Democratic Town Chairman once again is wrong and short sighted on the Mauro Case

Well I certainly expected the wrath of some of Ralph Mauro’s defenders and I definitely expected that Democratic Town Chairman Gene Ruocco to speak his mind, I didn’t expect to read that I pushed to have Assistant Deputy Director Ralph Mauro terminated as  Mr. Ruocco wrote in his PATCH opinion piece. He has  laid out a version of the Ralph Mauro story that is factually incorrect and boarders more lies and deceit.

First and foremost, I have never called for the termination of Ralph Mauro. In several of my articles from both the East Haven PATCH and the East Haven Vine I called for equal treatment and to place Mr. Ralph Mauro on paid administrative leave just as the Capone Administration placed Chief Len Gallo on paid administrative leave. Chief Len Gallo was placed on administrative leave with zero due process yet the Capone Administration refused to entertain the idea that Mr. Mauro should be treated the same.

It is funny because  Mr. Ruocco cites in his opinion piece on 7/22/2011 that both Lou Crisci and I never afforded Mr. Mauro his due process and we called for Ralph Mauro’s termination upon his arrest. That is completely not true. I can only speak for myself but I certainly understand the definition of due process  and it is very clear that the Capone Administration only calls for due process when it’s beneficial to one of their own.

Is this politics? Absolutely! I will tell you and these readers that what happened to Mr. Mauro was a political opportunity to take. I took my swings, dealt a few blows and it’s unfortunate that the courts didn’t see what I saw.  Being a staunch 2^nd amendment supporter and a person that truly believes in the Constitution and Bill of Rights I was disappointed to learn that the Branford Police did not act accordingly and may have violated Mr. Mauro’s rights especially with the protection of search and seizure. However, it does not negate the fact that the weapon Mr. Mauro had was a stolen weapon and he was in possession of a machine gun, which is a banned weapon. Although the court said nothing about the stolen weapon and didn’t find cause to act. The fact remains that this weapon was stolen and questions still linger of how did Mr. Mauro come to possess it? We will never know though.

I would argue that I wasn’t right or wrong. I was calling for equal treatment of two Town Employees. One who was charged with a felony crime, Mr. Mauro who was not punished and the other who has still to this day not been charged with anything and is still out on administrative leave, Chief Len Gallo. It seems that the Mayor, Mr. Ruocco and the Board of Police Commissioners all want to play judge, jury and executioner as was evident when the Board of Police Commissioners made the motion to hand Chief Len Gallo’s case over to the Mayor for disciplinary action up to and including termination last month. If you recall, a State Court said that the Mayor cannot be the Judge, Jury and Executioner.  So really Mr. Ruocco are you for real? Do you see what your very own people are doing around you and do you think the residents of East Haven don’t see it either?

Lastly, I must take exception to Mr. Ruocco's claims that Mr. Mauro is the hardest working town employee. Mr. Mauro is compensated very well earning two salaries one for the Deputy Director and the other for Public Works. In addition, Mr. Ruocco cites his vital experience. Is that how Mr. Mauro is able to land town jobs for family and friends and parcels of properties around town at a song? Mr. Ruocco, your words need credibility and Mr. Mauro's employee status is very questionable when it comes to ethics.

November can’t come fast enough so we can rid ourselves of these people who impose their own rules and their version of justice. Lastly, I'll take a quote from Marcia Clark, the infamous trial lawyer in the OJ case, "Just because a court finds you innocent doesn't necessarily mean that you really are innocent."