City Councilman Carlos Silva posted these comments on Facebook:
I have been asking the question if the FBI has been in contact about there own investigation well I finally got an answer!!!!! The other night at the City Council meeting it was a joke with the City Attorney (Mark Anastasi) not answering any questions and I ask if he couldn’t do it in public then we should call an executive session to hear the real answers but I guess my request went on deaf ears and maybe it would be a waste of time since they the administration would LIE anyway. Well I will keep pressing on because he the mayor and everyone down to state senator Ayala are gone due to there fraudulent ways. This City has had enough and we are not taking it anymore. So they want to come after myself and (councilman) Angel DePara well we are here and still standing and fighting for the city of Bridgeport !!!!!
Righteous, dude! How about some Council members contacting the FBI?
*** Don’t quite know what Sen. Ayala has to do with the latest city debacle. However as far as council members finally speaking out on the usual negative city government behavior, I guess it’s better late than never, no? ***
I will believe council members are “fighting for the city of Bridgeport” when they start being proactive about the issues that hurt their constituents most (i.e. highest-taxed population in the country), not just jumping ship when the walls are burning down around them. Only Baker and Lyons voted against the second consecutive tax increase. Where was this anti-establishment sentiment then? I’m not calling out Silva or DePara specifically at all. I’m just wondering when a few Council people are going to get on top of the issues instead of waiting to see which way the proverbial winds are blowing.
Carlos,
Where were you when all of this hit the fan?
BB … it was only a test … to see who is out there.
Carlos and Angel, I wish you well!
Carlos and Angel,
Looks like they set you out on the ice floe and said “So long!”
How about showing some independence and coming out with a motion to make the stipend record public? If that does not work, how about sharing your own use of that public money for the past several years? Your example might encourage, or in some campaigns, force other current members to open up their records? What do you say to a little OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENCY? Better later than never.
Another thought … how about requesting the FINAL (not draft) 12th month report for 2012 from Finance? That’s right, I’m asking for last year’s final monthly report. The revenue, expense and variance report issued in summer 2012 for the first time in two decades, was awaiting massaging by City financial officials and auditors, so the public never got to see its final state! Anyone interested? Nothing to lose, Angel, is there? Carlos, go for it. It will make interesting reading for the public in the election run-up. Time will tell.
Carlos Silva is only speaking up now because he’s up for re-election. He has been on the City Council for a almost ten years and in all that time he has done next to nothing. He’s going after Ayala for personal reasons. So Mr. Silva, you need to be careful who you call a fraud. Time to take a long look in the mirror Mr. Silva … if you can!!!
So lets start with you Mojo, while on the council you witnessed how certain people played THEIR games. Senator Ayala was one of those individuals and continues to make it HIS priority to come after me and that’s the only reason we have a primary in our district. Between Senator Ayala and the Mayor they want us out because we cannot be told how to vote or just rubberstamp whatever THEY want.
yahooy, where was I??? … I was one of the few people who ASKED the questions but was not getting the truth! Had you read some of the articles in the Connecticut Post you would have seen I have been there from the beginning.
JML, if you would like to see what I used my stipend for, you are more than welcome to FOI those documents which the Connecticut Post has done over the years.
Sunshine96,
“He’s going after Ayala for personal reasons.”
How can that be if he was the one who put someone to run against me? That doesn’t make any sense, now does it?
Now you have the Mayor, people of his administration and the Senator helping to get signatures to run against us because Angel decided to stick with me as his council partner. Senator Ayala has been coming after me for years for example, making sure I didn’t become Council President, then had a hand in my run for State Rep by helping the other side and now this. So I ask you, who is making it personal here?
As for me looking in the mirror as a fraud, I know I’m not a fraud. I have lived in the district I represent for the ten years I’ve held this seat. The Senator can’t say that, can he, Sunshine? Ever since he was Council President then State Rep and now Senator, he has misrepresented himself to his constituents and THIS IS FRAUD, is it not??? HE doesn’t live in the district.The Connecticut Post even checked on it and verified it. I’m not speaking out because I have a primary because I’ve have a primary before and I’m still speaking out for the people of Bridgeport!
Last but not least Cisco Kid, Angel and I voted against the mayor’s budget.
Should any of you wish to discuss things further, my # is 203-338-1726.
Invincible,
Thank you.
As I recall, Angel asked to line-item review the mayor’s budget in the committee and was told by Tom McCarthy to not touch the mayor’s budget, according to the CT Post article.
Carlos,
How many session of the CC remain before the primary? Or election? Isn’t it time for Angel and you as longer-term Budget and Accountability committee members to open up the books, show the sham process for what it is, allow the moths to get some exercise and indicate no one on the Council seems to have cared about running deficits, City contracts that have guaranteed Overtime deficits, and increases in taxes to residents through weak oversight by the Council. It is better to be late than to withhold what you know. And if the DTC slate for your District has identified you as neither worthy nor trusted, why not let the voters learn what you have learned while you tried to get along by going along as a Council rep? Nothing to lose, right? By the way, have a press conference and show your record of stipends for the past several years previous to a City Council meeting some night soon. Announce it ahead of time. If you wish to know how to lay it out, call me and I shall assist you. I think if you do this, others may follow, or lose respect at the polls. Then maybe the entire group will move this secret expenditure back into something available on the web site. What’s the problem? Is any Council person spending those funds on inappropriate expenses? An FOI article by the CT Post every few years does not provide or equal the same understanding public review of a Council person’s expenses available online would, does it? Time will tell.
*** Too much personal X-family vendetta type of talk on the blog concerning Sen. Ayala, let’s stick to city business! Having political candidate opponents running against you and Angel is a healthy thing in the long run ’cause it makes you get back in touch with your district constituents and actually listen to what’s on their minds rather than assuming. Working the streets, knocking on doors, sending political literature on what both have or have not accomplished while on the council. Pulling out the active voters in a town that’s losing its voting spirit year after year. No one likes to hear they’re not doing their respective job as a city councilman regardless of an election year or not. As you might know, things look very different when you’re on the outside looking in to city government business as opposed to when you’re on the inside and have inside info on the issues at hand. That’s where transparency comes in, to educate the citizens so they understand. The council as a whole has gone away from educating the public in the seats for the sake of getting out early or just continuing to accept less and less info from the city administration, yet voting in favor (rubber stamping) of most city admin issues! Examples: 1. (entire package) charter revision education “yes” vote. 2. Mayoral political power to hire or fire and pay whatever without council vote. 3. Police and Fire chiefs’ (retirement) contracts. 4. Five years of no procurement info due to budget cuts (Gravel Gate). 5. No quarterly dept budget updates, etc. The city council has gotten much too comfortable and lazy in transparency, demanding written documentation from the city admin, not attending committee meetings or doing the little things in their districts that make a difference (stop signs, handicapped signs, blighted lots, community patrolling). This city needs drastic political change and leadership it’s been lacking and getting worse year after year. The present council needs to stand together and send a message of unity and business as usual will not be accepted. It’s time for the city council to start dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s. Time to demand respect and get back to basics by having a two-way street dialog with the Finch admin; not one-way! And those who wish to continue being the Mayor’s puppets need to be singled out in public! *** START THE FIRE! ***
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Great job with your “words,” Mojo. You should work for national security.