New Haven Independent

Posted by: Darnell | March 7, 2008 10:59 AM

PAul,

As the CAO said in his interview with you, "the buck stops with the Mayor". He has been mayor for over 14 years, every board and commission (including BOE) is appointed by him, he approves all hires, budgets, contracts, expenditures. Yes, he works long hours and does care, but he gets paid fairly well and has great benefits, so why shoudn't he be held responsible for what happens, for high drop out rates, for low test scores, for a multi million dollar deficit?

Posted by: cedarhillresident | March 7, 2008 3:18 PM

Darnell

I agree but only to a point. We have a check and balence system....(that is broken) our Alderman have the power to change these things... they two have to take claim to some of this. They can say no! They do not! They can change laws so that the mayor can not appoint those jobs but they do not. We have a few that speak out against these things but most do not. I say John can be Mayor for another dozen years as long as the Board of Alderman are really the peoples voice.

Posted by: darnell | March 7, 2008 3:33 PM

Cedar,

I absolutely agree with you, the only difference I would have is to say that since many of them are bought off by the Mayor (jobs at BOE, etc), he does hold a greater responsibility (I would say 75 to 80%). But, yes, they too should be held resonsible.

Posted by: can't be | March 7, 2008 4:49 PM

Cedarhill,

BUt given how the Board of Alderman are constructed, that will never happen. There are just too many of them and its too easy for the Mayor to pick off a few here and there. When Jorge Perez had power, it was because he was the Mayor's go to guy. When Jorge started abusing his power, the Mayor and the liberals on the Board overthrew him. Now Carl is his guy and Jorge is left to throw stones at the Mayor from the outside. It would be great if we could get the number of alders cut in half and one of the strong independent, yet likeminded alders would step up and overthrow Carl. That way we could get stuff done, but we could also have a Board that stood up for itself once in a while. But who? Sergio? Yusuf? Rhodeen? Lemar? Yusuf doesn't seem like much of a leader, Sergio and Rhodeen would rather be Mayor and Lemar is too young and too liberal. Maybe Sandman or Paolillo could be the person.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | March 7, 2008 7:38 PM

ok Darnell and all reading I need help understanding this ethics proposal. One part will deal with pensions but... the other part address the municipals ethics that may help the citys. And may address the above concerns.

ok watch the video that is titled:

CNB with the House Democrats on their Ethics Legislation Proposals

at this site
http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/ondemand.asp?dir=CNB

Posted by: cedarhillresident | March 7, 2008 8:04 PM

ps glad to see the Compost Heap this week Paul great one! is that really a Johnny lunch box??

Posted by: darnell | March 8, 2008 12:15 PM

Cedar,

To which video do you refer?

Posted by: cedarhillresident | March 8, 2008 3:17 PM

darnell it is titled
CNB with the House Democrats on their Ethics Legislation Proposals

it is 20 min long

Posted by: Paul Bass | March 8, 2008 7:44 PM

CHR -- Yes that's a genuine DeStefano lunch box. The Advocate made them a few years ago based on a cover.