It is interesting, on the occasion of Erin Stewart placing the name of Tim Stewart in big letters in the lobby of the Police Station, that Tim Stewart would, again, repeat the falsehood that it was a $35 million project. It was not a $35 million project - it was many millions more. Not only did he tuck a great deal of spending on this project, off that budget, under construction bonding other than the acknowledged $35 million Police Station bonding authorization, but his administration committed the city to millions of dollars more than that $35 million bonding he still says was the project's cost.
Nor did Tim Stewart come up with the revenue to pay for all of that borrowing. While he talks about the Build America Bonds that temporarily covered part of the project's financing costs, he never really came up with a plan for the city to pay for the tens of millions of dollars he charged on the taxpayers' dime through this project.
While this is not the only example of the mismanagement by Tim Stewart that led to the deficits I inherited from him, it was one of the larger of his messes that I had to clean up. Tim Stewart is right about one thing, though. The financial disaster that he wrought through that project truly was one of his most significant legacies. But far from a good one.
But there is more than that. Even worse were the scandals in the police department, with lawsuits that stemmed from the sexism and bigotry under Tim Stewart's control. It was a terrible shame that Tim Stewart brought upon the city of New Britain because people were unfairly treated. It was wrong.
Addressing the scandals in the police department from the Stewart years, cleaning up the mess he left behind and setting the police department on a better path was yet another major clean-up job I had to perform in the wake of Mr. Stewart.
And that is a truly shameful legacy Tim Stewart left, specifically for the New Britain police department.
It is interesting that, after all of the mess he created, Tim and Erin Stewart would both have the nerve to think that the people of our city should owe him the honor of placing his name on the walls of the same building that houses the police department that was the center of such mismanagement by him. I agreed with people at the time who told me that they would be offended if he were so honored. And, on behalf of the people of the city, I stand by that.
It is interesting that, after all of the mess he created, Tim and Erin Stewart would both have the nerve to think that the people of our city should owe him the honor of placing his name on the walls of the same building that houses the police department that was the center of such mismanagement by him. I agreed with people at the time who told me that they would be offended if he were so honored. And, on behalf of the people of the city, I stand by that.
