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It Begins. Mattei Excoriates Drew. Middletown Mayor Stumbles With Employee Solicitation.

by Kevin Rennie

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Middletown mayor Dan Drew hopeful may have committed a disqualifying error with his solicitation of campaign donations from municipal employees. The Middletown Press had the startling story of Drew soliciting employees, including public safety workers whose personal contact information is protected from public disclosure. Police officers, for example, do not have to disclose their home address on voter registration rolls.

Rival hopeful Christopher Mattei sees an an opening. The former prosecutor issued a scathing indictment of Drew’s misbegotten ploy:

Chris Mattei Statement on Dan Drew’s Solicitation of Campaign Funds from City Workers
Hartford, CT – Former federal prosecutor Chris Mattei issued the following statement regarding Mayor Dan Drew’s solicitation of political contributions from hundreds of Middletown city employees, including law enforcement personnel, which were sent to their private residences.
“What Dan Drew did was wrong – plain and simple. As the elected Mayor of Middletown, he used the authority of his office to obtain the confidential information of his subordinates, and then used that authority and information to urge city workers to give money to his campaign. It’s not unreasonable for those workers to think that they now have to donate to his campaign in order to continue or advance their careers.
“This is the old kind of politics – the kind that has led so many voters to distrust government and elected officials. The question for Connecticut is whether we will finally choose a new kind of politics for our state. A politics free from shakedowns, insider deals and cynicism. I will leave the legal determinations to the Middletown Council Clerk and State Elections Enforcement Commission, but we don’t need to know whether something is illegal to know that it is wrong.
“We have deep challenges in our State – challenges that we can overcome if average people trust their leaders to do the right thing on their behalf. The conduct here is a step back into a past many Connecticut residents would like to leave behind. If we hope to move forward, this type of behavior has got to end.”