State Sen. Michael McLachlan has decided not to keep his second job as Danbury's economic development director.
Good move.
In the process of vacating the job, however, McLachlan trashed those who properly questioned the obvious conflicts of a state senator holding the job.
Bad move.
"Given the politically driven opposition to my appointment, I feel it is in the best interest of the city to allow you to go in a different direction," McLachlan wrote Friday in a letter to Mayor Mark Boughton.
Politically driven? Come on, senator. Fess up.
The controversy over your new job was created by you. During the fall campaign, you said you would give up your job in City Hall as Boughton's chief of staff to avoid any conflicts or even the appearance of a conflict.
There was no fine print attached to that promise that you would take another job from Boughton.
[...]
Hmmm. Could he mean that criticism of his job arrangement by The News-Times Editorial Board was politically driven? Guess he doesn't remember that this page endorsed him for election last fall.
News-Times editorials have insisted that McLachlan keep his promise to the people of the 24th Senate District that if elected he would not be working in Danbury City Hall. The district includes Bethel, Danbury, New Fairfield and Sherman.
Those editorials also have insisted that Boughton keep his promise that McLachlan would not be on his staff because of, as the mayor said, the obvious conflicts that would develop between their different constituencies.
Don't worry Mary, I'm sure McLachlan's "given the politically driven opposition to my appointment" was also pointed towards yours truly...although the state senator said that he doesn't read the site (wink, wink).
I'll offer my take on McLachlan's outlandish statement as well as the entire history of this dishonesty from the mayor and his former chief of staff as soon as possible.
The bitter tone in McLachlan's letter where he steps down as Director of Economic Development for the city tells the story...
"Given the politically driven opposition to my appointment I feel it is in the best interest of the city to allow you to go in a different direction,"
Hey Mike, this isn't about politics...it's about you and the mayor GOING BACK ON YOUR WORD!
Lets go back to the editorials.
Here's a copy of the 12.29.09 editorial that calls Boughton and McLachlan out on going back on their word.
Here's a rebuttal editorial to Boughton's bitter response to Connelly's 12.29.09 piece (you know, the posting that ignores the central piece in the News-Times' editorial...that the he and McLachaln went back on their work).
But of course McLachlan blames the whole matter on partisan politics...although a BI-PARTISAN ad-hoc committee overwhelmingly approved his appointment.
Oh...if I had the time to do a full post on McLachlan's excuse for stepping down...I'll have to come back to it later. Until then, enjoy the letter.
1. I'd like to thank Minority Leader Tom Saadi and Councilman Paul Rotello for coming on the show.
2. Thanks to Marty and the Ideas at Work and Beyond crew for making this show happen.
3. I apologize for the video screw-up.
3. Thanks the emails from my readership who watched the show.
4. Through the magic of video editing, I'll going to post highlights of the show (which will also be available for viewing over at the Ideas at Work and Beyond website) as well as re-edit and post the show in it's entirety in the way it was suppose to be shown last night (i.e., without my video screw-ups, video that was not broadcasted, graphics that were not shown, etc).
Welcome those who found their way here from Colin McEnroe's blog (I miss him on WTIC).
I'm working a detailed database which will expose the horrific and racist language that's allowed on the News-Times/Topix message boards as well as a call to action and place pressure on the Danbury News-Times to end their relationship with Topix. Until then, feel free to look at a few of my past posts on offensive anonymous posts left on the message boards.
For those who post disgusting garbage on the News-Times/Topix boards, this should serve as your wake-up call.
A Texas judge has ordered an online news site to unveil identifying details about 178 anonymous commenters on the site. The order came after a couple, Mark and Rhonda Lesher, sued the numerous anonymous commenters posting to Topix.com for making what they considered to be "perverted, sick, vile, inhumane accusations" about them.
The Leshers were originally thrust into the Texas spotlight in 2008 after being accused of sexually assaulting an unidentified former client of Mark Lesher. That's when thousands of comments began piling up on the community news aggregator Topix to discuss the sexual assault charges. As with most things on the Internet, many Topix users felt free to let loose with nasty comments about the Leshers.
The Leshers were found not guilty of the charges after a criminal trial. That, however, wasn't the end of the 70-some individual threads posted to Topix about them. "It just... basically made us both feel like common criminals," the Leshers told the Dallas Morning News (via TechDirt). "It's like someone had basically raped us of our reputation and our standing in the community over and over and over again."
That's when the Leshers chose to sue a number of Topix's anonymous commenters (but, interestingly, not Topix itself). The law firm representing the couple, Connor & Demond PLLC in Austin, told Computerworld that the lawsuit was limited specifically to the posters whose statements were considered defamatory under Texas law.
The complaint filed by the Leshers details many of the comments made by the anonymous defendants. Some are certainly lower blows than others—insinuating that Mark drugs women and that Rhonda is the "Herpies Queen," and that the couple may have AIDS, among other things—but not all of the comments are as bad. Some merely accuse the Leshers of being liars, and others even say to wait for confirmation of some of the accusations.
[...]
Topix, for its part, appears to be doing its best to ensure that it only hands over exactly what is required, and not a bit more. Topix CEO Chris Tolles told Computerworld that the company takes privacy very seriously, and that the company would not "simply hand over all of our records" without reviewing the subpoena in detail. "We prefer to make sure requests are clear and specific and not overly broad," he said. According to the order, Topix has until March 6 to give up the information.
What happened in Texas could EASILY happen in Danbury...
From the mayor's appointment of Mike McLahclan and his handling of the transfer station, to the concerns regarding changes to the city's charter and the recent vote to reject the teachers contract, everything topic will be on the table. This will be a live show and the Democrats will be able to answer your questions so PLEASE call at 203.792.4101.
Don't miss this VERY IMPORTANT and informative show...trust me, it's going to be a good one!
Hundreds of people came out to attend Senator Chris Dodd's town hall meeting on health care. WCSU 02.07.09
The second stop on Senator Chris Dodd's town hall meeting on health care reform made it's way to Western Connecticut State University last Saturday.
As a person who attend several meetings in the area, by the number of people who were attendance for a Saturday event (aprox 300 to 400), it was pretty obvious that the topic of affordable health care is a serious concern for many families in the state as well as the country.
Senator Dodd, Congressman Chris Murphy, and a panel consisting of health care advocate Kevin Lembo, Johnna Torsone, human resources manager for Pitney Bowes, Atena CEO Ron Williams, Jeanette DeJesus, Hispanic Health Council fielded questions from those in attendance where weren't shy when it came to expressing their viewpoint.
You can read and view highlights from Senator Dodd's event (including footage of the entire 90 minute meeting) below...
As someone with a two-year old, childhood obesity and the lack of physical education in our school system is a serious concern for me as well as a lot of parents. I had a chance to question Senator Dodd and Congressman Murphy about this problem and got their take on the subject.
The CCAG asked Senator Dodd where he stood on the topic of public health care options...
When Jim Mellett was a kid, people would go to their town doc and complain about things like bum knees.
The doc would see you, take a look at the knee and charge you a fee, said the 72-year-old New Fairfield resident.
Today, Mellett walks into a doctor's office and "there's a gorilla at the desk."
You talk to the doctor about the knee and the doctor tells you to go see the gorilla.
Eventually the doctor says he can fix you for $50, but the gorilla gets half.
The gorilla is the insurance industry, which Mellett says has hijacked health care in the United States.
...and of course, a political event wouldn't be complete without the likes of Watertown's embarrassment Barbara Kidel, Patrica Kadet, and the rest of Elise Marciano's dwindling group of anti-immigrant xenophobes.
While chuckling over the fact that the anti-immigrant whack-packers were a five member group, since they attempted to demonstrate along side members of the WCSU College Republicans who were there to "protest" Senator Dodd, I decided to ask a couple of questions out of one of the Republicans (you know who you are) about their apparent solidarity with members of a local hate-group:
HCB: Hey, are you guys are you standing with the local bigots in solidarity?
WCSU Republican: No, no NO! (shaking his head quickly).
HCB: You know they're considered are bigots.
WCSU Republican: Hey, we have nothing to do with them...we're not with them.
HCB: I'll be keeping an eye on you.
WCSU Republican: Al, I know...
Taking a cue from the mayor's success in using illegal immigration for political purposes, to Marciano's whack-pack pleasure, the college Republicans attempted to play the illegal immigration card when it came to health care...and lets just say that they didn't expect the reaction they received by just about everyone in attendance.
Notwithstanding the anti-immigrant and anti-Dodd nonsense, which was promptly put in it's place, overall the event was very informative as it demonstrated how important the topic of health care reform is for many in the area.
Here's footage of the event in it's entirety (aprox 90 min).
Man, people at last night's Common Council meeting were PISSED off. The title of this post is what one person screamed after the council made the decision to reject the teacher's contract...hell, at one point, I was a little concerned that things would get uglier as certain words were said about certain people that I won't get into.
There was simply too much happened last night for me to describe so I'm going to post the video of the meeting and let you see what went down for yourselves.
For those who watched the meeting on Channel 24 and didn't hear portions of the event, you can blame the member of the council for not reminding people to come up and speak in the mic. Fortunately, I videotaped everything so you'll be able to hear what was not picked up by the city's cameras.
I've been inundated with emails and messages from people requesting me to post the video from the Board of Education Budget presentation. For those not in the know, the School's budget takes up the lion's share of the overall city's budget. Due to the current economic climate, and the possibility of state funding being reduced, and the proposed salary increase, there has been increased interest in this particular budget presentation.
For those who missed the footage of the presentation when it was broadcasted on Thursday, here's the video in it's entirety (aprox. 2 hours).
NOTE: Due to the length of the video (2 hours!!),I STRONGLY recommend that you download the video from YouTube and save it to your own computer. If you don't know how download files from YouTube, please follow these REALLY simple steps:
1. Copy the URL of the Youtube file (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGUp9K9XVr8).
2. Go to the following website, paste the URL in the input box, select which format you would like the file exported, and press the "start" button.
3. Presto! You now have a copy of the video which you can view anytime on your computer, iPod, AppleTV, Blackberry, or iPhone.
If you want a copy of the video in a higher resolution that you watch on your computer or TV, just email me and I'll send you a copy (I'm not making this available to everyone at this time because it's a REALLY large file).
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
While chuckling over the fact that the anti-immigrant whack-packers were a five member group, since they attempted to demonstrate along side members of the WCSU College Republicans who were there to "protest" Senator Dodd, I decided to ask a couple of questions out of one of the Republicans (you know who you are) about their apparent solidarity with members of a local hate-group:
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
