Friday, May 1, 2009

House Speaker Suspends O'Rourke Indefinitely -- Courant.com


House Speaker Suspends O'Rourke Indefinitely -- Courant.com
Posted by Frank Smith at 1.5.09

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just another scandal plagued Democrat! It is news when you find an honest Democrat!

May 2, 2009 at 12:54 AM
Anonymous said...

The Middletown Press (middletownpress.com), Serving Middletown CT and surrounding areas

News

New action in O’Rourke case: Police allegedly seek arrest warrant
Saturday, May 2, 2009

By JEFF MILL
Press Staff



ROCKY HILL — After months of quiet, the long-simmering investigation into the death of a Rocky Hill woman has suddenly flared anew.

Rocky Hill investigators have reportedly applied for an arrest warrant for State Rep. James A. O‘Rourke.

Media reports said Rocky Hill Police are seeking to charge O’Rourke with criminally negligent homicide.

Lt. John Herbst, the department’s spokesman, did not return a call Friday seeking comment.

O’Rourke represents Cromwell, Portland and a portion of Middletown in the General Assembly.

On the sub-freezing night of Jan. 21, O’Rourke agreed to give a 42-year-old woman a ride home from a Cromwell bar.

The woman, Carol J. Sinisgalli, was found dead in a snow-covered field the next afternoon.

Reportedly, no decision has been made by New Britain State’s Attorney Scott J. Murphy about whether or not to sign the warrant application.

Murphy declined to comment on the issue late Friday afternoon.

However, in the wake of the newspaper story, Rep. Christopher Donovan, the speaker of the house, abruptly suspended O’Rourke from his post as deputy speaker.

In announcing his decision, Donovan said O’Rourke "needs to be able to devote his attention to these personal and legal matters."

"While he does so, he will not be able to adequately carry out the additional responsibilities of deputy speaker during an especially challenging time in the legislature," Donovan added.

Sinisgalli had reportedly been involved in an altercation with a wheelchair-bound bar patron.

She fled the bar while Cromwell Police were en route to the location, O’Leary’s Digger McDuff’s Tavern at 195 Shunpike Road.

According to a statement O’Rourke gave to Rocky Hill Police, Sinisgalli, a state employee, jumped into his car and asked to be taken home.

He also reportedly told police that en route to Rocky Hill, she became combative and began acting out.

O’Rourke said she subsequently jumped out of his car and ran off into the night in the vicinity of where he believed she lived.

Sinisgalli left a pair of sandal-like shoes at the bar, as well as the hood to a coat, according to police.

Late the next afternoon, Sinisgalli was found frozen to death in a waste field; she was shoeless, and was not wearing a coat.

In the hours before Donovan acted to remove O’Rourke from his post as one of six deputy speakers, Christopher Healy, the state Republican chairman, had demanded O’Rourke resign.

Healy coupled his demand that O’Rourke step down with criticism of Donovan.

"Deputy Speaker O’Rourke has continued to enjoy that position despite the charges," Healy said Friday. "The leadership has a tin ear to this. ... The Speaker has downplayed this thing from the start," Healy said.

"The lack of candor and the lack of outrage by people who should be outraged about it is unsettling. It’s time [O’Rourke] think about stepping down," Healy added.

O’Rourke was unavailable for comment on the day’s events.

However, his attorney, Jake Donovan told The Associated Press, "I’m secure in the knowledge that no crime has been committed."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.



URL: http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2009/05/01/news/doc49fbbfce68fdd796393603.prt

© 2009 middletownpress.com, a Journal Register Property

May 2, 2009 at 7:29 AM
Anonymous said...

could it be another elected Democrat headed to prison? Say it isn't so!

May 2, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Anonymous said...

is that photo of O'Rourke, or Robert Gibbs, the presidents press idiot?

May 3, 2009 at 3:12 AM
Anonymous said...

courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-orourke-rightly-suspended.ar.artmay04,0,4212896.story

Courant.com
O'Rourke Rightly Suspended
May 4, 2009

State House Speaker Chris Donovan had little choice but to indefinitely suspend one of his lieutenants, Rep. James O'Rourke.

The Cromwell Democrat figures in the investigation into the January death of Carol Sinisgalli, 41, of Rocky Hill. As of Friday, state prosecutors were still deciding whether to charge Mr. O'Rourke with criminally negligent homicide in the woman's death. The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

Ms. Sinisgalli, a state employee who is said to have known Mr. O'Rourke casually, was found dead of exposure in a snow-covered area of Rocky Hill the morning after getting a ride in the legislator's car. Mr. O'Rourke said Ms. Sinisgalli got into his car uninvited in the parking lot of a Cromwell bar and jumped out when he stopped at a Rocky Hill intersection. He stopped, he said, because she had grabbed at his rear view mirror and garage door opener and knocked his glasses off. He said he did not notice the woman had no shoes on. She also was not wearing a coat.

Mr. O'Rourke has not been arrested, at least not yet. He hasn't been convicted of anything. But the case isn't over. Mr. Donovan was right to suspend him indefinitely as deputy House speaker. "Rep. O'Rourke needs to be able to devote his attention to these personal and legal matters," said the top Democratic leader in the House. "While he does so, he will not be able to adequately carry out the additional responsibilities of deputy speaker during an especially challenging time in the legislature."

We wonder whether Mr. O'Rourke has the time to adequately represent his district. After the incident in January, Mr. O'Rourke seemed uncharacteristically invisible at the Capitol.

State Republican Chairman Chris Healy called upon Mr. O'Rourke to resign from the legislature or publicly explain what happened when he gave Ms. Sinisgalli a ride the night of Jan. 21. Possible partisan motives aside, that's good advice.



Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

May 4, 2009 at 7:51 AM

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