cross post from HatCityBLOG

Boughton on avoiding open debates: October 2007

During her closing statements, [Helena] Abrantes challenged Boughton to three debates that would be open to the public and held at night or on weekend when more people could attend.

Boughton said Wednesday that he hasn’t decided on Abrantes challenge but said he would try and see what will fit in his schedule.

“We’ll look at any request.” he said, pointing out that he will attend upcoming candidate forums held by the PTO and volunteer firefighters. “Beyond that, we’ll have to look at the dates and see what we can squeeze in.”

Boughton on avoiding open debates: September 20 2009

As for other debates in the mayoral race, Goncalves said he has agreed to participate in an event sponsored later next month by the League of Women Voters of Danbury.

Boughton, however, said he had not yet received an invitation to the event.

“There are already several events planned for next month,” he said. “Anything beyond that may be difficult to fit into our schedule.”

Boughton on avoiding open debates: September 25 2009

Goncalves said it was “slap in the face to the voters” and a “display of arrogance” when Boughton said last week that he likely couldn’t attend a debate being offered by the League of Women Voters of the Danbury Area.

“As a Danbury resident and taxpayer who was born, raised and educated in Danbury, I consider the mayor’s response that he had not seen the invitation, that his schedule was filling up and that enough other forums were scheduled, totally unacceptable,” Goncalves said during an outdoor press conference.

Goncalves, who made reference to a debate being held next week before the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce at a cost of $45 per person, added that residents have a “right to hear the opposing viewpoints of the candidates in an open and no-cost forum.”

In response Boughton said he only received the invitation to the league debate late last week and he will evaluate whether he can attend the event.

“It’s already late in the (election) cycle and we do have a full schedule of events,” he said. “I also have a responsibility to run the city of Danbury.”

Avoiding open debates is nothing new for Mayor Mark Boughton…just ask 2007 Democratic mayoral candidate Helena Abrantes.

Citing the concerns Gary Goncalves has with the chamber of commerce luncheon/forum (not free to the public, held during a time when most of the public would be unable to attend, etc), throughout her campaign two years ago, several times Abrantes called upon Boughton to agree to an open forum in which the public would have an opportunity to hear the two candidates debate the issues.

Unfortunately, the public never had an opportunity to see the two candidates debate each other in an open forum.

Earlier this week, I caught up with Abrantes and talked to her about the similarities between Boughton’s refusing to open debates with her back in 2007 and his refusal to open debates now.

Cross post from HatCityBLOG

On Friday afternoon, Democratic mayoral candidate Gary Goncalves held a press conference to address Mayor Boughton’s refusal to hold open debates recently proposed by the League of Women Voters (LWV).

As stated in an earlier post, Goncalves announced last week that he’s accepted the LWV’s invitation to a mayoral debate and called upon Boughton to also accept the offer.

Responding in a recent News-Times article, the mayor claimed that fitting a open debate by the LWV would be difficult given his “busy” schedule next month.

As for other debates in the mayoral race, Goncalves said he has agreed to participate in an event sponsored later next month by the League of Women Voters of Danbury.

Boughton, however, said he had not yet received an invitation to the event.

“There are already several events planned for next month,” he said. “Anything beyond that may be difficult to fit into our schedule.”

Noting that the mayor’s comments are reminiscent to the one he gave Helena Abrantes when she made the identical request back in 2007, Goncalves called Boughton’s response “unacceptable” and shows a “display of arrogance and power by the Mayor to the voters and taxpayers of Danbury who have a right to hear the opposing views of the candidates in an open and no-cost forum.”

…the excuses offered by the Mayor were a flagrant slight to the League of Women voters, a storied organization whose trademark is all about fair play in our Democracy, and to the Portuguese Cultural Center, who has offered their facilities to the voters of Danbury free of charge for the debate.

Citing increases in taxes, increase in long term debt, failing grades in some of the school in the area, and the uncertain status of lawsuits against the city, Goncavles further stated that Boughton is giving the impression that he’s afraid to have an open debate regarding issues in the city.

…hmm, I think it’s safe to say that we’re in campaign season now.

After Goncalves gave his formal remarks, he took a wide range of questions from the media in attendance (WLAD, Tribuna, and yours truly).

Here in its entirety, is video footage from Goncalves’ presser at City Hall.

…have they no shame?

While Chris Healy does his usual laughable spin over the anti-Obama feast in Washington this past weekend, (which has been completely debunked), lets take a look back at how the far right fringe disgraced those who perished on 9/11 last week.

For instance, at the anti-Obama feast (a.k.a. tea party) in Bridgeport last Friday, we had this lovely sign on display.

Notwithstanding the fact that the moronic teabaggers who assembled in Bridgeport:

• didn’t seem to think that holding a partisan political rally on the anniversary of 9/11 would be inappropriate,
• didn’t think that re-writing the lyrics to the song New York, New York and making it into an anti-Obama song (complete with a kickline) would be inappropriate on the day that thousands lost their lives in New York,
• failed to take a moment of silence (from their lying and mudslinging) for the victims of September 11th, AND
• didn’t seem to grasp that fact that the bigoted sign might be a slap in the face to 9/11 victims of Islamic faith and their grieving families members,
• feel that yelling of threats at innocent people was okay in their playbook

the mere acknowledgment of the sign by the chairman of the Bridgeport Republican Town Committee, and the response from those in attendance, speaks volumes when it comes to the mindset of today’s GOP.

To add insult to injury, we had this moronic moment of stupidity done in both Hartford and Bridgeport (on a day of remembrance).

You just gotta love the timing when it comes to changing the lyrics to the song New York, New York in order to make a cheap political statement…

Remember, this lapse of common decency was done on a day when eight years ago, the country put partisan rhetoric aside to mourn the loss of 3,000+ people of all walks of life who were tragically killed in a matter of hours.

…have they no shame?

(for a look at other signs displayed last week in Hartford and Bridgeport, click here)

cross post from HatCityBLOG

As you know, yesterday I made the long and difficult trek from Danbury to Bethel to cover that town’s Republican primary. As you know, by the end of the night, Republicans in Bethel made Larry Craybas and Paul Szatowski their choice for the top of the ticket over current First Selectman Robert Burke and Bill Slifkin.

From yesterday, here’s how the official vote count unfolded.

After the total vote count was announced, I turned my attention from reporting on the results to conducting interviews…

First. I talked to First Selectman Robert Burke and Bill Slifkin about their plans for the general election. I also gave primary winners Larry Craybas and Paul Szatowski a chance to give their thoughts regarding their victory.

Since Bethel is facing a three-way race, I questioned Republican Town Committee chairman Paul Improta about the danger of having a split vote among members of his party in the general election.

At the end of the night, I worked out arrangements with the Democrats and was able to interview Democratic First Selectman candidate Matt Knickerbocker and get his thoughts on the upcoming general election.

At the end of the day, although the Republicans in Bethel had their say, we now have a situation where three candidates will make their plea to the general public. If the events leading up to the primary are any indication of things to come, lets just say that the campaign season in Bethel should be interesting (to say the least).

cross post from HatCityBLOG

On this day when we reflect on the tragic events of September 11th 2001, I wanted to share my thoughts on that event which I originally published back in 2007. This write-up has been modified from year to year as I add more of my memories and thoughts of that day to the post.

The City of Danbury’s 9-11 remembrance ceremony will be at the memorial at Elmwood Park at 6 PM.

September 11 2001 is a day I’m sure many residents of Danbury (as well as the nation) will never forget.

I remember that morning like it was yesterday. I woke up, made my usual cup of coffee, walked outside to my porch and saw what must have been the clearest, bluest sky I’ve ever seen. As usual, I was running behind schedule and scrambling to get ready to work but luckily I lived rather close to my job at the time.

While ironing my clothes, I was catching up with the morning news (I think I was flipping back between Good Morning America and the Today Show) and laughing at the thought of my friends goofing on me when I walk into the office late a minute late seeing that I said I would make it in on time the day before.

I can recall that I going for the remote control and was about to press the power button when someone on television broke with the news that “something” hit one of the World Trade Center towers. Now, this happened about a quarter to nine and I didn’t see the tower on TV when I turned it off…I just thought some small single engine plane hit the building or something.

I jumped in my car and while I usually listen to Stern in the morning, I tuned to 1010 WINS to find out about that plane that hit the tower and that’s when I first learned that something serious happened and the second plane at the other tower. By the time I made it to my job, the reality of the situation had already hit me…the country was under attack.

Work came to a complete standstill.

Walking into the office (at the time, I worked for a book publishing company) and everywhere I looked, I saw complete chaos. The internet being completely down (the WTC was a major hub for communications), people were on their cell phones trying to get in touch with friends and loved ones who worked in the city. There was no way to get any information except for the radio (we had no TVs in the building) so people resorted to running outside and getting their news reports from car radios.

I remember the moment hearing that there was a major explosion at the first tower and my heart dropped as I realized that a friend of mine worked at the tower from time to time and none of my friends knew whether or not he was at the WTC on that day…he had a young son and a daughter on the way.

I remember the horrible feeling of emptiness, a dark feeling you get when someone close to you passes away. Everywhere I looked, I only saw people with blank expressions on their faces as many of my co-workers (if not all) knew someone who was working in that section of Manhattan.

By late afternoon, after the other tower collapsed and the day was full of various false alarms (which we didn’t know at the time were false alarms), I remember saying “the hell with this crap”, packing up my things, and leaving work. There was no need to be at the job…most of the publishing industry is located in the section of The City that’s now covered in a cloud of dust.

I couldn’t get any work done…no one could get anything done on that day. My thoughts were on my friend (who I still didn’t know was alive, lost, or dead) his family, and all those people who lost their lives in an instant. Driving around town, you could see that everyone had the same look of shock and disbelief on their faces. It was like, how could such a beautiful day turn into a nightmare?

I pulled over to the first bar I could find (knowing that they two things I needed: a television and beer), and it was there for the first time that I witness with my eyes what I only heard on the radio and it made the situation even worse. The only bright spot of that day was the phone call I received telling me that my friend didn’t have to work in the city on that day but he lost a lot of colleagues who never made it out of the building.

That was a brief look at what I remember the most from that day and to be honest, I don’t even know why I’m writing this for.

Maybe it’s because the memory of that day is fresh in my mind as I watch the memorial service.

Maybe it’s because that moment was a turning point in my life when I decided to get more politically active.

Maybe I just wanted to share my feelings with someone who going through the same emotions right now as we remember those who lost their lives years ago.

Whatever the case, I know in my heart that I’ll always recall that experience on that terrible day on every September 11 for the rest of my life.

My heart will ALWAYS go out to all those who lost a loved on that horrible day in our country’s history. I pray that none of us will never forget and pass on our experience to the next generation who will never know what the beautiful New York skyline looked prior to September 11, 2001.

cross post from HatCityBLOG

Last Wednesday, residents from around the area came together at the Danbury Public Library to express their support for President Obama’s health care reform proposal.

With the crowd sharing their own health care experiences, as well as those from across the country, the MoveOn.org “We Can’t Afford to Wait” vigil placed an emphasis on those who are suffering under the current health care system.

The event was organized locally by Georgiana Rescigno and after the vigil, she shared with me her thoughts on the need for health care reform.

Here are some highlights from last week’s event.

crosspost from HatCityBLOG
You have to be kidding me right…take a look at this remarkable quote.

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“It’s disgusting that the Democrats would stoop to destroy someone’s reputation like this. I’m sure the public will see through it.”

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This silly remark comes from Louise Michael, the Republican candidate for Town Clerk who whining and complaining because she was busted for having tax liens and unpaid sewer and water fees her properties totaling over an amazing 7,000 dollars…dating back to 2007!!!!

So let me get this straight Louise…you’re running for the position of Town Clerk yet you, a) have outstanding unpaid sewer and water fees on your properties going back to AT LEAST 2007, and b) have tax liens on your properties, YET you have the nerve to accuse others for pointing out your asinine failure to pay your debts to the city BEFORE YOU DECIDED TO RUN FOR ELECTED OFFICE??

Exactly how did this person get the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee?

I think the editorial form the Aug 19 edition of the Tribuna said it best.

As so often happens in political campaigns, information never before released suddenly comes to light to reveal the candidates’ “real” background. About two weeks ago, I received an anonymous envelope at the Tribuna newsroom containing documents that pose serious questions about the ability of a Republican contender for a position at City Hall. These documents reveal public records of tax delinquency, which according to the reports, total more than $7,800.00.

It is a fact that the nation is facing severe economic challenges. But I firmly believe that if one’s aspiration is to serve the public, but he or she has allegedly, not fulfilled all tax obligations, then this is not an ideal candidate for the job. Moreover, that candidate, being aware of any delinquencies, risks exposing not only him or herself, but also the party he or she represents, to attacks from the opposing side.

Simply put, the position of Town Clerk is one of the most important elected positions in Danbury which requires great knowledge and responsibility. The Town Clerk ahs to be accountable for the city’s public records and MUST file documents in a timely manner in accordance to state law.

If Michael can’t pay her taxes on time (to the point where she has liens on her property), how ON EARTH can she expect to be an effective Town Clerk?

Better yet, how can her campaign be taken seriously?

Michael’s campaign slogan is “Louise gets the job done!” Well, based on her tax payment history, I think it’s fair to say that her slogan is a tad bit ridiculous.

UPDATE: From records at city hall, here’s Michael’s tax delinquency breakdown (as of 07.27.09).
Click here to download the document (pdf format).