The leader of the state's Democrats has issued a scathing letter to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, calling into question her role in the Route 7 bypass and the seizure of a local quarry to make room for the new highway.

[...]

A statement from Rell's office this week defended her actions, and area lawmakers also supported her involvement in the project, which has been on the books since the 1970s and is slated for completion this fall.

State Rep. David Scribner, R-Brookfield, who serves as a ranking member of the legislature's Transportation Committee, praised Rell for her leadership on the Route 7 project.

-"Why were you, as Lieutenant Governor, involved in these Department of Transportation meetings?"

-"What was your role?"

-"Did the proximity of the quarry to your home in Brookfield play any part in your involvement in the issue?"

-"How many meetings did you have with DOT officials about this issue?

-"Who did you meet with?"

-"What, specifically, was said?"

-"As part of these meetings, did you have any knowledge of the two internal DOT memos by senior officials admitting the quarry was actually worth between $25-30 million?"

The state Democratic Party chairwoman asked Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Thursday to explain the role she played years ago, as lieutenant governor, when she met with transportation officials on the routing of a Route 7 bypass through a quarry in her hometown of Brookfield.

"Perhaps there was a perfectly legitimate reason why you felt the need to involve yourself, as Lieutenant Governor, in this issue. But certainly you can agree that your involvement does, at the very least, seem odd and even self-serving, given your residency in Brookfield and potential personal interest in the outcome," Democratic Party chief Nancy DiNardo wrote to Rell.

[...]

The decade-old routing decision led to a judge's July 29 order that the state pay the quarry owners $28 million extra for land the Department of Transportation took in 2004 by eminent domain.

The state paid $4.1 million then, but the owners sued for more, and Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Sheedy issued a decision blasting state officials for "unprofessional behavior" as they minimized the property's appraisal.

Sheedy's decision mentioned that Rell met with state transportation personnel and federal officials about the stalled project in July 2000 while she was lieutenant governor. Before assuming that office in 1995, Rell was a state legislator for a decade.

In her letter, DiNardo cited a Courant editorial urging more investigation and called it "unconscionable" that taxpayers may pay $28 million "for the state's malpractice."

DiNardo told Rell that "surely you would agree that your constituents in Connecticut deserve to know the answers to several $28 million dollar questions," including:

-"Why were you, as Lieutenant Governor, involved in these Department of Transportation meetings?"

-"What was your role?"

-"Did the proximity of the quarry to your home in Brookfield play any part in your involvement in the issue?"

-"How many meetings did you have with DOT officials about this issue?

-"Who did you meet with?"

-"What, specifically, was said?"

-"As part of these meetings, did you have any knowledge of the two internal DOT memos by senior officials admitting the quarry was actually worth between $25-30 million?"

DiNardo concluded by saying that "at a time of great economic distress in many Connecticut households, and certainly in our state's fiscal outlook, as well, it's unconscionable that taxpayers will be asked to cough up an additional $28 million to pay for the state's malpractice, and perhaps, even blatant disregard for the truth. Connecticut residents deserve their Governor practicing the transparency and accountability she so often preaches. I look forward to hearing back from you promptly regarding these questions."

School administrators who agreed to take two unpaid furlough days as a contract concession could have done more, according to at least one city official.

Common Council Minority Leader Thomas Saadi has asked representatives of the school district to attend an upcoming council meeting to address the issue.

"I don't want to drag anyone into an inquisition," Saadi said. "I just want to get some answers to questions people have been asking me."

He questioned how the giveback, which amounted to an estimated total savings of about $40,000, equated to about 1 percent of the administrators' total salaries, as school officials said last month.

"I would also like to know why there wasn't a give back of an actual pay increase," Saadi said. "The teachers stepped up and actually gave back a percentage of their raises. The teachers stepped up and the supervisors didn't."

The owner of a Bethel copy company is furious that Danbury school officials awarded a $900,000 copy-machine contract to another bidder.

Mike Boyle, president of Base Technologies in Bethel, said his bid was rejected although it was $100,000 lower than the winner, who's had the contract for the past four years.

The contract is worth $232,000 a year for four years, for a total of about $928,000.

School officials said Boyle's bid did not satisfy all the specifications listed in the Request for Proposal document.

The Board of Education discussed the bids behind closed doors at its meeting July 22 and voted to award the contract to A and A Office Equipment in Middletown.

"We took a look at eight vendors and there were price differentials among all eight, as well as differences in the machine specs that they were giving us,'' Danbury schools finance director Elio Longo said Friday.

"Of the bidders, not all met specifications. According to the bids that are public, Base Technologies did not bid to specs on all the aspects of the RFP."

Boyle said he's written to Superintendent Sal Pascarella and members of the Danbury Common Council, who must approve the multi-year contract, to have them look at the contract.

"We knew we didn't meet the specs for one of the 62 machines, but I told him if he didn't accept the alternative I would give him the exact same machine he had spec-ed, and he told me he would get back to me,'' Boyle said.

City officials submitted their application to the Department of Homeland Security in February 2008, after much local controversy.

Immigrant businesses throughout the city shut their doors for a day then in protest of the partnership, and hundreds of people descended on City Hall for the Common Council meeting when the application was approved by a vote of 19-2.

Danbury Police Chief Al Baker continues to carry the burden of what happened last winter when the Common Council voted to authorize the police department to work with federal immigration agents.

There was no need for a council vote -- since the police work with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies on a daily basis.

There was no need for the spectacle caused when competing activists converged on Danbury City Hall for the council vote -- which was a vote on nothing.

All these months later, there still is no written agreement between Danbury and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Baker has been regularly meeting with local groups -- some involved in the immigration issue, some not -- to explain the role of the department and what a partnership with ICE would mean.

"I'm always willing to meet with people on issues of concern to the public and the Danbury Police Department," the chief said.

One of those meetings is scheduled for tonight at the Brazilian Catholic Community Center on Liberty Street. It was arranged by the Danbury Alliance and will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Baker is doing a good job cleaning up the mess created by politicians who decided to get involved in what should be a purely law enforcement decision.

The extremes on both sides of the debate envisioned ICE agents sweeping into Danbury neighborhoods for mass roundups of those suspected of being illegal immigrants.

Naturally, there were fears of racial profiling against legal immigrants and citizens.

[...]

The lack of a written agreement with ICE points out the needless rush by the council. The city hasn't even been told by ICE whether it will be accepted into the ICE program for local police. The city also has not been told if any Danbury police officers will be offered training spots in ICE programs.

ICE will probably say yes. But just as ICE is taking its time to make decisions, the Danbury Police Department should have been given time to decide how best to approach a partnership with ICE -- without the posturing and interference of the Common Council.

Danbury Chief of Police, Alan Baker, at a meeting yesterday with representatives of Latino/Hispanic communities and representatives of the Danbury Alliance, Would not commit to several modifications proposed by the Danbury Alliance to the agreement with ICE pursuant to the authorization given to him by the Danbury Common Council on February 6.

Between 80 and 100 members of the Latino/Hispanic communities and the Danbury Alliance voiced concerns with some of the clauses they say are common to all the existing Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) with ICE but are vague and inconsistent in nature. They sought assurances from the Chief of Police that these clauses would be modified in the agreement which the Chief of Police is expected to sign with ICE.

Chief Alan Baker did not agree to put a specific clause in the MOA that would forbid officers from asking crime victims their immigration status or sharing their status with ICE. In addition, Chief Baker said there would be times that immigration status would be asked and shared with ICE, such as the U Visa program which grants crime victims a temporary visa during the time they cooperate with the prosecution of a criminal.

Chief Baker would not commit to include language in the MOA prohibiting racial profiling. He noted that the police force does not engage in racial profiling yet, several members of the public stated that they had received multiple complaints from persons who said that they had been racially profiled by the Danbury police but were afraid to report it.

The financial costs associated with participation in this program were also addressed by the public however; Chief Alan Baker was unable to provide any details associated with this and stated the city council had not done a cost analysis, to his knowledge, but that it was something that he and the city could do.

Mr. Wilson Hernandez asked Chief Baker if he would limit the number of detectives who receive ICE training to the original number of two detectives he proposed to the common council in January. Chief Baker's response was "I don't want to tie our hands to that number" adding that the number could eventually be increased.

When asked by the public, "what constitutes the definition of a criminal alien" Chief Baker said that there were specific types of criminals they were looking for but could not provide a definition of the term. Chief Baker would not commit to including the definition of criminal alien provided by the Alliance in the wording of the MOA.

Finally, Chief Baker would not agree to allow members of the Alliance to review the final MOA before it is signed.

Despite the reluctance of Chief Baker to commit to the modifications that had been proposed, members of the Alliance issued the following statement: "We consider tonight's event a success in many ways. One of the primary missions of our group is to facilitate dialogue and inform the public. We believe that information is gleaned as much by the question as by their answers. Tonight was a perfect example of that."

Dr. Pascarella has invited Council Members to attend a meet and greet with Dr. Robert Rossi, the new Danbury High School Principal. This will take place at the Beaver Brook School Administration building at 6:30 PM on Wednesday August 12th 2009.

For Council Members interested in attending as members of the public, there will be a Special Board of Education meeting to follow at 7:00 PM.

The Board of Education agenda will include a presentation of the copier bid as well as information regarding the Administrators furlough days.


Best Regards,

Joe Cavo
Council President

Lost in the hubbub is the political reality that having state police enforce immigration law in Connecticut is unlikely to happen anytime soon, if ever. And even Boughton acknowledges that his plan would have little effect on the number of undocumented immigrants in town.

[...]

Blumenthal responded to Boughton's request by saying it would need the approval of Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Public Safety Commissioner Leonard Boyle and the state legislature.

Blumenthal said there is no chance of that happening this year and he has "serious reservations" about the proposal.

"Deputizing local or state police is not a long term or fundamental solution to the problem," he said.

Although Boughton wants state police to enforce immigration law, he is not interested in Danbury police having the same authority, for fear it would cripple their ability to investigate other crimes.

"The same is true, to an even greater extent, for the state police," Blumenthal said.

It will begin at Kennedy Park, where the crowds of Hispanic men who gather before dawn to find work as day laborers helped prompt Mayor Mark D. Boughton to ask that the state police be deputized to enforce federal immigration laws.

[...]

Now, while members of Danbury's Common Council continue to draft a ''repetitive outdoor activity'' ordinance to restrict volleyball by cracking down on parking and noise, among other things, the mayor says deputizing the state police may not be necessary, that the police may have enough remedies without becoming immigration agents.

Most local police departments say they have no interest in arresting illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes. Even in Danbury, when Mayor Mark Boughton last year tried unsuccessfully to have state police enforce immigration law, he said he didn't want his police doing it because it could discourage immigrants from cooperating in criminal investigations.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced an overhaul of that program, placing greater restriction on police. Most notably, 287(g) now explicitly places priority on "aliens who pose a criminal threat," says Matt Chandler, Assistant Press Secretary for DHS's Office of Public Affairs.

This is meant to discourage police from charging illegal immigrants with small crimes and dragging them through the ICE system, a process that could end in deportation.

Section 3-3 CITY CLERK.
The City Clerk shall be the Clerk of the Council. The City Clerk shall keep for public inspection copies of every proposed ordinance and a record of all proceedings including all roll call votes. All records so kept shall be authenticated by such Clerk or the President of the Council or both. The Clerk shall be responsible for the publication of such notices of hearing and publication of ordinances as may be necessary and perform such other duties as the Council may determine. The Council may, at any time,appoint an Assistant Clerk or Clerks, who shall, in the absence or disability of the Clerk, perform all the duties of the Clerk, and all records and acts of said Assistant shall have the same validity as the records and acts of the Clerk.