Danbury Mayor Defends Town Clerk: She’s One of the Most Trustworthy People

On Wednesday (10/18/23) we spoke to Roberto Alves, the Democratic candidate for Mayor of Danbury and he spoke on the lawsuit he brought against Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito and other city Republicans.

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From that interview I wrote an article titled: "Roberto Alves Says Danbury Republican Leadership Has Been Up to Funny Business." 

On Thursday (10/19/23) we spoke to Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito to get his take on some of what was said and you can read or listen to his answers below.

Lou: Yesterday (10/18/23) we spoke with your opponent Roberto Alves and there are a few things he said I'd like to ask you about. He said that you and the Republican leaders have been up to funny business and I'm paraphrasing well the funny business is a quote. He said you guys are spore losers and without getting into the many, many details, that there was something nefarious that went on with the Independent ballot line. Can you speak on that? 

Mayor: "It's ironic that he would say that you know the procedure has been going on for years and years and years in the City of Danbury and the same procedure happened this year. I really want to take a second to commend Jan Giegler, our Town Clerk, she's an outstanding person and one of the most trustworthy people out there. She's been doing that job for over eight years and then she was a State Representative for fourteen years before that. I just want to clear that up because they had her on the front page of the paper yesterday looking like a bad person that did something wrong when the reality is there is no proof of that. Jan did everything by the book. They are always calling to be transparent but the reality is Jan goes by the book. We're confident, you know this one judge made a particular ruling so we're moving to an appeal and we're going to the Supreme Court, Connecticut Supreme Court and we'll see what they have to say about it. You know I heard my opponent yesterday talking about it and he was rambling on, I hate to say it but I fell asleep midway through. He's trying to explain a situation where it was blatantly a frivolous lawsuit for the City of Danbury and to the taxpayers of Danbury. I want to make another thing clear Lou, I was nominated by the Independent Party. You know, he makes a statement that he was endorsed by the Independent Party and that was a group of people that showed up after the meeting and decided to make their own rules and the judge pushed that right out. This is one of those things, I think he's trying to divert what is really happening here in the city and I know you guys have always been on top of the issues that we face here in the city and my goal is to address what is happening in the city, not frivolous lawsuits that are brought forward to try and get some negative press on me and some positive press on him. So we're going to move forward with the appeal, we're going to the Connecticut Supreme Court, we'll see what they say and we'll accept their ruling from that point forward but I'd rather talk about what is happening here in the City of Danbury. You know it's almost embarrassing that a guy wants to be Mayor of the city and then he sues the city itself, it does not make sense to me. I know I'm starting to ramble on but the reality is we're going to stay focused on running the city and making positive things happen for the community. I commend Jan Giegler our Town Clerk for all her efforts and what she's done for the city in the past and what she'll do for the city in the future." 

Dave: Well Dean to our outside eye, the advantage here seems to be your name would appear twice on the ballot, is there an inherent advantage to that. That is what it seems like to us because obviously you're going to be on the Republican ballot and Roberto is going to be on the Democratic ballot and if the Independents don't have...I've faced in Waterbury over the years, where someone is on there twice and it seems like an advantage to the eye? 

Mayor: "That is one of the first issued that happened you get on there, my opponent is on another line called the Working Families line that wants to defund police and different scenarios that he has accepted that party line. But the reality with the Independent line is there is about 670 registered Independents in the city and it gives them the ability to vote their mind and what they think is the best way to go. Overall, do I get on the line twice? Yes and two times is better than one time I guess. I think overall we have a huge unaffiliated which a lot of people consider Independent and we're going to prove to them that we're running the city properly and that positive things are happening here." 

Lou: My personal frustration was, like outsiders we don't know the procedures so have you had to explain what it's supposed to go like to people that have been asking you questions about this? 

Mayor: "That's a great question Lou, as I said in our last interview I went in there and offered my name up for consideration for an endorsement by the Independent party line and the members of that line selected me and endorsed me. So, I walked out of there and the next thing I know there is a Coup coming up and they say that Roberto wasn't at that particular meeting which we have proof and we can go into this whole thing, we have video of him at the meeting. It's really deep and it goes into a lot of legalities but I think in the end, Roberto wanted to take his ball and go home. He didn't get the endorsement that day so they're using different options to break it up. In the end he takes away a lot of the ability of the Independents to vote, he's actually put the absentee ballot on hold now by these actions and that means military, seniors, the disabled can't vote by mail yet. He's held up that whole system and that is what is really disappointing about it. The other thing is, he's burning up tax dollars you know we have to have representation now with the legal team that represents Jan and the city and we're burning up a lot of money. For a guy that wants to basically run the city, it's disappointing because as I said, you sue the city you want to run? It doesn't make sense." 

Listen to the remainder of the interview below.

Listen to our entire (10/19/23) interview with Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito below.

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