New Haven Independent

One letter written by two former Democratic Town Committee chairs attacked four sitting RTM members. Another letter dealt with the way Branford School officials handled a controversial “tickling” incident. The letters set off a storm of protest and threats from the school superintendent that the town and the moderator would face a lawsuit if it happened again.

James Bruno, the Democratic RTM Moderator, responded by disappearing from public view. He called in sick and missed the March RTM meeting. Then he called in sick and missed the April meeting. In his absence, the behind-the-scenes focus shifted from changing the moderator to changing the process.

The decision to strictly enforce the Town Charter came after a number of RTM members gave thought to mounting a campaign to either remove Bruno as the RTM Moderator or to censure him for his conduct.

According to the town charter, rule 2.5 says the RTM Clerk shall “receive and open all mail or other communications addressed to the RTM.” The section goes on to say that if action is required before the next RTM meeting, then the clerk shall refer the matter to the moderator immediately.

So the Town Charter clearly made the clerk, not the moderator, the decision-maker. At the RTM’s April 11 meeting, Republican Dennis Flanagan said that “right now there is no correspondence coming to the RTM Clerk,” meaning himself. This fact was also noted at prior meetings.

Just as last week’s meeting was ending, Democrat David Baker, the newest member of the RTM, introduced a resolution that corrects this ongoing abuse of the Town Charter, one that apparently went unnoticed by the Town Attorney.

Baker acted, he said, in order to make the correspondence procedure “much more apolitical and fair,” to make the RTM more “business-like.”

The resolution, adopted by a voice vote, returns to Flanagan the job of receiving and opening all mail. It also adds a clause designed to prevent future political manipulation by preventing Bruno from acting unilaterally. Now the Clerk and the Moderator must confer before the next RTM meeting and “jointly determine” if the correspondence is appropriate or inappropriate to read.

If “they jointly” agree that a letter may be read to the RTM, than the Moderator, who reads the correspondence, will first indicate the source of the correspondence (In the past Bruno has waited until the end of the letter to disclose who wrote it), indicate the topic, summarize its contents and then refer it to the appropriate RTM committee. (The Eagle hopes that Bruno includes the date of the correspondence, which he sometimes forgets to mention.) If the letter does not involve RTM business, then the Clerk shall send it to the appropriate Town Department or Commission or return it to its author.

In January, Bruno read a letter from two former Democratic Party chairs, Michael Milici and Dan Baughman, attacking the integrity of four sitting RTM members. Bruno said he had just been handed the letter (he did not say who did the hand-off) and he was duty bound to read it. The result created such pandemonium that most RTM members later said they did not hear Bruno say he planned to send the letter to the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Without an RTM vote, he not only sent the letter, he sent a packet of material to the SEEC regarding a respected member of the RTM, Lonnie Reed. Bruno then sent a cover letter, not approved by the RTM, explaining the packet. Faced with intense RTM criticism over that move he wrote a correction, saying his cover letter, which centered entirely on his role as RTM moderator, should now be viewed as one sent by a “private citizen.” Click here to read the letters.

At last week’s RTM meeting, eighteen of the 30 RTM members approved sending the SEEC their letter disavowing Bruno’s cover letter and asking that the Reed complaint be returned to the RTM. Ten Democrats, all loyal to the Morris-Marcus administration, did not sign.

In February Bruno read a letter from parents commenting on a so-called tickling event at the John B. Sliney School. Bruno insisted he did not name the teacher, and he didn’t. But the letter did name another teacher the parents identified in connection with services provided to the couple’s special needs son.

The public disclosure of this letter set off a general outcry and last month Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Halligan wrote Bruno to say that he and the RTM might face a lawsuit if he engaged in this conduct again.
“”I think we have all been very disturbed by the flurry of correspondence that has been read,” said RTM member Sandra Reiners. “Many of us have felt there has been an abuse of this body…” She applauded Baker for his initiative and said the resolution would restore dignity to the RTM.

John Smith, the RTM Majority Leader, who has been sitting in for Bruno, made sure to note that the resolution was “non-binding.” It doesn’t matter. The RTM has put its leader and the public on notice.
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