New Haven Independent

He delivered a short speech right after the delegates nominated Unk DaRos and Fran Walsh as candidates for First and Second Selectmen, a nomination that came by way of voice acclamation, and was a moment of joy for many in the room.

Panaroni, who has represented the town in the state Assembly for the past ten years, had planned his talk along with a show-and— tell ending that centered on a “Disposable Bullshit Bag.” But I get ahead of myself.

The not-so hidden drama in the room was whether Panaroni would in fact run for First Selectman, a move that would have prompted a democratic primary. Democratic officials had been told he would be nominated from the floor. He had taken out the state papers necessary to start a campaign but as it turned out he had not filed them. That became clear when Frank Carrano, chairman of the DTC, asked if there were any other nominations and there were none.

When Panaroni walked to the podium, the delegates naturally expected him to explain his change of heart. He had asked if he could make a statement. He never did explain what happened except to say obliquely that “over the last few weeks my personal life has had a little change in it.”

He began by referring to a portion of DaRos’s acceptance speech in which DaRos quoted Thomas Jefferson: “We in America don’t have government by the majority….we have government by the majority who participate.” Panaroni acknowledged that Thomas Jefferson had indeed uttered some “wise words,” but then he said he had “even wiser words from a higher authority.”

And who was his higher authority? For Panaroni that person wasn’t Lincoln, or Roosevelt, or Churchill. His higher authority turned out to be the fictional Mafia Godfather, Vito Corleone.

“Vito Corleone says ‘take it to the mattresses. You gotta fight. Fight. Fight. But you don’t make it personal. This is just business,’” Panaroni said.

For a public official to glamorize the Mafia, and to discuss “taking it to the mattresses” was so unexpected in this setting, that a number of the 89 delegates booed Panaroni. A few walked out of the convention.

As a state leader who has represented the 102nd Assembly District for a decade, (his current term ends in 2008) Panaroni might have taken the high road. He might have considered the occasion and even been conciliatory. But he apparently decided to go in a different direction.

“Take it to the mattresses” is not an everyday expression. During the Mafia wars in the 1970’s, take it to the mattresses or going to the mattresses, as reporters referred to it back then, was often a prelude to mob violence. If one mob family wanted to take out members of another, they would prepare by first leaving their own homes so that their enemies or the cops could not find them. They would pick up the mattresses and take them to a safe house, a warehouse or someone’s country house where they made their plans.

What Corleone is saying in the movie is that mob warfare isn’t personal, it’s just business. It is a way of thinking that enables mobsters to detach from all sorts of bad deeds by saying ‘this is business, nothing personal.” But violence against a person or his reputation is nothing if not personal.

Panaroni, who is a Democrat, said that from where he sits, “in the Democratic party it has become personal.” His comment seemed to instill fear among a number of persons in the room who have challenged the current administration.

“It became personal in Short Beach,” he said, directing his gaze at a group of Short Beach DTC delegates, mostly women, who as a group unseated the incumbent Morris DTC delegates, including John Smith, the RTM Majority leader, in a March 7, 2006 Short Beach primary. The majority of the Short Beach delegates had never before engaged in any political activity. Their actions have prompted Bruce Morris, Cheryl’s husband, to publicly humiliate them. But in Fran Walsh’s acceptance speech, he noted that “you have been called many things. I will take my hat off to you and call you heroes.”

The March 7, 2006 DTC primary came after a vicious letter writing campaign, engaged in by sitting RTM members Lisa Avitable and Ralph Coppola and others, and aimed at Warren Gould, who helped organize the District 3 election. Avitable and Coppola have never apologized for their actions. Perhaps it was “just business.” The Short Beach election came as residents began to understand that the Morris administration had an agenda the voters who elected her knew nothing about. The reformers won an overwhelming victory running on a “Take Back our Town” platform and a belief in open and transparent government.

Smith, a close Morris ally, was not even nominated to the RTM last week. Instead two new nominees, Alinor Sterling and Doug Hanlon, were approved in a unanimous voice vote by 175 residents. Town Attorney#2, Shelley Marcus, daughter of Ed, who had wanted to become the Short Beach DTC chair, resigned from the committee in 2006.

“It became personal in Stony Creek,” Panaroni went on, referring to the village where DaRos and many of his supporters live. “It became personal in Town Hall the last two years,” he said, sounding a lot like Mrs. Morris’s view of her troubles. The First Selectwoman did not attend the convention.

One delegate shouted: “It will be personal when you are no longer our state representative.”

When it became obvious the audience was beginning to squirm, Panaroni shifted gears. In the room listening to him were Lonnie Reed, Gail-Chapman Carbone, Sandra Reiners, DaRos and others who have been targets of this administration. “There is something that we all ought to remember and that is that the attacks that have been leveled against a lot of people in this room are unwarranted, uncalled for and should not have been done,” he said.

Nonetheless, he continued his own attack.

Panaroni was upset because DaRos had publicly chastised him for the way in which he handled serious Inland Wetland and Zoning violations placed on his property at 44 Tabor Drive.

DaRos’s condemnation, and he was not alone, centered on Panaroni’s decision to ask the Morris administration to lift a Wetlands Commission cease and correct order on the Panaroni property in order to let him refinance it.

On December 8, 2005, Town Counsel Ed Marcus asked the town’s Wetlands Enforcement officer to lift the order, and he told her that he would take responsibility. The order was lifted against the officer’s wishes. Shelley Marcus explained later that Panaroni would now be able to pay back town property taxes amounting to $57,000. DaRos recently disclosed that Panaroni asked him for the same favor years back and DaRos refused. DaRos told Panaroni, he said, to get his house in order the way other people do.

Panaroni has rented the property to Sani-can, a portable toilet company. The site is now filled with port-o-potties, prompting a zoning violation. The Zoning Board of Appeals has twice denied Panaroni’s request for a variance. Panaroni has now filed a lawsuit against the town to overturn the ZBA’s ruling.

“To have people call people and tell them that I am unethical…” Panaroni declared, not finishing his sentence. He said he had “worked my entire life, 60 years to get to where I’ve got and I believe I’ve earned it. Next time wouldn’t it be nice to ask if this actually happened. Did you do this? What went on?”

There is one problem in attacking DaRos. He isn’t the one who made public Panaroni’s Wetlands and Zoning problems, along with Panaroni’s lawsuit against the town. It was RTM member Peter Black, the Republican candidate who ran against Panaroni for State Rep last year, who disclosed the details regarding the Administration’s role in lifting the cease and correct order late in the campaign.

But that was then. Now Panaroni announced that he had a gift for Frank Carrano, who serves as chairman of the DTC and who also happens to be the chairman of the town’s Board of Education.

“I hope you take it more as a joke than anything personal,” he said, using that word again. “The next time anybody in this room chooses to spew venom at a fellow Democrat, chooses to say something, I only ask that you borrow this bag and spew it in here. That way we can continue to go on as the friends we have been for a very long time. Thank you very much for your time.”

He handed Carrano the paper bag he had brought for the occasion. Carrano smiled and put the bag on the table.

No one in the room knew that there were words on the front of the bag. Panaroni hadn’t uttered them, but he knew they said “Disposable Bullshit Bag.”

So there you have the wisdom of Peter Panaroni who addressed the DTC convention on Thursday July 19, 2007. Delegates interviewed afterward said they experienced a variety of reactions to Panaroni’s talk. They were uncomfortable, appalled, frightened, surprised and embarrassed. One called it pathetic. Let’s just say he didn’t seem to put his best foot forward.

As Panaroni left the stage, Stan Konesky, who has led the fight against building Founders Village in downtown Branford, called from the back of the room: “I would like to say this night is for the Democratic Party and Unk and Fran. And I don’t think anything should be taken away from the glory and importance of this evening.”

There was a roar of applause, and that seemed to capture the mood for the scores of people who had worked hard for this moment.

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