It has been New Britain’s tradition that whenever a member of any board resigns that they are replaced with a member from the same party.
The Republican Party named their choice for the replacement in their requesting that Mr. Jamie Giontonio be the replacement.
The power hungry members of the Democratic Council chose to ignore tradition by their appointing Alderman Sherwood’s puppet: Ms. Leslie Jacobs.
Mayor Timothy Stewart deserves praise for his listening to the parents who spoke loudly against the Sherwood puppet machine by his vetoing the Democrat’s appointment of Ms. Leslie Jacobs.
The Democrats’ claim is that she served on the Board of Education sometime prior, but her record of service there was rather dismal and for the democrats to ignore her adverse past record is derelict at best.
The mayor deserves full support of his veto; however, rumors have it that the power stricken democrats will override the mayor’s veto at their December 10th Council conclave--forcing the unwanted Jacobs appointment onto the Board of Education and ignoring the parent’s wishes to appoint Mr. Giontonio.
I am sure with next year’s election many faces will change on the council if the democrats persist to push their power onto unwanted wishes of our citizens who they are supposed to be serving on the council to represent.
They may ignore the will of the people now, but on Nov 3rd, our voices will be heard loud and clear!
28 comments:
Parents, speak up now! If you care at all about the quality of your child's education, you must act now to stop the Democrats from overriding the mayor's veto and appointing Sherwood's puppet to the Board of Ed. Call the Alderman today and tell them you want them to vote no to any override of Mayor Stewart's veto:
Mayor Pro Tem Suzanne Bielinski
225-5151
Majority Leader Michael Trueworthy
827-8816
Asst Majority Leader Paul Catanzaro
224-4707
Asst Majority Leader Adam Platosz
225-9258
Majority Whip Tonilynn Collins
348-0062
Alderman Shirley Black
826-8244
Alderman Roy Centeneo
223-1852
Alderman Gregory J. Gerratana
826-0723
Alderman Larry Hermanowski
225-9540
Alderman Eva Megnuszewski
805-7131
Alderman Lori A. Rocha
223-6289
Alderman Phil Sherwood
770-6740
If they won't listen to you now, they sure will have to listen to you on election day!
These Democrats are just out of control with power because they think they can do what they want and don't care what the public wants because they think they are untouchable, so what the parents want doesn't matter because you parents mean NOTHING to them!
Everytime you let them get away with something like this, you prove to them that they don't have to listen to the voters, so speak up now and if they ignore you, speak up at election day and show them that your opinion does matter!
What's new? They consider themselves the "untouchables."
I suspect that the Democratic members of the Council believe that all registered Democrats will vote a straight Democratic ticket in the 2009 Municipal election. Don't forget, they voted for a very effective Republican mayor the last 3 elections...they can vote Republican for new council members, as well.
Today's voters are more educated on how to vote..they do NOT have to vote a straight ticket.
I agree with the thorn to call the members of the council to call the Alderman, and ask them to oppose any override to Mayor Stewart's veto.
How appropriate that Phil Sherwood is at the bottom of the list. Where else would you put a bottom feeder!
Concerned citizen makes a great point. The same Democrats that keep re-electing Republican Mayor Tim Stewart by a landslide, can also be pursuaded to vote for Republican Aldermen. All they need is a reason, and that reason very well could be the way they plan to outrageously ignore the overwhelming wishes of the public over this disgraceful appointment. They just might learn a valuable lesson on this one.
Let them appoint that lunatic to the board of ed. That will just help the Republicans sweep into city hall in the next election because they are the party that is trying to do right by the children.
If she had half a brain, she would be ashamed to show her face in public with all the nasty comments people are making about her. It is apparent that she either doesn't care or is totally ignorant to the fact that she is viewed as a laughing stock, brainless puppet servant of Phil Sherwood.
"Council democrats ignore New Britain Tradition"
Frank, time to change party registration. Your arguments are silly silly silly and full of half truths.
It was Tim stewart who ignored tradition when he facilitated the ousting of the democratic town committee nominee for city council rick lopes. He did it fair and square and according to charter. Mayor Won...Lopes got less votes so the democratic choice to fill jamie sullivans seat went to an un-endorsed candidate.
Now the democrats are following his lead.
Stewart broke tradition. Stewart pays the price with getting jacobs.
Welcome to politics mr stewart. you chose a path. Now you must walk it! you lose!
If Mayor Stewart did break from tradition with the Rick Lopes issue, didn't Rick Lopes have
some serious ethical issues pending
if I am correct? Something about going through someones desk and paperwork to gather information and
registering cars outside of NB to save on taxes? If I am wrong please correct me but I thought the
mayor made the decision based on certain circumstances. This is not
the case with Mr. Giantonio. However again the "Dems" are picking a less than qualified person in seeking out Ms. Jacobs.
Mr. Lopes has moved on to working
as an aide to DeFronzo.
Comments by Mr. Anonymous suggestion it’s time for me to change my party registration.
Your arguments are sily, sily, sily and full of half truths.
Then you refer to Mayor Stewarts’ ousting the democratic Town Committee nominee for city council Rick Lopes.
He did fare a square according to the charter. The mayor won.
You continued by stating now the democrats are following his lead. Stewart broke the tradition. Stewart pays the price with getting the Jacobs.
Well Mr. Anonymous your statements are making the rumors truthful that the democratic move is a pay back move against Stewart.
WRONG!
It’s the Children of the school system that are paying back for the democrat’s childish approach in forgetting the needs of the children in order to carry out their vendetta against the Mayor.
Calling me silly is a badge of honor for my sTand against antagonistic smell permeating from the democratic side of the council chamber.
From the many emails I have received from parents of the children with their giving me their support, you as democrats must be reminded, that they may be parents but they also are voters and they will remember you vindictive attitudes that affect the needs of their children.
NO! I will not change party as you suggest! I will continue to point out when the party direction is faltering as it is in carrying out its vendetta!
Also please note that in addition to my comments there are many postings agreeing with my stand and could of those postings have been placed by parents?
The Democratic Leadership must ask why Mayor Stewart won three elections with the higher democratic registration according to the registrar of voters.
Think! Think! Those voters are parents that you are so bent in denying their wishes in order to carry out your so called vendetta!
Sincerely,
Franks smith and remaining a registered democrat
To anonymous who suggested Frank change his affiliation. You are obviously a memeber of the NB Dem's. The "agree with us at all times or hit the road" mentality says it all! Actually i would not be suprised if you were a current member of the coucil; maybe even one of the 3 stooges (Sherwood, Catanzaro, Trueworthy).
The Lopes thing was entirely different. The DTC did nominate Lopes, but there were other dem's on the council that supported Kirejczyk. It was not the mayor, nor the Republican Council memebers, that put his name forward.
The bottom line here is that the council does not care about the children of NB's best interests. They are more concerned with putting a "puppet" on the board. Hopefully the public will remember this when it comes time to vote next year.
Now that I have had time to evaluate the anonymous’ comment that I should change my party registration;
I would like to kindly remind this so called party leader, that I am currently an elected official of the party, and that I plan to serve out the current term in office.
To the anonymous person who says the mayor is going to lose with this crackpot Jacobs, that is not true!
First it is the school children of New Britain who are going to lose, and in the end it is many of the elitist arrogant Democrats on the council who are so blatantly ignoring the wishes of the people and the parents who are going to lose big in November.
To those 12 elitists on the council, remember when you lose your election next year, it was this one stupid move that sealed your fate, so stop listening to Phil Sherwood and listen to the people who put you there in the first place--vote no on overriding the mayor's veto.
given that your heart still works by the time your term is up.
Perhaps if the leaders of the Democratic council would focus more on resolving the conflicts of interest that exist on the council and forget about spending so much time trying to manipulate a Republican appointment and attempting to run the Board of Education by remote control, this city wouldn't have quite as many problems as it has.
The public is watching closely, and the current leadership has clearly taken their eyes off the ball.
Frank: Good for you. Don't let the democratic party intimadate you in any way since that is there best activity they know best.
Frank; The Democrats are just trying to raddle your cage!
Frank, it is true they are trying to rattle your cage, but in the process they are turning thousands of citizens against themselves, so let them rattle away. You don't know what a favor you are doing for the Republican party!
Parents and Grandparents of New Britain School Children:
On November 19th our Mayor, The Honorable Timothy T. Stewart, issued his veto to the resolution passed by the Democratic Council members and his statement is as follows: [ re-print ] :
To the members of the Common Council:
Our forefathers had some lofty and admirable goals when drafting the Constitution of the United States. They envisioned a government where checks and balances among the three branches of government protected our citizens from abuses of power. They tried to build a system of government where legislatures would debate critical issues with civility and respect and those whose views were in the minority could still speak freely and be heard.
If those framers of the Constitution were somehow magically transported here to 2008 New Britain, I believe they would recoil at how far we have strayed from their vision and how petty, bitter and partisan our local government has become. While our City has always had a reputation for hard fought political battles, I believe last week’s Common Council actions hit a new low in political gamesmanship at the expense of good government.
The debate in filing a Board of Education vacancy should be about the needs of New Britain’s school children. But instead of a debate about children, we had a debate where the participants acted like children.
Council Democrats gave no clear reasons for rejecting a father of two young children with a long history of service to New Britain’s youth. Jamie Giantonio, a young professional who stepped up to take time away from his career and family to serve on the Board of Education, certainly deserved a better explanation than the poor excuse from Alderman Sherwood-that he picked the person who called him on the phone rather than Mr. Giantonio who only sent his a letter. This absurdity would be laughable if it were not being carried out at the expense of the education of our City’s children.
No member of the Council majority has denied that filing the vacancy with Leslie Jacobs is retaliation for a previous vacancy appointment and again, no qualifications other than her once having served on the Board of Education were given. During public participation, ten residents spoke on behalf of Mr. Giantonia---none spoke in favor of Miss Jacobs. In fact, several speakers mentioned reasons why her past service on the Board should be the reason NOT to appoint her to fill this vacancy.
In answering questions at Wednesday’s Council meeting, Miss Jacobs did nothing to hide the arrogant, flippant attitude that earned her a reputation as an ineffective member during her earlier time on the Board. I cannot stand by and let this appointment go through without giving the Council the opportunity to rethink this action and put aside partisanship in favor of doing what is right for this community’s children.
State statutes specifically delineate minority representation on school boards in an attempt to achieve that balance of power as envisioned in the Constitution. It is hoped that an almost even split creates a spirit if bipartisanship that allows Board members to concentrate on educational rather than political issues.
With the appointment of Miss Jacobs, the Democratic majority has only violated that spirit of bipartisanship, they have thrown a live partisan grenade into the New Britain Board at a time when resources are low and needs and tensions are high.
I therefore veto Resolution #30383 in the hopes that you reconsider the chilling message you are sending to people in our community: that political power is more important than sound public policy. Consider this appointment as if you own children or grandchildren’s education depended on it---the citizens of New Britain deserve nothing less.
Sincerely,
Timothy T. Stewart
Mayor, city of New Britain
I strongly urge all the parents to call the leadership of the PTO group for their child’s school and ask them to contact the parents of all the children to attend the Council meeting on December 10th in order to support the Mayor’s veto of the Democrat’s choice for appointment to the Board.
Frank Smith
When elected to serve the city in any capacity, those elected must take an oath to serve the City and its citizens according to the provisions in the City Charter and the city’s ordinances. It is also understood that as citizens of the state and our country we must all abide by State and Federal statutes and the U.S. CONSTITUTION. Anyone who needs more than this information about how to behave as an honest member of society should not run for office. Surely, there are times when for whatever reasons people make judgment errors. No amount of special rules written anywhere can erase human errors.
That being said, while I applaud the effort by the “Freshman members...” of the Common Council to erase conflict of interest situations involving city officials from occurring, I believe that adding a whole new set of regulations to city ordinances regarding conflicts of interest is unnecessary especially when these regulations may be redundant with the city’s own regulations and State Statutes.
Since Mayor Stewart was first elected in 2003, Council Democrats have attempted to copy state government structure and regulations into our city ordinances. Efforts to mirror state legislature committee structure, FOI regulations, etc., have largely failed. Why, some are in conflict with our City Charter, some are not compatible with out city government structure or, as already pointed out, are redundant. Most of these actions taken by the Democratic Council Majority are attempts that have been made to usurp Mayoral prerogatives or to micromanage departments, boards, commissions or committees. Many times, important city business has been delayed or obstructed with debilitating results to the City and its residents. Recent examples, all involving conflicts of interest of some kind are: The Stanley Golf Course food service fiasco, the BOE replacement for Mrs. Kraczkowsky and the landscaping contract for the Badolato Garage.
Perhaps two thirds of Council members have conflicts of interest in their duties as elected city officials arising out of: personal, financial, and/or familial relationships. They are aware of these potential conflicts and the consequences for ignoring them. There is no need for a “fresh set of eyes.” Of the violations of laws and conflicts of interest that have been reported over the past five and one half years, “old eyes” have exposed them.
I remind our “freshman” Council members of an old saying, “ be careful what you wish for, you may get it.” Also, be careful that what what you hope to accomplish now doesn’t come back to bite you in the derriere.
the thorn said...
It appears that these Democrats are planning to go down fighting, as I heard today from one of the Aldermen that they don't care what the parents or the people of this city have to say about the Leslie Jacobs appointment, they are planning to ram through her appointment by overriding the mayor's veto without regard for the impact this decision has on our children's welfare and education.
It is clear that this group cares more about partisan politics and pushing their liberal agenda, than they do about our children, otherwise they wouldn't have this flippant attitude about ramming through this appointment and the children be damned.
Since the aldermen are clear that they couldn't care less about the will of the people, you will be left with only one way to be heard, and that is in your decision on who to vote against in November.
December 4, 2008 7:03 PM
The Big Dipper Says: Hoping that the conflict of interest problems with Aldermen Catanzaro & Trueworhty and Adlerwoman Collins are resolved prior to Wednesday's Council meeting of next week or maybe they should not show due to the conflicts.
To the anonymous individuals that are concern with the Mayor’s veto letter not being in the council's agenda.
Since I have printed a re-print of the letter in its entirety it would seem very difficult for the Majority Leader of the Council to remain oblique on this important issue.
Could he be planning to dump Jacobs by writing in a substitute name for the replacement?
It is a thought to ponder with.
Maybe after hearing from 100's of outraged citizens, they are actually going to do what is right and let Leslie Jacobs go down with the Mayor's veto of her?
Any decent person would simply withdraw her name after learning how disliked she is by the general populace.
Posted by new britain town crier to Frank Smith Says NB at December 7, 2008 4:15 PM
+I rceived this for Posting:
When elected to serve the city in any capacity, those elected must take an oath to serve the City and its citizens according to the provisions in the City Charter and the city’s ordinances. It is also understood that as citizens of the state and our country we must all abide by State and Federal statutes and the U.S. CONSTITUTION. Anyone who needs more than this information about how to behave as an honest member of society should not run for office. Surely, there are times when for whatever reasons people make judgment errors. No amount of special rules written anywhere can erase human errors.
That being said, while I applaud the effort by the “Freshman members...” of the Common Council to erase conflict of interest situations involving city officials from occurring, I believe that adding a whole new set of regulations to city ordinances regarding conflicts of interest is unnecessary especially when these regulations may be redundant with the city’s own regulations and State Statutes.
Since Mayor Stewart was first elected in 2003, Council Democrats have attempted to copy state government structure and regulations into our city ordinances. Efforts to mirror state legislature committee structure, FOI regulations, etc., have largely failed. Why, some are in conflict with our City Charter, some are not compatible with out city government structure or, as already pointed out, are redundant. Most of these actions taken by the Democratic Council Majority are attempts that have been made to usurp Mayoral prerogatives or to micromanage departments, boards, commissions or committees. Many times, important city business has been delayed or obstructed with debilitating results to the City and its residents. Recent examples, all involving conflicts of interest of some kind are: The Stanley Golf Course food service fiasco, the BOE replacement for Mrs. Kraczkowsky and the landscaping contract for the Badolato Garage.
Perhaps two thirds of Council members have conflicts of interest in their duties as elected city officials arising out of: personal, financial, and/or familial relationships. They are aware of these potential conflicts and the consequences for ignoring them. There is no need for a “fresh set of eyes.” Of the violations of laws and conflicts of interest that have been reported over the past five and one half years, “old eyes” have exposed them.
I remind our “freshman” Council members of an old saying, “ be careful what you wish for, you may get it.” Also, be careful that what what you hope to accomplish now doesn’t come back to bite you in the derriere.
LOU SALVIO, REPUBLICAN ALDERMAN
--
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to
the music he hears, however measured or far away.” H.D. Thoreau
The Question asked by Anonymous:
Speaking of out of control spending. Several people have in passing informed me that the BOE
offices on West Main Street are privileged to enjoy extravagant
catered lunches on a regular basis.
Who is approving this spending?
The answer is simple:
The Board of Education Board Members so they can eat well prior to their Board of Education meetings.
Jamie Giantonio has left a new comment on your post.
The Council is exercising its judgment and responsibility in accordance with the city charter, according to McNamara.
I find it laughable that Mr McNamara is saying that the council is using judgement and responsibility. How does someone make a responsible decision without weighing both options?
I was NEVER contacted by ANY of the Democratic council members. Not only was I not contacted, but after the last council meeting, I was told by 3 of the council members that I NEVER had a chance and was NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED.
If you are reading this blog, and are unhappy by the way this is going down-
PLEASE, come to the council meeting tomorrow and let them know. 7PM City Hall- Council Chambers.
Posted by Jamie Giantonio to Frank Smith Says NB at December 9, 2008 5:37 AM
" Anonymous said...
Maybe after hearing from 100's of outraged citizens, they are actually going to do what is right and let Leslie Jacobs go down with the Mayor's veto of her?
Any decent person would simply withdraw her name after learning how disliked she is by the general populace.
Posted by new britain town crier to Frank Smith Says NB at December 7, 2008 4:15 PM"
Either Leslie Jacobs is too stupid to know how disliked she is by the general populace, or she is just plain ignorant. I would think her sweetie, Phil Sherwood, would clue her in.
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