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"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men” -- Lord Acton
Bob Stefanowski, the likely Republican choice for Governor in the 2020 election, has called upon West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi to resign her office, according to an AP report, “Audit questions 80% of West Haven’s COVID expenditures.”
“She [Rossi] knew they were under scrutiny by the MARB (The
Municipal Accountability Review Board), and she failed to put the protections
in place to ensure that local resources were protected and spent with the
residents needs in mind,” Stefanowski said in a written statement.
CohnReznick LLP (IDT), according to its executive summary, “was engaged by
the Office of Policy and Management (referred to herein as “OPM”) to provide
OPM with financial advisory services related to the allegations of misuse of
Coronavirus Relief Funds (“CRF”) by the City of West Haven, Connecticut (the
“City”), as outlined in the Statement of Work under Contract ID: 16PSX0081AD
that was executed on October 13, 2021. I.”
The findings in the report are astonishing.
“Based upon our analysis, the expenditures that were
submitted by the City and meet the CRF requirements amount to $243,198.
“Total CRF items submitted by the City $ 1,136,085
“Less: Items that did not meet the CRF criteria (892,887)
“Adjusted CRF expenditures $ 243,198”
To put it as briefly as possible, West Haven submitted to
CRF a series of items amounting to $1,136,085. However, $892,887 of the items
submitted did not meet CRF criteria. The difference between the two figures, $243,198,
represented allowable expenditures, the amount of relief West Haven should have
requested.
The report from CohnReznick, an audit/assurance/tax firm, is
perhaps more comprehensive than town officials in West Haven might have wished.
The report notes, “… we identified numerous instances where
the City did not have sufficient controls and safeguards to ensure the proper
accounting and reporting of CRF expenditures. The lack of internal controls,
policies and procedures and other weaknesses identified are not restricted to
the CRF expenditures, but impact the overall financial operations and
management of the City. The areas identified may expose other areas to the risk
of fraud, waste and abuse. The City has the opportunity to improve policies,
procedures, governance and controls over certain vendor management, cash
management and accounting areas.”
And then as a quiet, unobtrusive aside, the report also noted,
“CohnReznick was made aware of certain transactions conducted by specific City
officials or employees that have been identified as fraudulent transactions by
the City and other parties. The City excluded these transactions from the Muni
CRF Program Interim Report (“Interim Report”) submitted by the City of West
Haven. As such, the transactions were not included in our procedures.”
In 2021, investigative reporter for the Yankee
Institute Marc Fitch reported, “West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi declared
victory over her Republican rival Barry Lee Cohen Tuesday night by a mere 24
votes… Rossi skated to an easy victory in 2019, beating her Republican
challenger by 20 points, but following the FBI’s arrest of Democratic State
Representative and West Haven City employee Michael DiMassa in October, Rossi
faced an uphill battle for reelection… According to the court affidavit
submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DiMassa – who resigned from
the General Assembly and the City of West Haven – created a fake consulting
company and billed the city for $636,000 in COVID-relief funds” that had been
turned by DiMassa to personal use.
Democrats in West
Haven have an edge over Republicans in voter registration. But it is
just this kind of unattended political corruption, in large part the result of
too few Republican eyes on the prize, that may make unaffiliateds and even moderate Democrats, not all of whom
have been folded into the Connecticut Democrat progressive mainstream, climb
aboard the Republican bandwagon during the coming November off presidential
year elections.
The Democrat hegemony in Connecticut is not only a problem
for Republicans. It is a "good government" problem. Even good government
reporters are beginning to notice that one party rule and a journalism perhaps
too closely attached to the reigning power make corruption invisible and
absolute.
When Lord Action said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men," he meant
by “power” the political force utilized by “great” men. The word “great” – as in
“Alexander The Great” -- is also a measure of unobstructed power rather than moral
propinquity. Greatness, which always ought to be questioned and attended to,
is rarely on easy terms with conventional morality. Great power -- see Machiavelli on the point -- need have nothing to do with convention
morality, and that is why “great” men are “almost always bad men.”
The praise and flattery unthinkingly dispensed by non-objective,
non-partisan journalists is the very fount and spume of powerful men who are “almost
always bad men” -- because power, particularly political power, flattens, when
it does not dispense altogether with moral action.
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