New Haven Independent

The First E-Mail

The first e-mail went to the occupant of the office in the photo, on City Hall’s second floor, Kate McAdams, one of the bright young recent Yale grads whom DeStefano attracted to New Haven government to work on policy:

>>> p.bass 09/14/06 08:08 >>>

Hi Kate. How are things in City Hall? I’ve been noticing dark offices up your way since your boss, Mayor John DeStefano, has been running for governor. And I haven’t seen you and your cohorts around the way I used to, at least when it comes to city events. So I thought I’d drop you an e-mail instead.

I’m interested in how you folks are doing shepherding along initiatives To make New Haven a better city. I know you personally, as a top policy aide to Mayor DeStefano, were involved in some interesting stuff, such as the development of municipal IDs for immigrants, and free tax help for low-income filers.

What’s up these days? Working on anything interesting? Any new initiatives underway? How’s that plan for municipal IDs coming along? We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of when you guys announced the plan. You said it was in the works and being completed soon.

I hope all’s well.

Best,
Paul Bass
New Haven Independent

P.S. Is there a better e-mail or office address where I can reach you?

——————————————————————————-

The First Response

McAdams wrote back, sort of:

——————————————
Subject: Re: Information About City Hall Initiatives (No Longer With
Mayor’s Office)
From: “Kate McAdams”
Date: Thu, September 14, 2006 8:14 am
To: p.bass@newhavenindependent.org

Dear Friend,
I am no longer working in the New Haven Mayor’s Office. Please direct your correspondence to either Robert Smuts, Deputy Chief of Staff, rsmuts@newhavenct.net, 946-7663 or Pattie Lawlor, plawlor@newhavenct.net, 946-7802.
You can reach me on personal matter at: […].
Thank you.

——————————————————————

The Next Response

Sounded reasonable. So I e-mailed Smuts, another young Yalie policy type. As a deputy chief of staff, Smuts would certianly be in the thick of things at City Hall — assuming things have been at all thick over there.
Come to think of it, Smuts’ office, too, has been dark lately. The mail’s piling up.
Like McAdams, Smut didn’t write back himself. Instead, this form response arrived:

—————————————————————————————————-
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: Information About City Hall Initiatives (No Longer With Mayor’s Office)] (On Leave)
From: “Robert Smuts”
Date: Thu, September 14, 2006 8:38 am

I will be away on a leave of absense for a few weeks starting August 30th. I expect to return between two and two and a half months.

I will not be reading emails sent while I am away and will not when I return, so please contact Pierrette Silverman at psilverm@newhavenct.net or (203) 946-7670 with any matter that needs attention. Long term or personal issues can be sent to my personal email account: rmsmuts@yahoo.com.

———————————————————————

Source Number Three

That sounded OK. Silverman is also a deputy chief of staff for the mayor. Surely she’d be around. So I e-mailed her the question.
That was Sept. 14. As of Monday afternoon, still no response.

But she was in her office! And walking around the second floor. She looked kind of lonely. It was so quiet, eerie almost. Nothing happening.

Silverman reported that McAdams had left the city, moved to Chicago.

Smuts? He’s — where else? — at the DeStefano for Governor campaign. Along with half the brain trust and young energy from City Hall. Silverman didn’t say that last part.