Newsletter Volume 2 • Number 47
Stopping toxic “forever chemicals”: one more reason the public sector matters
“Government is not the solution, it’s the problem,” is a tiresome Republican trope that’s been used to quash everything from regulations protecting the public from Wall Street money manipulators, to COVID health measures. So when a government action saves the day, we Democrats think it’s important to point out that’s why we have one.
President Biden and Connecticut state leaders are taking action to turn off the spigot that’s spilling toxic, “forever chemicals” into our drinking water, including right here in Greenwich. Polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are extremely toxic at low levels, and have been linked to cancer and abnormal fetal development.
Toxic chemicals found in backcountry water
Last November, PFAS were discovered in the wells feeding Parkway School, and since then, students and staff have been drinking bottled water. In 2018, wells near King Street were found to be contaminated with PFAS, triggering alarm. They’ve also turned up in the Connecticut and Farmington rivers, and many others in our state.
Last week the Biden administration designated some PFAS as hazardous substances, allowing the EPA to expedite cleanup and have polluters pay for it. A week earlier, the EPA adopted our first PFAS drinking water standards, and made nearly $1 billion in funding available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states do testing and treatment, and help owners of private wells address contamination.
Also, State Attorney General William Tong filed a lawsuit in January against 28 companies for their role in concealing what they’ve known since the 1950s: that PFAS chemicals are “toxic, highly persistent, and likely to spread to groundwater and contaminate the environment.”
Our state assembly is also getting in on the act. A bill before them would ban PFAS from most consumer products starting in 2026, from dental floss to carpets and rugs. Now you can help. Tell our state’s house speaker and senate majority leader to bring SB292 to a vote.
Rep. Khanna delivers missing funding for Glenville corridor traffic improvement
The remaining funds to allow the long-awaited Glenville corridor project to commence have been secured by Rep. Rachel Khanna (D-149th) together with colleagues Steve Meskers (D-150th) and Hector Arzeno (D-151st). Khanna announced that the state Department of Transportation has agreed to provide $6.5 million. Design work for the project was approved in 2017, but construction had been stalled for lack of funding.
“Residents of Glenville have waited long enough for traffic and safety improvements in their neighborhood,” State Rep. Khanna said. “This is a perfect example of what a unified delegation in Hartford can bring home for our town.”
File this under “He did what, now?”
In an article recently published in the Greenwich Free Press, intrepid journalist Leslie Yager demonstrates how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) can shine light onto a murky town process. Her reporting reveals that our First Selectman, Fred Camillo, just awarded a lucrative town concession contract to the number-two bidder instead of the number one. Going with the runner-up left roughly $40,000 on the table for taxpayers to shoulder.
Is it a coincidence that the winning bidder plans to hire Camillo’s friend, Mike Bocchino, as its manager? (Bocchino served as a Republican state representative with Camillo.)
The concession is “The Griff” golf course restaurant on King Street. Three local applicants responded to the town’s request for proposals, and a committee interviewed and scored each candidate. That’s when the First Selectman ignored the committee’s rankings and picked his buddy. As Greenwich Time columnist David Rafferty noted, “…the plum prize is awarded to another local Friend of Fred.”
It’s not the first time
In 2020, one of Camillo’s first acts as First Selectman was to dismiss Greenwich’s longtime attorney John Wayne Fox and award the contract to the law firm of his Republican Hartford colleague Themis Klarides.
Similarly, Mike Mason, a contender for First Selectman who stepped out of the race in deference to Camillo, was hired in 2021 as a labor contracts consultant for the town at a salary of $12,500/month.
The First Selectman has the final call on these decisions, but what does it say about his judgment? Laura Erickson, past member of both the Board of Education and Board of Estimate and Taxation said it best in her Facebook comments, “The Town of Greenwich has a comprehensive set of policies and procedures for purchasing and they exist for a reason… It is unfathomable why the highest ranked bidder by the group selected to evaluate the responses was not chosen.”
Will we get a political pal for town administrator too?
Importantly, there’s another big hire coming to Fred Camillo’s desk, arguably the biggest. Longtime Town Administrator Ben Branyan, who is effectively Greenwich’s chief operating officer, has resigned to take a similar position at Greenwich Public Schools. As RTM member Jim Finn writes in the Greenwich Free Press, running a town with a half-billion dollar budget is not a job for a political pal. Everyone who pays taxes in town should want that too. Let the First Selectman know your thoughts.
For your calendar
| Volume 2, Number 47 • April 25, 2024 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |