Intense Feud Heats Up as Danbury Politicians Trade Jabs on Radio Show

On Thursday (3/9/23) Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito said "It seems kind of desperate to me."

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That is the most recent 'shot-fired' in the media beef between Mayor Esposito and his rival candidate Roberto Alves. To understand how we got to "desperate" we'll need to back things up a bit.

In January ('23), Danbury Democrat Roberto Alves announced he'd run for Mayor of Danbury and in February, Mayor Dean Esposito announced he would seek re-election. This meant, the two would meet in a rematch of the 2021 election. Their battle for city hall will take them from Main Street to the West Side and back but it will also include about a dozen stops on the I-95 Morning Show.

We started that journey with Mayor Esposito who made a guest appearance on the I-95 Morning Show on Friday (3/3/23). We asked Esposito about his opponent and he said:

"Roberto, I don't know him personally very well, I know he was on the council for one term. He seems to be a nice guy, he's got a nice young family but he makes statements I don't agree with and he seems to twist things up a little bit. You know there is him who is looking for the nomination and the rumor mill is out there that there is another guy looking to run as well on the Democratic side."

We questioned the Mayor on that statement and asked if he knew who this other potential candidate was, he replied:

"Again it's all rumors but Farley Santos is getting feedback that he might want to run. I don't know, those guys seem pretty close so it might be incorrect but I don't know."

After those remarks, things got interesting and have remained so ever since.

On Wednesday (3/8/23) we asked Democrat Roberto Alves what he had to say about the rumors that Farley Santos would also run for Mayor, this was his response:

"It must be a Brookfield rumor. I don't think anybody who lives in Danbury, knows Danbury politics would ever say that. Farley is one of my closest friends and closest supporters. Him, his wife, his daughter, they're at everything with me, he's donated, he's fundraising for me so I just thought that was rather funny. I don't know if that was a tactic to distract anybody? It would not distract us, we laughed about it."

Next, we asked Alves about Esposito's comment that he "twists" things, Roberto responded:

"I hope that it leads to a nice campaign where they don't put out any lies about me, that effect my family like what happened in '21. If he wants to be a stand up guy, he can make a commitment to run a clean campaign with no lies, no stretching the truth especially when there is, you know, receipts on my stance on things, so I challenge him to that. Now, I don't think I twist anything at all, I think our supporters would say that is not the truth either. What we do is call out the facts and the facts are what they are, here in Danbury. We believe that there is a city that has been challenged for years, a city that has been challenged under Republican leadership."

Farley Santos did chime in on the rumors that he may run for Mayor, saying:

"It's disappointing that the Mayor would spread unfounded rumors. As State Representative, I'm working hard to deliver the resources that this administration so desperately needs. My family and I are 100% behind Roberto Alves for Mayor because he has the experience, temperament, and the ability to lead Danbury and make our city even better for every resident!"  

Finally,  on Thursday (3/9/23) Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito came back on the I-95 Morning Show and reacted to Avles' reaction, saying:

"There you go, twisting things up again. Like I said earlier gentleman, my goal here is to running the city and keep running it the best I possibly can. Roberto is obviously someone who is looking to, as a candidate, I guess knock me down or make comments against me like those. And even yesterday, you read through it yesterday his statements were indirectly making comments about me and my staff. For me, it is early on, I am focused on the job here at the city of Danbury and continually running the city forward. You guys know that there is a lot pf positive things happening here in the City of Danbury. For one potential candidate to get up and make comments, it seems kind of desperate to me."

Well, it looks like I am going to be busy for awhile. Check back in with the I-95 Morning Show as we track the candidates on and off the radio. Listen live on the I-95 Rock Mobile App and 951.FM. Catch the I-95 Morning Show on-demand with the podcast on Apple & Spotify by searching Ethan, Lou & Large Dave.

Here is the Mega-Mix Mashup of both men's remarks.

You know when two people get into an argument and when it is over they say they don't even remember what they were fighting about? That is me 100% unless I'm keeping track of someone else's beef which I'm amazing at. I take diligent notes and eat large sums of popcorn when it is not my thing.