Conflicts All over the Council floor with every Alderman covering for each other!
In addition to Alderman Catanzaro’s conflicts of interest fiasco not only as the head of the HRA Agency but as a city employee, Shirley Black was/is a NB school crossing guard, Ald. Centeno and wife are employees of NB public schools, Ald. Hermanowski’s daughter is married to Dave DeFronzo a teacher at NB High, Ald. ToniLyn Collins is employed at the New Britain Water Dept. are some of the players.
Additionally, the Majority Leader Alderman Trueworthy’s wife works for HRA and Sherwood’s wife works for AFSCME.
And these councilmen are the ones proposing to pass a new “Ethics Resolution for the city Council and city employees; need I say more?
22 comments:
Check out the members of the Ethics Commission. One man's wife works in Kurtz's office. One thinks because she knows someone that they did nothing wrong!! We need more objective people on that commission.
They are all what we say "The In Crowd". It Pays to be in the in crowd.
This new information leaves one wondering if there is anyone on the city council that isn't there for their own benefit. It seems like it is time for the state or even federal government to look into the seriousness of these flagrant conflicts of interest. If it isn't a violation of any law, then it is time to pass a law that prohibits this kind of conduct by municipal officials.
These council members apparently have some political heroes that they are attempting to emulate:
Governor Rowland
Mayor Ganim
Mayor Giordano
Senator Newton
It seems it is also time we changed the motto on our license plates to read "THE CORRUPTION STATE."
Perhaps we could place that order with some of the politicians listed above, because making license plates is the new vocation for most of them.
I read in today's paper that Catanzaro doen't know what the Hud edict entails.
What doen't the Alderman understand with the word resign.?
To the Torn: With you’re asking are there any council members that have no apparent conflicts.
Yes there are to the best of my knowledge: Alderwomen Eva Magnuszewski, Lori Rocha, Suzanne Bielinski, and Aldermen Louis Salvio, Adam Platosz, Gregory Gerratana, and Mark Bernacki.
sounds like a legitimate question. what else are they selling?
Didn't a bunch of city administrators in New Britain already get arrested for selling jobs once before?
In attendance at last nights council meeting I'm confused. The majority of democrats fell to voting in favor of awarding Jordan's Catering the lease at the
Golf Course. Director of Parks and
Rec, Bill DiMaio spoke again about
the bid process and fielded additional questions from the council. When it came time to vote,Alderman Cantanzaro a Parks and Rec employee voted NO again. My question is, isn't alderman Cantanzaro Mr. DiMaio's
subordinate in his position at
Parks and Rec? and if correct how
many of us in the private sector
could flip off our boss without being fired? This is exactly why the city of New Britain
needs an ethics overhall.
In reply to anonymous’ question regarding the no vote by Alderman Catanzaro to his bosses request that the Golf Course restaurant contract be awarded to Jordan’s Catering be fired.
Well, isn’t that the question that I have been raising with my newspaper articles, for the past four years or so, that it is a conflict to have a city Alderman serving while he or she is a city employee.
How can the boss direct him out of fear of his being fired by the city council if they chose to do so? if this council member is of the majority membership how can his boss go to the council to make the request of layoff?
I have posted how many of the existing members of the City Council have a direct conflict of interest in relationship to their employment and serving on the Council.
The real question is how does a department head fire an alderman for insubordination? And that Alderman knows he can get away with most anything as an employee.
In short, voters beware of who you select to vote for the next time around.
Sincerely,
Frank Smith
Did Alderman Platosh ever find his hot dogs?
I'll bring the mustard!
they're all at their commie convention tonight!
State Rep. Deborah Heinrich said she was stunned when a 74-year-old constituent tried to hand her an envelope with cash during a meeting about condominium law reforms at the Capitol complex Wednesday.
OBVIOUSLY, HEINRICH IS NOT A NEW BRITAIN DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!
Frank,
Nice try in saying that some Democrats on the Council are conflict free.
You conveniently forget that all 12 of them get their trash picked up every week by contracted services via the DPW.
Don't they all vote on DPW matters? Case closed
The only conflict Adam has is to decide what brand of hot dogs to buy!
Here is the definition of ethics in Wikipedia. Much more different than Moral Conduct. They should have a Moral Conduct Commission since they seem to be having the good life.
Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply satisfying, which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct.[1]
New Britain Council Democrats are a sorry lot! Led by professional hater Phil Sherwood, they use their super majority voting power to promote destructive politics. Now they will use their vote to establish "new" ethics regulations supposedly being fashioned by the four "freshmen" council members which, if passed, will kill volunteerism in the city. Sherwood is blind with power and the toadies who go along with him think it helps NB residents. Voters should examine every action Sherwood has introduced - all of them designed to hurt someone or some idea, not help the city. Ethics reform? Sherwood and ethics reform constitute an oxymoron
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The Mayor cannot fire the “goof off” called Catanzaro because he is an Alderman and the Democratic loons called his fellow council members would have a field day attacking the Republican mayor for taking the right steps.
Mr. Mayor, it seems to be common knowledge among the public that this gentleman does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and his supervisors are not able to control him because he is the “untouchable” employee that holds all the power over his supervisors.
When city employees are allowed to tell their bosses what they will and will not do, isn’t there a problem?
It is about time that someone had the testicles to reign in this out of control power monger.
Unfortunately, the buck stops with the mayor.
Here's a challenge for the Mayor and P&R Director, Bill DeMaio: fire Paul Canzaro for mal-, non-, and misfeasance or any other feasance there is! Maybe he will get the picture.
Subject: The Saga of Court Hearings on Municipal Code of Ethics....?
The Government Elections and Administration Committee took a step forward toward eradicating political corruption at the municipal level when it approved a bill that would force all Cities and Towns (like New Britain)to adopt a code of ethics by 2007.
The substitute bill calls for municipalities to establish procedures to investigate allegations of misconduct by its public officials, public employees, and paid consultants.
The state has yet to pass its own contract reform package. The General Assembly has passed legislation toward that end three times, but Governor M. Jodi Rell vetoed all three attempts. State Rep. Christopher Caruso, [D-Bridgeport], said that municipalities, like the state, routinely award multi-million dollar contracts and in most towns there is no process for the public to address the behavior of public officials.
Two Glastonbury residents, Karen Emerick and Dana Evans, know what Rep. Caruso means all too well. They were in Hartford Superior Court filing writs of mandamus to enforce their legal rights. Since 2003, Emerick and Evans have been asking the Glastonbury Ethics Commission to specify how the public may initiate complaints alleging a violation of code, or how the public might request access to the commission's advisory opinions.
They say they have yet to receive an answer, though Karen Emerick says she was told on one occasion, in letter from the ethics commission chairperson, that the commission would not accept complaints directly from the public. Evans said she had wanted information on a code that would allow public officials to represent a developer and others doing business in the town, but was told advisory opinions are not for the public. If it becomes law, the substitute bill approved by the committee today will change that.
After filing and winning numerous state Freedom of Information Commission complaints and non-compliance actions against the Glastonbury Ethics Commission, Emerick and Evans said they felt they had exhausted all other avenues.
After filing the writ, Emerick said there should be a regional ethics commission, so that people on the commission do not hear cases from residents in their own town. She said she would support a statewide ethics code that doesn’t require public officials to disclose the contents of their bank accounts, but they would have to disclose all financial interests in property and list the names of their limited liability companies and private employers.
The substitute House bill that the committee approved prohibits public officials and public employees from representing private interests against the interests of their employer municipality, and closes the loophole in the revolving door policy so public officials can't take jobs with private companies that do business with the town.
Before it can become law, the bill still must be approved by the House, the Senate, and Governor Rell. Susan G. Kniep, former East Hartford mayor and President of The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayers Organization (FCTO) said that every time a public official writes a local ethics code for a town so that in the future he may, as an elected or former official, do business with the town - then the taxpayer again loses his/her shirt.
Without strong ethics laws on a local level, common sense tells you that local elected officials cannot and will not police their own, said Susan Kniep, President FCTO.
Posted by Anonymous to Frank Smith Says NB at December 24, 2008 8:18 PM
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "New Britain City Council Members Conflicts !":
NEW BRITAIN — Democratic alderman Paul Catanzaro will be back before the city Ethics Commission Jan. 21 on the same charge discussed and dismissed by the commission Dec. 1.
Catanzaro, a Parks and Recreation Department employee, had spoken up at a council meeting about landscaping work he thought could be done in-house, by his department, instead of by a contractor hired and paid by the city.
And for that — including Republican suspicions Catanzaro made the suggestion to earn overtime pay — he is being called in on the carpet.
Mayor Timothy Stewart confirmed last month that the ethics panel had met twice over complaints by Salvio because “Paul Catanzaro had been shooting off his mouth about his job” during a previous council meeting.
The commission voted unanimously at a special meeting Dec. 22 to bring Catanzaro back, after clearing him in a 2-1 vote earlier in the month.
Catanzaro would only say that he had retained an attorney for his defense at the coming hearing, although he didn’t do anything wrong.
As to the mayor leaking the substance of what the commission twice considered during closed-door sessions, Catanzaro said, “I was always under the impression that if was in executive session, it wasn’t meant to be leaked … Maybe the mayor didn’t get that memo.”
There is a section in the city’s ordinance concerning the ethics panel — Section 2-465 — that says that “Unless the board makes a finding of a violation, a complaint alleging a violation shall be confidential,” said commission member William Dworski, a retired lawyer.
He would not go so far as to say the mayor had erred by talking about the Catanzaro case, and he would not give a definitive answer as to why the commission was revisiting the complaint.
But he stressed that “Anything we do is aboveboard and proper. There was no arm-twisting or politics involved. We will do our job fairly and honestly without politics or prejudice.”
The concept of double jeopardy — in which you can’t be charged twice for the same crime — would definitely not apply, because this not a criminal proceeding, he said.
Still, several council members expressed disdain and disbelief over the entire affair – the complaint, the dismissal, the second vote on the same complaint and the mayor going public over Catanzaro being the subject of the ethics probe.
“Maybe this time the mayor will get the answer that he wants,” alderman Greg Gerratana said.
There is a word for this kind of thing, he said, and “It’s called fascism.”
“This is a case of blatantly trying to attack a guy who has done nothing but serve the city of New Britain,” Gerratana said.
The mayor should also know better than to be talking about a pending ethics complaint, alderman Larry Hermanowski agreed.
“I think it is pretty cheap,” Hermanowski said. “It never should have been filed in the first place. All Paul wanted to do was save the city money. Why bother him? This is the pettiest charge I’ve ever heard of.”
In a previous interview, Republican alderman Lou Salvio said he thought Catanzaro did wrong by participating in the landscaping discussion, which involved work to be done around the garage at City Hall.
“This is about liberal council members steering work to the union,” he said, adding that when his complaint was dismissed the first time, he protested.
“I said I thought they should look at it again because it came to my attention that some people were confused,” Salvio said. “Catanzaro should not have voted on it.”
But Hermanowski said he suspected Salvio did not act alone when he complained about Catanzaro.
“Stewart’s mouthpiece is Louie,” he said. “Whenever he whispers in Louie’s ear, Louie pops up and starts talking.
At the council meeting when Catanzaro spoke about the landscaping job, alderman Phil Sherwood said he didn’t think there was any conflict of interest unless he started seeing trees in Catanzaro’s yard, and he blasted Salvio for impugning Catanzaro’s integrity by insinuating he would be looking for overtime.
Because Sherwood had stood up for him, Catanzaro said he made it a point to clarify his position on the matter, saying the thought the job could be done cheaper in-house.
When asked if he thought the charges being brought against him were politically motivated, he responded by quoting the old saying, “If it quacks like a duck…”
Rick Guinness can be reached at rguinness@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 236
Posted by Anonymous to Frank Smith Says NB at January 5, 2009 3:38 AM
After Posting our some fiver years ago that Alderman Catanzaro continue to persist as long has he holds his two positions and that is being an Alderman and a city employee.
THAT IS THE CONLICT IN ITS SELF!
January 5, 2009 5:43 AM
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