Alderman DeLibero
Mayor Cassetti’s opponent has issued a plea for civility in campaigning. But has he practiced what he’s preaching?
Earlier in the week, Raslan’s team posted a video (complete with graphics depicting hand guns) that tied shooting in Ansonia to budgets passed by the Board of Aldermen, thereby overtly politicizing criminal activity.
Put aside the fact that the aldermen never cut police personnel, and that the Mayor’s budget recommended no reduction whatsoever.
Ask: is there any integrity in advancing such a bogus political argument? And making it against an administration that is, in reality, making an unprecedented investment in its police force with a brand new station downtown?
Mr. Ralsan claims that he will never call his opponent a “liar,” and then proceeds to campaign on a platform of bringing “honesty” to city hall. That follows post after hyperbolic columns and Facebook posts attacking the Mayor’s character and credibility including claims that the mayor is “not even slightly committed to the youth of our city” (March 1, 2017 Facebook); that the administration is “killing our local economy” (February 21, 2017 Valley Independent column); that Ansonia is suffering a “death by a thousand cuts” (August 1, 2017 Valley Independent column.
Is that morbid enough?
And of course there was a video that offers the thoughtful comparison of Mayor Cassetti and his team to The Three Stooges (Facebook post, October 6, 2016)!
Up to this point, Team Raslan has been the city’s foremost innovator of political incivility.
Mr. Raslan does, however, understand that the election in Ansonia this year is not so much about Republicans versus Democrats, as it is about whether the progress we have seen under Mayor Cassetti and his team will continue.
That explains why Mr. Raslan is now openly endorsing two Republican candidates who have shown a propensity to oppose the Mayor.
Recall that both of these “Raslan Republicans” have repeatedly nominated non-Republican candidates critical of the Mayor for seats on the Board of Aldermen.
Alderman Vaccaro suggested that the Mayor’s opponents are prepared to “say anything” to stop the progress in Ansonia. Well, the evidence is piling up.
The writer is a Republican member of the Board of Aldermen.
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