Milford Republicans Splash their Kool-Aid on the Media

While there exists a High Street in Milford, it appears there is no High Road.

Milford Republicans have decided to go negative in the final 4 weeks of the municipal election. This is (reportedly) due to a poll they ran that showed they are losing the election.  

As of this week they have begun selecting specific people who are campaigning to hold office on the Democratic line of the ballot.  

Remember: These are unpaid volunteers who clock more than 10 hours a week in meetings and research and constituent services throughout the year.  First up is Tracy Casey, one of only two Dems on the Board of Education, voted down on everything, and the sole incumbent Dem running for re-election to the BoE. The thrust of the negative messaging has to do with her Halloween decorations.

Here are links to the splatter: 

New Haven Register   Connecticut Post and  Milford Patch, which printed a letter from the current Mayor's assistant, who is involved in running the Republican candidate's campaign. 

 [While it is assumed that it makes sense for the Mayor's assistant to try to retain her job by campaigning for the replacement candidate, there is talk that she is doing it while sitting in the office that taxpayers fund. 

In Milford it is common practice for city workers to use their offices for other uses. The current City Clerk - who is running for re-election - used to be the city's Signage Enforcement Officer. She listed her Milford City Office phone number as her contact number for work as a Justice of the Peace.]

Some people are pushing back with comments that are negative towards Republican candidates. Here is one which seems to be more factually based than nonsense about Halloween Decorations.  It is about a Republican named Gina Badalamenti, who appears to have the police on speed dial.  She is also running for Board of Education, though in another district:

These are the case numbers and the complaints from Badalamenti about various people (never the same one twice). This is all verifiable and relevant for anyone who seeks public office.

• Case 2006013913 Complains that black male was trying to force his way into her house. Officer gets her to admit that was untrue
• Case 2007013273 Complains that a car is following her while she is driving
• Case 2007028365 Complains about problems with neighbor with initials TB
• Case 2007034172 Complains that people are trespassing. Initials are JV, JV, TG and LG (and their kids were with them, fishing on the beach)
• Case 2008034617 Complains that 2 black men were trying to get into a car. They owned the car and had locked their keys in it.
• Case 2009018726 Complains that people are being loud. Initials JV (but not the same as either above), AK, MP (also fishing with their kids)
• Case 2009022315 Complains that people are starting fights with her. No names in report
• Case 2009031847 Verbal argument with neighbor, initials MG
• Case 2009032854 Complains about trespass. Initials MA, KG (fishing with kids)
• Case 2010026356 Complains that someone rearranged her patio furniture while she was out. Accused AM.

Incidentally, here is an article about the Mayor's Assistant, Lisa Bull DeLullo. The article is from 2003, when she was with the FBI:

Associated Press            June 3, 2003

MANCHESTER, Conn. -- The former FBI head of a state fugitive task force was censured for falsifying information in affidavits, according to documents obtained by the Journal Inquirer after a four-year Freedom of Information Act struggle.

Three other agents received disciplinary actions ranging from censure to "counseling," but there were no criminal charges filed as a result of the FBI's internal review, the newspaper said Monday.

The FBI turned over more than 400 pages of documents after reporter Alex Wood sued the bureau in federal court. Four FOI requests for documents concerning the Connecticut Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force were rejected before the suit was filed.

The documents show that the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility concluded Special Agent Ralph A. DiFonzo swore to assumptions and opinions while supervising the task force, which was a joint effort of local, state and federal investigators.

"An almost-casual reliance upon assumptions and inferences resulted in the inclusion of inaccurate statements" in several of the seven affidavits examined, an FBI review panel determined.

"This practice reflects an apparently lax approach to fact-gathering during the preparation of the affidavits," the panel said.

Michael J. Wolf, special agent in charge of the FBI in Connecticut, said Monday the problems detailed in the reports showed procedural failures, not intentional misrepresentation.

Despite the flaws in the reports, he said, six of the seven of subjects of the arrest warrants were located where the warrants said they were.

The investigation arose from allegations by three state inspectors that FBI agents made false statements on arrest-warrant affidavits in 1994 and 1996.

The case later prompted a lawsuit against then-Chief State's Attorney John Bailey, who had ordered his state employees not to discuss the matter with the media. In November 1998 a federal judge found Bailey's order a violation of the First Amendment.

The OPR panel found no evidence DiFonzo or other agents knowingly falsified documents, but raised concerns over statements for which no agent has taken responsibility.

In one case, agents attributed information to a fugitive's family when it actually came thirdhand from Glastonbury police. Such hearsay evidence is acceptable in affidavits, but the source must be fully detailed.

In other examples, DiFonzo drafted affidavits then gave them to other agents to sign and file in their names. That made it impossible for federal overseers to figure out who amended one warrant application, which had previously lacked attribution for one key statement.

The state FBI office has since established an internal review process, Wolf said.

In addition to censure, DiFonzo was put on probation for six months, the documents show. The newspaper said the names of the disciplined agents were removed from documents outlining the punishments - except for a handful of apparent oversights involving DiFonzo - but not from documents about the investigation.

The newspaper said that by comparing the documents it had identified the other agents disciplined as Lisa Bull, who received a letter of censure; Todd Brophy, who received an oral reprimand; and Victor Treadway, who was counseled about the need to fully understand any document he signed.

The Journal Inquirer said DiFonzo, Bull, Brophy and Treadway did not respond to requests for comment. Messages were left at the FBI office Monday seeking comment from Bull and Treadway; Brophy is no longer with stationed in Connecticut and there was no telephone listing for DiFonzo, who has retired.

Wolf said in a statement that the office does not view the OPR finding that there was no deliberate misrepresentation as "an exoneration." Any such mistakes reflect poorly on the FBI, he said.


Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

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