about a Democratic Mayor. If you are, just go to the next council meeting and look around the table at the cream of the Democratic Party and tell me if you see one of those 13 misfits that could even run for dog catcher. There will only be 2 people at the table that resemble some sort of normalcy, but I am sorry to inform you that they are both Republicans.
ReplyDeleteRick Guinness quotes only democrats because they are the only ones who talk with him. WHY? He gets everything wrong and relies on Sherwack to tell him what to write.
ReplyDeleteSince Sherwack came to town as a student some 8 years ago, he has established himself as a professional Democratic operative/agitator, That's his job at CCAG. Now he has been rewarded with another job working for Chris Donovan ("I tried to give Jim Amann a $125K job while most Americans suffer") as a union shill and dirty tricks expert. Greg Gerratana also works at the Capitol along with former Alderman Lopes (Defamed), DeFronzo's aide. Sherwack can be seen working the press corps at all Council meetings and also his cadre of shills.
Ask Sherwack to list one positive (for the taxpayers) piece of legislation he has authored as an alderman since November, 2007. Everything in which he is involved is sleazy and partisan. This generation of Democrats put forward by John McNamara are not the people oriented Democrats of close to two generations ago.
Hopefully the new owner of the Herald is paying attention and will offer his readers in New Britian a more fair and balanced reporting of the news. If all he does is continue this far left liberal lunatic reporting that is controlled one man who only reports what one ulra liberal member of the council allows him to write, then the new onwner might as well have flushed his money down the toilet, because that is the type of reporting that drove away the majority of the readers, and the readers will keep leaving if all he is going to do is offer more of the left wing nonsense.
ReplyDeleteRick Guinness can be reached at rguinness@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 236
ReplyDeleteNot today he can't, today you will have to go to Superior Court in Hartford if you want to find him!
Wouldn't impeachment be in order for the violations that the Ethics Commission just ruled that Catanzaro committed?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great training opportunity for Gregg Gerratana, working at the capitol with Senator DeFronzo's aide, Richard Lopes!! Will Lopes teach Alderman Gerratana how to break into the desks of city hall employees in the wee small hours of the morning to find classified information that the Dems might find detrimental to the Republicans or others they may not agree with?
ReplyDeleteDo you think the mayor peed himself from laughing so hard when he read that the best the Democrats could come up with to challenge him next election is a guy who is in the Clinton's league for scandals?
ReplyDeleteI peed myself when I read this:
ReplyDeletego to the next council meeting and look around the table at the cream of the Democratic Party
does anyone doubt for one minute that if someone like Mayor Stewart, Republican Party Leader Paul Carver, or Alderman Lew Salvio, or any other prominent Republican in town were to be arrested for even the most minor traffic violation (even if the incident occurred on the moon), that that news would not be the headlines in the New Britain Herald for that day with follow-up after follow-up story? If you agree that would be the case, then ask yourself why that very same paper would decline to report the multiple arrests of one of their own prominent figures?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they run Dr. Candelori for mayor? He's as good a candidate as the Dems have come up with so far.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they run Dr. Candelori for mayor? He's as good a candidate as the Dems have come up with so far.
ReplyDeleteHe would bring the experience of running Colonial Realty to the table!!!!!!!!!!!!
To: GOP Guy:
ReplyDeleteThe reason why Guinness doesn't ask for comments from any of the Ethics Commissioners or from GOP members is that Sherwack doesn't allow it. Sherwack writes all of Guinness' stuff and Levy goes along with it. We hope the new owner of The Herald will promote a more fair and balance approach to reporting the "news" by Herald reporters.
Consider any topic on which Guinness has reported: the fence issue, Willow St. Park progress, etc. Guinness lies/misquotes or otherwise turns a simple issue into a slam against Stewart. Because of conflict of interest issue, Cantanzero, Truworthless, Sherwack, Collins, etc., screw up and then guess what? Sherwack tells Guinness to blame it on Stewart and Salvio. Next some dumbo Dem on the Council says the Mayor won't communicate with Dems on the Council. This is BULL. Larry H., Gerratuna, Sherwack and Catanzaro then hatch a plan to petition the Mayor to give them answers. They petition the Mayor for answers and then say his response in "incomplete."
Well, look who the Dems have calling the shots for the Dems on the NB Council: DeFronzo employs Lopes who is bosom buddies with Trueworthless and Sherwack; Hermanowski's daughter is married to Dave DeFronzo; Gerratona'mother works at the Elections Enfocement Commission; Gerratona's mother is Bielinski's sister; Sherwack works for Donovan the Union Hustler; ToniLyn Collins' mother is a union operative and beneficiary of CDBG funds, and the beat goes on.
Small wonder why Guinness is a pariah in City Hall. If you look up "screw up" in the dictionary you see Guiness' picture there. If you look up, Bewildered, you see Eva M., Rocha, Balck, Cruz and Collins photos.
Stay tuned: for the latest Democratic, trouble making fiasco to hit the legitimate press. "Know it all" Gerratuna ("new sheriff in town") has done it again.
To; Anonymous, Re your message:
ReplyDelete.
To: GOP Guy:
Consider any topic on which Guinness has reported:
.
.
I just figured they kept Guinness on the police beat because he has so much personal experience with the criminal justice system.
One Word:::::::
ReplyDeleteResign............
One word for the elite Alderman:
ReplyDeleteResign----------resign.