Remember the days when you sat in your classroom and the one kid that had to draw attention to himself always did? Remember that everyone would push him to do the most funniest and what we thought was the craziest things to make us all laugh? Remember how you look back on that now. Some of us laugh, some of us are indifferent but there are some of us who have grown up and realize that that kid was crying out for attention because back then he knew his own limitations and that he'd have to continue that behavior through life because he lacks the intelligence to stand on his own two feet and be a man. Sound familiar? Yeah I'm talking about Maturo once again. Honestly, it's growing tiring speaking about him .Most of us just want to ignore him, I personally know too much about him that I believe he belongs in Federal custody along with the rest of his little gang of want to be mafia leaders.
Why again does Maturo become the lead story on the East Haven Vine? Because he wants to get paid once again. Back when I served on the Town Council and the increase in salary for Mayor came before us I wanted to raise the Mayor's salary to over $100K after the next election. Some of my fellow council members looked at me like I had two heads and my logic was, look at what we're getting for $65K, Joe Maturo. The job appealed to a guy like Maturo because he was retired. So was Hank Luzzi and the list of former Mayor's previously. All we were doing as a Town was hiring people that used our Town as a second career, My thinking was pay the position as a mid range small business CEO, or professional and we could attract some young, forward thinking people to run for office and finally get this Town on the right track. That type of thinking drew fierce opposition because what I was proposing was cutting off the gravy train. Several people who had similar thought processes as Maturo knew that someone like that could stop the deals made with Zoning, Zoning Board of Appeals, Zoning Applications or even economic development. It could definitely interfere with the hire my buddy system that we all know exists here in the Town. Simply put these ideas are a threat to Maturo because he lacks the intellect to move this Town forward in real dollars and seriousness.
Yes I don't like Maturo, I haven't for many years because early on I saw what he was doing. He took his class clown mentality and shoved it right into the faces of many us who tried to course correct his behavior. There are so many things the public doesn't know or just simply wouldn't believe because they wouldn't expect their Mayor to act the way he does. When I served on the Town Council the stories we heard would really make you mad because your tax dollars, your trust in public office would surely be tested under Maturo. So the real question does the position of Mayor deserve a raise? I would say yes it does but not $85K if we really want something better we need to expand the pool to draw some real professional people who know how to run an operation with a 90 million dollar budget. We need a visionary, a positive vibrant person that can shake the ills of this Town and get us moving forward. That person is NOT Maturo and it's quite evident. He thinks that he's moving this Town forward because all he has around him are YES men. Remember the class clown only continues when the audience approves.
I can't divulge facts on this hunch but I think I can definitely point the thoughts in the right direction on what the $10K raise is all about. Simply put Maturo was collecting $75K and his disability pay of $40K and now that the State has said he can't collect both he's going to try to recoup some of that loss by going after the $85K. He'll tell us all that he's working hard, balancing the budget and yeah, yeah yeah. We've all heard that before but when you think about all of the Departments being told a ZERO increase shouldn't the Mayor as the CEO follow suit and not increase his own salary over 13.34%. Have you received a 13% increase in your pay? What has Maturo done to deserve a raise of 13.34%? I can think of many reasons NOT to even entertain that increase just on the publicity he has brought to all of us. If he was the CEO of a private company he would have been fired. We also can't forget the fact that he is going to raise taxes as is typical in an off year election. Our Mill Rate is going up 1.89. That means your property taxes and car taxes will rise in July 2014. Raising taxes while our property values continue to fall or lag is a slap in the face to all of us and Maturo and his antics have contributed to our property values declining.
In closing stop enabling Joe Maturo aka Buddy. This buddy is not your buddy. He's reaching into your pockets to continue his-self entitled life style of the Class Clown. Maturo needs to grow up and take accountability for his own actions, successes and failures. He needs to understand when the State says no that you can't come back to the 35,000 residents of the Town and say it's not fair, PAY ME. imagine you walking into your bosses office and saying that. While Maturo holds the title of Mayor you hold the Title of Tax-Payer you are the boss not Maturo. The only way we all we get out from under the boulder Maturo and company have placed us under is to stand unified and together we move that boulder. Maturo of course sees that and any action contrary to him as a threat. It only takes one in the classroom not to laugh to take away the power of the class clown. I stopped laughing a long time ago. What say you?