Politics & Government

Spalthoff, Republican for Milford Mayor, Makes Closing Statement Before Election Day

'I believe my message was one that I feel the City is not being managed properly and that there is a lot more that could and should be done,' says Spalthoff.

Click here for the latest updates on Election Day 2013 in Milford.

Last week we asked the candidates for Milford mayor to answer the simple question: What was your campaign's message and has it resonated with residents?

Below is Republican candidate Peter Spalthoff's response. Click here to read that of the incumbent Democrat Ben Blake.

By Peter Spalthoff

Very simply,

I believe my message was one that I feel the City is not being managed properly and that there is a lot more that could and should be done.

More importantly to me as a businessman, a community leader and a taxpayer, I believe that there is no way that of all of the employees in the City who work with and for the Mayor should have such a low regard for him as is apparent with their endorsement of me and lack of endorsement for him.

I say apparent because only one of the five unions endorsed him. This lack of respect can only manifest itself in a negative way towards how the job of running the City by these individuals is done.

I also wanted to make people aware of numerous issues that I came across during the campaign that was never addressed by the Mayor. All of the following falls under the heading of transparency and this Mayor does not work in the light of day and he has demonstrated that by:

1. Meeting with Stratford's Mayor regarding the possible merger of the animal shelter and denying it from the outset only to finally say he did meet with him.

2. Giving the position of bond counselor to a law firm whose partners contributed thousands of dollars to the Mayor and a Request For Proposal was never done before the hiring.

3. Raising taxes two years in a row was one thing, but to tout he kept them lower in the second year by transferring $5 million from the rainy day account is bogus. He had to transfer the $5 million to balance his bloated budget, period. Yet didn't transfer enough to do help the Boys and Girls club to grow its base.

4. He was responsible for moving forward with the renovations at East Shore middle school with a one phase proposal of $12 million when he were cautioned that $16-$18 would be more realistic and as of today the cost so far is $21 million and climbing

5. He downed a proposal by me to "freeze" our senior citizens taxes as being foolish. I believe not really looking into it was foolish and inconsiderate.

6. He negotiated (or tried to) negotiate the insurance packages for our workers behind their back. This certainly was inconsiderate and not worthy of good leadership.

7. He did not pursue the purchase of the 9 acres on North Street next to the Orchards golf course, I believe this was a major mistake.

8. He has not been openly supportive or outspoken regarding the proposed return by our schools to the K-5--6-8 and 9-12 format, a big mistake.

9. He has never discussed why the reduction of our bonds over the next 5 years will only be in the area of $5.4 million as opposed to the planned $9.1 million this was another behind close door activities and should not have been done that way.

10. In general by not setting up a program of our own to assist the families we could have, was a mistake. There was no reason that I know of why we couldn't have helped them out with a loan from our rainy day fund instead of making them wait for a year to be helped out by the Government. We certainly made sure they were paying their taxes though.

My message was received very well from the over 3600 households I visited -- from the unions that I spoke with, two by the way who endorsed me -- from the animal group in the City who endorsed me and in general.

I believe I have been above board and have raised the issues that are and should be of interest to our community now and more importantly for the generations to come.

I do not believe that I left anything on the table during the campaign and have no regrets. As I said, I have stayed true to my commitment to keep the campaign on the issues and why I am better prepared than my opponent to manage this great City of ours.


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