Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Open Forum

Municipal elections are winding down. The legislature is doing its level best to avoid campaign finance reform.

Rudy Giuliani spoke about poverty during a fundraiser in... Greenwich. "You can't rely on government to solve most problems," said the former NYC mayor, who is currently running for the highest government office in the land. I can just see the slogan: "Rudy Giuliani: He Won't Solve Most Problems."

What else is going on?

6 comments:

Aldon Hynes said...

Today, former Congressman James Maloney, former Danbury Mayor Gene Eriquez, Democratic Town Chair Bernie Gallo, State Central Committee member Dianne Eppinger and others endorsed John DeStefano for Governor. (You can see my blog entry about it here.)

While I was up there, I had a great chat with Bernie as well as with Danbury Mayoral candidate Dean Esposito. They were both very excited about Dean's campaign. In the past week or two, the donations have really started flowing in, as have the volunteers. Last night, they had over 50 people at Democratic Headquarters helping a mailing to 19,000 voters in Danbury.

It is great to see that sort of involvement and excitement in Dean's race. I hope everyone gets out and gets involved in the municipal elections.

Anonymous said...

Well Dan Malloy's call has resulted in the release of CDA records that list 46 different loans that it has written off or been forced to pay guarantees on since 1999 totaling $20.4 million and a reversal of the quasi-state agency’s long-standing policy of keeping secret information about its failed loans.

Here are some of the write-offs from various articles in the Journal Inquirer, New Haven Register and CT Post.

Shuttle America Corp. of Windsor Locks, which the CDA backed with $2 million in 1998 and $1 million in 1999 and which resulted in a $3 million charge-off in fiscal 2002.

The CDA also took a $986,206 charge-off in fiscal 2004 in connection with a Norwich business, Information Packaging Inc., which it had provided with $1.14 million in 1999.

Alternative Business Interiors Inc. of East Hartford, which had received $200,000 in 1996 and resulted in a $190,949 charge-off.

A company the CDA identified as "KCS Enter, Fed Forging" of Suffield, which had received $200,000 in 1997 and which resulted in a $94,235 charge-off.

Roxbury Twain Publishing of Suffield, which had received $250,000 in 2000 and resulted in a $250,000 charge-off.

Signature Architecture Wood LLC of South Windsor, which had received $250,000 in 2003 and resulted in a $242, 190 charge-off.

U.S. Homecare of Hartford, which the CDA backed with $1 million in 1995, and for the which the agency paid out a $1 million loan guarantee.

* $700,000 in connection with Chester Precision of Chester, which received $700,000 in 2001.

* $576,551 in connection with Equipment Service of Hartford, which received $600,000 in 1999.

* $554,643 in connection with Anamet Industrial Inc. of Waterbury, which it backed with $1 million in 1993.

* $500,000 in connection with Tele-Monitor of Waterbury, which received $500,000 in 2001.

* $454,184 in connection with Rapor Inc. of New Britain, which it backed with $750,000 in 2002.

* $435,323 in connection with Integrated Motion of Torrington, which received $551,994 in 1995.

* $347,978 in connection with Pierce Correll Corp. of Milford, which received $1.15 million in 1993.

Wendell Harp, a politically-connected New Haven developer and architect, received CDA loans worth $2.33 million for a proposed real estate project involving properties on Whalley Avenue. The CDA wrote off $233,467 of that loan in November 2003. Citing confidentiality laws, the CDA has refused to release any more details concerning that loan. Harp did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the deal.

Databyte International of Branford, a computer technology firm, was unable to pay off a loan it received in 1998. The CDA had guaranteed $150,000 of that transaction and paid it in 2000. The company was dissolved in 2001.

Packaging Plus of Milford received a $1,365,000 CDA loan in 1994. The agency wrote off $729,267 of that amount as a loss in 2002. The company no longer has a telephone listing.

E.O. Manufacturing of West Haven is an aviation machine shop that received a $421,000 CDA loan in 1981. In 2003, the CDA wrote off $136,551 of that loan.

GRSNetwork, a Sausalito, Calif.-based travel services company, received a $1 million CDA loan in 2001, apparently as part of a plan to set up an operation in Wallingford. Two years later, the CDA wrote off $989,500 of that loan as uncollectable.

Industrial Heater Corp. is a Cheshire manufacturer of heaters for industrial processing. It received a $128,000 CDA loan in 1992. Tad McGwire, president of the company, said a drop in sales because of a slumping economy forced him to suspend payments on the loan in 2001. Last year, the CDA wrote off $25,201 remaining on the loan.

Atlas Fence Inc. of Branford received a $500,000 CDA loan in May 2003. The agency wrote off $463,655 of that loan.

Precision Metal Fabricating of Milford received a $30,000 loan from the CDA. The agency wrote off $21,157 of the amount owed as uncollectable in 2004.

Pierce Correll Corp. of Milford received a $1.15 million CDA loan in 1993. The CDA wrote off $347,946.

The CDA issued loan guarantees worth $588,130 to the Tennis Foundation of New Haven in 1993 to enable the foundation to secure a $1.9 million loan from Shawmut Bank. The guarantees were part of a state bailout package to help the foundation cope with deficits caused largely by major drainage and court problems at the then-new tennis stadium. The foundation’s executive director at the time was John DeStefano Jr., who in 1994 was elected to his first term as mayor of New Haven and is now a Democratic candidate for governor. In 2000 and 2001, the CDA was forced to pay out the full amount of the guarantees.

"When the mayor left the foundation at the end of 1993, the foundation was meeting all its obligations," DeStefano spokesman Derek Slap said Tuesday. "What happened in the subsequent 10 years is not something the mayor can speak to or is responsible for."

Accurate Electronics of North Avenue in Bridgeport, which received a $270,000 loan in 1980 and owed about $115,870 when the loan was written off in 2002.

Packaging Plus of North Road in Milford, which owed more than half of a $1,365,000 loan it obtained in 1994 and was written off in 2002.

Intec of Trefoil Drive in Trumbull, which owed nearly $318,000 on a $500,000 loan it received in 1997 when it was charged off in 2002.

EAC Inc. of Quarry Road in Trumbull, which cost the state nearly $83,000 on a loan guarantee for a million dollars.

These are sure to generate more inquiries, several appear to have made no payments and some still have seem to have assests. How does CDA justify loans to fence company and a travel business?

Anonymous said...

Many local candidates include photo galleries on their Web sites. Nearly all are dull images from fundraisers and official events, but a handful stand out.

The unintentionally retro-style photos on the campaign home page and town council page of Ellen Marmer, Mayor of Vernon, win my award for Worst Political Mug Shots in Human History. (And what are those two women on the home page wearing? Lab coats? Chef's uniforms?)

Owen Quinn, Mayor of Torrington, took out some time from campaigning to demonstrate a new hip hop dance move, some tap, and a two-step.

New Milford mayoral candidate Joe Ribeiro appears to have grown a large afro in this surrealist photo.

Who knew that Congressional candidate Diane Farrell is actually a biker chick at heart?

New Britain Mayoral candidate Jason Jakubowski is not above exploiting child labor - even his own children!

In addition to their work on human elections, the Suffield Democrats are soliciting nominees for Top Dog.

Genghis Conn said...

Mike,

Those are classic! Thanks for posting them.

Anonymous said...

The Journal Inquirer is continuing it's coverage of the CDA and reports that the regional airline that accounted for the single biggest loan default in six years at the Connecticut Development Authority included among its investors Harry T. Gray, former CEO of United Technologies Corp. and one of former Gov. John G. Rowland's biggest benefactors.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15500945&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6

I posted some of the published loan reports, if anyone knows the local backgrounds of these groups, it would be interesting.

Anonymous said...

The mayor of Waterbury, Conn., issued a proclamation yesterday congratulating Boston Celtic Ryan Gomes as the first Waterbury native to play in the NBA, and wished the rookie good luck .