New Haven Independent

The accusations came by way of a letter that James Bruno, the RTM moderator, said he had not read and had just received. He read the entire letter into the record without saying who wrote it. Then he announced the signers. One was Daniel F. Baughman, Sr., whose name was not that familiar to those in the room.

But when Bruno announced the second name, Michael J. Milici, there was an audible, unified “ahhh” in the room, as everyone took in the full significance of that name. Milici’s name has been attached to other letter writing campaigns in town. More recently he was called as a major witness in the granite-gate case, but refused to give testimony. The final granite-gate report has not yet been completed.

Frank Carrano, the current chair of the DTC, was not part of this deed and it is not clear what action he will or will not take. What the long-term implications are for the Branford Democratic Party, given that two former DTC Chairs are now in the business of targeting their own, remains to be seen. Click here to read the letter.

The letter writers demanded a special investigation into “possible unethical behavior” on the part of Lonnie Reed, Gail Chapman-Carbone, Sandra Reiners, who also serves as the vice-chairperson of the Democratic Town Committee, and Hilary Kiskaddon. They have chosen to target three chairmen of key RTM committees who are among the most dedicated public servants in the town.

But the chief target of the letter was Reed, whom the letter writers accused, without checking with her first, of being guilty of “gross and total violation of election laws.” In recent weeks, in articles in the New Haven Register and the Sound, she has become an outspoken critic of the Cheryl Morris-Ed Marcus Administration. It is likely that she would play a significant role in the campaign of “Unk” DaRos if he runs for the First Selectman’s position in 2007. Without any further discussion, Bruno said he would turn the matter over to state election officials “to let them sort it out.”

If the purpose was to shock, the letter writers succeeded. Reed responded quickly. On her feet, she told the audience that as one of the people excoriated in this letter, “I would just like to say that I am an innocent person.” Yesterday she told the Eagle, “This is not a business for sissies.”

In an interview, Reed said: “We’ve seen it all before. This crowd’s weapon of choice is Bullying. And their code is: Loyalty or Death. Those of us who speak out, do so knowing that sooner or later we’ll be targeted.” The letter, she added is “strong evidence” that she and the three other RTM members, and probably others, are “on their hit list. I am proud to be in their company.”

Reed went on to say that in all likelihood Baughman and Milici did not write the letter themselves. “There is a poison pen factory that churns out vitriolic letters, and loyal followers are told to sign them. The name Mike Milici, a former DTC chair and one of their lieutenants, often appears on them. He co-signed the letter attacking Gail, Sandra and me and the RTM. The real question is: Who is really writing these letters? At least one attorney I showed it to says certain phrases were clearly penned by a lawyer….”

While others are named, the letter centers on Reed and resumably sets out to remove her from both her current RTM position, where she has served for two terms and is currently the able chairwoman of the RTC’s Education Committee and from the DTC where she was recently elected a member.

According to the research provided by the letter writers, presumably Milici, the East Haven tax assessor who works occasionally for the Branford tax assessor, Reed sold her home on Pawson Road on November 1, 2005. The letter says, “it is our belief that Ms. Reed was living outside the district in which she was running for the RTM and ultimately was elected.” The letter says she was living in the second district and if so, she did not have the right to represent the residents of the fifth district while living in the second district, “not to mention loudly preach(sic) ethics and then be evidently be (sic) guilty of such gross and total violation of election laws.”

Reed said that “the people who are targeting me now are the very people who counseled me to stay on the RTM despite my move in November, 2005.” She said that she informed Bruce Morris, Cheryl’s husband, who is also the fifth District DTC chair, that she was moving and that she would be staying with friends in the area and still had some of her possessions at her old property. The new owners were not moving in for months. “Bruce Morris told me I was permitted to stay on the ticket.”

She said her neighbors across the street from her “kindly invited us to stay with them until we found a fifth district rental. And since we had no mailing address, they insisted that we use theirs—-135 Pawson Road. As I said we slept at other friends, but did receive mail there. Those neighbors were Bruce and Cheryl Morris.”

First Selectwoman Morris, who attended the RTM meeting, might have let the assembly know that she and husband invited Reed to use their address as a mail drop. She might have explained their role. Our First Selectwoman remained silent throughout the meeting.

Unable to find a rental in the 5th district, Reed moved to a friend’s house in the 2nd district where she stayed until her condo was completed. She said she offered to resign her RTM seat, “but was told by Bruce Morris and the new town attorney Ed Marcus that I was permitted to serve out my term as long as I continued living in Branford. I also heard from many of my constituents who urged me to please serve out my term as their Representative.”

“It’s never been a secret,” she said. She moved into her new condo, in the 4th district, in July, 2006 when it was finally finished.

The two page Baughman-Milici letter stunned everyone. Bruno expressed Shock, Shock, that his own forum was being used this way. John Smith, the Democratic Majority Leader, said he was Outraged, simply Outraged, that this letter was aired in public and before the cameras of BCTV, for all the community to view. Smith noted this subject should have been discussed in the Democratic Caucus, over which he presides. But somehow it never got on his agenda.

The issue involving Chapman-Carbone and Reiners centered on a recent fourth district election when Reed was voted onto the DTC to fill a vacancy. The letter writers cited a failure to give proper notice of the meeting and a lack of a quorum. In fact, the DTC fourth district issue outlined in the letter had been addressed and acted upon at a full DTC meeting weeks ago.

Even the letter writers say the actions of Chapman-Carbone and Reiners “in and of itself is not the issue we are addressing but leads to the very issue of concern,” specifically Reed’s residency and her recent election to the DTC. Nonetheless, the letter writers decided to take pot shots in public at Chapman-Carbone and Reiners.

The letter writers noted Reed’s comments in the Sound newspaper published Wednesday, the day of the RTM meeting and the day the letter was written. Reed observed that the ad hoc committee investigating granite-gate should censure the conduct of “seasoned professionals using town resources.” This was essential, she said, in order to discourage “such intolerable behavior in the future. I’m convinced that when you soft-pedal this stuff, you only invite new abuses.” Click here to read the Sound article.

She didn’t have long to wait.
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