Morris and Opie: Fanning the Political Flames

by Marcia Chambers | October 31, 2007 10:46 AM | | Comments (12)


With the First Selectman’s election around the corner, Cheryl Morris sent off a political dirty trick mailing that accuses Unk DaRos of stealing tons, yes, tons of granite without paying for it. From the other direction, Unk’s Republican opponent, John Opie, continues his own attack against DaRos.

The Morris mailing arrived Saturday and Monday at the homes of registered Democrats and Unaffiliated voters and is reminiscent of the Granite-gate episode in which Town Attorney Ed Marcus used the police to investigate whether DaRos paid royalties on granite from the Stony Creek quarry. DaRos is a stone mason by trade. Those assertions proved to be unfounded.

The granite-gate inquiry created a political firestorm within the Branford Democratic Party because DaRos, a popular former First Selectman, represented a different faction of the party and let it be known early on that he disliked Morris’s policies. Granite-gate might have led to a state inquiry, after an RTM inquiry ended, but DaRos himself asked that the town move on. Now Morris has re-ignited the flames. Let’s call this missile Quarrygate.

In Quarrygate, Morris practically accuses DaRos of committing a crime and she does so under her own name. She says that he “personally” took tons of material from the Stony Creek quarry without paying for it. (Click
here to read it.

What’s more, both Morris and Dick Sullivan, the Second Selectman, apparently approved the “art,” a photograph showing a “shell game,” an old, established con game involving three shells and a pea. The implication is that DaRos committed a fraud. The headline on the card reinforces the idea: “Watch Them Disappear!”

When we caught up with him earlier this week, DaRos was furious. “I would hope this will be their last Hurrah because if they go any further with this there are going to be some big problems for them. I think they are right on the edge with this one.”

“Where are the receipts?” Morris asks. She states that “the quarry’s on-site manager said DaRos personally took tons of material from the Stony Creek quarry, without paying.” She does not identify this so-called witness, the on-site quarry manager, by name.

DaRos said he spent Monday morning tracking down the on-site managers, past and present who could have been involved. There were two of them. “I asked them about this. They said no one from the town has asked any questions about DaRos in regard to the stone. “None. Absolutely none. In fact, they were both infuriated,” he said.

DaRos also said when he held public office from 1997-2003 he turned his contracting business over to his son. “I never took a dime from that company,” he said. He said he played no role in the business during his time in office. He now works for his son, he said.

“From this point on…I think there is a judge out there who might be interested in this. If not, I am going to make one interested in it.”

DaRos said he never kept a quarry file in the First Selectman’s office as Morris claims. The quarry files were kept in an open file at Town Hall, accessible to department heads and the public. “Anyone could see it.”

He said Cheryl and Dick “know they are not going to win this election. Their one objective is to get me. That has become very clear.” Morris, he said, was very weak. She won as a Democrat two years ago, but is now running as an Independent. He said her campaign manager had walked out. “He asked her to give it up six weeks ago, but she refused. ‘Let’s just cause as much havoc as we can’ is how they work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opie’s message seems clear: Put the Democrats DaRos and Morris in the same pot, even though they are radically different candidates and hold them both accountable for the Tabor mess.

To that end, Opie has mounted a sophisticated media campaign. He has now put up two YouTube political cartoons that later run on local commercial television. He is also sending daily mailings to registered voters.

DaRos has done no local commercial television or You-Tube ads. So far his campaign has sent out one mailing. It centers on a major financial accomplishment: Lifting Branford’s bond rating for the first time in 29 years. Click here to read it.

While DaRos may not be flooding the media, he has developed a strong volunteer movement that since June has conducted a door to door voter campaign. Many of the volunteers were members of the Hilltop Brigade, a grass roots movement that helped to elect key Congressional Connecticut Democrats in 2006. So far Unk’s campaign has recruited 200 plus volunteers, including block captains, to work in Branford’s five election districts.

In the last two weeks, Opie has transformed his presentation of self. Usually reticent, he has emerged as outgoing and in charge. In one mailing this week he opens the door for a possible settlement with the Tabor developers and the owners. Click here to read it. He says he would “be willing to explore all options to resolve the matter.” This is a new step and it goes beyond Opie’s earlier statements to retain an independent counsel to investigate any mishandling of the Tabor case. Morris has appealed the verdict.

Opie leaves no doubt in his printed message who is responsible for Tabor, presenting stick figures of Unk and Cheryl that resemble the characters in the YouTube ads. Actually, while DaRos moved to take the land, it was Opie who formally accepted title to the land in Jan, 2004, soon after he took office. Opie beat Democrat Frank Kinney after DaRos decided against running for a fourth term. Opie’s administration set aside the funds to pay for the Tabor land. No activity occurred on the land during Opie’s two years in office, he says because the owners had appealed the town’s decision to seize the land by eminent domain.

Overall, the Opie message on Tabor is similar to statements Cheryl Morris has made. Some democrats believe they were taken from the same play book. In an interview, DaRos said that in the last two weeks Opie has “flipflopped on Tabor.”

“Something peculiar is going on. It is conceivable they made a deal with the Tabor developer,” DaRos said. “And remember the developer had no building application and no recorded option on property that was zoned industrial. I got to wonder if there isn’t a deal out there.” At the Tabor trial, evidence was presented that the developer had an option from the owners to build on the Tabor land. Why it wasn’t recorded on town records is not clear.

DaRos said Opie’s printed campaign literature “is bad enough.” He cited another Opie mailing that said DaRos botched a first property revaluation back in 2001 that cost the taxpayers $388,000. “I got back $445,000 when I sued the reval company. We took them to federal court,” DaRos said.

This Opie ad also asserts that Unk “pushed the Fire Chief out of office. It only cost the taxpayers a $292,056 buyout PLUS a pension.” DaRos chuckled. “He personally thanked me for taking care of the fire chief because he didn’t have the balls to do it himself. He wouldn’t have known how to handle it, he told me.”

“When I go down the road, it is straight and narrow,” DaRos said. “From Cheryl I expected this. But Opie? “Is he considering the town?”

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Comments

Posted by: Pete Lombard | October 31, 2007 1:36 PM

Well I was just waiting for Mrs. Morris to spew her venom. How can she still live in this town? State? Mrs. Morris, the first thing you should after the Election do is move out of the State. They might like your style in Cuba. How dare you take credit for the Q property. The town paid twice what is was worth. You tried to open up the development. Was there anyone at the Middle school Town meeting in favor of it??...um yes. you!

Posted by: Moshe Gai | October 31, 2007 4:30 PM

How low can you go Mr. Opie?

When I saw the two ads on "You Tube", I was stunned, this for sure I thought is the lowest point in our town history. But then came in the mail the 5x7 postcard depicting UNK and Cheryl as wooden clowns. Opie shows no respect to his opponents, he is making a mockery of a serious issue, The Tabor Property and he shows no respect to the very office of First Selectman.

When it became clear that Second Selectman Dick Sullivan was taping meetings of the RTM, I sent him a written note with a question "How low can you go, Dick?" and he proudly pointed to the floor.

So now I ask you Mr. Opie how low can you go? And how low do you plan to pull down this town?

Quite frankly if Dick Sullivan went as low as the floor, Mr. Opie now reside in the basement. The campaign Mr. Opie run has lost its integrity over the last few days. Mr. Opie brought this town to a place which is even lower than where Cheryl Morris left it.

Thus Spake Moshe Gai

Posted by: Regs | October 31, 2007 4:38 PM

Marcia wrote:"At the Tabor trial, evidence was presented that the developer had an option from the owners to build on the Tabor land. Why it wasn't recorded on town records is not clear."

Not every real estate transaction in the option stage is recorded on the land records. But, if you were to look at the Land Use applications, you would likely have found that New England Estates was listed on the Inland Wetlands and/or Zoning Applications as the contract purchaser.....or had a letter from the owners authorizing them to make applications on the owner's property.

Do you actually think that every real estate contract in Branford gets recorded on the land records? You make it seem like something sinister was happening when it is the normal course of business NOT to record such contracts.

Posted by: dman | October 31, 2007 6:13 PM

It must have slipped Mr. Daros's mind that there was a VALID wetlands approval that runs with the property. Every judge, even DeMayo, acknowledged New England Estates had the necessary standing to go forth with their lawsuits. Daros best serves everyone in town as the Former first selectmen. If anyone should leave town its Penny Bellamy. I'd like to see that Law Degree.

Posted by: Pam Knapp | October 31, 2007 7:54 PM

Branford voters, please ask yourselves this question: "Which candidate campaigned with class, integrity, and a clear plan for Branford's future? And which candidate refused to resort to low standards by making childish barbs and passing on such skewed information about opponents?" The answer is Unk DaRos, Branford's only hope for returning honesty and selfless service to the people of our town. Please make the right choice November 6 and vote for Unk Daros and Fran Walsh, the only team that can bring to fruition the hopes we all have for our town.

Posted by: scjerry | November 1, 2007 9:48 AM

I agree wholeheartedly with Pam, both on her advocacy of the DaRos/Walsh ticket, and her reference to libelous comments made by some. Several contributors to these comment "blogs" are clearly developers and have consistently skewed events by attempting to distort the facts. Their contributions to these comment streams are a continuation of their public relations efforts designed to muddy the public opinion waters. Their ultimate goal is to line their pockets at taxpayer's expense.

Developers are afraid of the DaRos candidacy, because they know that his administration will manage the appeal process properly, and they will have lost the influence they enjoyed with the current administration.

As to DMAN's claim that a valid IWC approval justifies NEE's legal standing, it is pure nonsense. The purview of the IWC is to protect watercourses and non-tidal wetlands from the potentially adverse effects if the proposed project, and is not a comprehensive environmental review of the location of contamination sites or existing or future contamination plumes from the landfill. IWC's decision is part of a two-phase project-by-project review by both land-use commissions and is project specific. The PZC rejected all NEE applications; hence the IWC approval is moot.


Posted by: REGS | November 1, 2007 1:13 PM

SCJERRY- Let me put this in an unambiguous way- You are wrong!
An IWC approval is good for 5 years. A developer/applicant can go forward to P&Z with that approval in their pocket. If they are denied in P&Z they can immediately re-apply if there is a substantial change to their application, or they can re-apply with the same application after six months. There may be times when they will have to go back to IWC for a modification of their approval. I believe there is a litany of history that a contract gives the contract holder very tangible rights. I know of a number of examples first hand where a contract holder defended an appeal of an approval on land they did not hold title on. They won, they appelant lost for lack of standing. The applicant THEN took title to the property.

Posted by: tom grantland | November 1, 2007 4:12 PM

See I used my real name . And I used to be a town employee. Don't worry folks it'll all be over by next Tuesday .Then what we will talk about? Hey !and don't forget only one more year till the presidential election,can you stand it?One more thing I worked for the Branford Pd for 33 years with 30 of it in a patrol car.This ain't Mayberry people!

Posted by: scjerry | November 1, 2007 4:33 PM

REGS
A five year IWC approval does not, by itself, give NEE, as only a holder of an option to build, legal standing or tangible legal rights.

Point me to case law.

Posted by: Gordon | November 1, 2007 9:20 PM

SCJERRY/REGS
I have one for you. Hathaway et al vs. Town of Orange IWC and Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Congregation had option to purchase and IW approval. Pellegrino Law Firm represented the Congregation. They were upheld and their standing was not an issue. Maybe REGS or someone else have others....

Posted by: dman | November 1, 2007 11:07 PM

Jerry, Jerry. Let me clarify this for you. Contrary to UNK's mis-statement. There was a valid wetlands permit in place. Legal standing comes from the Contract. Again, no judge denied there was valid legal standing. Daros is laughable. Read his trail testimony. He is as incompetent as you can get. I'm sure the developers are shaking in their boots because" He knew the property was clean and He took it anyway" You must be kidding me Jerry!!LOL

Posted by: branfordcitizen | November 2, 2007 2:33 PM

DaRos chuckled. "...because he didn't have the balls to do it himself." Branford Eagle 10/31/07

What eloquence! When a candidate seeks to lead and represent our town uses such language we can all be proud. Now that, my fellow D,R and U, is worth a chuckle.

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