Grr...

My phone has been going off the hook with political calls!

Last week I received TWO calls form the Republican Town Committee where someone read a script about Boughton's "accomplishments."

Last night, I received a call from the Gary Goncalves and William Totten campaign.

Today, I received a polling call regarding the town clerk race (btw: Louise, did you pay your taxes yet?) AND a poll call regarding the mayoral race.

...oh, did I mention that ALL of these calls were to my CELLPHONE!!!!

Grr...

This letter to the editor pretty much sums up Mayor Mark Boughton's dirty campaign tactics that has gone on behind the scenes.

I vote for the candidate, not the party. This time, Mark Boughton does not get my vote. Too much has gone wrong, been neglected, and corruption predominates, especially when representatives from City Hall call a landlord three times asking him to remove a Goncalves sign from his building's window.

Even some of the City Hall employees aren't necessarily fans of his. Worried about feeding their families and keeping a roof over their heads, they keep the silence

Dirty tactics like City Hall telling store owners on Main Street to remove their Goncalves campaign material has been going on for some time. One only has to go see the Boughton political sign on the corner of Main and South Street (a sign that's in the same area where a Goncalves, Perkins, and Visconti once once stood) to understand what's going on.

Boughton has gotten away with this nonsense because it goes unreported.

It goes unreported because people fear the kingpin of City Hall.

People haven't forgotten the fact that one organization that spoke up against the tactics of City Hall 9287G/ICE ACCESS) got their funding taken away from them (Hispanic Center) while the other one was threaten by the President of the Common Council as well verbally threatened by the mayor's chief of staff at the time.

City Hall employees are my best sources yet they also fear speaking out because of fear of Boughton with his agents roaming the halls (i.e., Doran, Natale, Soderstorm).

This letter symbolizes the dirty politics and divisiveness that still exists in the city, a divisiveness that is being ignored by the media and dismissed by those in power at City Hall.

On October 21st, Pro-Bethel Board of Education candidate Dan Gaita filed a defamation lawsuit against the town's superintendent of schools and the Democratic and Republican first selectmen candidates.

According to papers filed at Danbury Superior Court, Gaita, whose also First Selectman Bob Burke campaign treasurer, alleges that an email sent by school superintendent Gary Chesley to Board of Education members that was critical of a video he placed on YouTube caused a "loss to his reputation, shame, mortification, and injury to his feelings."

I interviewed Gaita back in September when he addressed the matter in greater detail and painting a larger picture where he alleges that he's being demonized for expressing his opinion on subject matter concerning Bethel.



For Chelsey's part, in an interview he did with the News-Times, he called Gaita's lawsuit "silly."

"Mr. Gaita has been threatening to file a lawsuit for several months. Now, days before the election, he filed it. It must be a way to get some notoriety before the election,'' Chesley said Wednesday.

Calling the suit a "political ploy," here's what Democratic First Selectaman candidate Matt Knickerbocker, one of the individuals Gaita filed against, had to say about the matter.

This suit is entirely without merit," Knickerbocker said Wednesday. "I can't believe a candidate for the Board of Education would pull a political stunt like this that will cost the taxpayers money."

Craybas was unavailable for comment for the News-Times piece and I've not attempted to reach him at this time for a comment.

You can read the complaint in full below:

Back on October 22, I did a post on a News-Times article by Eileen FitzGerald that pertained to the latest fundraising reports from the three candidates running for First Selectman in Bethel.

Here's the details:

Democratic first selectman candidate Matt Knickerbocker came out ahead of his two opponents in fundraising for the Nov. 3 campaign, based on the most recent tallies.

Knickerbocker has raised $14,690 for his campaign, with the majority raised in the last month. That is more than both his opponents combined.

Incumbent First Selectman Robert Burke raised $4,550 this period, which added to his existing funds gives him an aggregate of $8,350 raised for his third campaign.

Republican challenger Larry Craybas reported $2,075 contributions this month, with an aggregate of $4,250 raised for his campaign.

After I posted on the article, I was contacted by Bethel Republican Town Committee Paul Improta who wanted questioned the accuracy of the article and wanted clarify the perception given in the piece that the Craybas camp is low on funds.

Instead of writing up my account of my interview with Improta, I gave the chairman of the RTC full reign on this blog to explain the situation.

Via a phone conference, here's the interview I did with Improta (WARNING: The sound quality of the audio is a bit choppy at the beginning).

Things are getting very interesting in Bethel these days...

With the municipal elections being days away, the three candidates for the Selectman ticket took to their airwaves to make their case.

From this week, here's interviews with the First Selectman/Selectman candidates running on the Democratic, Republican, and Pro-Bethel ticket.

Since my initial post on the questionable practices of Derek Roy's campaign, I've received quite a deal of emails from residents of the 5th ward who wanted to give the university dormitory student/Common Council candidate a piece of their mind.

Most complaints I've received pertains to the Roy campaign's lit drop tactics. Basically, a lit drop is when a candidate comes by your house and drops off information about their candidacy. Usually, if you're not home, the candidate (or people associated with his campaign) will "drop" off the material at your home.

To my best knowledge, there are restrictions regarding where a candidate can drop off their material. For instance, (again, this is my understanding) a candidate is not allowed to place any material inside a resident's mailbox. With that in mind, I received an email form a 5th ward resident who was not too pleased to find about finding this on his/her mailbox (unless it is the result of the normal delivery of postage-paid mail).



To add insult to injury, another person sent me this photo...



Notwithstanding the legality of placing campaign material on an individual's car, my question to the Roy campaign is "how do you know that the person's car you littered with your campaign material is a resident of the 5th ward? Just because a car is parked in the 5th ward doesn't automatically mean that the individual who owns the car lives in the 5th ward.

I've been asked by these neighbors whether or not this type of lit drop procedure is legal. I have a inquiry into the state election enforcement commission and I'll update this post when I get an answer.

In short, it's not nice to piss off the very people need to vote for you. In this case, I think Roy just lose at least 2 votes.

UPDATE: From the feedback I'm receiving, in terms of mailboxes, a candidate can not place non-postage material into a resident's mailbox but they can place material on a resident's mailbox. Now, this isn't official, but this is info is coming from multiple sources who are in the know when it comes to campaign stuff.

No word on placing material on automobiles yet.

UPDATE 2: According to the state election enforcement offices, there is no statue that pertains to the placement of campaign material. In other words, this area of campaigning is not within their jurisdiction.

So to recap: Placing NON-POSTAGE campaign material in a mailbox is against federal law and a BIG no no. Placing material on a mailbox should be okay. Campaign material on cars is annoying but could be legal.

In any event, in my opinion, the best way for candidates to drop of their material is to simply place it securely in/on the door (or better yet, design your material so that you can place it on the doorknob. That way, you really don't piss anyone off too much (i.e., image having to deal with removing a soggy piece of campaign crap from your car or lawn in the rain).

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RELATED POST

Funny photo of the day (or will the mistakes from this campaign ever end)

Here's video footage of the now infamous Zoning Commission meeting which involved a proposed amendment to the LCI-40 (industrial land) zone. This amendment would pave the way to allow the Danbury Elks Lodge to open shop on the property that currently houses the Indian Trading Post on Sugar Hollow Road.

As I'm pressed for time, I'll add my commentary regarding some of the outrageous comments from the commission members soon.

Now, as anyone who's attended Western know that the university is primarily a commuter college where a majority of the students who attend classes, live outside the fifth ward. It's also common knowledge that the voter turnout students in elections are extremely low because most students have little or no knowledge in municipal politics.

Now take all of this into consideration when you view the political sign in this image that was taken at Western yesterday.

Republican 5th Ward candidate Derek Roy has had what most would consider an "interesting/bizarre" campaign to say the least...and if I was him, I'd be VERY happy that the elections are a few days away as the increasing damage he could do to his campaign at this point can be kept at a minimum.

From...

• an embarrassing episode with the military when he used his national guard uniform in a political video (which is a VERY, VERY, VERY against military regulations), which he had to remove from YouTube,


• posing in his fire fighter uniform in his revised political ad, which offended just about every firefighter I've talked to (Roy's a volunteer fire fighter with Engine 3),
  
• being a candidate who was raised in Goshen Connecticut whose only connection to Danbury stems from the fact that he's a student at Western,


• a person whose time on the EIC commission (an appointed post that was done by Boughton) is so small that it's barely noticeable.


• a person who's only relation to the fifth ward is via the fact that he's lives at the BRT/Crosby Street dormitory (a.k.a Brookview Commons),


• and a person who has a series of laughable quotes on his website such as this gen that doesn't place the mayor in a good light such as:
  

  Stabilizing Taxes
  
  First off, any increase in taxes will only increase the burden on families and that approach in these tough economic times is simply unacceptable. Furthermore, I hope to continue to support the success of the Boughton administration by keeping some of the lowest property taxes in our state, maintaining the lowest credit and bond rating in our history and keeping a low debt service rate and strong fund balance.

  (note to Derek, saying that the mayor has maintained the lowest credit rating is probably NOT a good thing...just sayin')

...at some point, one has to stop shaking their head and just feel bad for this kid.

Look, I know Derek, in fact I interviewed him a few months ago before he was officially nominated at the 5th ward candidate. He's a young and bright kid who's probably in the race because of his love for politics (which is commendable).

That being said, the fact that the Republicans are running a kid who lives in what is in essence a dormitory at Western is even running for 5th ward Common Council position should give you some indication about the seriousness the local GOP have in terms of picking up a seat in this ward.

Remember, the seats are presently held by Fred (he just received another award while you've read this post) Visconti and Duane (former candidate for State Senate who comes from one of the largest families in Danbury) Perkins, which should give you an indication that Roy and his running mate Linda J. Ossenfort (a 9/12 tea party extremist and former Republican 5th ward candidate who was crushed by Perkins and Visconti in 2005) have virtually no chance in winning.

Hopefully, I'm sure when he looks back on everything, Roy will take his lumps as a learning experience and he will apply what he learned towards the future. For now, for his sake, I'm just hoping he doesn't make any more embarrassing mistakes like posting political stuff on the campus of Western before next Tuesday.

Today, the Gary Goncalves campaign released a new video where the Democratic nominee for mayor talks directly to the residents of Danbury about his concerns and vision for the city.

Dysfunctional (and/or arrogance) is the best way to describe last night's Zoning Commission meeting...and since the News-Times' Dirk was not at the meeting, the recklessness among the members of the commission is absent in his write-up.

In short, there were members of the public (including myself - although I didn't speak at the meeting) who were concerned over a proposed amendment to the LCI-40 (industrial land) zone. This amendment would pave the way to allow the Danbury Elks Lodge to open shop on the property that currently houses the Indian Trading Post on Sugar Hollow Road.

Instead of getting into details over what happened, I'm going to withhold my criticism over what happened last night until after I have the video of the meeting uploaded for viewing. I'll have a full write-up on everything that happened last night soon.

Certain members of the commission should be ashamed of themselves (or better yet, not re-elected).

Although the Danbury 11 case is ongoing, the students at Yale University are filing another lawsuit against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The suit stems from the raids in New Haven back in 2007 which the lawyers for Yale claim were a retaliation for Elm City's ID card program.

The New Haven Independent is covering the story and you can read all about the suit filed today by clicking here.

Text of the lawsuit is below.

I was contacted by the chairman of the Bethel Republican Party in regards to a post I did on the fundraising activities of First Selectman candidate Larry Craybas, Robert Burke, and Matt Knickerbocker.

Hopefully, I'll have a post ready on everything tomorrow but apparently, there needs to be a bit of clarification on the News-Times piece regarding the latest fundraising report for the candidates.

...I'll clear things up later.

NOTE: Bethel First Selectman Robert Burke opted to not attend the News-Times editorial board candidate forum. You can read his statement below:

Bethel First Selectmen, Bob Burke, declines an invitation to the News Times Candidate Forum.

Citing the News Times’ documented campaign of personal and political bias against his administration and candidacy, Mr. Burke has declined an invitation to participate in the News Times’ First Selectmen candidate forum. “I will not participate in a candidate forum being conducted by any organization, including the News Times, that has exhibited a clear and documented history of biased reporting and editorial character assassination against me. Their campaign to defame my integrity and discredit my public record disqualifies them from conducting an unbiased candidate forum and does not deserve my attendance ”, said Mr. Burke. “The people of Bethel know what I’ve done over the last 4 years in office and evidenced by my landslide victories in the last two elections, they do not hold the News Times endorsements in a credible light”, added Mr. Burke.

To reinforce his reason for not attending, Mr. Burke lists a number of recent examples:

• Despite repeated documented requests to delete slanderous blog postings, the News Times failed to monitor their sponsored blogs which enabled the posting of hundreds of slanderous and disgusting comments that has caused irreparable and permanent damage to Mr. Burke’s public & personal integrity. Their negligence in allowing systematic personal attacks against his character on their websites is unconscionable and litigious.



• The News Times has repeatedly delayed the publication of Burke support letters and openly favored the placement of opponent’s letters in higher circulation Sunday editions.



• The News Times has repeatedly misrepresented Mr. Burke’s comments in their articles.



• The News Times has never endorsed Bob Burke for First Selectmen and in fact, it is clearly evident that the candidate forum is just a formality in order to justify their planned endorsement of my democrat opponent, Mr. Matt Knickerbocker.



• The News Times has ignored Mr. Burke’s and his staff’s repeated requests to use specific submitted photos to accompany campaign articles and instead has resorted to publishing their own photos in a subliminal campaign to portray him poorly.

“As far as I’m concerned, The News Times is a shameful, despicable shell of its former self that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, and it’s editorial staff should be ashamed of itself”, Mr. Burke reiterated.

You can read the response from News-Times editor Art Cummings by clicking here.

NOTE 2: From what I can tell, the audio during certain portions of the show were edited. This was not my doing...what's presented is how the show was broadcast on Friday evening.

NOTE 3: You can watch First Selectman Burke on a special edition of Common Sense this Wednesday at 8PM on Comcast channel 23.

In the wake of tonight's VERY IMPORTANT Common Council At-Large debate (at 7PM TONIGHT), lets take a look at the Elephant Party and get a glimpse at their priorities...




Wonder if any of the Republican At-Large candidates will take a cue from their leader and blow off the FREE and OPEN debate and opt to raise cash for their fellow candidates.

...unreal.

TONIGHT at Ives Concert Hall at Western Connecticut State University, the local League of Women Voters will be holding a Common Council At Large candidate forum.

The forum is at 7 p.m. TONIGHT so if you're not doing anything, please attend.

I will be on hand to videotape the event which will be posted here tomorrow morning...if there is Wi-Fi, I'll see if I can do a video stream (I'm not holding my breath).

Well, so much for Mayor Boughton showing the chamber of commerce debate on the government access channel.

Remember back when Danbury's last honest man had this to say to the Fairfield Weekly about his lack of participating in debates?

“However, in the interest of public discourse I proposed, as an alternative, a TV debate, which can be seen [on the Comcast government access channel] anytime they want to show it.”

Boughton also repeated this remark during the 45 dollar a plate Chamber of Commerce debate...



Well, after a week, City Hall started broadcasting the ONLY debate between Boughton and Gary Goncalves BUT most likely, you probably missed it since only the first 10 minutes of the debate is being broadcast.

Think I'm kidding, here's footage of the so-called debate on the government access channel...fast forward to about the 2 minute mark and you'll see what I mean.



So to recap:

• Boughton has used the same ol' timed excuse he used in 2007 when it comes to offering the public FREE and OPEN debates,


• Offers the Fairfield Weekly a series of bizarre explanations regarding the time in which he received an invite from the League of Women Voters that doesn't pass the smell test,


• Thinks doing fundraisers for fellow candidates is more important than FREE and OPEN debates


• Goes off the deep end when members of the public expose his schedule,


• and now we see that our mayor doesn't even have the common decency to make sure the ENTIRE chamber of commerce debate is PROPERLY broadcast on the government access channel for members of the public who couldn't fork over 45 dollars to see the candidates running for PUBLIC OFFICE debate at an AFTERNOON luncheon.

...oh yeah, the government access channel is controlled at City Hall and this nonsense has been going on since they first televised the debate LAST THURSDAY.

People over Politics...or just pathetic.