Is It a Scandal Yet? Mirror’s Altimari Reveals New Suspect Connections in State’s School Construction Grants Mess.

The CT Mirror’s Dave Altimari adds a clearer lens to the growing school construction scandal. The people of Bristol complained that their community was not served by a proper highway. No more. The Bristol-Tolland express served some well-connected traffic.

Altimari’s revelation leaves in tatters Governor Ned Lamont’s churlish claim that we must be careful about calling this a scandal. Nevertheless, some dare not call it a scandal if it might affect this November’s state election.

The no-bid contract to replace Tolland’s Brich Grove Primary School was very, very good to Bristol’s D’Amato Construction Company. It had never built a school until it mysteriously snagged the $46 million Tolland project in 2019. We learned last month from Dr. Walter Willett, Tolland’s superintendent, that Kostantinos Diamantis, the head of the state’s school construction grants program, bullied Tolland into using D’Amato and Construction Advocacy Professionals (CAP).

What a school construction roll D’Amato was on in 2019. The company also won a Bristol school construction bid for the Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School Project (though it was not the lowest bidder). One member of Bristol’s building committee was Stephan Masotti of Masotti Electric. He cast some helpful votes for D’Amato Construction as a member of the committee.

Several months later, according to Altimari, Masotti Electric received a $2.4 million contract from D’Amato on the Tolland project. What are the odds? “He’s a Bristol guy, and his company has done work for us for more than 30 years,” Tony D’Amato told Altimari. “There’s absolutely no correlation between the two projects. We use his company all of the time.” That declaration is unlikely to be helpful to either D’Amato or Masotti.

D’Amato and Marotto, of course, are from Bristol. Diamantis represented Bristol in the state House of Representatives. Antonietta Roy, owner of CAP, began her business in Bristol. They are, among other things, a vivid reminder of the corrosive nature of no-bid contracts.

The federal criminal investigation continues as potential witnesses submit to interviews by assistant U.S. attorneys, FBI agents, and IRS investigators. D’Amato and Diamantis have denied any wrongdoing.

Published March 9, 2022.