Mayor Richetelli will have served ten years as our Mayor when his term expires this year and while I may have often disagreed with many of his decisions, especially his fondness for spending and taxing, I have never doubted his commitment to public service and to our City, and for that he our thanks and respect. His decision to step down provides us an opportunity to usher in a new era is local leadership, informed by the improvements the private sector has seen in management practices and technology. Change can be a very healthy thing in local politics, helps to sweep away some of the cobwebs and see our problems and challenges with new eyes.

While Republicans fight tirelessly for more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and oil companies and look to destroy unions, the middle class continues to fade. Two recessions, a couple of market crashes, and stubbornly high unemployment are all wreaking havoc on America's middle class.

Dear Tom, Thanks for staying current and reading our website on a regular basis. Welcome. Listen, I'm not sure how my previous posting posted as “anonymous” but to clear up any confusion that may have caused, I authored the comments regarding your apparent burning-bush conversion on the issue of spending and taxing. I have to admit, the silliness of your comments made me a bit angry.

Republican Town Chair Tom Jagodzinski, upon receiving his marching orders from the real party boss Jack Fowler, today issued a press release bemoaning a state budget proposal making its way through Hartford aimed at addressing the staggering deficit left by Jody Rell. Tom writes, “across the country, states are cutting spending and holding the line on taxes.”

Well Tom, your own Republican Mayor Richetelli isn’t holding the line on taxes or spending. This year he proposed a 7.5% increase in spending; each year he has been Mayor he has proposed spending increases.

Excuse me but can you spell, F R A U D? Tom should be ashamed of himself. If he was honestly concerned with taxes and spending, which he is not, he would have run Jimmy Richetelli out of town 10 years ago! Richetelli has proposed increased city spending every single year he has been in office, and we’re not talking about small increases, we’re talking silverback gorilla sized increases of seven and eight percent a year. Has Tom slept through the last decade? Has he no sense of shame that he allows himself to be such a hypocrite?

Milford Republicans have raised taxes every year they have had control of the budget. So then, how can Tom keep a straight face while expressing concern about tax increases at the state level when he and his Party spend like drunken sailors in Milford?

On March 25, 1911 the 8th and 9th floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire. Thirty-one (31) died directly from the fire. One-hundred and fifteen (115) garment workers died from jumping to their deaths from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors.

Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women; the youngest were two fourteen-year-old girls. It is the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history.

Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. This event is said to be the catalyst for FDR’s New Deal and led to the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better work conditions for sweatshop workers.

"[Judith] Doneiko . . . has been a fixture during budget seasons, sitting at the end of the table with her calculator [next to the Mayor]."

Finance Director Leaves April 1
March 11, 2011 at 7:39 am by Frank Juliano

Judy Doneiko, who has been Milford’s finance director since 1997, will leave on April 1 “for personal reasons but mostly because it’s time,” Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. confirmed.

Move along people. Nothing to see here.

Eleven charts that explain everything that's wrong with America.
11 CHARTS