In January, the Connecticut Post reported that Sarah Muoio, director of the Derby Senior Center, was unceremoniously let go from her position by Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto.
At the time, the Mayor didn’t comment on the situation, which concerned many people, myself included.
However, the very next day, before anyone had the time to learn anything, Richard Dziekan, who had narrowly lost the election to Ms. Dugatto two months prior, wrote a letter calling the Mayor “heartless” and questioning her very moral fabric, while lauding the work that Ms. Muoio had done.
At the time, he demanded an apology from the Mayor for her treatment of her former employee, particularly due to the timing of her father having passed away.
It was a strong statement at the time, and a risky one considering the lack of information, but it has since backfired with the arrest of Ms. Muoio for allegedly stealing from the Senior Center.
However, all we’ve heard from the Dziekan, and Derby Republicans as a whole, is radio silence in the week since the arrest.
Therefore, I speak on behalf of myself and many others in demanding that Rich Dziekan acknowledge that he spoke out of turn, and issue an immediate apology to Anita Dugatto for his irresponsible statements in January.
It is clearly obvious that Rich was less interested in the truth than he was in scoring political points against an opponent he’s likely to run against again in 2017.
This is starting to become a trend, as the ambush of the Mayor — with convenient cameras rolling — in August over the condition of flags on Main Street during the 2015 election showed.
The majority of the GOP campaign was less about how they could improve Derby and more about perceived interpersonal squabbles at City Hall in the two years that Ms. Dugatto had been in charge.
“Gotcha” politics in and of themselves have no place in honest political discourse, even before the flat out inaccuracies in this particular case.
Mr. Dziekan, you owe all of Derby, least most of all the Mayor, an apology.
The writer is a lower Valley native now living in Hamden.
