Can We Get An “Amen!”?

30Oct09

Not Mayor Unless You Vote

Harkins vows to make Stratford proud

Written by Rep. John Harkins
Friday, 30 October 2009 10:22

Government. Politics. Elected official.

Too often, these are words or titles that are met with a great deal of disdain and mistrust by the public. Instead of being viewed as the building blocks of our democracy, the very institution of government, and the people who make it work, are reviled as self-serving and broken.

That has been true of Stratford in the last four years, and I’m running for Mayor to change that. I want to restore the public’s trust in Town Hall.

As mayor, one of my first acts to restore that trust will be to make changes to the ethics policies to which elected officials and political appointees are subject.

First, we must end the appearance that Stratford Town Hall is an employment agency for friends and family of elected officials. Stratford needs an even tougher nepotism prohibition, as well as tighter conflict of interest restrictions governing town hiring practices. This is particularly true when it comes to our public safety agencies.

Mayoral staff (i.e. “cabinet officials”) who are not subject to council approval must play by the same rules as the rest of the town’s civil service system. Unlike in the current administration, I will not award bonuses or raises to mayoral staff when wage freezes are being negotiated with unionized employees, even if those wage freezes have not yet taken effect. My administration will not tolerate what happened earlier this year — a last-minute rush to give mayoral cabinet members 6 to 10% raises prior to the enactment of a wage freeze with town unions.

Nothing is more important than transparency and openness in how taxpayer dollars are spent, and to that end I will work to clarify when an expenditure must be approved by the Town Council, and when it need not be. We have seen headline after headline in the last four years of the mayor spending money without council approval or consultation, and the Town Council claiming that their authority was circumvented. Enough is enough. I will consult frequently and openly with the council when it comes to matters of finance.

Finally, while it has been the crux of my efforts to reduce waste in town hall and keep property taxes in check, conducting a line by line audit of every town department, including the mayor’s office will help improve transparency in government. Timely compliance with the auditing committee’s requests for information will be mandatory for everyone including myself. Unfortunately, despite the Town Council’s creation of a similar body over his veto, the mayor has been less than forthcoming and painfully slow in cooperating the current Financial Advisory Committee. That is unacceptable, and it will change if I am elected.

I want Stratford to have a government that is great as the town we live in. As your mayor, I’ll have the courage to make the reforms necessary to our ethics laws to restore your trust in government because it is time to restore the pride in our town.

Whew! Just a small break. I’ll bet you were tired of reading Miron’s lies too.

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How to Rip a Department Apart. Miron’s Way.

29Oct09

Step 1: Get rid of the existing Chief. Especially if he demonstrates a shred of integrity. It doesn’t matter how. Offer him a bag of cash or accuse him of something silly like following your instructions. As long as he’s gone. That’s all that matters. Don’t worry about the cost either. That’s what taxpayers are for, right?

Step 2: Replace him with someone you are sure will do anything you ask. If he’s a friend of someone you already know will do anything and comes from a Town with an even worse reputation (like the PW Director) you’ve done well. If he’s your Town Attorney’s brother; Bingo! But for God’s sake, don’t hire from within.

Step 3: Find him an assistant. A retiree would be great. If he’s from another State and nobody knows about his foreclosures and credit problems that’s something you can use later. If he can get you a NAACP award just before election day, you’ve made a great choice.

Step 4: Help the Chief destroy any resistance. This should be easy for you. Have them arrested or maybe question their honor in a newspaper or press conference.

Step 5: Congratulations! You’ve done it. Morale has been destroyed. Resistance has been eliminated. No one in the department cares about anything any more. You’re the f*****g mayor! You can do whatever the f***k you want!

Oops!

You missed one!

To the Editor:

I write this to shine a light through the political fog created concerning something I feel can be regarded as a fire and public safety message. That fog was created by the recent public comments by the incumbent Stratford mayoral candidate on why the Stratford Firefighters Union endorsed a different candidate for mayor.

The inspiration to express my opinion came by the way of another Stratford assistant fire chief who freely risked his own life to save a man from a certain death in a structure fire last Friday night.

This assistant fire chief was the first to arrive on scene, heard a man screaming then entered the burning building without the aid of his protective firefighting gear, because the situation was so dire he simply did not have the time to put it on. Less than a minute after he entered that superheated structure and pulled the victim outside to safety the room flashed over destroying everything inside.

How much money is risking your life worth? Ask yourself, would you really risk loosing everything you own, risk never seeing you family again, risk the rest of your life for a million dollars? For the men and women who enter and stay in this profession it is something they do many times in their career. They do it because it is a calling more than a job. Do we need money to take care of our family and ourselves, yes we do. But the most important thing to us about our “calling” has never been money. The most important thing to the Firefighters in this nation is public safety; a testament to this is when we put it all on the line for fellow man.

That being said, I believe the mayoral endorsement of the Stratford Firefighters (which stated that the endorsement was based entirely on reasons of public safety) speaks for itself.

I can not speak for the incumbent mayoral candidate, and he is certainly not qualified to speak for us. He has shown us through his past actions, lack of equipment support, deeds and campaign rhetoric that he knows very little about the firefighters in Stratford. I have no doubt that this endorsement may be an inconvenient truth for the incumbent, but the rare political endorsement of the Stratford Firefighters Union is never for sale. It is rarely used, but when it is, only for the direst and most honorable of reasons. That’s who Stratford firefighters are. In a year when Stratford leads Connecticut in fire deaths with a heartbreaking total of six, our primary concern is the safety of the citizens of Stratford, period.

Thomas S. Murray

Employed as assistant fire chief (for now)

Stratford Fire Department

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Just in Time For Election Day!

28Oct09

You may have noticed in one of the articles today this little tidbit:

“Miron said Deputy Fire Chief Curtis Maffet was unable to attend.”

Why?

Because after 4 years of bickering and delay, Miron ordered Maffet to get his butt over to Jim Feehan’s office (New England Fire Equipment) and sign off on the deal to buy two shiny new firetrucks.

Let’s remember that this is the same former Council Chairman that Miron accused of bid rigging with Jay Cybart the former fire chief.

So aside from all the other questions this brings up (you know, like is Jim Feehan the only one in the United States that sells firetrucks?) the real question is “How desperate is James R. Miron?”

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A Town Employee Speaks out

28Oct09

This letter was received anonymously. (Ok, fine. Not that anonymously. I know who wrote it). I have been asked to withhold the writer’s name because Miron will be in office until Dec 13th and the writer does not wish to lose his job, like so many others, for expressing his opinion. Although this writer has already retained legal counsel, I will respect the writer’s wishes. The First Amendment need not be tested by losing a job in the middle of a recession. We’ve had enough of that already.

Dear Jezebel,

Forgive me for withholding my name from this letter, but I have seen Mayor James R. Miron and his Administration attack Town of Stratford Employees who dare to speak out publicly against this Administration and simply tell the truth. Since the Firefighters endorsed John Harkins for Mayor due to his issues on Public Safety the Mayor has publicly accused the firefighters of instead, endorsing Mr. Harkins for making phantom promises to us on labor issues. This is simply not the case. I can not and would not speak for the fire union, but my experience has been that the rare endorsement of the Stratford Firefighters Union is something that is not and has never been for sale. That being said, I would like to enlighten you with some history the firefighters have had with the Miron Administration. I invite you or your readers to seek out any “rank and file” member of the Stratford Fire Department that you wish, to verify that the following information is true. In the words of mayoral candidate George Mulligan, “please, don’t believe me, check it out for yourself”.

We Firefighters have witnessed Mayor Miron be the first one to block the S.F.D. from receiving A SORELY NEEDED NEW FIRE ENGINE by using the first bidding process for that Engine as a political tool and maneuver to try to wrongfully fire our former Fire Chief John J. Cybart. During this maneuver he also wrongly- publicly embarrassed and held into question the character and ability of three other of the Town’s most dedicated Fire Officers (Asst. Chief Ross, LT Holdsworth and LT Spiegal) to assist in this political sham. We have witnessed over 50 of our dedicated fellow Town employees- conveniently laid-off, retire through coercion or outright fired, all for the apparent political agenda of the Miron Administration during his past four years.

We have witnessed Mayor Miron on two separate occasions unsuccessfully try to coerce some of the Assistant Fire Chiefs into convincing their fellow firefighters do things that would not be in those firefighters personal self interest. In return for this they were told they’d receive the three years of back pay and raises these members are already entitled to (the Assistant Chief’s declined the Mayors less than kind offer and took the issue up with the labor board). Ironically, at the same time we have witnessed members of the Mayor Miron’s “pay to play” Cabinet members who are also the highest donors to his campaign receive questionably high raises in the worst economic times since the Great Depression.

We have witnessed Mayor Miron lay-off two (2) key positions in our Fire Department, our Training/Safety Officer and a Deputy Fire Marshal. In doing so there is no longer a Training Division in the Stratford Fire Department. This lay-off also caused a 33% cut in staffing and services provided by our Fire Prevention Bureau which performs fire safety inspections, building plan reviews and fire cause and origin investigations. This is the value Mayor Miron places on public safety in a year that Stratford unfortunately leads the State of Connecticut in fire deaths; with a total of six. Common sense would dictate the opposite approach, but the firefighters stood up against the Mayor “so they had to be punished”, the real people punished here are the citizens of Stratford.

Under the Miron Administration we have witnessed our aging fleet of Fire Trucks fall into disrepair without adequate replacement or even a replacement program in place. We have witnessed our Firefighters having to respond to emergency calls with damaged and outdated firefighting suits, which are ripped and have burn holes, they should have been discarded. We have witnessed our Firefighters not issued adequate eye protection. We have witnessed our Firefighters use outdated radios that do not provide reliable communications in emergency situations.

We have witnessed the new Fire Headquarters building become a nest for wild birds that have defecated not only on our aging fire trucks, but on our own personal protective equipment and little to nothing has been done about it. We have witnessed Mayor Miron call our Fire Chiefs and Deputy Fire Chiefs away from their duties here at the Fire Department time after time to attend politically slanted meetings and events, instead of taking care of things that deserve their attention here in our Department. (as just one recent example; I’m sure the ribbon cutting ceremony at the sewage treatment plant, which has been treating town sewage for decades, would have managed just fine without both of our Chief Officers in attendance). We have witnessed Mayor Miron politicize a fatal structure fire, then drop ice water off, not to the brave firefighters who fought the blaze, but only to spectators in the area that had water in their nearby homes.

While our Fire Department has periodically had “loaner fire trucks” from Shelton and Milford due to our own unreliable fleet; as well as all the equipment problems we have just touched on above; we have witnessed Mayor Miron spend countless thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars to seemingly buff his own political appearance during an election year, on signs with his name on them, custom hard hats with Town logos on them given away at “ground breaking ceremonies”, thousands of dollars worth of seasonal flowers for around town, flag holders and flags for light poles, new park benches, new trees in the Green and most recently a fountain of all things in Longbrook pond. Not to mention all of the overtime pay required to have workers finish this work after hours seemingly because it’s an election year. The list could go on and on, but I believe the point has been made.

To quote a recent “live letter” authored by someone much braver than I- “we tried to quietly and professionally handle these problems (with the Miron Administration) and have been met with hollow promise after hollow promise”. I believe our collective conscience is now clear for this information to go the public.

For myself and many others here on the Fire Department the last straw came when Mayor Miron question our honor and outright lied to the public when he stated that we endorsed John Harkins for Mayor “because Jim Miron will be tough on contract and labor issues”. Jim Miron’s statements on our Mayoral endorsement are flat out untrue, he knows why we made this rare endorsement and now you know why too. Mr. Miron, after four years of empty promises and taking credit for things that he has never done has brought this letter upon himself.

I believe the Stratford Firefighters endorsement speaks for itself:

JOHN HARKINS WAS ENDORSED BECAUSE OF HIS STANCE ON PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUES.

When Mayor Miron questions this endorsement after all his failures in supporting Public Safety he has to be kidding. All of the political fliers he mails out and press conferences he holds with his recent appointees will not change the facts.

AFTER WHAT WE’VE SEEN, WE COULD HAVE ENDORSED ANYONE JUST BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T JIM MIRON!

Please “cut and paste these words” and email them out to everyone you know. It is the only way the word will get out on this abuse of power. The truth needs to be heard before election day!!!

Sincerely yours,

A dedicated but anonymous public servant

As you read this, Miron is conducting “Fire Prevention” presentations with the Fire Marshall at several senior residence locations today. Of course.

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Sock Puppets for Miron

27Oct09

Almost every day now there are two, three or sometimes more Letters to the Editor of the CT Post endorsing one candidate or another. If you look carefully, however, almost every “concerned” author that supports James R. Miron is a member of the Democratic Town Committee masquerading as a citizen.

From Janice Anderson to Robert Wanamaker almost every member must have a turn at the keyboard. Somehow, not a single one thinks three years of tax increases, arresting innocent officers, firing qualified personnel, squandering tax money, hiring cronies and relatives or just plain old not showing up for work is an issue.

Some of our repeat offenders:

Jason Santi (the most persistent Miron sock puppet)
Denise Nelson
John Sibley Law
Bonnie Reynolds
Tara Wexler

We assume there will more as Miron approves each letter.

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Miron Campaign Going Down In Flames!

26Oct09

Mrion's Strategy

You read it in the Post:

As you may or may not know, we have been facing very hard times equipment-wise at the Stratford Fire Department. Our engines are older and unreliable, many times on loan from neighboring towns. Many of my firefighters are responding to fires with outdated fire coats and pants, many with holes and burn damage. Our radios constantly go dead due to old batteries and when they do work they are unreliable at best. As one of the assistant fire chiefs, I have been battling for three years just to get my firefighters suitable eye protection. These problems have not seemed to have been a priority for the current administration.

Obviously all of this had a direct effect on the morale and effectiveness of my firefighters. We have tried to quietly and professionally handle these problems and have been met with hollow promise after hollow promise. Then they had state Rep. John Harkins take the time out of his busy election season schedule to attend Fire Ops 101. During Rep. Harkins attendance, they had someone for the first time in a long time who was not a member of our department seem to understand and care about their equipment needs. Obviously his official campaign position on public safety appealed to us all. Our last resort was to hope his endorsement by us and possible election would change the way we were being prioritized and equipped to serve the citizens of Stratford.

Thomas Murray

Assistant Fire Chief

Stratford

This week Miron is taking one more opportunity to pander to Senior Citizens.

I invite you to attend one of the Fire Prevention Workshops and Demonstrations that I will be conducting with Fire Marshal Brian Lampart to discuss the importance of fire prevention safety, smoke alarms, kitchen safety, and proper use of fire extinguishers.

The workshop schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, October 28, 9am, Elm Terrace Apartments (Community Room) – Leeward Drive

Wednesday, October 28, 11am, Ray Baldwin Apartments (Community Room) – Griffen Street

Wednesday, October 28, 1pm, Shiloh Gardens (Community Room) – 175 Henry Avenue

Wednesday, October 28, 3pm, Hearthstone and Meadowview Manor Apartments (Community Room) – 98 Gregory Cir.

Thursday, October 29, 2pm, Oronoque Village (North Community Building)

The safety and well-being of Stratford residents is one of my primary concerns as Mayor, which is why Fire Marshall Lampert and I have developed these workshops to provide you with information that can potentially save lives.
http://www.townofstratford.com/

This one is almost too silly. As if Miron cared about the Fire Department. I wonder if he will mention that the rank & file of Stratford’s Bravest supports John Harkins? I suppose Miron doesn’t care if kids burn. It’s not like they vote. There is not a single mention of children or a school in these “presentations”.

How’s that new firetruck coming along, Jimmy? Do you really think one week out of four years will save your job?

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Can Mayor James R. Miron Overcome Obstacles?

25Oct09

Miron's Campaign Platform

Considering no one but James. R. Miron created these obstacles, our answer is “No”.

Four years of lying, nepotism, discrimination, squandering tax dollars, lack of responsibility, persecution, paranoia, incompetence, laziness, and egomania are simply too great to dispel with one month of planting flowers.

We honestly cannot think of a single person in the 350 years of Stratford history that has single-handedly done more to damage Stratford, it’s taxpayers and its reputation than James R. Miron.

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Tags: Miron

Miron’s Gift to the Next Mayor

23Oct09

Next Year's Budget

Every once in a while we wonder why anyone would want to be mayor of Stratford. The mess that will be left by Mayor Moron will be an enormous challenge.

In order to achieve his election year budget, Mayor Moron simply deferred contractual raises to unions until next year. For example, the Public Works employees that Miron has so busy planting flowers and averaging 15 hours of overtime per week will be paid 3% more next year for the hours they are expending now.

Then there are the arbitration hearings for other unions (no doubt we will lose those too).

There is also the failure of the mayor to repair and maintain school buildings and grounds. Let’s hope the boilers don’t break down before April.

We are not even going to mention the inevitable lawsuits between the Nateras, the EPA and Stratford over the toxic waste at SAEP.

Unless the next mayor takes immediate action, Sikorsky Airport will be landing bigger planes on a longer runway. This happened under Miron’s watch.

The Raymark waste remains exactly where it was when Miron took office.

We also haven’t even seen the bill from Rich Buturla and Berchem Moses & Devlin yet. Last year it was $667,000. Anyone believe it will be less for 2009?

And then there is the current revaluation that is now taking place….

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Election Flower Power

22Oct09

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Mayor Moron has been keeping the Public Works Department extremely busy in October. Are they fixing roads? Repairing plumbing? Maintaining schools? No. Of course not, this is election season.

So what are they doing while averaging 15 hours/week in overtime? They are doing exactly what Miron told McCarthy to have them do; plant flowers. The Town of Stratford has spent $40,000 in October alone on flowers and gardening supplies. Lord knows what the overtime will come to.

$40,000……

3 years and 10 months of almost nothing and we get flowers? We suppose at least that’s something. We wonder if he’ll call us in the morning?

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Miron All Wet Despite Canopy

22Oct09

State to vote on train station canopies

Written by John Kovach
Thursday, 22 October 2009 10:09

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Wednesday that $2 million for the construction of long-awaited canopies at the Metro-North New Haven Line rail commuter stations in Stratford and Stamford (Springdale) is expected to be approved by the State Bond Commission at its meeting Oct. 30 in Hartford.

Each station will have 400 feet of canopy on the westbound (New York City-bound) platforms.

“The hundreds of commuters who use these stations on a daily basis to get to and from work have been exceedingly patient, and these canopies will enhance the quality of the New Haven Line service,” Rell said in a press release. “Whatever the weather, these canopies will provide some degree of shelter for our train travelers.”

Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Joseph F. Marie said that the canopies were designed to blend with local architecture.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010. The DOT will advertise for bids for a single contract for both canopies in December, and work will begin in the spring, Marie said.

The Bond Commission is chaired by Rell.

In July 2008, Rell visited the station for a press conference, attended by state Sen. Dan Debicella and state Rep. John Harkins, to announce that $400,000 had been earmarked for the design of the canopies.

“I’ve been fighting for this for four years and I’m glad that we’re finally able to do this,” Mayor James R. Miron said Wednesday. This is long overdue. Stratford is the only train station in Fairfield County that does not have canopies, and it’s the only train station in Fairfield County that does not have appropriate-length platforms. I don’t know what John Harkins has been doing for his 14 years in Hartford.” Read the article, Jimmy. You’ve done nothing while John Harkins has been quietly pounding away. Unless you want to count siphoning off RR station parking fees.

“The Stratford station is one of the busiest in the region,” Harkins said in a press release. “The hundreds of commuters traveling, whether for business or pleasure, deserve to have some protection from the elements. This canopy is long overdue but it represents the progress we are making toward encouraging people to use public transportation.”

In 2008 Harkins worked to create a Train Station Advisory Committee in Stratford to initiate dialogue between commuters and government, and provide a forum where the community can voice its concerns directly on the issue of Stratford Train Station expansion, Harkins said in a press release and at Wednesday’s Candidates Night.

“The construction of this canopy is a great example of the Train Station Advisory Committee at work,” Harkins said in his release. “Hopefully we can continue to foster the relationship between community and government and continue to improve the Stratford station so the public transportation experience is as enjoyable as possible.”

A special note of thanks also goes to blog favorite Pat Sperling for working tirelessly on this.

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