Sounds like we need an inspector general who would have sweeping powers to investigate these type of so-called secret money transfers that are hidden from public view.
Such a position should have the power to pursue civil or even criminal prosecutions for blatant violations of the law, but of course no such position or investigation would ever occur because it would require the Democrats on the city council to authorize an investigation of their fellow Democrats and that would never happen.
Imagine what investigations of the whereabouts of your $500,000 would happen if Mattabassett were led by Republicans?
7/9/93 New York Times: Late last year, William P. Candelori, a former state lawmaker and executive at Colonial, pleaded guilty to Federal tax evasion for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.
Mattabassett District Board of Directors:
William P. Candelori, Ph.D. Chairman, Board of Directors
The $500,000 surplus from the operations portion of the budget should be returned as a credit to the next year and it will lower our sewer bill. Nobody reviews the budget at Mattabassett, they just baloon it up (like the gas stations) and say "pay up" without any explanation. And who put these geniuses there ......... the democratic common council. November is coming closer and its time for a change or we'll all be broke.
NEW BRITAIN — The Common Council has rejected a 41 percent sewer-rate increase and sent the proposal back to the Board of Public Works back to look for more cuts. But the council ultimately might not have a say in what the rate will be.
Alderman Phil Sherwood made the motion to reject the rate and send it back to Public Works, and it passed. No role-call was taken on the vote, but Minority Leader Louis Salvio and Assistant Minority Leader Mark Bernacki were vocal in their opposition.
“Maybe we can get it back to zero — don’t charge a sewer use fee,” Salvio said sarcastically.
Bernacki said the city passed a budget, and now had a responsibility to pay for it.
Sherwood, though, said the council had “a fiduciary responsibility to scrutinize” the proposed increase. The Common Council already sent the increase back once to the Board of Public Works, which then came back with a lower proposal, based on using $300,000 remaining in a fund balance and cutting back on expenses by another $300,000.
“Let’s see what they come up with next time,” Sherwood said.
Assistant Majority Leader Paul Catanzaro agreed, saying New Britain residents could live with a sewer-rate increase, but not one that rased rates from the current $1.76 per hundred cubic feet to the proposed rate of $2.49.
Mayor Timothy Stewart had supported the revised increase — down from the $2.77 first proposed by the Board of Public Works. Stewart said the revised increase would cover the actual costs of running the department.
But Majority Leader Michael Trueworthy and Mayor Pro-Tempore Suzanne Bielinski said the increase was necessitated by $2.5 million taken out of the sewer account and put into the city’s general fund to balance the budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
Corporate Counsel Gennaro Bizzarro said that in the end, the Board of Public Works appears to have legal authority to establish a sewer rate, so the Common Council’s input is limited.
What is missing in the story is that the Common Council appoints the Mattabassett commissioners...the council has rejected any individuals proposed by the Mayor and filled the Mattabassett with their own choices and then tries to lay the blame on the Mayor when sewer rates increase...this is one of the few areas the Council can make appointments without the Mayor's input or approval due to State Statutes...and they can appoint all members of their own party without considering members of the minority party.
...and since the New Britain appointees are the majority of the Mattabassett Board, that means that the Democrats on the City Council are directly and solely responsible for the mismanagement at the plant and the out of control spending that is causing the rates to skyrocket.
Frank -- Too bad you are still not a director at Mattabassett so that many more thousands of tax dollars can be wasted on legal costs from your false complaints and imagination.
Read what the New London Day recently had to say about Chairman Candelori:
Foxwoods Casino Chair: bribes and a "laundry list of convicted felons" for associates Submitted by HelenGym on Sun, 04/12/2009 - 6:26pm. The Day
In case you were wondering how much seedier the dealings with casinos in Philadelphia could get, consider the latest news about Foxwoods chair Michael Thomas.
Apparently Thomas knows quite a bit about running up a debt - he's being sued by Sovereign Bank for $6.5 million owed to them from a line of credit Thomas (in a countersuit) claims was initially offered to him as a bribe.
In a twist, Thomas claims that "since the loan was made 'against public policy' and with the intent to 'violate the law,'the loan documents are void, the argument goes, and therefore Thomas cannot be compelled to pay the money back."
Nice.
But as the case unveils in Superior Court, there's a lot more than just an eyebrow-raising countersuit. Consider this:
According to Sovereign, the investors with an interest in that property include some of the principal characters in the collapse of Colonial Realty in the 1990s, Connecticut's own Madoff-style Ponzi scheme in which local investors lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Among those with an interest in the Groton property that was put up to secure Thomas' loan, the bank said in court papers, are Jonathan Googel, a Colonial founder who pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud, bank fraud and tax fraud; Kevin Sisti, the son of another Colonial founder, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge for taking loan proceeds for his father, and William P. Candelori, a former state lawmaker and Colonial executive, who pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion.
These and others have all been named in new complaints filed in Sovereign's suit against Thomas, which is drawing defendants and their lawyers like cloud banks to a gathering storm.
“It's a laundry list of convicted felons,” one person familiar with the case said of the growing list of defendants.
That includes Thomas himself, who was convicted as a young man on drug-dealing charges in Rhode Island.
Helping Thomas with advice about the Sovereign loan and other personal business matters, according to people familiar with the Sovereign case, is none other than Daniel Gordon, one of eastern Connecticut's most notorious white-collar criminals.
In a case that prosecutors called astonishing for its sophistication and brazenness, Gordon, a Norwich native, was accused of embezzling $43 million from Merrill Lynch when he was a top energy trader for the firm.
As columnist David Collins muses:
I wonder what gaming regulators in Pennsylvania will think of all of this, bribes and criminal associations, when Thomas' gaming license, part of the tribe's pursuit of a share in a Philadelphia casino, comes up for its annual review for renewal.
Frank: don't pay any attention to the jerk accusing you of spending tax dollars for legal fees. It's common knowledge that if you ask for public information and they beat around the bush, then your only recourse is FOI commission. Imagine granting a public employee his request to borrow 45 sick days by polling the commisssioners by phone. no discussion, no questions, etc. after all the employee is going to it back and its only going to take 7 1/2 years. what private employer would do that ? come on, step up.
Sounds like we need an inspector general who would have sweeping powers to investigate these type of so-called secret money transfers that are hidden from public view.
ReplyDeleteSuch a position should have the power to pursue civil or even criminal prosecutions for blatant violations of the law, but of course no such position or investigation would ever occur because it would require the Democrats on the city council to authorize an investigation of their fellow Democrats and that would never happen.
Imagine what investigations of the whereabouts of your $500,000 would happen if Mattabassett were led by Republicans?
7/9/93 New York Times:
ReplyDeleteLate last year, William P. Candelori, a former state lawmaker and executive at Colonial, pleaded guilty to Federal tax evasion for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.
Mattabassett District Board of Directors:
William P. Candelori, Ph.D.
Chairman, Board of Directors
The $500,000 surplus from the operations portion of the budget should be returned as a credit to the next year and it will lower our sewer bill. Nobody reviews the budget at Mattabassett, they just baloon it up (like the gas stations) and say "pay up" without any explanation. And who put these geniuses there ......... the democratic common council. November is coming closer and its time for a change or we'll all be broke.
ReplyDeleteWednesday, July 8, 2009 10:15 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteBy RALPH HOHMAN
STAFF WRITER
NEW BRITAIN — The Common Council has rejected a 41 percent sewer-rate increase and sent the proposal back to the Board of Public Works back to look for more cuts. But the council ultimately might not have a say in what the rate will be.
Alderman Phil Sherwood made the motion to reject the rate and send it back to Public Works, and it passed. No role-call was taken on the vote, but Minority Leader Louis Salvio and Assistant Minority Leader Mark Bernacki were vocal in their opposition.
“Maybe we can get it back to zero — don’t charge a sewer use fee,” Salvio said sarcastically.
Bernacki said the city passed a budget, and now had a responsibility to pay for it.
Sherwood, though, said the council had “a fiduciary responsibility to scrutinize” the proposed increase. The Common Council already sent the increase back once to the Board of Public Works, which then came back with a lower proposal, based on using $300,000 remaining in a fund balance and cutting back on expenses by another $300,000.
“Let’s see what they come up with next time,” Sherwood said.
Assistant Majority Leader Paul Catanzaro agreed, saying New Britain residents could live with a sewer-rate increase, but not one that rased rates from the current $1.76 per hundred cubic feet to the proposed rate of $2.49.
Mayor Timothy Stewart had supported the revised increase — down from the $2.77 first proposed by the Board of Public Works. Stewart said the revised increase would cover the actual costs of running the department.
But Majority Leader Michael Trueworthy and Mayor Pro-Tempore Suzanne Bielinski said the increase was necessitated by $2.5 million taken out of the sewer account and put into the city’s general fund to balance the budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
Corporate Counsel Gennaro Bizzarro said that in the end, the Board of Public Works appears to have legal authority to establish a sewer rate, so the Common Council’s input is limited.
URL: http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2009/07/08/news/doc4a55526c78d9e851821688.prt
© 2009 newbritainherald.com, a Journal Register Property
What is missing in the story is that the Common Council appoints the Mattabassett commissioners...the council has rejected any individuals proposed by the Mayor and filled the Mattabassett with their own choices and then tries to lay the blame on the Mayor when sewer rates increase...this is one of the few areas the Council can make appointments without the Mayor's input or approval due to State Statutes...and they can appoint all members of their own party without considering members of the minority party.
ReplyDelete...and since the New Britain appointees are the majority of the Mattabassett Board, that means that the Democrats on the City Council are directly and solely responsible for the mismanagement at the plant and the out of control spending that is causing the rates to skyrocket.
ReplyDeleteFrank -- Too bad you are still not a director at Mattabassett so that many more thousands of tax dollars can be wasted on legal costs from your false complaints and imagination.
ReplyDeleteThe cost you refer to was nullified through colonial reality style testimony to the point of fabrications.
ReplyDeleteRead what the New London Day recently had to say about Chairman Candelori:
ReplyDeleteFoxwoods Casino Chair: bribes and a "laundry list of convicted felons" for associates
Submitted by HelenGym on Sun, 04/12/2009 - 6:26pm.
The Day
In case you were wondering how much seedier the dealings with casinos in Philadelphia could get, consider the latest news about Foxwoods chair Michael Thomas.
Apparently Thomas knows quite a bit about running up a debt - he's being sued by Sovereign Bank for $6.5 million owed to them from a line of credit Thomas (in a countersuit) claims was initially offered to him as a bribe.
In a twist, Thomas claims that "since the loan was made 'against public policy' and with the intent to 'violate the law,'the loan documents are void, the argument goes, and therefore Thomas cannot be compelled to pay the money back."
Nice.
But as the case unveils in Superior Court, there's a lot more than just an eyebrow-raising countersuit. Consider this:
According to Sovereign, the investors with an interest in that property include some of the principal characters in the collapse of Colonial Realty in the 1990s, Connecticut's own Madoff-style Ponzi scheme in which local investors lost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Among those with an interest in the Groton property that was put up to secure Thomas' loan, the bank said in court papers, are Jonathan Googel, a Colonial founder who pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud, bank fraud and tax fraud; Kevin Sisti, the son of another Colonial founder, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge for taking loan proceeds for his father, and William P. Candelori, a former state lawmaker and Colonial executive, who pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion.
These and others have all been named in new complaints filed in Sovereign's suit against Thomas, which is drawing defendants and their lawyers like cloud banks to a gathering storm.
“It's a laundry list of convicted felons,” one person familiar with the case said of the growing list of defendants.
That includes Thomas himself, who was convicted as a young man on drug-dealing charges in Rhode Island.
Helping Thomas with advice about the Sovereign loan and other personal business matters, according to people familiar with the Sovereign case, is none other than Daniel Gordon, one of eastern Connecticut's most notorious white-collar criminals.
In a case that prosecutors called astonishing for its sophistication and brazenness, Gordon, a Norwich native, was accused of embezzling $43 million from Merrill Lynch when he was a top energy trader for the firm.
As columnist David Collins muses:
I wonder what gaming regulators in Pennsylvania will think of all of this, bribes and criminal associations, when Thomas' gaming license, part of the tribe's pursuit of a share in a Philadelphia casino, comes up for its annual review for renewal.
Frank: don't pay any attention to the jerk accusing you of spending tax dollars for legal fees. It's common knowledge that if you ask for public information and they beat around the bush, then your only recourse is FOI commission.
ReplyDeleteImagine granting a public employee his request to borrow 45 sick days by polling the commisssioners by phone. no discussion, no questions, etc.
after all the employee is going to it back and its only going to take 7 1/2 years. what private employer would do that ? come on, step up.