Okay boys and girls, what’s on the grill tonight? Ethan Book’s rack of ribs. Following a state investigation of Chris Rosario’s time card as a Shelton city employee prompted by Republican Book, the state representative has been cleared.
Book, the one-man limo executive who enjoys running over establishment pols and claims he recently had his tires slashed as a result, has been like a chihuahua nipping at the heels of Rosario who has barbecued him at the polls in city elections in the overwhelming Democratic district.
Book alleged Rosario had falsified his time card in 2018 when he attended the ribbon cutting for the new Harding High School.
Book has qualified for the September 10 Republican mayoral primary challenging party-endorsed John Rodriguez and petitioning candidate Dishon Francis.
Rosario summed up the whole thing with this classic OIB rejoinder: “This gentleman (Book) still tries to assassinate my character and put a stain on my name. It’s not my fault he gets smoked like a rack of ribs at a barbecue every election.”
Pass the sauce, please.
I think this has been said before about 2019 Bridgeport Republicans. WTF CARES.
Cooked goose, anyone?
I guess Chris threw the Book at Ethan. Nothing wrong with a little good ribbing!
GR, not hardly! In my initial complaint I alleged that Rosario had falsified his time-card. The recent report of the State’s Attorney affirms that. If that does not represent a legal issue (for stated reasons which do not correspond with case laws), then it is clearly an ethical and political issue!
Ethan Book is a weak suck. The RTC is hampered by him and a few others that don’t agree with the decisions of the committee’s leadership. Didn’t get the party endorsement, Ethan? Most everyone else would have shown a bit of personal grace. Not you, oh no-no-no. Couldn’t wash the aftertaste of them nasty ol’ sour grapes from your palette. Had to cast aspersions. Tisk-tisk.
“It’s not my fault he gets smoked like a rack of ribs at a barbecue every election.” HAHAHAHAH that made me laugh!!!
The article Post article is misleading. In my criminal complaint against Rosario made in May, I gave facts to suggest that he falsified his time card for his part-time position with the City of Shelton Police Department, that for claiming time while he attended a ribbon-cutting last August for the new Harding High School. When questioned about that, after an initial reaction of being nervous and lawyering up, Rosario said that he had asked for and obtained permission from Police Chief Shawn Sequeira to go to the ribbon-cutting. Problems with that include that (a) for his part-time position, Rosario has never had a regular schedule so it’s dubious that such permission was necessary, (b) it’s not clear that the permission included that Rosario could take the leave on the time-clock, it is clear from Shelton Payments Office that Sequeira would not have the authority to give such permission allowing Rosario to do so on the clock and (c) I don’t believe that conversation ever took place, I’ve observed Rosario to make false statements on various occasions and there is some reason to believe that there is a culture of lying and cover-ups at the City of Shelton.
In any event, the focal point of the State’s Attorney’s conclusion was not whether the time card was falsified but whether there was criminal intent. In my rebuttal to the State’s Attorney, I pointed out with case references that an issue of criminal intent is a matter for the ultimate trier-of-fact and not for the prosecuting authority.
A point of interest also is a potential conflict of interest for the State Police which made the initial recommendation to close the investigation. I believe the State Police, part of the Department of Public Safety, is part of the Executive Branch of Government. Rep. Rosario is on the legislative Budget and Appropriations Committee. Therefore, he has some role, if he attends the Committee meetings, in the State Police budget. I wonder if Detective John Kimball had some conflict of interest in this. For this concern, I early asked that this matter be referred to an independent prosecutor.
Also, regarding elections, it is clear that Rosario has abused his legislative position to do favors to unions from which he then gets political support at election time.
Finally for now, I point out that the Post Reporter never contacted me for comment.
Information that I have yields a question of whether the City of Shelton gave me all relevant information regarding Rosario’s time sheets. For that reason, I’ve also requested the W-2 tax form that the City gave him in 2018. However, there has been an extended unexplained delay in the City giving me that.
You have too much time on your hands, Ethan.
Derek, not at all! I budget my time to deal with campaigning and development of public issues!
Rosario has been betting all his chips on a casino. Maybe Rosario will get roasted when that dies. Who knows,maybe Rosario can go back to being the anti-blight “czar” in Bridgeport.
Also, last year during the campaign when I was challenging Rosario’s re-election bid for the 128th, he was refusing to debate me. I had obtained information that he missed 25% of his legislative committee meetings in 2018,, a very high percentage. About 8:30 one morning, I sent him a text message asking him to explain those absences. He responded initially referring to family illnesses. However, his Shelton PD time cards reflected that for four out of his six absences, he was clocked in at the Shelton PD. Some might say that he was derelict of his official duties. Considering also that his compensation as a State Rep. is in part for attending official functions, it could also be said that he has been double-dipping.
And then there’s the issue of illegal gifts made to Rosario by MGM Resorts. Also, I’m August of last year, Rosario and his wife went to an event hosted by MGM Resorts at their Springfield, MA casino. MGM is a registered lobbyist. According to state ethics law, a legislator can receive up to $50 in gifts. For anything in excess of that, the lobbyist is required to send a bill within ten days of the event and the legislator is required to pay it within thirty days of the event. On September 10, 2018, I sent to Rosario a Freedom of Infomation request asking for receipts for benefits received at that event. No answer. In early October, I filed a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission. Some time thereafter, just prior to a March hearing, I received information that the unlawful gifts were reimbursed by Rosario after the thirty-day deadline and after I filed the Complaint with the FIOC.
At the Commission Hearing in March, a representative of Rosario who testified as to what Rosario has explained to him, said that Rosario had not timely responded to my September 18th request because of the large quantity of correspondences that he had been receiving from me, stated to be five or six correspondences per month. However, my records reflect that my letter of September 18Th was the first correspondence that I had sent to him the entire year and the second was sent three weeks later.
Further, there is a yet unanswered issue of whether Rosario has sought mileage allowance for times that he travels to and from Hartford while car-pooling with another legislator who drives. Thus, he may be paid about $0.54 per mile without any personal expense with the compensation then calculated toward his pension. Fair? Hardly!
Rosario likes to say that I keep attempting character assassination against him. I don’t attempt character assassination against him. They are his own actions which are doing that. He also says that if I don’t stop doing whatever I’m doing, he will take other action. Well, Mr. Rosario, for the benefit of you, me and the Bridgeport residents, make my day !!
Yet another important point. I believe it was a State’s Attorney who issued the decision regarding possible police misconduct on the Jason Negron incident. That State’s Attorney concluded that there was a reasonable fear that the two occupants of the vehicle driven by Mr. Negron might use the vehicle as a deadly weapon, a vehicle which was then stopped, where the doors were opened and the two occupants were unarmed and in the process of exiting the vehicle and two police officers were standing at the sides of the stopped vehicle. Reasonable fear that the vehicle might be used against the officers as a deadly weapon? Right! Also a State’s Attorney who just concluded that there was not a threshold of evidence to conclude that Rosario had the intent to falsify his Shelton PD time card. First, to conclude that there wasn’t sufficient evidence on intent is neither credible nor the role of the prosecutor. Second, if it’s true, then we have a very dumb state representative! Either way, we of the public are screwed again !!
Ethan, what makes someone a very dumb state representative or a very smart state representative?
Ethan,
You sound like a crank, a crazy old man that wears a colander lined with aluminum foil on your head to prevent the Martians from controlling your mind.
Ron, qualifications, experience, conduct and track record!
Ethan, you’re so full of shit your hat don’t sit on your head right.
Derek, I go by facts! Are you Democrat?
Unaffiliated, Ethan. You are a livery driver. How does that provide the experience and track record to hold public office? Oh right, your hero Donald Trump has no political experience and look how well he’s fucking up democracy. Don’t emulate him, Ethan. One is too much.
By the way, Ethan, how will blathering and spewing about Chris Rosario advance your political agenda?
Derek, my education and career is in banking. That was disrupted in 1985 when as a specialized bank officer I observed and disclosed issues of activities of the Conn. Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA). Thus, by circumstances I stumbled upon a political sacred cow and became a whistleblower. The livery business is my alternative livelihood. I have been elected to public office; as member of the Fairfield Republican Town Committee before moving to Bridgeport in 2005 and currently as Justice of the Peace. My comments about Rosario’s track record corrects the unfounded inferences made by him.
Derek, I’m giving facts and context to respond to Rosario’s blathering and spewing about me. Once again, I didn’t lose anything in presenting my May complaint. I gave facts which comprised probable cause that Rosario falsified his time card. After three months of what was described to me as a major multi-agency investigation, the State’s Attorney, despite other errors, concluded that he did in fact falsify his time card. It can also be inferred by the report that he should have known better!
Ethan, NONE of those items you listed are required by any candidate, a person can vote for any reason the want for a candidate. Those requirements are what you are saying.
Ron, I wasn’t taking about requirements for a candidate. I was making a logical inference from the State’s Attorney’s conclusion that there wasn’t sufficient evidence of Rosario’s intent to commit larceny. Such a conclusion reflects negatively either on the State’s Attorney’s conclusion or on Rosario’s intelligence or both!
There’s another important point for this discussion. Rosario likes to remind people that he prevailed against me in three election bids. He overlooks that, despite the numbers, I was very close to the tipping point. Also, we must look at his record. In 2015 his first year as a legislator, he voted in favor of the second largest tax increase in state history, that with a budget which had much pork to benefit the Democrat party machine, also with an effect which has resulted in many businesses closing or leaving the state and many people leaving the state. Presently, for every five people who leave the state there are only four entering, also with the five leaving at greater income ranges than those entering. Over time, this is economic erosion and decay. But apparently, the lessons of 2015 were not sufficiently learned by Rosario as in 2019 he again voted for the second highest tax increase in state history (via expansion of taxes), thereby supplanting the 2015 tax increase. Thus, Rosario has abused his legislative position to pander for political support and he has failed to act independently of the Democrat caucus. If he keeps this up, it’s only a matter of time!
Ethan, let’s say that everything you said is true, now what? There is no way in hell that could get elected to any elected position as a Republican, no way. People like the devil they know instead of the devil they don’t know.
Ron, there’s always a tipping point! Generally across the U.S. voters in large urban areas have been voting Democrat for over fifty years. What has it gotten beyond programs that feel and sound good in the short term but don’t contribute to real development, hence a continuation of urban decay? You may call the loyal opposition the devil you don’t know but there comes a point that you lose nothing in trying that option. This year is the time for many urban voters to think outside the box !!
Ethan, even you don’t believe that, you are not that messenger.