Host: John Gogliettino
Guests: Bruno Tropeano, President Amerigo Vespucci. John DeBenedetto, Financial Secretary Amerigo Vespucci

...this probably would have never happened in the first place.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

FINAL DECISION: Docket #FIC 2007-171

In the Matter of a Complaint by
John Gogliettino, Complainant
against
City Clerk, City of Danbury; and
Common Council, City of Danbury,
March 12, 2008

The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on July 6, 2007, at which time the complainant and the respondents appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint.

After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:

1. The respondents are public agencies within the meaning of §1-200(1), G.S.

2. By letter of complaint filed March 22, 2007, the complainant appealed to the Commission, alleging that the respondents violated the Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Act by failing to post timely notice of a budget workshop.

3. It is found that the respondent Common Council held a special meeting on March 7, 2007 beginning at 7:15 p.m.

4. It is found that notice of the special meeting was stamped received for record by the respondent City Clerk on March 7, 2007 at 8:53 a.m.

5. Section 1-225(d) provides in relevant part:

Notice of each special meeting of every public agency … shall be given not less than twenty-four hours prior to the time of such meeting by filing a notice of the time and place thereof … in the office of the clerk of such subdivision for any public agency of a political subdivision of the state.

6. The respondent Common Council contends that the notice was actually delivered to the City Clerk sometime between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. on March 6, 2007. The respondent Common Council further contends that its efforts to deliver timely notice to the City Clerk were delayed by the illness of the Clerk of the Common Council, who is also the City Clerk, and that the Clerk had to engage others to complete the task of delivering the notice.

7. Although there appear to have been circumstances explaining the delay in delivering the notice, it is found that the respondents failed to overcome the presumption that the notice was received at the time and date it was stamped received.

8. It is concluded that the respondents violated §1-225(a), G.S.

The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint:

1. Henceforth the respondents shall strictly comply with the requirements of §1-225(a), G.S.

Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of March 12, 2008.

What "special" meeting was this case in reference towards you ask? Well, it's was the very ad-hoc meeting where the Hispanic Center's funding was frozen and Elise Marciano and her band of misfits turned the entire proceedings into a Kangaroo Court.

How do I know...well, because I was there to videotape and photograph the entire meeting including Marciano and her morons (boxed in purple in the photo below) as they spewed out their choreographed racist bullshit attack against the center.
NOTE: Marciano's most notable misfits include Patricia Kadet and Barbara Keidel (upper left), BFF and racist email contributor Pauline Basso (lower right), and her "walking corpse" of a husband George (standing lower left).

The stupidity of the entire matter centers ONCE AGAIN around the incompetency of the our lovely City Clerk and her "illness" at the time is COMPLETELY irrelevant. You know damn well that this particular ad-hoc committee meeting was scheduled WELL IN ADVANCE of the City Clerk's office receiving and stamping the notice.

---

Okay, lets recap:

Whether it's,

• members of the Common Council not receiving requested information from the City Clerk on a timely basis,


• NUMEROUS reports of the City Clerk not at her office when needed (clue: check the Registrar of Voters office),


• failure to post the agenda of the Common Council meeting online in a timely basis,


• cheap political shots such as Democratic Common Councilmen names missing on the new voter registration letters,


• dealing with the arrogance of someone who would have the audacity to promote her role as Justice of the Peace which has f*cking NOTHING TO DO WITH HER JOB AS CITY CLERK,







• or embarrassing rulings where the City Clerk's incompetence is noted in the record,

It's becoming more and more clear...crystal clear...that the position of City Clerk needs to BE ELIMINATED and turned into a NON-POLITICAL civil service position.

Let's go back and roll the video tape on the complaints towards Jean Natale:



With the current charter revision commission, we can bring an end to this madness and rid the city of this unnecessary position...and this call has been ongoing for the last 20 years.

Danbury News-Times editorial June 6 1987:


In the end, it's this simple:

What do you want? All the problems noted about the present city clerk, not withstanding someone who has no problem standing next to skinheads...


...or a non-partisan civil servant that can get the job done at a fraction of the cost to the taxpayers?

You know my answer folks, do your part and tell the charter revision commission to eliminate this ridiculous position and rid us of this ongoing nonsense once and for all.

In honor of May Day, lets go back and look at some of the highlights from the 2006 Danbury May Day/Immigrant rights march.

1. March down Main Street.


2. When xenophobes attack (including then Vice President of Elise Marciano anti-immigrant group desecrating a Mexican flag).


3. Comments from Maria Cinta-Lowe on the origins of May Day.


4. Comments from Franklin Pena regarding racism in Danbury.

From this year's Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner, here's the speech from guest speaker Senator Joe Biden (in it's entirety).

Stop the Raids immigrant rights forum (Feb. 2007): Total attendance (including journalists, university officials, and anti-immigration supporters)= aprox. 340.



United States for Immigration Enforcement anti-immigration forum (Apr. 2007): Total attendance (including journalists, university officials, and immigrant rights supporters)= aprox. 60.



On the one year anniversary of the laughable anti-immigrant forum held at Western Connecticut State University, I think it's very important to re-examine what actually happened at the meeting and expose how the News-Times didn't tell the true story on what was said at the forum.

Let's start with a post from last year I did on the demonstration outside the forum. Originally posted 04.29.07.

---

Most people who read reports on yesterday's irrelevant fear mongering illegal anti-immigration forum from the News-Times noted the small attendance from groups on both sides of the immigration issue.

But there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Although there was no excuse for the laughable attendance from an anti-immigration group that established itself in the area two years ago, there was a reason for the smaller than usual attendance among the immigrant rights supporters. I learned a coupe of weeks ago that many of the members of the immigrant community who would normally protest forums such as the one yesterday were volunteering their time towards the annual Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty (CROP) walk-a-thon.

For those who don't know about this fundraiser, here's a brief detail of the event.

Dollars donated in Danbury this weekend may soon end up helping needy people on the other side of the world.

Encouraged by the support they received last year, organizers of a city walk to generate public awareness and money for hunger and poverty relief are holding another fundraising walk Sunday.

"We raised a modest amount of money last year, but we deliberately kept the walk small because it was our first year," the Rev. Laura Westby pastor of First Congregational Church of Danbury said Monday. "This year we are setting a goal of $10,000."

Last year's walk, organized by Westby and the first of its kind in Danbury for years, generated $3,459 and drew 63 people of all ages and religions in 12 different groups.

The walk covers just under 4 miles of downtown city streets and is known as a CROP Walk, named for the faith-based group Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.

[...]

Westby said although 75 percent of the money raised by this year's CROP Walk in Danbury will go to the work of the Church World Service, the remaining 25 percent will be given to the Danbury-based Association of Religious Communities (ARC), the walk's sponsor.

Westby said ARC plans to use the money for its emergency relief and advocacy programs.

The First Congregational Church of Danbury and Danbury-based Association of Religious Communities are very active organizations in the immigrant community. In turn, many immigrants in the area offered their time and energy to make this year's CROP walk a success.

"While ARC and CROP are faith-based groups, they provide help to all people and partner with civic organizations," Westby said. "The city of Danbury works with ARC to provide services to the homeless. One of the most exciting things about last year's walk was the involvement of the Hispanic community."

[...]

Kathy Burton, assistant director for the tri-state region of CWS, welcomed the revival of the CROP walk in Danbury.

"Danbury is a nice community in which to walk," Burton said. "As well as generating financial support, the walk itself is also a good opportunity to make local people aware of hunger and poverty."

What does this have to do with yesterday's protest you ask? Well, the walk started at the exact same time as the protest outside the University.

Sunday's CROP Walk steps off at 2 p.m. near the War Memorial at Rogers Park.

Now that we straightened out the whole deal with the small number of immigrant right supporters, lets get to the video.

Although the attendance at yesterday's protest was smaller than usual, the high level of support among the people who drove up and down on White Street was quite apparent to all who were there.

One of the things I found most unusual was the silence from the University regarding their hosting of the event. Most students were unaware that the forum was even taking place on campus and there was no advertising of the event by the University on campus (which is equally unusual for a University event seeing that they have an entire graphic department which handles advertising). I'll dig depeer into the questions surrounding the University sponsoring of this event in later posts this week.

From Sunday's protest, here's my first video with protesters who were highly critical of the University decision in sponsoring the event with an anti-immigrant group.

With so much video from this months ad-hoc budget meetings to process, it's going to be slow going here for a while. Hopefully, I'll have the videos available for viewing so you can voice your outrage before the budget is voted on in May (and trust me, there is MUCH to be outraged about).

My Left Nutmeg has the numbers from the war criminals club fundraiser for Cappiello..and the numbers are lower than what the state GOP was pitching to the press.

The 48 Hour and Pre-Convention Reports are up, and I thought it was worth pointing out that at least someone paid some travel expenses in connection with the Bush/Kissinger fundraiser: see here for the Slush Fund's expenditures.

By the way, the fundraising total for the Slush Fund and Cappiello's committee add up to:


Committee to Elect:
4/22 48Hr  $40,200
4/23 48Hr  $60,000
4/26 48Hr  $52,700
4/29 PreC   $7,450
4/28 48Hr  $15,200

Slush Fund
4/22 48Hr  $52,600 *
4/29 PreC $186,364

------------
Total     $374,314

*$40,200 of these contributions are also counted in the 4/22 "Committee to Elect" 48 Hour Report.

This includes a $13,814 in-kind (Mrs. Kissinger graciously donated some food), and $7,000 from PACs that appear to be unrelated to the event.

There were 7 donors who gave enough to get their photos taken with the president (Thomas Reynold, GS Gilbert, Tillie Laird, Jon Manafort, Jack Orchulli, Steven Meyer, and US Ambassador to Ireland Thomas Foley), and 145 donors who paid the $1000 ticket fee. 26 additional people (plus the Washington RTC) donated between 50 and 900 dollars each.

Remove event costs of $67,686.99 (including our friend in NJ, Jennifer D'Autrechy, who finally got a check the day after the original David Cappiello fundraising brouhaha) and you get a net of $299,627, with an unknown breakdown between the party and Cappiello.

Okay, while I'm at it, here's another goodies that you'll hear from the freaks that migrate to the American Legion every other Wednesday.

We here time and time again the old notion that "those illegals" carry diseases into the United States, namely leprosy but other diseases as well. This line of rhetoric can be traced back to the first meeting of the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control in Danbury back in April 2005 and has been echoed at various anti-immigrant meetings and forums in the area as well as out of the mouths of people at City Hall.

Back in May of last year, Lou Dodds did a segment on his show on the undocumented immigrants and leprosy in May of 2007 and was roundly criticized and debunked by CBS 60 minutes, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the website Media Matters. I first reported on this BIG FAT lie back in May of last year and had this to say.

Lou Dobbs is just another example of a individual who misleads his legion of low-information, close-minded zombies who are blinded with their hatred for immigrants (a.k.a. people who don't look like them). Dobbs' lie echoes the outrageous statements that flow continuously from the mouths of Elise "deer in headlights" Marciano and her band of rabid xenophobes who (with the help of their supporters at City Hall) give Danbury a bad name.

Now, what's critically important is NOT what rhetoric from Marciano and Dobbs, but the sources of their information...white supremacist and/or hate groups.

Once again, Truth in Immigration has the details.

60 Minutes
May 6, 2007
Guest: Lou Dobbs

Following a report on illegal immigrants carrying diseases into the U.S., one of the correspondents on his show, Christine Romans, told Dobbs that there have been 7,000 cases of leprosy in the U.S. in the past three years. 60 Minutes checked that and found a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, saying that 7,000 is the number of leprosy cases over the last 30 years, not the past three. The report also says that nobody knows how many of those cases involve illegal immigrants.

"We went to try and check that number, 7,000. We can’t…," Stahl says.
"Well, I can tell you this. If we reported it, it’s a fact," Dobbs replies.
"You can’t tell me that. You did report it," Stahl says.
"I just did," Dobbs says.
"How can you guarantee that to me?" Stahl asks.
Says Dobbs, "Because I’m the managing editor. And that’s the way we do business. We don’t make up numbers, Lesley, do we?"¹

It turns out that someone did make up those numbers. Even after Dobbs was informed that his information was contradicted by the federal government, he repeated the false information the day after on his show:

DOBBS: And there was a question about some of your comments, Christine. Following one of your reports, I told Leslie Stahl, we don’t make up numbers, and I will tell everybody here again tonight, I stand 100 percent behind what you said.²

ROMANS: That’s right, Lou. We don’t make up numbers here. This is what we reported.

Want to know the Truth?

The report issued by Department of Health and Human Services is correct.³ There were, in fact, 7,000 total number of cases of leprosy over the past 30 years, and as Dobbs himself has admitted, “no one knows”⁴ how many can be attributed to undocumented immigrants.

Dobbs’s correspondent took the figure from an article written by medieval expert Madeleine Cosman in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons,⁵ a publication that has been described by some as a “right-wing” ⁶ and “untrustworthy”⁷ periodical.

On the December 4, 2007 edition of Democracy Now!, journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez brought up the case of (by then deceased) Madeleine Cosman to Lou Dobbs. In response, Dobbs claimed that a New York Times obituary found her to be a credible source on immigration:

DOBBS: Did you read that obituary? Did you find that the New York Times had come to basically the same conclusion we had, that she was a credible source? Because if you read that obituary, it is glowing and filled with plaudits for Madeleine Cosman.⁸

The Truth: The New York Times never called her a “credible source.” In fact, the headline description in her obituary is “Madeleine P. Cosman, 68, Medieval Expert, Dies.” They never call her a “respected medical lawyer and medical historian,” as Dobb’s correspondent had, only a day after the 60 Minutes report exposed their lies.⁹ The obituary did note that Cosman’s article was “widely reproduced on anti-immigration and other conservative Web sites.”¹⁰ Is that what you meant by “plaudits”, Lou?

And exactly who was Madeleine Cosman? Here’s a presentation she made about Mexican men:

COSMAN: Recognize that most of these bastards molest girls under age 12, some as young as age 5, others aged 3, although, of course, some specialize in boys, some specialize in nuns, some are exceedingly versatile and rape little girls aged 11 and women up to age 79.¹¹

Unjustified lies. Unreliable, racist sources. All brought to you by the “most trusted name in news.”

____________________________________
1. “Lou Dobbs, ‘Advocacy’ Journalist?” 60 Minutes. CBS News. May 6, 2007
2. Lou Dobbs Tonight. CNN. Aired May 7, 2007
3. “New U.S. Reported Leprosy Cases by Year: 1976-2005.” National Hansen’s Disease Program. Health Resources and Services Administration. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4. “Fact-Checking Dobbs: CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs Challenged on Immigration Issues.” Democracy Now! December 04, 2007
5. Madeleine Cosman. “Illegal Aliens and American Medicine.” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Spring 2005
6. “Center Urges CNN to Retract False Reporting by Lou Dobbs.” SPLCenter.org. May 9, 2007
7. Stephen Barrett, M.D. “Nonrecommended Periodicals.” Quackwatch.com. 2008
8. Democracy Now, supra note 4
9. Dobbs, supra note 2
10. Margalit Fox. “Madeleine P. Cosman, 68, Medieval Expert, Dies.” The New York Times. Published: March 19, 2006
11. Madeleine Cosman. “Illegal Aliens and America’s Medicine.” Video Presentation. 2005

One of the funniest things I hear constantly from the bigots that infest this city is the notion that undocumented immigrant have no rights. To the astonishment of many, this, and many other types of misinformation is openly shared between members of hate groups and our elected officials who use this rhetoric to justify their anti-immigrant behavior.

There are many sites and organizations mobilizing to combat this type of rhetoric and new wave of racism with offering the truth. Truth in Immigration is one of those organizations and they offer this tidbit of fact.

False Claim: Undocumented immigrants have no legal rights.

Truth: Undocumented immigrants DO have legal rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal statute.
As far back as 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that:

“The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is not confined to the protection of citizens. It says: ’Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.’ These provisions are universal in their application to all persons within the territorial jurisdiction, without regard to any differences of race, of color, or nationality; and the equal protection of the laws is a pledge of the protection of equal laws.” ²

All persons in the U.S., therefore, have constitutional rights. Among these are the right to equal protection of the law and the right to due process.

Also, undocumented persons have a constitutional right under the Fourth Amendment to deny any officer from entering their residence without consent, absent a search warrant.

Further, the Supreme Court has held that all children, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to free public education, as required under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. ³

Additionally, under federal law publicly funded hospitals must provide emergency medical services to all patients, regardless of their immigration status. ⁴ Immigrants are also protected from workplace discrimination under state and federal laws.

Moreover, under federal law, a person may recover money damages for loss of property, personal injury or death where damages occurred as a result of the “negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.” ⁵

These are just a few of the rights that our Constitution and federal laws grant to all persons living in the U.S. These rights are intended to protect all U.S. residents from discrimination and arbitrary government action. These rights are especially critical in times where hatred based on race, color, and national origin is on the rise.

_______________________
1. Glenn Beck. CNN Headline News. February 7, 2007.
2. Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U.S. 228 (1896)
3. Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982)
4. 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd, Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 (EMTALA).
5. The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671-2680.

Here are a few pics from last night's Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner, featuring guest host Senator Joe Biden.

I didn't take as many pictures as I did in the past but other bloggers were on the scene and so everything was covered. I'll post footage from last night's event later.

Well, I'm all dressed up for the annual Connecticut Democrats Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey Dinner. This year's special guest is Senator Joe Biden and if it's like the previous years (2006: Barack Obama, 2007: Nancy Pelosi), then it should be a great time.

I'll bring you all the details from the big Democratic get-together later.

While the backlash the war criminals club fundraiser for David Cappiello continues, one Congressman showed TRUE integrity.

President Bush's visit to Connecticut and the 5th Congressional District on Friday raised as much as $700K, according to press reports . Much of the money is supposed to benefit the presumptive opponent of first-term U.S. Rep Chris Murphy, State Senator David Cappiello.

Bush used a Hartford speech on malaria-fighting efforts to underwrite an obviously partisan journey to the Kent home of Nixon administration Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. Invitees came at $1,000 per person and got a photo with the President for $10,000.

In a bizarre twist to the trip shared with a group of 5th CD Democrats this weekend, the White House called Cong. Murphy's office last Tuesday to invite him to accompany the President on Air Force One on his way to the Northwest Hills to shake the GOP money tree for Murphy's opponent. No word yet on whether Murphy's office staff has stopped laughing yet. New England's only GOP member of Congress, Chris Shays, took the free ride.

For those who missed it, the great Scarce filed this footage of Bush and Shays landing in Connecticut last week.

Getting back to Cappy...it's all about the money trail.

While Cappiello needed the kind of cash that a sitting President could bring him, many Democrats and unaffiliated voters will be asking just what part of Bush's policies does Cappiello plan to run on. There was no evidence that Cappiello engaged in any photo ops with Bush. Nary a word on the Cappiello website.

[...]

It appears his strategy is to run a stealth campaign of quietly backing the Bush agenda and painting himself a Nancy Johnson moderate. To know the real David Cappiello, however, all voters will have to do his follow the money trail back to the White House. The largess given to Cappiello is the best tip off yet of what he stands for and how he will vote: for wasteful war without security, for deficits, for the continuing economic slide of working and middle income people as the rich guys with the long driveways who live next to Henry Kissinger get a tax break.

If a politician's history is marked with illegal bundled campaign contributions from a mobster James Galante, what makes you think he'll have no problem holding his hand for cash from a Republican that he stabbed in the back? After the dough made for him from the Bush empire, do you think Cappiello won't be just another runner-stamp Republican?

Remember, when it comes to Danbury Republicans, it's ALL about the money trail.