It's not everyday when Joe Cavo is in agreement with Democrats in Danbury who are enraged by Danbury Democratic Town Committee's endorsement reversal and walk back from their pledge to not nominate a candidate until the summer.

From today's Ethan & Lou show...

Lou Milano: "Big, big news from the Democrats in Danbury. The Danbury Democratic Town Committee has thrown their support and endorsed Roberto Alves as their candidate for Mayor."

Does this, first of all, your experience with Roberto but does this impact your decision as whether to run or not, in any way?

Joe Cavo: "None whatsoever. You know it's early for them, I mean extremely early for them. They do have other people that have expressed interest in running for Mayor. And, they should be looking at all of their folks and saying, you know, who would be the best candidate for us in the future?

To me, it just seems a little early but that's their business not mine. And, so it has no effect on my decision."

Lou Milano: "OK, so you think they did it too early? Is that what I am hearing or am I putting words in your mouth?"

Joe Cavo: "I don't think it should really happen for them. I think they are, I read something that their date is sometime in June or July, before the official nomination happens.

And, so you know, it's just early for that and their system of nominating is slightly different than the Republicans system of nominating, so I don't generally follow it but I just, when I heard that, I thought it was just a little early.

Just a little early, especially since there are other people that have expressed interest in running in the race. And so, you know they, to me, it almost seems like they just shut the door on anybody else and said this is the guy."

It's budget time!

Here's all you need in order to get up to speed with this year's 267 million dollar budget proposal; the budget is scheduled for vote by the city council on May 4th.

DOCUMENTS:

(PDF) Proposed FY22-Budget and Ordinances

(PDF) 2021-2022 Proposed Budget

Budget Workshop:

AT LARGE

Roberto Lopes Alves (D) • r.alves@danbury-ct.gov

Emile G. Buzaid, Jr. (R) • e.buzaid@danbury-ct.gov

Michael J. Esposito (R) • m.esposito@danbury-ct.gov

Warren M. Levy (R) • w.levy@danbury-ct.gov

Frank R. Salvatore, Jr. (D) • f.salvatore@danbury-ct.gov

Colleen A. Stanley (R) • c.stanley@danbury-ct.gov

Robert J. Taborsak (D) • r.taborsak@danbury-ct.gov

1ST WARD

Irving M. Fox (R) • i.fox@danbury-ct.gov

John Priola (R) • j.priola@danbury-ct.gov

2ND WARD

Council President Vinny DiGilio (R) • v.digilio@danbury-ct.gov

Elmer Palma (R) • e.palma@danbury-ct.gov

3RD WARD

Jack Knapp (R) • j.knapp@danbury-ct.gov

Mike Henry (R) • m.henry@danbury-ct.gov

4TH WARD

John J. Esposito III (D) • j.esposito@danbury-ct.gov

Farley Santos (D) • f.santos@danbury-ct.gov

5TH WARD

Duane E. Perkins (D) • d.perkins@danbury-ct.gov

Fred Visconti (D) • f.visconti@danbury-ct.gov

6TH WARD

Benjamin Chianese (D) • b.chianese@danbury-ct.gov

Paul T. Rotello (D) • p.rotello@danbury-ct.gov

7TH WARD

Nancy Cammisa (R) • n.cammisa@danbury-ct.gov

Richard W. Molinaro (D) • r.molinaro@danbury-ct.gov

Today, Danbury Democratic Town Committee Chairperson Andreqa Gartner attempted to provide a raionale behind going back on her promise made on April 2nd to not endorse a candidate till the summer.

Previously, Gartner had said Democrat leadership would wait until its nominating meeting on July 20 to make its pick for mayor. On Tuesday, Gartner reasoned that in 2019 Democrat leadership endorsed Chris Setaro well before its summer meeting, and that Monday night’s endorsement of Alves was hardly a rash decision.

“It might have been different if Roberto Alves hadn’t already raised $75,000 and hadn’t already distributed literature to 2,000 doors and hadn’t already been endorsed by Danbury’s entire state delegation,” Gartner said. “He has clearly been getting the work done.”

1. The end of the fundraising period for Roberto Alves occured on March 31, two days before Gartner's promise to voters not to endorse any candidate until the summer.

2. The "entire state delegation" made their intentions known about their approval of Alves in statements and/or campaign contributions, weeks if not months before the recent state legislation announcement.

3. Most of the distribution of Alves literature happened BEFORE Gartner's promise to voters on April 2nd...and Gartner overstepped her bounds as being an impartial chairperson by actively campaigning for the Alves team.

In short, Gartner's explanation makes no sense.

As I stated in an earlier post, the top criticism among elected local and state officials centers around Gartner's political hubris and her inability to be honest with the public when being questioned about her decision-making.

This is not rocket science...Alves is Gartner's choice for mayor and her choice for mayor or Alves himself is not the issue.

The root of the problem with Gartner's interference in the process comes down to a lack of fairness that Democrats and progressives expect (and demand) to see from their party.

The problem with Gartner lies when a person blurs the lines between being an impartial chairperson and a campaign surrogate; in fairness to the process, Gartner simply can't have it both ways.

It's been twenty years since the city had an open seat mayoral election, and Danbury Democrats have 139 reasons to learn from the fallout that occurred the last time more than one candidate competed for the top of the party's ticket.

In his remarks to the media, Esposito also promising a primary so that the voters will make the final decision on who will lead the Democratic slate in November.

I wasn’t surprised and expected the DDTC would endorse Roberto at that meeting, and I’m not loosing any sleep over it because I know the Danbury voters, and I’m going to force a primary and let them decide who the democratic candidate will be, not the members of the DDTC who have corrupted the process because many of them are elected officials and have spent the last few years recruiting DDTC members that will only support their people.

Neither myself or Mr Lawrence stood a chance at a endorsement or will get the nomination on July 20th.

The news of Danbury DTC endorsement of a candidate (official or unofficial) came as a surprise, the DTC is a body that represent the democratic voters of The City of Danbury.

I believe that the DTC should have waited until the summer as the chairperson stated in an article published in the Newtimes April 2, 2021 to back a candidate, "let the voters voice be heard". With the elections approaching and the quick decisions of the DTC, a question the voters will ask is "will my vote count or will it be a victim of vote suppression?"

Because of the DTC quick endorsement of a candidate 100 days before the nomination meeting, many democratic voters will now think their votes for a mayoral candidate might be swept aside. For over two decades of democratic defeats and three strong candidates, I believe that the DTC should have waited until after the primary (let the people of Danbury decide) as opposed to the DTC make such a decision.

Finally, regardless of which candidate the DTC favors, the citizen of Danbury should have a say before any official or unofficial endorsement made public.

Looking forward to a schedule debate

Sedeaka Lawrence, Mayoral Candidate

DEVELOPING...

Here's what Gartner told Newstimes reporter Julia Perkins on April 2nd regarding the steps the town committee would take in endorsing a candidate for mayor (NOTE: There are currently three Democrats challenging for the party's mayoral nomination: Roberto Alves, John Esposito, and Sedeaka Lawrence).

The Democratic Town Committee won’t endorse a candidate until the summer, said Andrea Gartner, chairwoman of the committee. Lawrence is a registered Democrat but not a member of the committee, although she said she welcomes his candidacy.

Alves' early endorsement (and the avoidance of providing a roll call vote or an allowance to have "no" votes heard) came to no surprise to people who stated that the long-rumored move was in the works well before Gartner made her remarks to the newspaper.

I guess it's not like the chairperson was hiding her lack of impartiality since she was seen volenteeering for Alves door knocking campaigning...

It's one thing for the town committee to endorse a candiate when no one else has shown interest in the race. It is another matter when you have multiple candidates in the race and a chairperson who claimed that there would be no endorsement "until the summer" turns around and does the exact opposite in less than ten days.

To be crystal clear, I have no issue with Alves or his campaign, but I have serious concerns about the actions of a town committee chairperson who, in my opinion, overstepped her role as head of the town committee on more than one occasion and is stacking the decks in favor of HER candidate when she should and remain neutral and respect the process.

The main critique among Gartner's detractors is that her viewpoint takes precedence over the public's view. The recent actions of the chairperson only provide more merit to her critics.