A look at the month of June in Brookfield, Connecticut

Once again the strange just gets stranger. For my monthly sojurn into the weird and the bizarre, we look at the goings on in the town of Brookfield, Connecticut.

Remember; it’s the small town in western Connecticut that advertised for a First Selectman some time ago.

The Town of Brookfield has gone from a town with candidates running unopposed to one having multiple candidates running with a caucus or primary fight appearing likely.

The loser of the last election, Jerome Murphy, isn’t even in consideration.

Although the choice of the nominating committee, he was deemed “un-electable” apparently by none other than the Brookfield Republican Town Committee. As when he lost in 2006, he has apparently taken to blaming everyone for his unsuccessful bid for a nomination with a "punish the voters" message. What a whiner. He is indeed fortunate that he is not running.

There seems to be sufficient “dirt” on his jacket. Connections with local developers, the water company and the $600,000 dollar sewer assessment fund for the high school renovation fiasco just the tip of the iceberg for this salty albatross.

The real story this month seems to be an apparent “cover up” by the local paper, The Danbury News-Times!

The Brookfield Town Treasurer has been moonlighting for the News Times according to his ethics filings; he is also the State representative for the 107th district. The 107th includes Brookfield and Bethel.

The Brookfield Town Treasurer has been unavailable to discuss the Brookfield Town Pension Plan. For months on end. Even though the town has been paying him $1,000 a month to be treasurer. Incommunicado.

Unavailable since December 2008. People have been dead longer folks.

In the fall of 2008 he assured everyone in a Brookfield Journal interview that the pension fund was secure in "government securities" (See Brookfield Journal, Oct 17th edition) and not subject to losses. Fat chance.

Information is now “leaking’ that the fund is actually down from $24 million to about $19 million, but since nothing has been shared with Freedom of Information requests that are months and months old that is only unofficial. Why unofficial?

OOPS!

While that is certainly no disaster given the current economic down turn, having reported to neither the Board of Finance nor the Board of Selectmen since late 2008, (over six months) certainly is. And his annual treasurers report, printed for the annual town meeting, alleges that the town has a 5 year financial plan. Questions at the public Board of Finance meeting and to the First Selectman all came back with a resounding "No Such Thing".

But again, this is rumor only since the alleged coverup began.

Keep in mind that the only a single person, with a tax lien on their property, is managing and signing checks for the tens of millions of dollars of funds entrusted to his financial management acumen.

To further raise some eye brows, the Brookfield Town Treasurer reportedly sent an e mail (a copy of which is being FOI'ed) to the company managing the pension plan, instructing them NOT to release any information to anyone but himself.

Only the Brookfield Town controller (currently a vacant position), the subject of an earlier columns and the Brookfield Town Treasurer currently have “control” over the employees payroll deductions made to the pension fund as well as the towns contribution.

Since the town controller has resigned suddenly and mysteriously, yet again for a second and apparently final time, that leaves only the Brookfield Town Treasurer managing the fund...signing checks....moving and managing the investment portfolio, no over sight and no access to information by either the Board of Selectmen or the Board of Finance and, probably even the Danbury News-Times.

Now does this come under the heading a cover up by the Danbury News Times? Is the Hearst parent office aware of these things?

Apparently the newspapers management team has been sitting on information that the Brookfield Town Treasurer, a part time Danbury News-Times employee (according to his ethics filing with the state) and State Representative owes Uncle Sam, - the IRS – over $75,000 dollars in back taxes.

There is a U.S. Government Federal lien on his house at 88 Obtuse Hill Road and he has not paid his personal property tax (on automobiles) since 2007 according to the tax collector's office as of June 22, 2007 (I have no idea how he registered his car this year with back taxes owed).

Why has this information been suppressed by the Danbury News-Times? Does the publisher know what the reporter assigned to Brookfield is doing (or not)? One could surmise that the state representative has ‘job security’ of some sort that the Danbury News-Times does not want to get out these events.

Or it could be something totally different. Who knows? The BrookfieldTown Treasurer is incommunicado, holded up in the Legistlative Office Building in Hartford deep in ongoing state budget deliberations. Do we have a state budget yet?

Yet, who could have even dreamed up such a bizarre and twisted tale of money mismanagement and just plain mystery?

Will the Brookfield Town Treasurer ever attend a meeting, explain the pension investments, or will he just disappear? Who knows?

He says he's preparing a presentation. But the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance don't want a presentation. They are not looking to be SOLD something. They want to ask the Brookfield Town Treasurer questions. And they want HIM to give THEM the answers.

Not some suited up talking head for a sales rep from a pension management company.

After all, it is the Brookfield Town Treasurer that was elected, not the salesman, right?

You could not make up tales as utterly incredulous as what is going on in Brookfield.

It is truly "something in the water"!