“Why is it, do you think, that the Half-Chief won't hand over Copies of the check register showing the check # and amount recorded for each person receiving fire incentive pay for this time period?
Why is the Half-Chief willing to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to keep this information away from the public? Is it because the "formula" for spending what was supposed to be pension money, scewered in favor of a few? Where is the audit of this money. Why does Gormley protect hiding this information? FOI will make them turn it over, but money wasted by Perrotti on lawyers is a tremendous amount.”
Mr. DeAngelis, once again, illustrates that he and his website have the uncanny ability to “get it wrong.”
1) Records of the Fire Incentive Pay for the last year are posted at Fire HQ. They have been posted at that location since July of this year, when the Incentive Pay is distributed.
2) If Mr. DeAngelis would like to have copies of the check register showing each check number, perhaps he should have considered paying for each copy of the check register as required by FOI law.
On two separate occasions MVFD personnel took time off and set aside full days to allow Mr. DeAngelis access to whatever he was legally entitled to. On both occasions Mr. DeAngelis left Fire HQ after only about 1 hour. He left without copies of anything, because he elected not to pay for them. To keep singing the same old song that he has not been given access is just not accurate.
3) To say the Chief Perrotti is willing to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars to keep this information away from the public is libelous. As stated above, the information is public and is posted in a Town building. In addition, no taxpayer money has been used by the MVFD to pay any lawyer.
4) As stated before, the Incentive Pay was established to reward those who contribute the most to the organization. It was established by the members of the MVFD and former First Selectman St. John, as an alternative to a “Pension Plan.” A pension plan was not a realistic option for the Town, because it would cost too much to seed, and was difficult to establish which veterans would be eligible and which veterans would not be eligible. The plan would prove too expensive for the Town. The Incentive Plan became a much more realistic alternative.
Scewered is not actually a word, but if Mr. DeAngelis meant skewed, he could not be further from the truth. The “Vonk Formula” could not be more fair. Each member of the MVFD, whether they be an Active or Veteran member, has an equal opportunity to benefit from the Incentive Pay. All you have to do is participate. The formula is based on fire calls, years of service, drills, and meetings. The majority of the “points” come from fire calls. That is what is important, and that is what we do. This is not a Bridge Club. It is a Fire Department, and the primary “incentive” is to get members to show up for fire calls, and to keep them showing up for fire calls year in and year out.
People who earn the highest Incentive Pay, have done the most. People who do not meet the minimum number of points to qualify for Incentive Pay get nothing.
5) Mr. DeAngelis asks where the audit of the Incentive Pay is. As stated above, the records for the Incentive Pay are posted at Fire HQ - a Town building. This is nothing new, these records have been posted at Fire HQ since the plan was initiated several years ago. Mr. DeAngelis and all other Middlebury residents have access to these records.
6) Why does Tom Gormley protect hiding this information? Here is the attack de jour on Tom Gormley. What would any of this have to do with Tom Gormley? Nothing!
The above is just another example of all the distortions that come from the pit. It follows the same old tired formula. Here is the “Formula of Hate.”
1) Post a statement that you know is not true.
2) Create an artificial controversy.
3) Create an atmosphere of chaos and the sense that events are spinning out of control.
4) Infer that those who take the time to volunteer their time in Town are incompetent.
5) Infer that taxpayer money is being wasted.
6) Infer that the MVFD is hiding something, or doing something illegal.
7) Infer that Tom Gormley is hiding something or covering up something for the “good-old boys” at the MVFD.
This list may get bigger.
8) Infer that Tom Gormley and Bob Desmarais are filling their pockets with money off the backs of the taxpayers, in a sneaky underhanded way that violates the charter.
I guess those who believe what they read on Mr. DeAngelis’s website will be the same people who may pay him $5.00 a month to read it.
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12 comments:
I just want to say a big "thank you" to William J. Pape II, publisher of the Waterbury Republican-American and Jonathan Kellogg, Editor.
The year 2008 is not yet over, but you've managed to provide a dozen articles this year about Pat Deangelis in your newspaper, keeping this scumbag in the limelight. Today you quote him as "lampooning". That is hardly what he is doing.
Back in 1939 you won the Pulitzer. That will never happen again. Your hacks know absolutely nothing about investigative reporting. The story almost writes itself about all his lies and distortions and the puppetry behind those lies, but do you investigate? Hell no. You put the jerk in the limelight.
What's the deal here? Are you really trying to create chaos by lending your dwindling credibility to this jerk?
You forgot to add this additional step in Pattie's formula of hate:
6) Get the Waterbury paper to give you more free publicity and make you look like an innocent "gadfly/blogger" instead of a liar.
Has the jack ass on white ave become so arrogent that he is going to start charging for his site. I hope he does because who is going to pay for that bullshit except for his own little cronies. Thats good for the rest of us. His limelight will dwindle.
Pattie is dumb, but not so dumb that he thinks that anyone would pay to read his web site. That is definitely a ploy to get some more publicity.
Maybe Pattie will try to get advertisers on his web site. Let's see, we can start with Brothers Tree Service. Who else? Probably not Wachovia.
Don't you all find it so odd that the last Middlebury reporter for th R-A, Emily Beaver, was dispacthed to Beacon Falls? I'm not even sure she's with the R-A anymore. How long did she last? A few pro-MVFD articles, and off she went. The Press is supposed to be objective. What is wrong with this picture? Don't write ny Middlebury stories, unless they are pro-DeAngelis, pro-St. John, and ant-MVFD/Gormley. The R-A is a joke.......
What I don't understand about the rep am is that mr. Pape Hates Ed St John with a passion. Ever since his Fire Marshall days in Waterbury st. John has been an outkast in that town. Why would pape want to help him........maybe its because he wants to destroy everything that st john did that was good in this town. St john is so vindictive that he doesn't even see what he is doing to his legacy......wait a second st. John is a liar and he likes to young children like pattie boy. Who am I kidding he did ruin his legacy
The root of the Republican-American bias is not clear at all. Andrew Pape (William's son) lives in a big house on South Street. I cannot see him intentionally trashing the town, but on the other hand I do not know him personally.
It is true that Emily Beaver was their most objective reporter - and she was gone fast. Too bad. She was hot. Dan D'Ambrosio came after Emily and he was gone quick too. Marecca Fiore was here during Campaign 2005 and started hob-nobbing with Kelli. She had a smack down with one of St. John's cronies (forget who, I think George Moreira). Matt O'Rourke is the latest reporter. He is no Jimmy Olsen and does whatever Pape tells him to do. Or possibly he got into the White Avenue kool-aid.
In any event, the Republican-American might as well be a subsidiary of OMP. Deangelis has kidded about it himself.
Of the two other papers, Voices doesn't really do investigative reporting - it's mostly pictures of kids and club members receiving awards. We do know that the publisher of Voices, Rudy Mazurosky, sic'ed a lawyer on Pattie when Pattie ran copyrighted material one time, so Voices is not in bed with Pattie.
The Bee is generally pro Gormley and pro MVFD, but seldom gets into investigative reporting. Yet still, Marj Needham appears to hate Deangelis for the scumbag that he is, and she has been caustic more than once in her editorials.
I found an August 28, 2005 Republican-American article by Marecca Fiore. It proves that the paper sometimes hires reporters who can actually do investigative reporting. Obviously that does not include current lapdog Matt O'Rourke.
Here are two excerpts by Marecca about Eddie and Pattie:
First Eddie
DeAngelis has used the Internet to hammer St. John, who also doubles as the town's director of public works, for spending too much money on trucks and heavy equipment, for setting aside too much money in the town's contingency fund and because Middlebury has a property tax rate of 30.83 mills. Compared with neighboring suburban towns such as Southbury, Woodbury, Roxbury and Washington, the tax rate is about 7 to 8 mills higher.
He also took personal swipes at the first selectman, accusing St. John of faking his educational credentials three decades ago when, as Middlebury's fire chief, St. John claimed to have a doctoral degree. DeAngelis posted five letters on his Web site signed by St. John with variations of the letters Ph.D after his name. The letters were written by St. John in the mid-1970s.
St. John was asked Wednesday by The Sunday Republican if he had a doctoral degree, where he got it from and when he earned it. He replied, "Yes, I do," but refused to say where it was from or when it was awarded. He has given similar answers when questioned by the newspaper in other interviews.
"I went through this when I was the fire marshal in Waterbury," he said, alluding to a campaign in the early 1980s by Waterbury's firemen's union to drive him out of the city fire marshal's job. "It ruined my family, and I vowed that I would never talk about it again."
St. John has said he attended Bryant College and Brown University in Rhode Island, as well as Waterbury State Technical College and the University of New Haven. He has refused to produce diplomas or certificates from any of those colleges or universities.
Now Pattie
Two weeks ago, someone posted a copy of an e-mail about DeAngelis on a bulletin board at Town Hall.
It is a copy of a letter sent by resident Caroline Abate to the Republican-American, as well as to DeAngelis, and Planning and Zoning Commission member Erika Carrington, who is on St. John's campaign committee.
The e-mail calls DeAngelis a delinquent taxpayer, and refers to federal and state income tax liens, dating back to the early 1990s, that have been filed on his property.
DeAngelis declined to say how much he owes the IRS, but said he is making payments.
IRS spokesman Kevin McKeon said Internal Revenue Service privacy regulations prevent him from disclosing how much DeAngelis owes. Connecticut Revenue Department spokeswoman Sarah Kaufman said DeAngelis owes the state $6,911.51, not $28,000 as the lien on his home indicates.
DeAngelis believes Abate is working for St. John and the developers of Straw Pond. He also thinks she is stalking him.
Pretty good investigative reporting by Marecca Fiore more than three years ago
Don't expect anything like this from Matt O'Rourke.
I'd like to hear more about Eddie's experience in Waterbury as the politically appointed Fire Marshall. Can someone fill in the details? I've heard he has zero friends in the Waterbury FD or PD. Can this be another reason why he's going after Perrotti?
Message to Kelli Bollard and the MRTC
It is well known that all of you read this blog regularly, so here's something to think about.
I think it is high time that you publicly distance yourselves from Pat Deangelis.
Your silence tells everyone that you approve of his insults and distortions about Paul Perrotti and Tom Gormley. There is no middle ground here. You cannot sit back and enjoy his dirty work.
You need to publicly condemn Deangelis.
They won't do that, because St. John is the one controlling Deangelis. St. John is behind all the attacks, and most everyone on the MRTC has taken a sip of the St. John cool aid.
I'm hoping that Marj Needham will interview some of these people and ask them straight out "what do you think of the attacks by Deangelis on the MVFD and on Gormley?"
No hiding, no "no comment". A straight answer.
I want to hear from Stowell, Strobel, Bollard, McDonald, McCormack, Desmarais, Bob Smith.
I'd also like to hear what Eddie has to say.
Come on Marj. Give us a Christmas present in the Bee.
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