LOCAL ACCESS: Progressive Soup July 1 2009 broadcast
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Time: 4:16 PM
Time: 4:16 PM
LOCAL ACCESS: Danbury Live June 27 2009 broadcast
Friday, July 03, 2009
Time: 8:07 PM
Time: 8:07 PM
Ther drumbeat against Scribner continues
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Time: 6:46 PM
Time: 6:46 PM
The fallout from the revelation that State Rep/Brookfield Treasurer David Scribner FAILED to pay local property taxes continues.Bloggers in the hometown of Jodi Rell weigh in on Scribner's latest embarrassment"
Brookfield Connecticut Politics:
...The Brookfield Town Treasurer has been unavailable to discuss the Brookfield Town Pension Plan. For months on end. Even though the town has been paying him $1,000 a month to be treasurer. Incommunicado.
Unavailable since December 2008. People have been dead longer folks.
In the fall of 2008 he assured everyone in a Brookfield Journal interview that the pension fund was secure in "government securities" (See Brookfield Journal, Oct 17th edition) and not subject to losses. Fat chance.
Information is now “leaking’ that the fund is actually down from $24 million to about $19 million, but since nothing has been shared with Freedom of Information requests that are months and months old that is only unofficial. Why unofficial?
OOPS!
While that is certainly no disaster given the current economic down turn, having reported to neither the Board of Finance nor the Board of Selectmen since late 2008, (over six months) certainly is. And his annual treasurers report, printed for the annual town meeting, alleges that the town has a 5 year financial plan. Questions at the public Board of Finance meeting and to the First Selectman all came back with a resounding "No Such Thing".
[...]
Keep in mind that the only a single person, with a tax lien on their property, is managing and signing checks for the tens of millions of dollars of funds entrusted to his financial management acumen.
[...]
Only the Brookfield Town controller (currently a vacant position), the subject of an earlier columns and the Brookfield Town Treasurer currently have “control” over the employees payroll deductions made to the pension fund as well as the towns contribution.
Brookfield United:
Remember, just because you don't pay the taxes you owe the town for years, doesn't mean the Republican Party won't endorse you...Vote for RepubliCrat-endorsed candidates in November 2009 and get More-of-the-Same for More-of-YOUR-Money!
Answers, not excuses. Results, not rhetoric.
Ouch, tough comments from bloggers in Scribner's hometown...I will do follow-ups on the claims against Scribner by those on the Brookfield blogs and update everyone.
The DHS principal search process (from different points of view)
Time: 12:26 PM
Although Danbury High School has a new leader, lingering questions remain in regards to the principal search process used by the Board of Education and School Superintendent Sal Pascarella.
Although the school board's site visit trip to Arizona has certainly generated quite a deal of criticism, what I found most interesting had nothing to do with the amount of the trip or the number of people who went to Arizona, but rather the members of the board who were picked to go on the trip.
Unlike the school superintendent and members of the high school administration, the two members of the board of education who were picked to go on the trip, Democrat Rachel Austin and Republican Irving Fox, were not involved in any manner with the search process. What's more intriguing is that the board members who were involved in the search process, Democrat Joan Hodge and Democrat Gladys Cooper, happened to be the most critical about the process as a whole and expressed their displeasure on the record.
From June 24th's BOE meeting, here's video footage of comments made by Cooper, Hodge, Austin, and Fox regarding the search process.
With such a difference of opinion between those who went on the trip and those who didn't, after the meeting, I talked to one board member who went on the site visit trip, and one who didn't go on the visit (but was involved in interviewing the principal candidates) to get their perspective on the the process as a whole.
Joan Hodge: Process was "very poorly organized"
Citing various concerns she had with the search process as a whole, in my interview with board member Hodge, she expanded on her displeasure with certain elements of the process, such as committee members who shared confidential information with members of the public, and legitimate questions regarding the site visit trip to Arizona.
Irving Fox: Process was a cost savings for taxpayers
Taking a different approach on the matter, in my interview with board member Fox, the one of the two individuals from the board who went on the site visit to Arizona defended the trip and highlighted the cost savings achieved by the direction the board took in the search process decisions.
In the end, whether or not the search process used by the board was worth the savings to the taxpayers (and the public outrage) is up for the residents of Danbury to decide.
Although the school board's site visit trip to Arizona has certainly generated quite a deal of criticism, what I found most interesting had nothing to do with the amount of the trip or the number of people who went to Arizona, but rather the members of the board who were picked to go on the trip.
Unlike the school superintendent and members of the high school administration, the two members of the board of education who were picked to go on the trip, Democrat Rachel Austin and Republican Irving Fox, were not involved in any manner with the search process. What's more intriguing is that the board members who were involved in the search process, Democrat Joan Hodge and Democrat Gladys Cooper, happened to be the most critical about the process as a whole and expressed their displeasure on the record.
From June 24th's BOE meeting, here's video footage of comments made by Cooper, Hodge, Austin, and Fox regarding the search process.
With such a difference of opinion between those who went on the trip and those who didn't, after the meeting, I talked to one board member who went on the site visit trip, and one who didn't go on the visit (but was involved in interviewing the principal candidates) to get their perspective on the the process as a whole.
Joan Hodge: Process was "very poorly organized"
Citing various concerns she had with the search process as a whole, in my interview with board member Hodge, she expanded on her displeasure with certain elements of the process, such as committee members who shared confidential information with members of the public, and legitimate questions regarding the site visit trip to Arizona.Irving Fox: Process was a cost savings for taxpayers
Taking a different approach on the matter, in my interview with board member Fox, the one of the two individuals from the board who went on the site visit to Arizona defended the trip and highlighted the cost savings achieved by the direction the board took in the search process decisions.In the end, whether or not the search process used by the board was worth the savings to the taxpayers (and the public outrage) is up for the residents of Danbury to decide.
Defending the indefensible
Time: 10:38 AM
Oh, this is rich! Area lawmakers circle the wagons around Brookfield's treasurer who didn't pay his local property taxes.
It's one thing for David Scribner to screw up in filing his federal taxes but what's indefensible is not the matter with the IRS but his avoiding to pay property taxes...something that Scribner hasn't explained various articles done on his situation.
The people of Brookfield, who put their trust in Scribner in terms of handling financial matters for the town, deserve an explainaiton regarding the State Rep's deliquent property taxes...period.
It's one thing for David Scribner to screw up in filing his federal taxes but what's indefensible is not the matter with the IRS but his avoiding to pay property taxes...something that Scribner hasn't explained various articles done on his situation.
The people of Brookfield, who put their trust in Scribner in terms of handling financial matters for the town, deserve an explainaiton regarding the State Rep's deliquent property taxes...period.
Do you really want this guy in charge of signing checks
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Time: 3:39 PM
Time: 3:39 PM
It seems like the Treasurer for the town of Brookfield has failed to pay his local taxes, in trouble with the IRS AND has a lien against his house....oh, did I mention that he's also a State Representative for the town of Brookfield and Bethel?
State Rep. David Scribner, who also serves as Brookfield's town treasurer, has a federal tax lien filed against his home for more than $75,000.
Scribner on Tuesday confirmed that a tax lien for $76,253 was filed against his property on Obtuse Hill Road in Brookfield in August 2006 by the Internal Revenue Service.
[...]
A federal tax lien has also been filed against Pamela Scribner, his wife, for $13,841 that the state legislator said was from the same audit because the couple files jointly.
According to the Brookfield tax collector's office, the couple also owe a total of about $394 in motor vehicle taxes on two cars from the 2007 grand list.
Scribner said that while there may be a legitimate balance owed to the town on the cars, there is also a paperwork issue resulting from one of the vehicles being leased that he is in the process of resolving.
So lets recap:
The TREASURER FOR THE TOWN OF BROOKFIELD and current STATE REP (who's quick to criticize the Democraitc budget proposal) did the following:
- failed to properly file taxes with the IRS
- has a lien placed on his house by the IRS
- failed to pay property taxes to the town of Brookfield
Okay, can someone please expalin to me why this person is signing checks for the town of Brookfield?
I found a video that best describes Scribner's political future...
UPDATE: Word of Scribner's tax nightmare is spreading across the country. The USA Today and MSNBC picked up the story...
UPDATE 2: For some reason, the News-Times disabled the comments from their story on Scribner. If you want to view what people are saying about Brookfield's treasurer/tax cheater, you can still access the topix comment thread by clicking here.
UPDATE 3: Now comes word that Scribner's problems were well known in Brookfield for quite some time...and people are pretty pissed off at him.
Pounding the pavement
Monday, June 29, 2009
Time: 8:42 PM
Time: 8:42 PM
Democratic mayoral candidate Gary Goncalves gives his final instructions
to his volunteers before the start of his door-knocking campaign.
Gary Goncalves campaign headquarters. 06.28.09
to his volunteers before the start of his door-knocking campaign.
Gary Goncalves campaign headquarters. 06.28.09
You know the city's in campaign mode when the candidates start knocking doors and that's exactly what happened this weekend.
Democratic mayoral candidate Gary Goncalves has been very busy hitting the streets with his army of volunteers and introducing himself with the public.
Before pounding the pavement Sunday, I caught up with the man who wants to give Mark Boughton his pink slip in order to get an update on his campaign activities...
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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.
