From 1995: Middletown Clerk Appointee Defeated

This article is from 15 years ago today, published in the Hartford Courant on November 7, 1995. It was written by Bill Daley.

The Town Clerk opening was created when Anthony Sbona retired in the summer of 1995. Sbona had become Clerk when as mayor he appointed himself into the position. In an earlier article, The Courant described the position as "one of the plummier political appointments a mayor can make. "It pays well, has great benefits, and almost everyone in Middletown would love that job," Minority Leader Joseph E. Milardo Jr. said.
In 1995, Hutton (now Russo-Driska) already had extensive experience in the Town Clerk's office, having worked there since 1986 and as assistant Town Clerk since 1989. Russo-Driska was eventually appointed by Mayor Holzberg, and confirmed unanimously by the Common Council in July of 1996.


The Town Clerk has an enormous responsibility. She manages all elections, swears in elected city officials, maintains vital records (birth, marriage, and death), records and indexes all land records including Deeds, Mortgages and Survey Maps since the founding of Middletown, and manages public records including all of the agendas and minutes of municipal meetings.
-----------------------------
Politics as Usual Falters; Both Parties Rebuff Serra
Bob Bourne's appointment as town clerk was rejected Monday by a 7-4 common council vote that transcended party lines.

The vote came after nearly two hours of often impassioned remarks from both the public and the common council members before a crowd of well over 100 people, some of whom stood six deep in the council chamber doorway.

It is believed to be the first rejection of a mayoral appointee since a proposed parks and recreation director was spurned in 1987.

Bourne's rejection by the common council came nearly 12 hours after Mayor Thomas J. Serra announced that his administrative assistant was his choice for the job. It capped weeks of speculation and intense campaigning by supporters of Bourne and of acting Town Clerk Sandra Hutton -- lobbying that Democratic Councilmen Jesse Salafia and Joseph Vinci Jr. claimed resorted to threats.

Voting for Bourne were Deputy Mayor Nancy Conaway-Raczka, and Democrats Domenique Thornton, Salafia and Vinci. Breaking with the mayor in rejecting Bourne were Majority Leader John Robinson, Democrats Gerry Winzer and Gerry Daley. As expected, all four Republicans voted to reject Bourne.

Council members on both sides of the question noted that a vote rejecting Bourne doesn't mean Hutton has the job. The next mayor, whoever he or she may be, gets to make an appointment that the next council will either accept or reject.

Hutton sat in the front row flanked by her attorney and friends and family. She watched the proceedings intently. After the vote, she was clearly pleased.

"I went to the council looking for a fair process. I'm very happy they chose to do the right thing," she said. "I believe each council person voted their conscience and did what they had to do."

Daley questioned the hiring procedures used, and in particul why one version of the job notice was posted for city employees and another issed for the public. Daley also pressed the mayor on why the five applicants who took and passed an oral test weren't ranked.

Serra, who has insisted the procedure for this appointment is like every other in his administration, said due to a 1992 change in personnel rules he could consider from all eligible candidates. The mayor said he had never asked for rankings before.

Minority Leader Joseph Milardo said he had nothing against Bourne. Bourne was qualified for the job and it was the mayor's appointment to make, but Milardo said the public would not accept the appearance of political patronage in the appointment.

Much comparison had been made between Bourne's appointment and former-Mayor Sebastian J. Garafalo's self-appointment as tax collector. Conaway-Raczka, the sole council member to vote against Garafalo in 1993, was called on by some who spoke to vote against Bourne in that same spirit.

But Conaway-Raczka said the cases weren't similar. She thought Bourne was qualified to be town clerk and voted to support him.

Democrat Domenique Thornton praised Hutton's qualifications, but said the question at hand was not Hutton's appointment, but that of Bourne.

"We have an obligation to the city of Middletown to support a qualified town clerk all of us will benefit from," she said.

"The position is a Democratic post," Vinci said. "It ought to be filled by a Democratic mayor. I support the nomination."

But the arguments of the pro-Bourne council members failed to sway a majority -- a group that lavishly praised Bourne's abilities, but would not name him to the lifetime post.

Bourne said the vote was not unexpected. He expected the Republicans to be partisan, adding he now knows which Democrats lack backbone.

"The next mayor will make the appointment and that probably will be politically motivated," he said.

Serra appeared rather serene as his last council meeting as mayor ended with a major defeat. "It's the Democratic process," Serra said of the vote. "Everything was done properly."

Bourne' selection and rejection for town clerk became more than just an appointment. It also served as a climax for a bitter, hard-fought mayoral campaign in which hiring and patronage had been major issues.

Both mayoral candidates, Democrat Maria Madsen Holzberg and Republican Emanuel Pattavina turned out before the council to speak on the issue. Both advised the council not to approve Bourne's appointment; Pattavina saying the public doesn't want the mayor to appoint a political ally, and Holzberg criticizing the application procedure for failing to have a written test component or a ranking of job candidates.