Thomas MacMillan Photo
Ross cleaning trash in Wooster Square.
Andy Ross, a realtor and Wooster Square activist who ran for alder on a good-government platform, pleaded guilty in federal court to paying bribes to obtain government work.
Ross entered the plea, to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with a program receiving federal money, before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford Thursday.
He admitted to making about $349,500 in “corrupt payments” to private companies controlled by the executive director of the West Haven Housing Authority, Michael Siwek, “in exchange for government contracts and business,” according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Siwek has also pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Ross faces up to a five-year jail term at his scheduled sentencing on Jan. 29.
He told the Independent Thursday evening that he doesn’t feel he didn’t anything wrong, but he had to “cut my losses.”
“It boils down to me being uninformed and naive,” Ross said. “The executive director had hired me as a real estate consultant way back in 2008. I did a lot of good work for him. About a year into working for him, he asked me for a loan. He knew that I’m a lender. I’ve been a lender all my life. It’s in my blood. I considered him a moderate risk in that he had a very good stable job. He got big bonuses. I lent him money. I did it several times more or less on a line of credit type of business. I continued to work for him. I did very good things at the housing authority. I made them several million dollars. I saved them a couple of million dollars.
It turned out that he had a very severe gambling problem. I had absolutely no clue. I did not hang out with him on a social basis.
“When they put you in this kind of position, either you go to trial and they throw 30 different things at you and it’s very difficult for the average jury to figure out a complex case — you’re taking your chances. By signing a plea agreement you’re boiling it down to maybe one or two charges and just cutting my losses.”
Ross was a one-man anti-littering campaign in Wooster Square. He was considered one of the most successful chairs of a community management team in town, offering advice to languishing neighborhood teams. In 2013, he ran as an independent for Ward 8 alder, losing to Democrat Aaron Greenberg; he had considered a mayoral run that year, too. He started out in business as a teen and developed a successful practice.
More of the political elite stealing as much as they can.