In the days prior to the August 10 Democratic primary, gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont was doing his best to imply Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dannel Malloy, until this year Stamford’s long-time mayor, abused his power while in office.
Some of the stuff Lamont dredged up was old news.
Then there was the accusation Malloy never properly reimbursed the city when he used his Stamford vehicle to campaign for governor in 2009.
In response, Malloy’s campaign before the primary told me: “Even though … the City of Stamford does not require its Mayor to account for any personal use of their city car, Dan’s campaign approached the city proactively and worked with the City Controller to make a determination regarding reimbursement which would include wear and tear on the car.”
I had the opportunity to speak with Malloy’s successor, Republican Mayor Michael Pavia, late this week and decided to ask whether he is looking into or intended to look into the charge of vehicle abuse leveled by Lamont.
Sure it’s a politically touchy subject, with Malloy having won the Democratic primary and Pavia being a Republican.
But, particularly during these tough budget times, I figured a responsible new mayor might conclude he or she has to take allegations their immediate predecessor owes the city some scratch seriously, particularly if those allegations are made by a member of the accused’s own political party.
“Let me raise that question (with the city’s fleet manager) and see how far it goes,” Pavia told me, adding he was not too familiar with the details of the vehicle issue.
But I got the sense Pavia was also taking Lamont’s accusation with a grain of salt.
“There are a lot of things that happen during a campaign,” he said.
Pavia has more important things to do than investigating the use of a City car by former Mayor Malloy.
Before any new bond offering is possible, Mayor Pavia must identify who unlawfully authorized a loan of the City’s tax exempt bonds proceeds to a taxable entity for the the construction of Old Town Hall.
Pavia must also identity who, without any authority, loaned bond proceeds to Mill River.
Pavia must disclose how the City’s bond proceeds have been spent.
Pavia must disclose which of the 200 capital projects are a priority. Hopefully, the schools, which are in need of repair, will receive the bulk of any new bond offering.
Pavia must disclose the City’s cash position. Imagine runing your household and not knowing what cash is avaialble to cover expenses. None of the elected Boards ever received a cash statement from this or the prior administration, something that should be done routinely.
If the answers to the above questions are not forthcoming, Pavia should be removed from office.
… “praises”, not “raises” …
Although the mayor of Stamford is a Republican, many of the employees working for the city of Stamford are Democratic political hacks who strongly support Dan Malloy for governor. One of Malloy’s political hacks is Michael A. Scacco, Jr., the city fleet manager mentioned by the Republican mayor above. While the maximum contribution to the exploratory committee for Malloy last year was $375, this city fleet manager actually contributed $419 to his campaign. This city fleet manager also very actively raises Malloy in Facebook. I have no doubt that he will agree with Fred Manfredonia that Malloy’s activities were perfectly appropriate.