BEYOND DESPICABLE

Des-pi-ca-ble
-adjective
deserving to be despised; contemptible

Never was there a word more appropriate to describe the tone taken by the Democratic candidate in Connecticut's 16th District State Senate race, Dave Zoni. In what can only be described as a desperate and depraved attempt to garner votes, a mailer was sent out to the people of the 16th district, which is so disgusting that it turns the stomach of anyone with a soul.

The mailer that I am referring to uses half-truths and flat-out lies to distort the work of the Republican candidate, Mr. Sam Caliguiri, during one of Waterbury's darkest hours. During the month of August, 2001, Mr. Caliguiri was acting as mayor of the City of Waterbury after the previous mayor had been arrested on sex crimes involving two very young girls. While the former mayor was sitting in jail (where he will, fortunately, stay until somewhere around 2038) Mr. Caliguiri managed to formulate a plan that saved the citizens of Waterbury money and, more importantly, further embarrassment.

This deal is the main focus of this sick and twisted mailer. Before this deal was struck, the former Mayor could have, in theory, posted bail and walked right back into City Hall to attempt to resume his duties. The former Mayor would have also continued to receive his full salary and benefits while sitting in prison, and any attempt to remove him from office would have involved a long, and expensive impeachment trial. This last part is especially important because, while the actions of this former Mayor were beyond comprehension or redemption, they were sadly not impeachable offenses because they were not a direct result of his being Mayor. Therefore, any attempt to remove him would have been a further cost and embarrassment to the city.

Mr. Caliguiri found a way, however, to keep all of these worst-case scenarios from coming to pass. By passing the resolution in question Mr. Caliguiri made certain that:

1-The former Mayor would only receive 1/2 his salary.

2-For the sake of the former Mayor's wife and children, they would continue to receive medical benefits.

3-The former Mayor would NOT be able to return to office.

4-Mr. Caliguiri would receive the other 1/2 of the Mayor's salary for performing his duties as Acting Mayor.

5-Mr. Caliguiri would receive NO MEDICAL BENEFITS during this 5 month period.

The result of this deal was to ensure that the city would not be forced to spend any more money in its already strapped budget, and it would avoid the disgrace of having the former Mayor put back in the media spotlight.

While it is easy to argue the benefits of this particular deal, there is no justification for the mailer that Mr. Zoni dragged out of the mud and slime. The image of two young girls in poses suggesting fear and abuse, for the mere purpose of political gain is an act of exploitation that borders on the pornographic. The opponents claim that these pictures were stock pictures, and not supposed to be the focus of the ad, are an obvious scramble for damage control. Mr. Zoni crossed a line with this particular ad, and he knows it.

Another issue of disgust with the mailer is the images of the girls used. As I mentioned before, the exploitation of these pictures for political gain is nearly pornographic, furthermore, the images chosen show exactly what Mr. Zoni’s intent was. The choice of two young white girls in mailers going to predominately white areas of Waterbury, Wolcott, Southington, and Cheshire, are a blatant and reprehensible attempt to tug on the heartstrings of voters. One would almost be led to assume that Mr. Zoni does not believe that the residents in his district would care as much about the actual victims, who were black. That particular mentality is not only morally bankrupt, but also almost racist.

Finally, there is the simple fact that most of the facts in Mr. Zoni’s mailer are just plain wrong. The information in the ad, as well as in the press release defending the use of this mailer, is so full of misinformation that any fact checker working for any newspaper would toss the article in the trash.

In conclusion, this mailer shows just what character of man the Democrats have put forward in the 16th State Senate race. Mr. Zoni is willing to do anything to get himself elected. He is willing to twist the truth to serve his purposes, and sink to lows that even non-political citizens find repugnant. He is beyond contempt, he is beyond electing, he is almost beyond redemption himself.

Mr. Zoni, to quote the classic cartoon:

YOU’RE DESPICABLE

The Cost Of Delay

These days in Waterbury it seems all the rage to talk about getting tough on a variety of issues. Ranging from the test scores of our students on the CMT and CAPT, to concerns of nepotism, from blight, to tax collection. Waterbury is always trying to ensure that it presents a wonderful image to the surrounding towns, an image of a city working hard to regain its prestige and respect in the region. Almost, always you will find that I am in support of these efforts when they are implemented properly. I would love to see our students listed as the top students in the state, hear that so many new businesses want to open in our downtown area that they have to be turned away for lack of space, or read about how the Brass City’s reputation shines throughout New England. You may say I’m guilty of a bit of hyperbole, but as a life long resident, one has to keep hold of their dreams.

Despite all of these dreams I still find cause for concern when I feel that the city is not being tough enough on a particular issue. In this particular post I am addressing the deafening silence from CL&P regarding the incidents that have occurred in the downtown area. The underground explosion back on the 6 of October could be considered an unfortunate accident, a disaster, or a miracle, depending on whom you ask. Either way it needs to serve as a two-ton wake up call to the city of Waterbury and the state.

The events of Friday night are being officially considered an unfortunate, isolated, incident by the folks at CL&P who are presenting, in the news paper at least, the image that these events are the result of a few, minor defects in the system, and are really nothing to worry about. While I appreciate the company’s optimism, I find it hare to swallow when you consider that there have been ten of these minor incidents in the past five years, and 3 since the rains of this June 2. These hardly sound like isolated incidents. Furthermore we cannot forget that after an incident in late August, CL&P commented that it would take “millions and millions” to fully restore the city’s power grid.

To the people who live, work, and want to be able to play in the downtown area, the events of October 6 rank somewhere between completely and totally unacceptable. The images of a packed Palace Theatre being evacuated and almost 3,000 visitors being sent on their way only tarnishes the reputation of the downtown area. Furthermore, when establishments such as the John Bale Book Store are holding evening events for a younger crowd, such as the Nintendo night they were running on the 6, the owners must be concerned about what is going to happen next time. The merchants of the downtown area and the volunteers of Main Street Waterbury are working too hard to bring people downtown to have them be scared away by a problem that is nothing new to the power company.

Personally, I consider the events of that fateful night a miracle in Waterbury’s history. Leavenworth Street is not a crowded section of the downtown area usually, but when the Palace has a show, you can usually count on it to be busy. Add in the fact that it was a Friday night, and I’m sure the crowd was even larger, though I wasn’t there myself. When I think of the people that were, and could have been, in the area when that manhole cover went airborne, I find myself pleasantly amazed that no one was injured. If that cover had landed on anyone, they would have been killed on the spot, and if the fire had spread to the buildings, the damage could have been extensive.

I think that the last point I make on this topic is the most important one. So far the city has been lucky, if not flat out blessed in these incidents. No one has been killed, no buildings have been destroyed, and there has only been the loss of one motor vehicle. So far. Now that the downtown area is returning we have to be much more concerned about the risks posed by these defective spots in the power grid. If there was to be an incident on East Main Street at the wrong time, the effects could be disastrous. Not only is there the concern that the Palace theatre could be damaged, after all of the time and money spent on its restoration, but there is also concern raised by the proximity of both UCONN and the Waterbury Arts Magnet School If the grid was to suffer another such incident at 3 PM, when you have students as young as 12 heading for home, and in harms way, the possibilities are too frightening to consider.

This is why the city needs to get tough with CL&P about this problem and soon. The silence from the power company since Thursday’s article does not comfort this writer. We as citizens need to make sure that this problem is being addressed properly and quickly. For if the unthinkable does happen, then we will find that the cost of delay will not fit into the phrase “millions and millions”.

No Room To Talk

Sometimes it is just amazing to see the arrogance of some members of the Waterbury political scene. Back on Monday, Board of Education member John Theriault made a definite point of criticizing a budget increase in the plan to build three new K-8 schools in the city of Waterbury. This plan was approved unanimously back on September 18 by the Board of Education members that were in attendance. Mr. Theriault was not in attendance that night. After that meeting I made a point of applauding the Board of Education for moving forward on such a vital project. (See “Where The Past And Future Meet”)

What makes this particular tirade by Commissioner Theriault such a travesty is that he would be the one member of the Board of Education that a casual observer would expect to be most supportive of this plan. Commissioner Theriault was a teacher and principal in the Waterbury school system for many years, including several years as the principal of Gilmartin elementary school. As you can read in the earlier post, Gilmartin is one school that is up for replacement in this current plan.

Anyone who has spent time at Gilmartin school knows that the complex is comprised mostly of portable school buildings, that were never designed to be used for more then 10 years. Gilmartin has existed in this state for nearly 30 years. As with every elementary school in the city, Gilmartin is also overcrowded. As someone who served as the principal of this school, who is expected to know just what a school such as Gilmartin needs, you expect Commissioner Theriault to fully support this plan.

And yet, sadly but not surprisingly, Commissioner Theriault is causing trouble. He claimed in an interview with the Waterbury Republican-American that,

I think this is the beginning of an abyss, a bottomless pit, and we're going to throw in money and money and money…I feel I've been deceived, and the board has been deceived. We should have known about this.

This quote alone invites a wide range of criticism.

The most obvious issue with this quote is that if Commissioner Theriault felt that he was at risk of being deceived, why did he miss the meeting on September 18? This was not a special meeting that was not on the Board Schedule, which was announced back in January. So why then, if he was so concerned, did he miss this meeting?

Secondly, Commissioner Theriault made several comments that suggested this increase in cost was withheld from the Board of Education until the last minute. While the newspaper reports that the Board of Education found out about the increase about one hour before the September 18 meeting, which Commissioner Theriault missed, considering the locations that were up for vote, the increase should not have been a surprise.

The original plan did not hide the fact that the cost estimates were based on using city owned land as sites for the new schools. This land would not have cost the city anything in terms of purchasing the land, or moving the current residents to new housing. Furthermore, if the city already owned the land, the cost of cleaning and preparing the site for construction would have been greatly reduced.

While the increase in cost is unfortunate, it is not cause to make such a scene. When one adds to this list the fact that Commissioner Theriault is the only public official to complain about the current plan, his motives come into focus. It is my personal opinion that Commissioner Theriault has forgotten his roots in the Waterbury school system, and is trying to enjoy the focus of the media as long as possible. The best thing that the city and its officials can do to Commissioner Theriault is to ignore him. Then, just maybe, he will stop spouting his message of negativity and his radical conspiracy theories, and finally take his seat and quiet down.