Michael P. Lawlor, the state's undersecretary for Criminal Justice and Planning, said Wednesday evening that the state may examine the convictions of defendants who were arrested by the four local police officers now facing federal charges stemming from a racial-profiling investigation.
"These four officers are very tainted -- in essence they were lying in police reports," said Lawlor, a former prosecutor and state legislator from East Haven. "Assuming that's all substantiated, [the state] will consider opening those cases back up."
Lawlor noted that that state does have authority to act in such situations, and is evaluating all possibilities.
"We're reviewing our options with the hope of announcing something as soon as possible," he said.
A clergy group, representing thousands of parishioners in New Haven and Fairfield counties, is asking that all convictions since 2008 based on arrests by four indicted police officers in East Haven be reviewed and thrown out if tied to misconduct and racial profiling.
The group specifically asked Wednesday that someone other than state's Attorney Michael Dearington conduct the review, because it claims he failed in 2009 to take action on the conflict between a videotape of the arrest of the Rev. James Manship and the police report describing it.
The East Haven Board of Police Commissioners in 2010 wrote to Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane asking for documentation on the case based on statements from Police Chief Leonard Gallo that Dearington's office had determined that the "officers' reports were acceptable."
The commissioners wanted to know if the report was "accurate and truthful," given the conflicting videotape.
[...]
"Since Father Manship's arrest, everyone has known that the police report simply didn't match what was recorded on tape, yet no one has taken action that could have prevented continued misconduct by the officers in question," said Rabbi Robert Orkand of Temple Israel in Westport.
"We believe the state's attorney has an obligation to vacate all convictions resulting from the police breaking the law," Orkand said. "We believe that that particular office, the state's attorney office (Dearington's), is a rather weak one without a great deal of power and so our hope is someone other than the person sitting in that chair could investigate what has been done up until now."
East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. needs to resign his elected position as leader of the shoreline town of 28,000.
His lack of alarm about the alleged actions of his police department, in which four officers have been indicted for alleged civil rights violations, and his crass comment about the town's Latino community are enough to prove he is not worthy to lead.
[...]
The fact that the mayor would use the image of "tacos" to slur an entire ethnicity also shows a lack of understanding that Latino refers to many different origins -- such as Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico and Puerto Rico -- with varied traditions and customs.
Maturo, a former firefighter in town, was mayor from 1997 until narrowly losing re-election 10 years later. In 2011, he won the office back in a recount.
What political party he represents does not matter. Maturo should be representing no one. He must step down.
Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, and Tom Swan, head of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, rarely agree on policy matters.
But Swan this evening backed up McKinney's call for legislative Democrats to convene an informational hearing on the Department of Revenue Services' announcement Monday the agency has replaced tax refund checks with JPMorgan Chase debit cards.
"Why are banks able to profit off people's refunds?" Swan - no fan of big banking institutions -said.
According to state Treasurer Denise Nappier, the contract with the partnership of Chase and Bridgeport-based People's United Bank is worth $25,000. There are, however, no fees for using the cards at Chase and People's ATMs. Fees of $1.50 will be applied at other ATMS after three uses.
Sullivan and Nappier maintain the debit cards are more secure than checks, more convenient and will also cut the state's administrative costs by an estimated $290,000.
Swan continued, "This is the type of thing that should be discussed and shared in a public way ... Kevin Sullivan should not just be able to go off and do this without any public process."
Is poor little rich girl Linda McMahon being taken for another very expensive ride by cynical political hired guns?
After all, Republican consulting gurus like Connecticut's Pat Sullivan stand to make a lot of money (again) as long as McMahon continues her self-funded quest for the U.S. Senate.
A call to action from CCAG.
Finish the Job on Health Care! Visibility Action
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 (Opening Day of the 2012 Legislative Session)
8:30 AM to 1:30 PM
visibility action
State Capitol -- Hartford
Join CCAG and healthcare4every1 for all or part of the day! There will be coordinated activities throughout the day to make sure that health care reform work gets done in 2012. Help send a message to Governor Malloy and the General Assembly that health are reform needs to be finished.
Come to Legislative Office Building Room 2600 - 2nd floor of the Legislative Office Building to check in and get your assignment.
Call CCAG Political Director John Murphy 860-233-2181 X311 or healthcare4every1 203-639-0550 x 314.
Tell us what time you will join us on February 8th and how long you can stay.
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