Walsh Tells Musto To Grow A Spine On City Council Reform Bill, ‘Will You Roll Over And Play Dead Or Find Courage?’

Former City Councilman Bob “Troll” Walsh writes he will actively campaign against State Senator Anthony Musto if Musto does not support the state legislative bill that would bar city employees from serving on the City Council. Many of Musto’s Bridgeport constituents, such as Walsh, are urging Musto to find some backbone instead of caving in to the city’s political interests that support the conflicts of interest they want to remove. Bridgeport’s City Charter prohibits city employees from serving on the council, but a loophole in state law allows it. Musto has not responded to several inquiries from OIB asking him to state his position. Walsh’s letter to Musto:

I am writing concerning HB 5724 “Act Prohibiting Municipal Employees from Serving on Certain Municipal Legislative Bodies.”

I will forward under separate cover copies of a recent Letter To The Editor that I submitted to the CT Post as well as a copy of the written testimony that I submitted to the committee.

Needless to say this legislation is near and dear to me. And I am totally baffled by your apparent ambivalence towards this issue.

If you take the time to read the attached you will learn that I was both a member of the City Council and a city employee during the Ganim administration. Shortly after making an extremely critical speech about Mayor Ganim I found myself without a job. This is what can happen to employees who speak out on the Council floor. And, in spite of what you may hear up in Hartford from organized labor, even though I was a member of a union, that organization failed to afford me the protections that I had expected.

Furthermore, as the investigation into the Ganim corrupt practices evolved, I was contacted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation seeking my assistance in their investigation as a fact witness. As such I assisted in explaining and reviewing the practices and procedures in of the city and the City Council. At the time they had specifically noted that I was approached by them due to public statements I had made about the actions by the Ganim administration.

I say these things in order to provide you with proof that:

1) Retribution against city employees who do not play follow the leader is real and it happens for sure in the city of Bridgeport.

2) Any actions that tend to silence elected officials can have serious negative impacts not only in fulfilling their duties in representing their constituency but also when it comes to investigating and prosecuting corruption.

3) Union representation can be corrupted by a corrupt administration.

4) In a state such as Connecticut where we have had Governors and Mayors of our largest cities resigning or being found guilty of corrupt practices any action that encourages corrupt practices hurts our cities’ and state’s image and fosters the culture of corruption.

And yet in spite of all of the publicity that this bill has generated, I have yet to hear or read a definitive statement from you as to where you stand on this legislation and why you have not already signed on as an ardent supporter.

As a matter of fact, I heard second hand that you, at one public meeting, dismissed the bill as a problem unique to Bridgeport and that the state cannot be bothered with fixing Bridgeport’s problems. Furthermore you had suggested that Bridgeport needs to fix their own problems.

I would hope by now that you have properly educated yourself to know that Bridgeport has cleaned its own house and has language in its charter barring city employees from serving on the council. But it is a state law that prohibits the city from enforcing its own charter. Hence the legislation proposed by Representative Hennessy and co-sponsored by Representative Grogins.

I am asking that you publicly endorse this legislation and sign on to the legislation. If not I am begging you to publicly explain why you refuse to do so.

I am not a one-issue voter. I look at a candidate’s complete body of work before deciding to endorse and/or vote for that individual. But obviously I place a far greater emphasis on their stance on issues near and dear to me. And this piece of legislation meets that criteria.

I cannot say today that I will not support you a year from now when you are up for re-election. But you will have had to shock me with your accomplishments in the meantime to offset this major failure of yours.

More likely than not, your unwillingness to fight for this legislation on behalf of your Bridgeport constituency will cause me to actively campaign against you when the time comes.

The choice is yours. Time is running out. Will you roll over and play dead like many members of the city’s delegation or will you find the courage to step forward and lead?

Please feel free to contact me at this e-mail address if you wish to discuss this further.