East Haven Politics

Town Hall Taco Delivery

2012-01-26T15:26:00.002-05:00

Here is the video from the delivery of tacos to Town Hall today.

BOE Finance Sub-Committee Mtg at 6PM

2012-01-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

The BOE's Finance sub-committee is meeting at the HS tonight at 6PM. There will be discussion of the 2012-13 proposed budget. I hear the auditors may attend to discuss the $657K that was not spent and how that affects this year's budget.

What Happens When (if?) the Mayor Resigns

2012-01-26T07:06:00.000-05:00

With the continuing firestorm surrounding the Mayor's taco comments there is the possibility that he will have to resign. If he does, who takes over? The rules for replacing a mayor who resigns are detailed in Chapter 3 Section 2 of the Town Charter.

The Chairperson of the Town Council, Rich Anania, takes over as temporary mayor for a period not to exceed 30 days. During that 30 days the Town Council will have to elect, from the members of the Town Council, a permanent replacement for the Mayor. If the Town Council cannot agree on a replacement within 30 days then a special election must be held within 90 days to select a replacement.

The backroom wheeling and dealing when, or if, Maturo has to resign will be incredible. For someone covering politics in East Haven it will give me material for an unending stream of blog posts and TV reports.

Resignation?

2012-01-25T17:41:00.000-05:00

The Taco turmoil is reaching far and wide tonight as media outlets around the United States and the world are picking up on the story. Locally a Facebook group has been formed to call for Mayor Maturo's resignation, a local Republican has called for Maturo to step down, Democratic Town Chairman has demanded Maturo's resignation, and state and local politicians have taken the Mayor to task for his comment. These included statements from:

Governor Malloy:
"The comments by East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo are repugnant. They represent either a horrible lack of judgment or worse, an underlying insensitivity to our Latino community that is unacceptable. Being tired is no excuse. He owes an apology to the community, and more importantly, he needs to show what he's going to do to repair the damage he's done. And he needs to do it today."

Representative James Albis:
"Mayor Maturo's comment was highly inappropriate." The question of resignation was "ultimately up to the Mayor."

Senator Len Fasano:
"I don't believe Mayor Joe Maturo should resign. And I know that Mayor Maturo knows miss-spoke yesterday and regrets what he said. But I do believe he needs to unequivocally apologize for his unfortunate comments."

Dan McCann published a full statement on his blog calling for Mayor Maturo's resignation.

The Hartford Courant published an editorial entitled "The Mayor Is An Idiot".

East Haven on TV

2012-01-25T17:06:00.000-05:00

It will surprise no one that East Haven will make the TV news tonight. I just came from Town Hall and took these pictures of the TV trucks lined up on Main Street and in the Town Hall parking lot.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

2012-01-24T20:43:00.001-05:00

Mayor Maturo, who wasn't having a good day to begin with decided to make it oh so much worse this evening. While being interviewed by a reporter from WPIX in NY he was asked "what he was going to do for Latinos?" In a response he would prefer to have never uttered said, "I might have tacos when I go home." He later said he thought the remark might have been "a little insensitive." Ya think?

Check out the video here:
http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-conn-officers-arrested-mayor-reax,0,2435685.story

and some additional footage here:
http://www.wpix.com/videobeta/?watchId=c7142d48-0ff9-44ba-8fac-701272b56097

And just google maturo and tacos for more stories on this from around the United States.

Update on indictments

2012-01-24T18:48:00.000-05:00

After reading through the indictments again, I see there are references to intimidation of Police Commissioners. One involved the actions at the November 17, 2011 meeting and the other was the subject of the December 5, 2011 meeting. To make it easier for the readers to find these videos I am re-posting the videos here.

November 17, 2011 Police Commission meeting

December 5, 2011 Police Commission meeting
Discussion of order of Chief Gallo barring Commissioners from EHPD property

DOJ Press Conference

2012-01-24T10:59:00.003-05:00

Watch it live on Fox:

http://www.ctnow.com/videogallery/64232118/live/Fox-CT-News-Live-Stream

Watch it live on WTNH:

http://www.wtnh.com/subindex/video/watch_us_live

4 Arrested in EHPD Probe

2012-01-24T08:02:00.002-05:00

See Mark Zaretsky's article on the NH Register site. I'm sure there will be more news coming. Four officers arrested by the FBI this morning. Cari, Spaulding, Sgt. John Miller, and Jason Zullo. No charges available at this time.

Here is the indictment from the NH Register site:

MILLER, Et Al Indictment

If I am not mistaken, they mention a "co-conspirator-1" which can only be Gallo. From page 11 of the indictment it says co-conspirator-1 "ordered all EHPD personnel not to permit Police Commissioners on the premises of the EHPD station without his prior approval".

EH News 1/14/2012

2012-01-24T00:11:00.000-05:00

Marilyn and I taped this show over a week ago. It is now on ETV and here online. We discuss BOE issues and the Town Council and PZC meetings held earlier in the month. Enjoy the show.

Snowstorm - Roads Horrible

2012-01-21T12:57:00.001-05:00

I just got back from a short drive. The roads are horrible! If you can stay off the roads. I only saw 1 town plow and 2 BOE plows out in my short drive. The roads are extremely dangerous. Even Main Street is a mess.

I went driving around the center on Sunday morning to take some pictures. The roads, while better than yesterday, are not in great shape. So take it easy today until the ice and snow melt some more. Until then, here are some pics I snapped while out.

BOE Curr. Subcommittee Highlight Reel

2012-01-21T08:19:00.000-05:00

I know wading through 2 hours of a BOE Curriculum Subcommittee can be tedious. To save you time I have boiled the 2+ hour meeting into a 15 minute highlight reel.

BOE Curriculum Subcommittee 1/17/2012

2012-01-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night the BOE Curriculum subcommittee met to discuss the CMT scores for grades 3-5. The subcommittee chairman, Chuck Scalese, had examined the CMT scores over the last several weeks and decided that they were very bad. I could have saved him some time since I had already looked at those numbers and decided the same thing months ago. But a lot of folks don't believe it until they look for themselves. Better late than never to the party I always say.

The rest of the BOE in attendance was also appalled by the disaster that are the CMT scores and vigorously pointed this out to the audience (that would be me) and the administrators present. I'll have more on this meeting this weekend. For now, enjoy the video. I broke the meeting up into 3 segments of approximately 40 minutes each.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Police Comm. Spec. Mtg. 1/18/2012

2012-01-17T14:01:00.002-05:00

Here is the agenda for the Board of Police Commission's Special meeting on Wednesday:

HONORABLE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONER’S AGENDA
Special Meeting on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 7:00 PM
At the East Haven Senior Center, 91 Taylor Avenue, East Haven

Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance/Moment of Silence

New Business:
1. Discussion/Possible Action regarding the promotion of Lieutenant at the
East Haven Police Department.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fred Brow
Chairman, Board of Police Commission

BOE Subcommittees on Tuesday

2012-01-14T07:23:00.000-05:00

The BOE is having a joint Curriculum and Finance subcommittee meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 in the boardroom at EHHS. The Curriculum subcommittee will focus on the CMT Scores for Grades 3-5 and the Finance subcommittee will work on the proposed 2012-13 budget.

I may be wrong but I believe I smell the pungent odor of whitewash emanating from the Curriculum subcommittee. The BOE and the Administration teaming up to hide under a cloak of obfuscation just how horrible the scores are.

BOE Budget Proposal

2012-01-10T22:02:00.004-05:00

The Superintendent presented his budget proposal for the 2012-13 fiscal year tonight. He is requesting a 5.5% or $2.435 million in additional spending. The budget documents are located here on the BOE website.

Here is the budget presentation:

The Finance Subcommittee meeting:

I am going to post the rest of the BOE meeting here as I upload it. That was a VERY long meeting so it might take a couple of days.

BOE Meeting Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3 (and final):

2010-11 Audit

2012-01-10T17:17:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make sure this got posted before I went to the BOE meeting in a few minutes. Here is the 2010-11 Audit. Enjoy the light reading. More to follow once I've had a chance to look through it.

BOE Misses Budget - Underspends by $600K

2012-01-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

My co-host, Marilyn Vitale, has learned that the BOE underspent their budget by, at least, $600,000 in the 2010-11 fiscal year. Such a colossal undershot of their expenditures would be a boon for Mayor Maturo's next budget since the $600K would revert to the Town coffers. Combine that with the anticipated surplus Mayor Capone left and it means that the fiscal situation is not nearly as bad as has been reported. I'll be digging up the actual numbers as I get the time. It should be interesting to see who's head rolls over this flub.

Planning & Zoning - 1/4/2012 Video

2012-01-05T07:27:00.000-05:00

It was a pretty quiet night at the PZC last night once a squabble over the start time for the regular meeting was resolved. Once the meeting got underway at 7:30 the PZC approved the site plan for the storage facility at 395 Short Beach Road.

Planning & Zoning - 1/4/2012

2012-01-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

The public hearings for the PZC scheduled for 1/4/2012 (tonight) are being tabled. The regular PZC meeting will occur at 7:30PM, as scheduled.

Town Council 1/3/2012

2012-01-03T22:58:00.000-05:00

The Town Council met tonight to deliberate over a couple of items. One thing they did not manage to get approved were the minutes from the last Town Council meeting. There were some issues with the description of the Republican caucus and the motion so the approval was tabled. The other item of interest was the recommendation of the Board of Finance to move $30,000 from the contingency account to pay the water bill. The discussion of the splash pad and water usage was sharp and drew some public comment.

Police Comm. 12/27/2011 Video

2011-12-27T21:42:00.002-05:00

Here is the video from tonight's Police Commission meeting. Rather tame considering the recent events.

Police Comm. 12/27/2011 Agenda

2011-12-23T18:31:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has a happy holiday. After the celebrations our Police Commission will be meeting for their December Regular Meeting on Tuesday night. The meeting will be Tuesday night at 7PM at the Senior Center. The agenda can be found here. One interesting item springs from the attempt of Chief Gallo to bar the Commissioners from the EHPD property on North High Street. This is an interesting item on the agenda:

2. Discussion/Possible Action--- Concerning the Filing of Appropriate Complaint/Legal Action Arising Out of Retaliatory Acts Committed Against Members of the Board of Police Commissioners

I could be wrong but it seems like the Police Commission is going to be authorizing their attorney, Patty Cofrancesco, to file a lawsuit against Chief Gallo.

Dept. of Justice Investigation

2011-12-19T16:37:00.000-05:00

The civil side of the Department of Justice ("DOJ") investigation was unveiled by the federal government today at a press conference in New Haven. You will find plenty of other media giving the background and opinion about the report. I will stick to the political fallout of which very little is knowable at this point. If you get the time, read the report.

EH News 12/15/2011

2011-12-17T17:59:00.002-05:00

Marilyn and I taped the last show for the year this week. Since so much has happened since the last taping this one runs a little longer than I like. We discuss the last 2 Police Commission meetings, the BOE, the Town Council and there are interviews with the Town Attorney, the Town Clerk and the new Chairman of the Town Council.

Police Commission 12/14/2011

2011-12-14T20:05:00.000-05:00

The Police Commission held a Special Meeting tonight to approve a new policy regarding access to EHPD HQ.It was a very fast meeting but they still could not beat their all-time fastest meeting when they put Chief Gallo on administrative leave. Nonetheless this meeting only lasted a little over 3 minutes and that includes the Pledge of Allegiance.

EH News 12/5/2011

2011-12-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

Marilyn and I went into the studio earlier this week to record the latest edition of EH News. Enjoy the show and look for one more edition before year end.

Town Council 12/6/2011

2011-12-07T06:59:00.000-05:00

The new Town Council met Tuesday night for the 1st time since the election. The meeting was mostly about reorganizing the Council by electing permanent Chairman, Vice-Chairman and appointing a Clerk for the Town Council. Mayor Maturo presided over the Council until Rich Anania was elected. Anania's election came after a 15 minute Republican caucus attended by all the Republican members of the Council plus Mayor Maturo, Attorney Zullo and Art DeSorbo. It seems to me that the arm twisting they needed to come up with a consensus candidate for Chairman should have been done before last night.

Police Commission 12/5/2011

2011-12-05T22:47:00.000-05:00

The Police Commission had a Special Meeting Monday night at the Beach House. It appeared to be have all hallmarks of a boring meeting. The Commission was just carrying over the agenda from last week's meeting that was cancelled due to a lack of a quorum. Monday night, however, was anything but boring. First the Commissioners read a letter from Chief Gallo banishing the Commissioners from EHPD property without his consent. The Chief also forbade employees of the department from discussing anything having to do with the police matters with the Commissioners. Then a letter from the US Attorney handling the litigation was read warning the Maturo Administration from engaging in retaliation against anyone who gave information concerning the ongoing Federal investigation. The Commission thought the Chief's letter crossed the line into possible obstruction of justice.

Just when I thought the night was winding down the Commission decided they needed their own attorney since the Town Attorney had, what they feel is, a conflict. So the Commssion voted to retain Attorney Patty Cofrancesco as their attorney in this matter.

This is a video worth watching. Due to a short error at the beginning of the video there is no sound until I remembered to turn on the mic. The silence only lasts for a few seconds into the meeting itself. Enjoy and remember, in East Haven nothing is dull with our local pols.

Hawk Hunting Breakfast

2011-11-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

We take a short break from politics to segue into nature. My front yard seems to be a hunting place for hawks. This morning there was a big one perching in the tree right outside my office window. There is another, larger, tree in my front yard that we jokingly call the "Bird Condo" since it has so many sparrows living in it. The hawk seems to have realized this and decided to try and do breakfast in the front yard. Check out the talons on that hawk. I think he could have carried off the neighborhood cats without any problem. The last picture is the best.

EH News 11/14/2011

2011-11-18T05:35:00.000-05:00

Marilyn Vitale went into the studio on Monday to tape the latest edition of EH News. We talked about the elections, what happens with the BoE and PZC. James Albis came on as a guest to talk about his first term as state representative.

Police Commission - 11/17/2011

2011-11-17T19:55:00.001-05:00

The repeatedly scheduled and cancelled meeting of the Police Commission happened tonight at the Senior Center. The meeting was as short as it was contentious. From the looks of it every off-duty office on the department showed up to give support to Sgt. Miller. The meeting was held over the shouts of the audience and the meeting lasted just over 4 minutes.

Bd. of Police Commission - 11/17/2011 Back On

2011-11-16T12:03:00.004-05:00

If you are starting to get confused, join the club. It looks like the original meeting scheduled for Hagaman was cancelled in order to post a new meeting notice for the Senior Center. So it looks like the Police Commission meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night at the Senior Center at 7PM. I will check with Town Hall tomorrow just to make sure.

Never mind. It has been cancelled:

CANCELLATION OF MEETING

A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE HONORABLE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSION
SCHEDULED FOR 7:00 P.M. NOVEMBER 17, 2001 AT THE HAGAMAN LIBRARY,
227 MAIN STREET, EAST HAVEN, CT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED

VIRGINIA WILLIAMS
SECRETARY

Here is the agenda for the meeting on Thursday night:

HONORABLE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSION
SPECIAL MEETING
NOVEMBER 17, 2011
HAGAMAN LIBRARY- COMMUNITY ROOM
227 MAIN STREET, EAST HAVEN, CT
AT 7:00 P.M.

Roll Call:

Motion that Acting Chief Gaetano J. Nappi return the following internal affairs investigations to the
Honorable Board of Police Commission for action at a later time:

1. IA 2011-09
2. IA 2011-10

Respectfully Submitted

Virginia Williams
Secretary

Election 2011 Recount

2011-11-12T19:25:00.000-05:00

What a long day this has been. The recount started around 10AM and ended just before 6PM. Joe Maturo won by a final total of 4,025 to 3991. The Board of Finance ends up 4-2 in favor of the Republicans.

There is not much good video of the actual recount as it was happening due to a ruling by the Registrars of Voters, Head Moderator and Town Clerk that blocked video cameras from being placed in a reasonable location. Originally I had used my hand held camera, like I have done at just about every major Board and Commission meeting for 4 years, to video the recounting from close range. However, at 11:15AM I was informed by the police officer on duty that I had to set up in bad location which inhibited me from seeing or hearing anything of substance. The officer informed me that was the decision of the Registrars. This decision was made in clear violation of a Freedom of Information ruling about camera placements that can be found here. One has to wonder what the Registrars wanted to hide from the camera. I will be filing a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission this week. When town officials take it upon themselves to limit the reasonable access of the public it diminishes peoples' trust in the integrity of the process and nothing is more important than making sure the votes are counted correctly. This the Registrars, Head Moderator and Town Clerk failed miserably at today.

Election 2011 Results - WTF???

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here (page1, page2, page3) are the sheets from the Town Clerk's office with a breakdown of votes by district. Here are the official sheets sent to the Connecticut Secretary of State on election night. The sheets sent to the SOTS on election night are on 8 1/2" by 17" so my scanner cut off the bottom of the first page. I'll leave to another time why the state has not joined the rest of the world in the 21st century yet.

Look at page 3 of the Town Clerk's pages for the Board of Finance and compare with the Board of Finance numbers (on page 3 of the pdf) for the results sent to the SOTS. The little x's on the sheets sent to the SOTS were added by me to denote the losers. Notice that the Republican candidate, Marline Asid, magically went from 3207 votes on election night to 3217 votes yesterday. With 3207 she is loses the election. With 3217 votes she wins. Was there a recount yesterday for the Board of Finance and I missed it?

Recount Procedures

2011-11-10T09:44:00.001-05:00

Here are the recount procedures from the Registrars' office. These procedures will be used in Saturday's recount. The recount will be held at 10AM on Saturday at the Senior Center. With any luck we will get it right the first time this year. I'll be at the recount to do some video and will post more on the blog when I hear it.

Election 2011 Results Recount

2011-11-08T20:18:00.004-05:00

Those of you wishing to make fun of my electoral prognostication skills feel free to do so when you see me around town. My 500 vote estimate for an April win was woefully wide of the mark. The final total, subject to recount, was

April Capone 3,994
Joe Maturo 4,025

Here is the spreadsheet with the final results from the forms sent to the Secretary of States office this evening.

Election 2011 Turnout 7PM

2011-11-08T19:13:00.000-05:00

The last turnout numbers for the day are here. I will not be posting the final turnout numbers for 8PM since I will be down at District 2 getting the results at 8PM. I will post those numbers when I get them. Here are the 7PM turnout numbers. They continue to show a 8-9% turnout deficit compared to the 2009 election.

District	2009	2011	Delta
1S	125	122	-3
1	1463	1386	-77
2	1677	1565	-112
3	1603	1393	-210
4	1514	1371	-143
5	1555	1384	-171
5S	78	74	-4
	8015	7295	-720

Election 2011 Turnout 6PM

2011-11-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

and the 6PM numbers are:

District	2009	2011	Delta
1S	125	118	-7
1	1299	1204	-95
2	1527	1420	-107
3	1458	1306	-152
4	1396	1242	-154
5	1408	1286	-122
5S	78	69	-9
	7291	6645	-646

Election 2011 Turnout 5PM

2011-11-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

Here is the latest figures with the difference between the turnout in 2009 election and today's turnout.

District	2009	2011	Delta
1S	117	110	-7
1	1128	1062	-66
2	1340	1242	-98
3	1247	1116	-131
4	1229	1105	-124
5	1204	1118	-86
5S	78	64	-14
	6343	5817	-526

District 4 is slowly building up a turnout deficit which is nearly as high as district 3's deficit. District 5 and 5S are at 100 less while District 2 is nearly as bad off at a 98 deficit. The race could be tightening as the day comes to a close. With District 2 still leading in total votes cast it is still a likely win for the Mayor since that always been her strongest district.

Election 2011 Turnout 4PM

2011-11-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

The 4PM numbers show a steady deterioration in turnout from the last election. At 4PM in the 2009 election there were 5,634 votes cast. Today there were only 5,156 votes cast by the 4PM reading.

District	2009	2011
1S	111	104
1	993	915
2	1195	1107
3	1117	994
4	1078	988
5	1067	988
5S	73	60
	5634	5156

Election Day Part 3

2011-11-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

Today is a beautiful day for an election. Temperatures in the 60s with sun and clear skies. Here are some pictures from the Districts 3 & 5 polling place at Deer Run School.

Election Day 2011 Turnout 2PM

2011-11-08T14:38:00.000-05:00

Here are the 2PM numbers:

District	2009	2011
1S	95	89
1	793	745
2	834	887
3	917	810
4	830	782
5	897	774
5S	66	56
	4432	4143

Districts 3 & 5 still show a much lower turnout this year as compared to the 2009 turnout. The number from 2009 for District 2 seems to be incorrect for the 2PM reading since it is the same as the 1PM reading. If that is correct that means no one voted from 1-2PM in District in 2009 which seems unlikely. My guess is that it was written on the sheet as 834 at 2PM when it should have been 934. I will check with the Registrars when I go back to get the 4PM totals. District 5 totals are surprisingly low this year. During the last election there were 897 voters by 2PM. This year there are only 774. The Republican infighting between Finkle and Maturo over the nomination might be having the effect of suppressing turnout in that key district for Maturo.

Election Day 2011 Turnout 1PM

2011-11-08T13:20:00.000-05:00

Here are the 1PM numbers:

District	2009	2011
1S	88	78
1	696	662
2	834	797
3	817	730
4	746	697
5	786	692
5S	63	53
	4030	3709

The 2nd District numbers have fallen off since the 10AM reading but the districts 3 & 5 are still well below 2 years ago. District 3 is down by 87 voters and district 5 is down by 94 voters. District 4 is down by 49 voters but still having better turnout than districts 3 & 5. At this point it is looking more like a lower turnout than the last local election and the districts Joe Maturo must win are down substantially from last election.

Election Day 2011 Turnout 10AM

2011-11-08T11:03:00.001-05:00

Here is a spreadsheet showing the turnout in the various districts this year versus 2009 at 10AM

District     2009       2011
1S                53          44
1    369    354
2    454          471
3                432          383
4                441          396
5                459          372
5S                31            27
                2239        2047

As you can see the 2nd District is the only district with increased turnout. Since that is April's strongest district it does not bode well for Joe. There is also a huge drop-off in districts 3 & 5 which Joe is going to need to win. At this point if the GOTV game of the Republicans does not pick up it could be a tough night for the local Rs.

Election Day 2011 Part 2

2011-11-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

The voter turnout stands at 2,047 or 13.2% of the registered voters as of 10AM. The turnout at the election in 2009 was 2,239 or 13.84% at 10AM. Looks like the vote totals will be down a percent or so by the time the day is over.

Here are some pictures from Districts 1 and 4 that I just took.

A smiling Mike Riolino is shaking hands in the 4th.

Meanwhile Joe Maturo and a bevy of Republican candidates were milling around and seeking votes.

District 1 had few candidates greeting voters but seemed to have a steady stream of residents heading to the polls while I was there.

Election Day 2011

2011-11-08T08:47:00.000-05:00

Election day is finally here and the residents are heading to the polls to cast their ballots for local offices. I just came back from the Registrars office (which has been moved back into Town Hall from the garage) and the vote total as of 8AM is 872 or 5.6% of the registered voters. Two years ago the 8AM numbers were 1,013 and 6.26%. A small drop off in the totals but it is early yet.

Here are some pictures from the various polling places.

District 4 around 7AM

Outside District 1 at around 8AM

District 2 a little after 8AM

There are the smiling faces of our Town Clerk, Stacy Gravino-Piccirillo and her mom, Bev Gravino. Bev is running for Town Council in District 2.

Joe Maturo checking his phone outside the District 2 polling place

The staff in the Registrars' office about 8:30AM.

Pre-election Prognostication

2011-11-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

In a bit of electoral fortunetelling I've polled several knowledgeable local pols that are not involved in this year's race for their thoughts about the outcome. The group came up with a win for April ranging from a close, 200 vote win, up to a 900 vote landslide. On average, our prognosticator's give April a 525 vote lead over Joe. I was solidly in the middle of the estimates with a 500 vote April win. Everyone polled thought District 2 would be a big win for April with District 4 another solid win. That leaves Joe slugging it out in Districts 1, 3, and 5 to overcome an expected April advantage of 700-900 total votes in Districts 2 and 4. District 2 has always been an April stronghold and a good response to Irene plus the popularity of the Cosey Beach Park and splashpad should make sure she receives a big win in that district.

Joe's anemic fundraising and the very contentious intra-Republican fight between Finkle and Maturo earlier this year is going to be a problem for Joe. On the other hand, the state of the economy is going to be a problem for any incumbent in this election cycle so you can't entirely discount Joe's chances. Another, possible, advantage for Joe is the Board of Education. Not that his candidates are good but that the BOE over the last 2 years has been the biggest disaster to hit East Haven education in decades. Only 2 incumbents from either party, Maisano and DePalma, deserve to be reelected. The remainder deserve to be consigned to dustbin of history.

At this point dear readers, you will get bonus points for correctly identifying the first person to consign someone to "the dustbin of history" and how he met his unfortunate death. Now back to our prognostication.

If April is tagged with responsibility for that motley crew at the BOE then it could be a long night at Democratic HQ.

There you have it. The total pre-election WAG of our panel and, ultimately, me. If I turn out to be wrong feel free to point that out the next time you see me. By 9PM Tuesday all guessing will be over. Enjoy the election!

PZC 11/3/2011

2011-11-03T13:24:00.002-04:00

The video just finished uploading. I'll add more commentary later when I have time.

There were 2 big items on the agenda. First was the acceptance for review and setting a hearing date for a zoning change in Foxon and the proposed development of a veterans' housing facility. For some reason the developers of the housing thought a vote was going to be taken on the zoning change and development at the meeting so they brought out a group of residents and veterans to speak in favor of it. Anyone familiar with PZC knows that they set dates for public hearings then, normally a month or 2 later, they have the actual public hearing. This gives residents notice of the changes being considered and a chance to come to the meeting and make their case for or against the project. In any event there was no hearing at this meeting. The public hearing has been scheduled for early January.

The second item was Len Fasano's plan to rebuild parts of his beach club that were destroyed by Irene. The Commissioners asked some questions and then approved the plan for the rebuilding.

Superintendent's Contract (Again)

2011-10-18T18:27:00.000-04:00

In late September when the BOE originally extended the Superintendent's contract and gave him a raise I asked the Democratic Town Chairman and the Maturo campaign to comment. Gene Ruocco graciously responded quickly. I have yet to hear from the Maturo campaign. Here is Gene's response.

I did not think the action that was taken on November 9, 2009 by then Chairwomen Vitali was the right thing to do for the town and I feel the same to the action taken on September 27, 2011 by the Board under Chairman Palladino. I strongly feel a month before an election for the top administrator in our town is not the time for any department head to ask for an extension. That request should not have been on the agenda just before the election. I strongly feel all Department Heads should turn in a letter of resignation every time there is a change in town administration. The New Mayor should have the right to decide if a Department Head has served well enough to stay on or go. Last night’s action has disrespected the office of Mayor, in my opinion. Mr. Serio has gotten into a habit of asking for his extensions at the wrong time and this should end for the good of East Haven with the hiring of a New Superintendent, when ever that takes place.

As far as board members joining with opposite parties, I think as long as every action is in the best interest of the system that is what should take place. The action taken last night was something else, so again in my opinion a chance to show the people of our town that the right thing was done has been wasted.

Marilyn responded in the edition of EH News that we recorded late last week regarding the November 2009 extension. The extension was demanded by Superintendent Serio in order to accomplish the reorganization of Central Office. Since the reorganization needed the Superintendent's recommendation it boiled down to a political tradeoff to get what the Board wanted. It was not something anyone was jumping for joy over. I certainly wasn't.

EH News 10/13/2011

2011-10-17T18:31:00.000-04:00

Last week Marilyn Vitale and I went into the studio to produce the latest edition of EH News. Not surprisingly the biggest topic of discussion was the outrageous vote by the Board of Education to extend Superintendent Serio's contract and give him a raise. In light of the disastrous test scores such largess would seem strange. However, as Marilyn pointed out there are significant conflicts of interest on the BOE. Half of those voting to give the Superintendent a raise have spouses or children working in the school system. Such favoritism with our money cannot continue. I noted the long period of wage stagnation of the average American and how the salary and career opportunities have stayed flat over the last several decades.

The only way out of the economic doldrums is through education or being born to wealthy parents. The largest growth in income occurred for those at the higher end of the educational ladder. As jobs have disappeared due to outsourcing, off shoring and computerization the best chance for today's students and tomorrow's workers is getting the best education as possible. The BOE decided, instead, to reward failing test scores. They put their monetary and political gains ahead of the students they were elected to serve. Remember that when you go to the polls on November 8th.

EH Politicians 1, EH Taxpayers 0

2011-09-28T00:08:00.002-04:00

Despite some of the lowest CAPT and CMT scores this side of Bridgeport, the East Haven Board of Education voted to give Superintendent Tony Serio a contract extension and raise this evening. As the man responsible for the test score disaster it is mind boggling he would be rewarded. The only no votes were Tia DePalma and Christine Miasano. Nick Palladino recused himself from voting but still took part in the Executive Session where the contract extension and raise were discussed and did not recuse himself until just before the voting when he knew how it was going to turn out.

This Board is just a walking, talking conflict of interest. Two of the Board members have spouses that work for the school system. One Board member has a son that works for the school system. The Chairman works with Tony Serio's son.

I'm not sure about the readers but I'm getting sick and tired of the politicians in this town using my tax dollars to reward suboptimal results. My anger at this vote and the BOE members that voted yes borders on blind rage. How is the school system ever going to improve if you don't hold the Administrators accountable for their job performance?

I have contacted the Democratic Town Chairman and the Maturo campaign looking for comment on this development. I will post their responses, if any.

How Low Can You Go?

2011-09-24T09:53:00.000-04:00

It is that time of year again: CAPT/CMT results time. The time when Administrators at the Board of Education try to come up with words which sugar coat, obfuscate, and muddle the results of the tests taken in March. It must be a very hard job for our Administrators. The results are released in July and they do not make a presentation until the fall. I have seen the results and predict this year they are going to have a very hard time hiding the disaster of our test results. Nonetheless, I look forward to their performance on October 4th at the Curriculum Subcommittee meeting. This performance will be well worth taping.

Although I will be spending more time going into depth on the scores over the next month, the one word I will use to describe the scores right now is terrible. For years I looked at the results of our District Reference Group ("DRG"), which is composed of school districts similar to East Haven in demographics and economic background. I compared East Haven results to the other districts in our DRG. We came in near the bottom of the DRG but, at least, our scores were in shouting distance of the bottom rung of the other districts in the group. When I looked at this year's results I realized that the East Haven results were more like the results of the inner city school districts such as New Haven.

As a quick refresher, the results for the CAPT and CMT are put into 5 categories:

Below Basic
Basic
Proficient
Goal
Advanced

Below basic and basic are kind of like Ds and Fs. You never want any students to fall into either of these categories. The No Child Left Behind law wants all school districts to get 100% of their students into the proficient, goal and advanced categories by 2014. Proficient is kind of like a grade of C. It is just getting by and something our school administrators seem perfectly willing to shoot for. Shooting for a C in today's competitive marketplace is not even coming close to preparing our students for life after school.

Here are a couple of charts which illustrate our problem in stark terms. I created graphs of our scores compared to the State of Connecticut and New Haven at the Advanced level. This shows how we are doing at teaching our best students. One thing you will notice about these 2 charts is that (1) East Haven comes no where near the state average; (2) New Haven is on an upward trend while East Haven is on a downward trend; and (3) New Haven scores have passed the East Haven scores in the last year or 2. Here are the charts of the results from 3rd grade math and 5th grade reading. The charts show the percentage of students scoring Advanced for the State of Connecticut (blue), East Haven (red) and New Haven (green).

The depressing thing about this is how uniform these trends are across all the grades for reading and math. New Haven is going up and nearing, or passing, East Haven while our scores are tanking. Last Thursday I had Tia DePalma, the Chair of the Curriculum Subcommittee come on EH News with Marilyn Vitale for a discussion of the test scores. Watch the show and look for more on test scores over the next couple of weeks. When BOE candidates come looking for your vote don't let them leave until they can give you a concrete answer on how they are going to fix the test results disaster.

Oni Sioson Announcement

2011-09-23T12:46:00.001-04:00

Oni Sioson came into the studio last night to tape his announcement to be a write in candidate for Mayor. Here is his announcement video:

Oni Sioson Announcement from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

PZC Public Hearing - Quarry Rock Crushing

2011-09-01T09:01:00.001-04:00

The Planning and Zoning Commission will have a public hearing on continuing the permit to crush rock at the quarry in Foxon next Wednesday. The agenda is here. I expect a good turnout and will definitely be there to video the meeting absent some catastrophic event.

And here is the promised video:

20110907180355 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Irene Damage

2011-08-29T19:53:00.000-04:00

I was on the beach today to examine the damage and the ongoing cleanup. Here are some pictures of the destruction. The crews are working very hard down there to clean up the debris but it is obvious that a significant number of houses are complete losses and will need to be torn down.

Finkle Withdraws From Race

2011-08-29T19:17:00.000-04:00

Louis Crisci just announced in a press release that John Finkle was withdrawing from this year's mayoral race and throwing his support behind Joe Maturo. Finkle thanked his supporters "for all their support. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be associated with."

The Executive Board of the Republican Town Committee will meet to select a replacement for Finkle. It is expected the Executive Board "will endorse Joe Maturo for the position of Mayor on the Republican ticket. It is also believed that between four and seven members of the endorsed Republican party under-ticket plan to resign to make room for members of Joe Maturo's independent under-ticket. The result would be a unification of both tickets."

Bd. of Finance 8/17/2011

2011-08-18T08:36:00.001-04:00

Here is the monthly financial report from Wednesday night's Board of Finance meeting. Not much to note. The finances are looking better helped, in part, by the $1.5M payment for the Tweed property. The remainder of the meeting, which is incredibly boring, will be available later today.

Bd. of Finance 8/17/2011 Monthly Report from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

And here is the first part of the meeting:

bof08172011 p1-2 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Inland Wetlands - 8/10/2011

2011-08-11T04:18:00.004-04:00

Here is the discussion of the 3 Stone Pillars project:

Part 1 (4 Gerrish Avenue):

Inland Wetlands 8/10/2011 Part 1 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Part 2 (7 Philip Street):

Inland Wetlands - 8/10/2011 Part 2 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Three Stone Pillars:

Inland Wetlands 8/10/2011 Three Stone Pillars from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Inland Wetlands Committee Wednesday Night

2011-08-08T16:34:00.000-04:00

The Inland Wetlands Committee will hold a meeting on Wednesday night, 8/10/2011 at the Senior Center at 7PM. The big item on the agenda is 155 Short Beach Road (aka 3 Stone Pillars). If last month's meeting was any indication this should be a barn burner. I intend to video the meeting and put it online the next day.

PZC 8/3/2011

2011-08-04T09:23:00.001-04:00

A rather short meeting last night at the Planning & Zoning Commission. There was a short discussion of setting a public hearing on the Foxon Quarry for October and then they adjourned. The entire meeting lasted 10 minutes.

pzc08032011 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

July 2011 Campaign Finance Reports

2011-07-14T09:03:00.000-04:00

The July 2011 campaign finance reports are now online at the Town Clerk's page on the EH Town Website.

Here are quick links for your convenience:

Maturo

Finkle

Capone

PZC 7/6/2011 Update*

2011-07-08T00:51:00.001-04:00

***Update*** I re-uploaded and fixed the video for 155 Short Beach Road.

The PZC met on Wednesday night. The big item on the agenda turned out to be kind of strange. The first item on the agenda was a discussion of the subdivision proposed for 155 Short Beach Road. There was an application pending for an extension of the approval of an 11 lot subdivision. However, before the meeting even started the Chairman, Gene Ruocco, made an announcement that there was a new state statute which automatically extended the approval of approved subdivisions for no less than 9 years from the date of their original approval. This means the subdivision at 155 Short Beach Road is extended until 2014. The attorney for the PZC explained, several times, that there was no discretion on the part of the PZC in the matter. By state statute all subdivisions in the state that had already been approved automatically had their approvals extended. The statute was passed in May of 2011 and became effective as soon as it was signed into law by Governor Malloy. The large number of residents present were not happy to hear this piece of information.

Not only were the residents near the Short Beach project concerned about the statute but the residents near the Foxon Quarry were wondering how the statute would effect them. This lead me to wonder how our legislators voted on the statute. A quick check of the State's website revealed Senator Fasano voted for it. Not surprising since he represents developers in his law practice. More surprising was Representative Albis' yes vote.

Well known community activist, Andrew Esposito, who lives near the Foxon Quarry was concerned with Albis' vote. Albis "appears to be unaware of the decade long struggle the residents of Foxon waged against yet another developer whose failure to complete a project was of his own doing and not attributable to general economic factors. " Having taped many of the PZC meetings where the Foxon Quarry came up, as well as a show on the project with Andy, I am surprised that this was not taken into account before Albis voted to approve.

Contacted today about his vote, Representative Albis had this to say:

"I am strongly opposed to extending the time of expiration for the projects on Short Beach Road and at the Foxon Quarry.

You may have heard that the legislature overwhelmingly passed what is now known as Public Act 11-5 in April 2011. The original language of the bill only dealt with extending the time of expiration of certain land use permits that were approved between the period of July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2011. The bill was presented as an economic driver to help out during the tough financial times. However, there was an amendment tacked on at the last minute, which extends the time of expiration of certain land use permits approved ANY TIME before July 1, 2011. The full impact of the amendment was not made explicit on the floor of the House. While I supported the intent of the underlying bill, I do not believe the amendment stays true to such intent, extending the coverage of the bill to include projects that were approved well before the recession.

It is not yet clear whether or not the projects on Short Beach Road and the Foxon Quarry will fall under the provisions of this bill. I have requested legal opinions on each matter and will do everything I can to prevent the extension of the time of expiration on these projects."

We will have to see how this plays out over the next couple of months. Till then here is the video from the meeting.

155 Short Beach Road

pzc07062011 155ShortBeach redo from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

495 Short Beach Road

pzc07062011 495shortBeach from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

The rest of the agenda

pzc07062011 last3items from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Police Comm. - 6/14/2011

2011-06-15T08:18:00.000-04:00

The Police Commission held a Special Meeting on Tuesday night in the Giamo Room at Town Hall. The meeting lasted a little less than 4 minutes during which the Commission referred Chief Gallo to the Mayor for a disciplinary hearing as the result of a list of purported shortcomings in the way the Chief ran the department. The list of the problems were read aloud at the meeting. You will notice that the room was packed so I am glad it only lasted 4 minutes.

Police Commission - 6/14/2011 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Hiatus

2011-02-21T06:18:00.000-05:00

Due to some family medical issues I will be putting the blog on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Marilyn and I have also suspended production of the ETV show, EH News, for now.

BOE Curriculum Subcommittee 2/10/2011

2011-02-16T07:46:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday the BOE held a Curriculum Subcommittee meeting. It was the first Curriculum Subcommittee meeting in a long time. The attendance of BOE members was sparse (DePalma and DeNuzzo). As one administrator in an article by Sharon Bass suggested for the lack of turnout "It's education." If it had been a meeting to hire someone's relative there would have been a full complement of Board members present. Nonetheless, here is the video:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Dan McCann's New Blog

2011-02-15T07:33:00.002-05:00

A hearty welcome to Dan and his new blog. I am sure it will make for interesting reading.

What is the Town Council hiding?

2011-02-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night the Town Council voted to go into executive session to discuss 4 cases. The Freedom of Information Act allows executive session to discuss

"(B) strategy and negotiations with respect to pending claims or pending litigation to which the public agency or a member thereof, because of the member’s conduct as a member of such agency, is a party until such litigation or claim has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled;

In these cases the Town had reached agreements to pay the plaintiffs over 2 or 3 years. The first installment has been paid. However, the Chairman of the Town Council and the Town Attorney said the cases were not settled because all the money had not been paid out. Until then they can meet in executive session whenever they want. I guess if they structure a settlement to pay out $900,000 in year one and $1 every year for the next twenty years then they never have to tell anyone about the settlement.

As those of you who read this blog already know, I am a big fan of the open meeting provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. You will not, therefore, be surprised when I file a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission against the Town Council and the Chairman.

Enjoy the video of Chairman Dougherty and Attorney Cofrancesco explaining the tortured logic behind going into executive session.

Town Council Meeting 2/8/2011

2011-02-09T10:21:00.004-05:00

The Town Council held a series of public hearings and had a special meeting last night. The festivities dragged on for many hours while the Republicans and Democrats argued back and forth about bonding, legal settlements and finances. If the arguments had been more original I might have found it more entertaining. However, I could have scripted the arguments both sides made before the meeting even started. It was like bad kabuki. Nonetheless, here is the video.

Public Hearing Part 1:

Public Hearing Part 2:

Public Hearing Part 3:

Special Meeting Part 1:

Special Meeting Part 2:

Special Meeting Part 3:

Special Meeting Part 4:

BOE Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting Thursday

2011-02-08T17:45:00.000-05:00

The BOE has finally scheduled a Curriculum Subcommittee meeting for this Thursday, February 10th, at 6PM at the high school. After having had this pushed off many times by the Chairman of the BOE, there was finally enough support for it at last night's BOE meeting to schedule the meeting. It is a good thing that our BOE is finally talking about something to do with education instead of playing petty political games.

Town Council Tonight

2011-02-08T17:35:00.000-05:00

The Town Council meeting that was originally scheduled for last week has been rescheduled for tonight. There are 3 public hearings at 7PM immediately before the Town Council meeting. Two of the public hearings should be non-controversial. The 3rd public hearing involves the proposal to bond to pay for three legal settlements. John Finkle has already put out a press release opposing the plan to bond. In the release Finkle says, “15 years is an awful long time to be paying for these lawsuits. Even at
competitive interest rates, the town would end up paying significantly more in the long run.” I'm expecting quite the ruckus during this public hearing.

Once the Town Council meeting starts we are going to have a speech on the state of the Town by the Mayor. There are also statements on the agenda by Messrs. Hongo, Thompson and Mauro.

Meetings this week (or not)

2011-01-31T07:42:00.000-05:00

With the threat of another winter storm looming on the horizon we may see several of this week's meetings postponed or canceled. However, assuming the god of winter spares us here are the meetings scheduled:

Monday 6PM Board of Education Finance Subcommittee (budget discussion)

Tuesday 6PM Board of Education Finance Subcommittee (budget discussion)
7PM Town Council Public Hearing
7:30PM Town Council Regular Meeting

Wednesday 6PM Board of Education Finance Subcommittee (budget discussion)
8PM Board of Education (adopts the budget)
7:30PM PZC (not sure if there are public hearings at 7PM yet)

The Board of Education has to pass the budget no later than Wednesday night so it can be transmitted to the Mayor by February 3rd as specified in the Charter.

EH News - 1/25/2011

2011-01-30T14:55:00.000-05:00

Marilyn and I went into the ETV studio last week to tape the latest edition of EH News. Besides the studio part we also an interview with Joe Zullo and the HQ Opening speech from James Albis.

BOE - EHHS Security Guard

2011-01-28T13:06:00.000-05:00

The BOE had an extensive discussion regarding security guards at the high school. As a cost cutting measure the number of hours worked by the guards was reduced. The BOE decided to come up with some money to restore the hours cut.

BOE Invoice Problem

2011-01-28T06:36:00.000-05:00

At the BOE meeting on Tuesday there was a heated discussion of a problem with invoices that had to be paid by the Town because the BOE was short of funds. Several of the BOE members, including the Chairwoman of the Finance Subcommittee, were not pleased with finding out about this after the fact.

Solar Panel Preventive Maintenance

2011-01-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night the School Building Committee ("SBC") gave a short presentation to the BOE about getting a contract to do preventive maintenance on the new solar panels. The SBC did not recommend any particular company but highly recommended that equipment of the complexity and expense of solar panels needs to be maintained regularly. Due to the track record of the Buildings and Grounds Department at the BOE there was the feeling that Buildings and Grounds was not up to the task. Paul Hongo, from the Mayor's office, attended and offered to have Public Works be responsible for the solar panels and to pay for any preventive maintenance contract for the panels.

Albis HQ Opening

2011-01-27T08:56:00.000-05:00

Last night, between blizzards, James Albis opened his HQ on Main Street in the old Metcalf's building. There was a surprisingly large turnout considering the state of the weather. Here is the video:

Town Finance Report

2011-01-24T12:39:00.000-05:00

Here is the finance report given to the Board of Finance members for the January meeting. Revenue is approximately $330,000 less than budgeted. On the expenditure all departments, with the notable exception of the Police Department are under or close to their budget.

EH News 1/13/2011

2011-01-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to get all the video for the show we taped on the 13th edited. Marilyn Vitale and had a busy taping session with guests from the School Building Committee and Sharon Bass from the East Haven Patch in the studio. We also had the 2 candidates for the 99th District race come in for interviews and those have already been uploaded here and here. The entire School Building Committee segment is here.

Interview with Joe Zullo

2011-01-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

I sat down with Joe Zullo, the campaign manager for John Finkle, last night for an interview on the Town's finances. As you would expect, he was critical of the Mayor's handling of the finances since she took office.

Board of Finance 1/19/2011

2011-01-20T10:15:00.000-05:00

The Board of Finance met on Wednesday night. The big item of discussion was the late audit report. The blame was laid squarely on the Board of Education numbers. There was a $1M discrepancy between the amount spent on employee benefits and what the BOE said they spent on benefits. The entire Board of Finance was riled up by the lack of good numbers coming out of the BOE.

School Building Comm. 1/18/2011

2011-01-20T08:24:00.000-05:00

The School Building Committee met on Tuesday night. The big topic of conversation was the decision to recommend the BOE buy a maintenance contract for the new roofs and solar panels. Recent experience suggests to several members of the School Building Committee and the Town Hall administration that the BOE personnel are unable to properly maintain complex equipment such as the solar panels.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Campaign Finance Reports - January 2011

2011-01-19T16:46:00.000-05:00

The latest round of finance reports were filed last week. Stacy Gravino–Piccirillo, the Town Clerk, was so kind to create pdf files for me to post online. You can see the 4 reports here:

Democratic Town Committee

Republican Town Committee

John Finkle Mayoral Report

WIRE Report

BOE Budget Docs

2011-01-18T16:37:00.000-05:00

Jason Lathrop sent me a note this afternoon with this link to the proposed budget docs that were presented at last week's BOE meeting.

EH News - School Building Comm. 1/13/2011

2011-01-15T18:07:00.000-05:00

Five members of the School Building Committee came into the studio this week to talk about the roof repair and solar panel projects that are in the process of being wrapped up. They took issue with some of the things that have been said about the projects over the last year and wanted to set the record straight.

One thing that people interested in these projects might find interesting is the online view of the amount of energy being produced by the solar panels on the school roofs. Go to the BOE web site and select "Energy" from the left navigation bar.

99th District Candidates

2011-01-14T19:01:00.000-05:00

Last night I interviewed the 2 candidates for Representative in the 99th District. Linda Monaco (R) and James Albis (D) came into the studio for short interviews. Both candidates agreed that helping businesses expand and create jobs in Connecticut was a priority.

Linda Monaco:

James Albis:

Democratic 99th Nominations

2011-01-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night the Democratic and Republican parties met to nominate their candidates for the special election to fill Mike Lawlor's seat in the state legislature. The Democrats nominated James Albis and the Republicans are running Linda Monaco who lost to Lawlor in November. Here is the video from the Dems convention:

>

FOI Hearing - Student Records Investigation

2011-01-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes what you expect to happen just doesn't occur. Kind of like being told for a week that a blizzard is coming and only getting a dusting of snow. That is what happened at the FOI Commission hearing this morning. As you may remember I filed an FOI request in June with the Superintendent to get any documents, memos, letters or emails concerning the handling of student or medical records. About that time the entire student records came to a head with the EHPD and complaints by DePalma and Maisano. By August 8th I still had not received any documents and filed a complaint with the FOI Commission. In September the BOE voted to not release the "Markle report" which dealt with possible changes to student attendance records.

This morning at the hearing Tony Serio, Mike Luzzi and I were present. We had agreed that the open issue was whether the Markle report is a public record. However, once testimony was given the hearing officer said the FOI Commission may not have jurisdiction since the Markle report was done after the original FOI request. In the end I had to file another request with Tony Serio asking, specifically for the Markle report. I expect my request to be denied and then I will file another complaint with the FOI Commission and start the process all over again.

PZC 1/5/2011

2011-01-06T06:48:00.002-05:00

The Planning and Zoning Commission granted a 4 month extension of the special exception to crush rock that is already on the quarry site in Foxon while a new development plan is created. In other decisions an attorney on Hemingway is going to be allowed to expand his offices and the Town is going to create parking lots on the property near the ice rink that we just bought in order to tear down the houses in the flood plain.

Here is the video of the PZC meeting itself. The public hearing will be online later today.

Public Hearing Part 1:

Public Hearing Part 2:

Buildings and Grounds

2011-01-06T06:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight there is a special meeting of the Finance and Buildings and Grounds (B&G) subcommittees of the Board of Education. The meeting is at 6:30. In the classic "closing the barn door after the horse has left" style, the chairman of the B&G will look at the heat issues at JMMS and the leaking roof that causes the flood of the HS gym floor. A more proactive leadership might have addressed these issues before they became a problem. However, leadership is not something anyone has come to expect of this BOE so we take what we can get and hope they finally fix the problems with school maintenance before another costly problem arises.

Town Council 1/4/2011

2011-01-05T17:58:00.000-05:00

The Town Council met on Tuesday night for about an hour. Most of the meeting was taken up with presentations by the Town Councilors opining at length. The Director of Finance gave a short presentation on the Town's fiscal condition. After that was done a lot of public hearing dates were set and board and commission members were re-appointed to new terms.

Part 1:

TC 01/04/2011 Part 1 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Part 2:

TC 01/04/2011 Part 2 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

If you want to watch the meat of the meeting here are the presentations by Hongo and Tommy Thompson without much of the political blathering that took up the remainder of the meeting:

TC 1/4/2011 Hongo from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

TC 1/4/2011 Thompson from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Beware Malicious Individuals

2010-12-30T17:54:00.000-05:00

I've been accused of many things since I got into East Haven politics over 15 years ago. Most of the things I've been accused of aren't even true. In today's post I received a letter from Attorney John Williams who represents DePalma and Maisano in the case involving the release of student records. Attorney Williams wrote the letter to the Freedom of Information Hearing Officer for the request I filed in June. In the letter I am accused of "colluding" with the defendants in the case (Serio, Palladino, DeNuzzo)and Attorney Dolan to conceal the FOI request. I think Attorney Williams also called me a "malicious individual" on page 2 of his letter.

I'll take a plea under the Alford Doctine so far as being a malicious individual goes. However, it appears my powers of colluding to conceal needs some work since I've posted about my FOI request at least 4 times since June.

Original Request - June 25th

Police stopping by my house - July 1st

Filing an appeal with the FOI Commission - August 8th

FOI Hearing Date - December 24th

To paraphrase President Wilson, this may be a case of "open collusion, openly arrived at."

East Haven in The Washington Post

2010-12-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

Looks like an AP story about East Haven made the Washington Post online edition today. Probably not the kind of story the Economic Development Commission is looking to use as an advertisement for our fair town.

FOI Hearing - Student Record Investigation

2010-12-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

I received the hearing notice from the FOI Commission for my appeal of denial to receive a copy of the student record investigation report from Superintendent Serio. The appeal was filed in August. The hearing notice arrived yesterday. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 9:30AM in Hartford.

Quid Pro Quo?

2010-12-21T07:25:00.000-05:00

Was the hiring of Nick Palladino's son as a Grade C Police Officer a payback for the BOE hiring of Chief Nappi's relative?

Maybe it is just coincidence.

Police Comm. 12/20/2010 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

EH News 12/16/2010

2010-12-18T09:24:00.000-05:00

Marilyn and I went into the studio on Thursday night just hours after Lawlor announced he was taking a job with the Malloy administration. What had already been a very full show was made more full with the last minute addition of an interview with James Albis who was announcing that he was interested in running for Mike's seat.

After I started editing the show, I noticed that the XMAS tree was causing issues with the autofocus on the camera. So, if you see the video get blurry from time to time it isn't your eyeballs or your computer. It is just the camera.

EH News 12/16/2010 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

James Albis - Dem for Lawlor's Seat

2010-12-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

James Albis intends to run for the seat in the Connecticut House of Representatives being vacated by Mike Lawlor. Albis, son of Judge Michael Albis, is a long time resident of East Haven and attended East Haven schools. James is a graduate of New York University with a degree in Economics. A well known musician, has performed in many venues including the East Haven Fall Festival. Since coming back to East Haven after college James has been a substitute teacher at EHHS and is currently the Community Development Coordinator for the Town. As part of his job he administers the Housing Rehabilitation Program which provides interest-free loans to low- and moderate income residents.

EH News - James Albis Interview from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Candidates For Lawlor's Seat

2010-12-16T18:32:00.001-05:00

James Albis is throwing his hat into the ring for Mike Lawlor's seat in the state legislature. On EH News this evening Albis announced his intention to file to run for the seat Mike Lawlor has held for 24 years. Look for the video soon.

On the Republican side, names mentioned are Joe Maturo and Linda Monaco.

Board of Finance - 12/15/2010

2010-12-16T16:48:00.001-05:00

Here is the video from last night's Board of Finance meeting.

Board of Finance - 12/15/2010 from Edward Foley on Vimeo.

Lawlor Taking Job in Malloy Administration

2010-12-16T15:01:00.000-05:00

Mike Lawlor has accepted a job in the Malloy administration. To accept the job he has to step down from his seat in the legislature. This means a special election will have to be held in the next couple of months to fill the seat in the legislature. Let the speculation on who is going to run begin!