New Haven Independent

That is because two of the three major witnesses to the events involving Town Attorney Ed Marcus and the police inquiry into the granite at Former First Selectman Anthony Unk DaRos masonry business did not appear before the four member committee appointed to look into the case. This may be the fate of small town government lacking subpoena power to compel witnesses and crucial documents.

But there may have been another reason why half the witnesses invited to the meetings, which concluded on September 27, did not show up. Residents said there was fear after Marcus announced he reserved the right to sue citizens on claims of libel and slander.

Intimidation and abuse of power were at the heart of the Granite-gate hearings, and Marcus took to the public stage to announce his intentions against the citizens. These threats elicited confusion and alarm from residents at one of the hearings and in subseqent letters to the editor. Citizens asked Morris to intercede, to rein in her divisive counsel. She has remained silent. She did not appear to answer further questions, saying in a letter that she had testified twice and now declined to answer “any more questions whether verbal or in writing.”

Marcus, however, has finally responded to the town’s concerns, though in a surprisingly off-handed manner. In a postscript to a letter to RTM Committee Chair Scott Thayer, he wrote:

“P.S. Incidentally you can report to the committee, the media, as well as anyone in attendance at your meeting of September 27, that the Marcus Law Firm will categorically commit to not instituting any libel or slander action of any nature during the term of our current agreement to serve as town counsel, subject, of course, to any unusual circumstance. Any such action or actions, when or if instituted, would not be against the citizen’s (sic) of Branford.”

He did not define “unusual circumstance.” Nor did he say what might happen once he no longer serves as town counsel, a position he holds at least until the next election in November, 2007. The statute of limitations runs for two years from the time of the purported incident.

Peter L. Black, a Republican on the RTM who is running for the State Assembly against Democrat Peter J. Panaroni, Jr., put it this way: “The bottom line: the members of the Marcus Law Firm are still threatening to sue the people whom they were retrained to represent,”

DaRos gave compelling testimony to show Marcus was acting politically. He was told by Detective Duncan Ayr that the charge might be theft of town services if he had not paid the royalties on his granite. The royalties amounted to $4.20, a fee that would hardly rise to police intervention. Residents pointed out that Marcus conducted no accounting inquiry. Instead, he used the police.

The presumption of the ad-hoc committee’s fact-finding mission was that witnesses called to give statements would do so, be they employees or public officials. But of the 14 called to give information, only seven appeared. Absent subpoena power there was no way to compel their appearance.

John Prete, a Republican member of the committee, said a majority of those who did not appear are town employees.

“We are saddened by the fact that fifty percent, seven of the 14 witnesses called by this committee, declined to appear before us.”

He told some 25 people in the audience Wednesday night that their failure to so “violated a public trust and showed a blatant disrespect for their employer. We suggest that notations be put into their employee files for future reference,” he added.

“As silly as this many sound to some of these potential witnesses, we do care what the voters in our District(s) care about. We care about what the people of Branford care about. The taxpayers in this town wanted these people to come to our meetings and explain what happened and why. They wanted us to find out what we can do to assure that it will never happen again.”

Among the seven absentees were JoAnne McGuigan, the chair of the Branford Police Commission, which conducted only a 90 minute investigation, despite an earlier critical report from long-term commissioner Jon Grossman; Detective Ayr, to whom Marcus gave photographs of the DaRos granite and asked him to investigate; and Michael Milici, who is not a town employee but who has been paid as an outside contractor to aid town assessor Barbara Neal.

Questions that remained unanswered included the name of the person who took the photographs and his relationship to Milici and Marcus. Milici delivered the photos to the Marcus Law Firm in New Haven and Marcus gave them to Ayr who described his April meeting with Marcus in a police report. Without the photos there would have been no police inquiry, Police Chief Robert W. Gill told the Eagle.

There were suggestions that Leno Torelli, a part-time town employee in the Branford buildings department and a dockmaster in Stony Creek, had relevant information. The committee called Torelli but he refused to appear and when given written questions to answer, he shredded them, the committee was told this week. Milici informed the committee he has hired an attorney who has advised him not to testify. Milici, like Marcus, has entertained the idea of libel actions against various parties, a noteworthy development since he has written his share of public letters against others.

When Eliza Cleveland and Pam Roy sent a letter last June 14th to the RTM seeking an investigation into “granite-gate” they rightly said the citizens of Branford needed to be reassured that “the governmental systems designed to serve and protect them are not being misinterpreted and misused; and that the people’s elected representatives will, if necessary, recommend appropriate remedies to safeguard Branford citizens.”

Presumably these remedies will be offered in a report the committee will deliver. Obviously the report won’t have all the facts. That is unfortunate. But an airing was held and many people came to make their feelings known. They were articulate, concerned citizens whose voices spoke volumes.

###