Announcement From Geneveive Salvatore

Hello! I am pleased that I am again serving as the Chair of the FAAN CT Walk for Food Allergy. As you know, raising money for and awareness about life threatening food allergies is very important to me because of my son Geno’s severe allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. Because of Geno’s daily struggle to ensure his safety, I am committed to doing whatever I can to help find a cure.

This year, I decided to get an early start on our fundraising efforts so that we can raise as much money as we can. As you can imagine, while we did well last year, the poor state of the economy certainly took its toll. We are fortunate, though, that The Elwoods have continued to support FAAN with their generous donation of their amazing musical talent and will join us again this year.

So, on behalf of Geno, all of CT’s children with food allergies, and FAAN, I ask you to be as generous as you can in supporting this year’s walk. I’ve also included sponsorship information if you’d like recognition for your donation. The website for the walk is www.foodallergywalk.org. Donations can be sent to my office below or directly to FAAN, noting the “Hartford Walk.”

Thanks and I hope to see you walk day, October 17, 2010!

Jim Richetelli Makes Insulting Offer

The Republican sweep of virtually every board has put the Republican party in a very powerful position. Our Mayor has the most amount of dictatorial power than at any time in his career and this week he used it when he asked Genevieve Salvatore, the Democratic candidate for mayor to abdicate from her party.

Genevieve, who now chairs the Economic and Community Development commission is in danger of losing her seat. This loss may be due to the fact that some conservative Democrats are falling victim to the process itself.

Salvatore become the subject of criticism by the Republican party when she began canvassing for sewer installations in the North end of Milford. This would directly benefit her and her community as her home is one of those that would benefit from city sewers.

The sewers were all set to be installed as part of a development plan, known as Avalon Grove, that failed to come to realization. The cost of the sewer system was of concern despite the fact that the city of Milford promised it to the citizens of the North End. The cost of installing the sewers "skyrocketed" when the developer of Avalon Grove backed out due to political and market conditions detrimental to their investment.

When interviewed by the Connecticut Post, regarding the Richetelli offer, Salvatore responded by saying: "To be honest, I was a little insulted that he thought I'd change parties again. I made my decision to become a Democrat because my strong values and ideals align with the ideals of the Democratic party," she said. "My decision wasn't made for political expediency."

Mike Brown, a Democratic Party Boss and supporter of Ms. Salvatore, said that "what particularly disturbs him is that Democrats who have served the city well for the past two years, while the party was in power, are not being reappointed simply because they are Democrats."

A Post Endorsement Letter From Peter

Dear Milford neighbors,

With Election Day just around the corner on Tuesday November 3rd, I want to remind you of just 2 things.

1. I ask for your vote
My objective in contesting this Mayoral election is to give you the choice to vote for someone who will represent your interests instead of representing the bias of a political party.

As an Independent, I can and will make decisions based on what’s best for Milford and for you.
I have a proven background in leadership and management, meaning I can effect the necessary changes and make decisions based on what is best for our city and its residents.
As your Mayor my aims are:

• Fiscal responsibility
• Educating our children
• Citizen safety
• Business development
• Historical preservation
• Environmental advancement
• Infrastructure improvement

In summary, my principal goal is the betterment of our wonderful city.

I pledge to you that during my term as Mayor, I will always put PEOPLE BEFORE POLITICS. I respectfully ask for your vote on November 3rd to enable me to serve you and serve Milford.


2. Vote!
Why is it so important to vote?

1. VOTING AFFECTS YOU. This election is solely about Milford. The candidate who wins will directly impact YOUR life and YOUR community.
2. VOTING IS YOUR VOICE. Many people complain about the current Mayor and Board of Aldermen, with their irresponsible behaviour and decisions. Well, this is your ONLY chance to do something about it.
3. VOTING IS A RIGHT. Vote because you can. Voting is a ‘right’ which is actually a ‘privilege’ when compared to many places around our globe.

In closing, I request that you consider voting for me, Peter SPALTHOFF, so I can work at making Milford the best city in Connecticut to live, work and raise a family.


Faithfully,
Peter SPALTHOFF

Spalthoff, Milford's Best Candidate For Mayor

Traditionally I have never really been in the practice of endorsing any candidates, but this year with so many great contenders I thought adding my personal opinion might benefit many of you out there who have not had time to do the research or watch the debate videos.

Hard as it is to believe the election is only a few days away, and soon thousands of Milfordites will be storming in the voting booths and voting for their candidates. To help ease the anxiety of looking at a voter card with a bunch of faceless names, I am going to give you my thoughts on each of the candidates.

Before I begin it is important for me to give you my disclaimer, currently I am on the ballot in the First district as the Independent candidate for the board of education. However, my views and opinions are based solely on my own research and personal attendance of the mayoral debates, personally speaking with every candidate, and reading what local newspapers represented about each of them.

My assessment is as Follows:

Genevieve Salvatore: She is a relatively new citizen here in Milford, and many people do not yet really know her very well. Genevieve serves on the Economic Development Commission and practices law here in town.

Genevieve won an overwhelming vote from her party over longtime resident Tim Chaucer and received the endorsement from our U.S. Representative Rosa Delauro. Salvatore was also recently endorsed by the New Haven Reigister over Incumbent Mayor Jim Richetelli.

Her views are very favorable toward a local green economy, and has pledged a policy of zero based budgeting to keep taxes affordable on our cities struggling people. These two views are also complimented by Spalthoff.

Problems I personally have with Ms. Salvatore is her newcomer status, but more grave than that is her friendship with Rosa Delauro and Chris Dodd. In the coming years Milford and the state of Connecticut are expected to have a challenging relationship with a failing federal government. Dodd was recently ostracized over his banking relationships and Delauro has been pushing a bill "The Food Modernization and Safety Act" that would put all our local farms under Corporate and Federal control.

The Democratic Party, has also been involved in the negative and misleading campaign that borders on the actions of an impish spectacle. Their theatrical engagement of the Republicans has not sat well with many people who are concerned about the issues in town.

For these reasons, and even though I think Genevieve is a stellar person, I will always have some discomfort over her parties negative influence, in tandem with her ability to challenge Federal Democratic leaders, especially in a crisis situation.

Jim Richetelli: Last Election I supported Richetelli and had a sign of his on my lawn. He has been our mayor for many terms, and in the past has done a great job in leading our city. Personally I would like to thank him and acknowledge up front all of the great work he has done. However, we vote in the present and we look to the future. The very fact that Jim lost the endorsement of the Register, a paper that endorsed him so many times before was a testament as to the political climate that exists today.

This year Jim has been called out time again over Taxes, educational cuts, historical preservation, business audits, absenteeism, and contract negotiations. Two of the three debates I have been to (in my opinion) have not been very favorable for Richetelli. (You are free to view them on this site just refer to the archives.)

The latest challenge our Mayor experienced was the Democrats and the Republicans engagement of an intensely negative campaign whereby voters are being deliberately confused and misinformed with negative information about their opponents.

Voters I believe have grown tired of this practice and just want to hear the issues and the facts. Jim being the incumbent has a terrific re-election advantage this year, but I personally believe that advantage has been diminished.

Tim Chaucer:Tim is a lifelong resident of Milford, he worked tirelessly trying to support and protect our cities historic properties and open space. Chaucer has been very critical of the destruction of the Cadley House, and the development of the property next to the Milford Library.

Personally I have spoke with Tim and found him to be a sincere person, however, in my opinion, he has a narrow view of interests in our town. Tim is also running as an "Unaffiliated" candidate since he lost the support of his primary political party to Genevieve Salvatore.

Tim took the loss in my view too easily, early on he struggled with the idea of a primary and then opted out instead of standing by his convictions that he was treated unfairly by his party.

Personally I found Chaucer to be a great person with much to offer Milford and even though I think he is the weakest candidate I sincerely hope that he stays involved and continues to fight along with us for what he believes in.

His views on open land purchasing, historic preservation and city planning are supported by all candidates across the board and we will need his expertise on future committees and at council meetings, should he not prevail.

Chaucer can certainly be a unifying force with his broad knowledge on keeping Milford's growth in harmony with our history. Personally I would look forward to Tim's continued involvement in those areas as his message was well received and he certainly proved himself as an asset to our city.

Peter Spalthoff: Peter is my personal favorite, not because he is an Independent but because of his selfless nature, investment in our community, and financial background in understanding debt, contracts, loans and financial instruments.

Of all the candidates in the running Peter has run a very ethical and honest campaign. Peter has pledged transparency in government, and adopted a policy that puts "people first." Every week new letters arrive to our local newspapers in support of Peter. His candidacy as an Independent has been larger than any that I remember in recent memory.

Peter also represents a realistic new choice for the growing number of people in town who have become despondent with the two party system. Peter's list of endorsements is also impressive, and he is the only mayor in CT to receive the official endorsement of the state Independent Party and the Independent American Party.

Peter's skills will be needed in the coming years especially with the 110 Million in financing that will be needed for our school improvements. Peter is also very open minded and works well with others. His most recent post in a political party was the chairman of the Republican Town Committee, but due to his own disappointment with the Republican party decided to reinvigorate the ranks of the Independents here in Milford.

When Peter Made his campaign announcement on the green early this year, he invoked the spirit of the late Charles Iovino. Iovino was the only Independent mayoral candidate in Connecticut's history to win a Mayoral election as a write in candidate.

Your vote this election will count more than before, and I personally hope you will lend that support to Peter Spalthoff My choice for this years Mayor.

Rocco J. Frank Jr.
Milford Daily Blog Contributor

Mayoral Hopefuls Debate Local Environmental Issues

The (Environmental Concerns Coalition) ECC Debate kicked off as scheduled at 6:P.M. all candidates in the running were present and questions were prepared in advance by the ECC moderator.

Candidates had 2 minutes to answer each question, and a rebuttal of their opponents of one Minute. This was the protocol for the first few questions, the next four questions were drawn randomly from a hat and were pre-written by the ECC and selected by each candidate. The audience was also permitted to openly ask questions at the end of the debate.

Of the initial questions asked, the issue of purchasing open land was agreed upon as a good idea by all candidates. The next question regarding Milford's deplorable record on Recycling sparked the most debate.

While the question formulated by the ECC corresponded with the 6% figure as reported in the CT Post Jim Richetelly took issue with the numbers as inaccurate. Richetelly alledged that the number was "under-reported... an error" and held up a copy of the DEP report that he claimed indicated Milford was recycling 12% of its renewable waste not 6%. Richetelli said that Milford is not "last in the state, but doing much better than people believed."

One public question came in regarding the funds to purchase open space, Richetelli exhausted nearly all the money in the open space fund in his latest Naugatuck land deal purchase. The issue of how to pay for this was best addressed by Peter Spalthoff who indicated he would make it a "budget item," and purchase land as part of the routine operations of the town. There was little disagreement to this, since all the candidates agreed that purchasing open space saves Miford's taxpayers money.

There was also debate on adding a paid commissioner to go out and manage the land purchases. Tim Chaucer said that the best candidate for this job would be an "outdoor enthusiast who really knows the town and its land very well."

Each candidate Praised, and addressed, the Clean Energy Roadmap approved by the Board of Aldermen last month. The plan lays out steps the city should take to become environmentally sound. The Roadmap was authored by a community task force and is a step by step plan for city officials to follow.

When it came time for the audience to ask questions, the first question was regarding public transportation. All candidates vowed to improve public transportation and do their part to make certain Milford has more bus stops and convenient locations to get people to and from their local destinations.

The next question from the audience got interesting because I do not think the moderator expected an off topic attack of Richetelli. The man who asked the question specifically addressed it to Jim. He started by saying he made several unanswered telephone calls to Jim, then followed up with more unanswered e-mails. Than after contacting his aide was able to get to talk to him.

Expressing disgust over his experience, he then charged that he did not get the tax decrease that Jim advertised in his "mail piece" that he held up to the audience. He said "I am an engineer, and I am very good with numbers. I looked at my old bill and compared it to my new one... where is my savings!" The moderator told the gentleman that this was an environmental forum not to get "off topic." she said that perhaps "the candidates could answer those types of questions after the debate."

The candidates nonetheless did answer the gentleman's question, and Richetelli stood up and told the gentleman "everyone in Milford received a 2.6% tax decrease plain and simple." Geneveve Salvatore reminded the man that the tax decrease was courtesy of the Democratic led Board of Alderman and that Richetelli's rejected budged actually would have raised his taxes.

The event lasted over an hour, and all the Candidates for Mayor remained long after the meeting and respectfully spoke to the public. However it is important to note, that what is mentioned above are just some notable highlights. MGAT Channel 79 on Cablevision did videotape the event and it will be made available to the public in its entirety in the next week or so and I recommend we all watch it. The more informed you are the better choice you will make come election day.

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Democrats Demonize Richetelli's Addiction Issues

All one has to do is look at the barrage of articles today at the Connecticut Post and you will read a sad tale of Democratic charges of Mayoral accusations, insinuations, and claims of dereliction of duty.

Richard Smith the Democratic Party Chairman has made Richetelli's fight with addiction a matter of partisan politics. Smith alleged that had our Mayor not been preoccupied with his addiction issues the city of Milford would have qualified for more stimulus money.

Democrats allege that Compared to other towns who were on the ball Milford got less stimulus benefits. Freedom of information requests are reeling in by the Democrats, and the Republicans said they intend to comply, however the documentation requested is voluminous and may not be available until after the election.

The Republicans also Responded with THIS press release claiming that the democrats have it all wrong, that they were the ones who declined the funding to Eisenhower Park because the money came from U.S. Sen. Lieberman whom the Milford Democrats are angry with. Richetelli charged that Lieberman's betrayal of Lamont was the main reason why they declined funds for Eisenhower park.

The Democrats however were not persuaded by Richetelli's remarks and continued to insist that his addiction to an "un-named" prescription drug and his flight to a Maryland rehab is the real cause of his lack of effectiveness in delivering the Federal funds.

With all these heated exchanges in play, Tim Chaucer the Petitioning Candidate for Mayor jumped into the Melee and charged that Richetelli was "sleeping at the wheel" in (THIS article) when he allowed a developer to purchase the space next to the library. Chaucer said that that space could have been 22 now needed parking spaces for the library and not purchasing the land was a mistake. He claimed Richetelli was not interested or involved in keeping that lot.

Richetelli has been under a steady attack since his first Debate where he was accused of contributing to the destruction of the Cadley House, allowing complacency in the Building Department, falsely taking credit for this years tax decrease, and not supporting Jonathan Law's educational infrastructure.

Much to Peter Spalthoff's credit, he did not take sides, or jump into the partisan character thrashing from both Republicans and Democrats. Spalthoff instead focused on the issues affecting our community and gave his opinion as if he were the mayor at the time.

The Democrats have now reached a new low by engaging in what may be perceived as an intensely negative campaign making Richetelli's drug problem the focal point of their press releases. Truly a sad way to run an election, perhaps it would be best if all candidates just focus on the issues and refrain from personal attacks.

Salvatore Wins Dem's Support Chaucer Demands Primary

Economic Development Commission Chairwoman Genevieve Salvatore easily secured her party’s mayoral nomination Wednesday at the Democratic Town Committee convention.

Salvatore, a local lawyer whose first foray into city politics was her appointment to the Economic Development Commission this year, secured the nomination by a vote of 81 to nine.

“I am taken aback and humbled by the support,” Salvatore said. “This year we are going to finish what we started two years ago. We are going to take back City Hall.”

Salvatore was challenged by Timothy Chaucer, a longtime city preservationist.

Chaucer, who failed in his attempt to gain his party’s backing for mayor, said Wednesday there is a “99 percent chance” he will pursue the nomination and force a primary.

Chaucer said he was not given an opportunity to speak in front of the 1st and 4th District committees, and predicted he would fair better at a primary than he did at the convention.

Chaucer forced a primary in 1987, eventually winning it and general election to become a member of the Planning and Zoning Board.

“The rank and file Democrats know who I am, they know what I stand for,” Chaucer said.

Under state law, if a primary is necessary, it will be held Sept. 15, said City Clerk Alan H. Jepson.

Jepson, who announced in May he will not seek re-election, was first elected city clerk in 1987 and has routinely enjoyed cross-endorsement.

The Democrats chose state Rep. Richard Roy over PZB Vice Chairwoman Kim Rose to replace Jepson as their nominee for city clerk.

New to the ticket for the Board of Aldermen this year is current chairman of the Police Commission, the Rev. Carleton Giles, and Luke Lynch from the 4th and 1st districts respectively.

The Republican slate will be set at its nominating convention Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Two Republicans were vying for the GOP mayoral nomination. But Wednesday, Republican Town Committee Chairman Tom Jagodzinski announced that former aldermanic Chairman Tom Beirne is no longer challenging four-term Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. for the Republican nomination.

Bierne confirmed he has withdrawn from the race.

Milford residents will also have a third-party choice in November. The Milford Independent Party, with former GOP Town Committee Chairman Peter Spalthoff at the head of the ticket, plans to run candidates for most positions.

James Tinley NH Register

ORIGINAL STORY

Genevieve P. Salvatore is officially in the mayoral race.

The 37 year-old lawyer made a point during her announcement Tuesday evening that if she receives her party's nomination she would be running against three Republicans in this year's mayoral contest.

Incumbent Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr., former Board of Aldermen Chairman Thomas Beirne and Peter Spalthoff, a former GOP town chairman running on the Independent ticket, have previously announced their candidacy.

Salvatore presented herself as a fresh face with new ideas. "I am not a politician,'' she said to the knot of people gathered in the park in front of City Hall. "I am an attorney, a wife and a mother, and a business owner, and for the past eight years, the city has not been operating smartly or efficiently.''

The Kimball Report on the city's building and land-use permitting processes "shows systemic inefficiencies in government. We are wasting our fiscal and human resources, but it doesn't have to be like that,'' she said. "I'd like the opportunity to do more with less.''

A graduate of the University of Connecticut and the UConn School of Law, Salvatore also has a master's degree in public administration from the University of Hartford.

"You know that person in the dorm who never studied, but got all A's?'' her husband Stephen said. "That's her. Gen is street smart and things come easily to her. But she also works hard. She commuted from West Hartford to Manhattan.

The Salvatores have been married 15 years and are the parents of a 6-year-old son, Geno.

"We're big UConn fans, but he's not named for Geno Auriemma,'' Stephen said. Geno, meanwhile, didn't seem too impressed with all the attention his mother was getting Tuesday.

The candidate grew up on the Jersey shore and the Salvatores moved to Milford in 2002. "We had the opportunity to move to any town we wanted to and of all the ones on our hit list, Milford has everything we were looking for,'' the candidate said.

The chairwoman of the city Economic Development Commission, Salvatore also serves on the advisory board for Boys and Girls Village. Her legal practice handles development, construction and contracts, with an office on the Green.

Salvatore is not likely to face any opposition for the Democrats' mayoral nomination, Democratic Town Chairman Richard Smith said. "The town committee is very enthusiastic about her and she is not one of the same people who've been around the political process for years, perhaps myself included.

Alderman Martin Hardiman, D-3, said he looks forward to running for re-election with Salvatore at the top of the ticket. Her biggest task will be to increase her name recognition, said Hardiman, who ran for mayor himself in 1991.

"It's not just reaching out to the five district committees, it's going door-to-door,'' he said. "She'll do that, and I know she'll run well. We have a lot of fresh faces coming in.''

David Hourigan, the Board of Education chairman, said an advantage Salvatore will have is "there are no hidden agendas. It's all up front.''

Richetelli, declaring his plans Monday to run for re-election, said that he is running on his four-term record and will conduct his campaign the same way, regardless of his opponents.

Spalthoff said that he doesn't know Salvatore well, but looks forward to the race. "Mine will be a bare-bones campaign,'' he said. "We don't have a lot of money to get our message out.''

Story a reprint from CT Post