Was it retaliation?

A strange article in the Middletown Patch this week. Middletown Democartic Town Committee (DTC) Chairwoman Lisa Santangelo, wife of Councilman Robert Santangelo responded to questions posed by Patch writer Cassandra Day about allegations about retaliation made by Christine Bourne.  Christine Bourne is quoted in the article in Patch saying: “Anybody who disagrees with them gets thrown out.” in reference to her recent "extraction" so to speak from the DTC after 16 years of participation. Chairwoman Lisa Santangelo is quoted in the same article as saying "Its a very clean process."  Huh? The Insider thinks she sounds as if speaking of some sort of medical extraction procedure, or certain situation in a certain Scorsese flick where a lot of "cleaning" took place. 
 Bourne challenged Dan Drew for the Democratic nomination for Mayor in this past election cycle. Bourne, then City Treasurer and BOE employee was also the so called whistle blower about the spending deficit, claims that were recently corroborated by an independent accounting firm hired by the City. Several members who long held membership were not reinstated as part of the DTC. Ann Tommasi, the Democratic Registrar of Voters in Middletown sought the opinion of the Secretary of State regarding the registration of Wesleyan students this past fall was removed from the DTC. The article is balanced providing responses from all parties( something the Insider likes to see),it failed to mention local Wesleyan Democrat student leaders, who denied working with  DTC to organize the mass registration of students to vote in the municipal election this fall, Ben Florsheim and Gabriela De Golia, were made official members of the local DTC. Florsheim and De Golia filed an official complaint  to the State Elections Enforcement Commission accusing former Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, who was being offered an executive counsel position at the SEEC, of  voter intimidation and suppression citing two instances where he visited campus and statements from supporters, which then played a key role in successfully persuading  the Commission to rescind it's job offer. Did Giuliano not receive this job on the sole basis  of the complaint by students? The answer is unclear; however the complaint and who it was made by cannot be under estimated in it's political weight as well- these were not your average students without their own politically charged agendas driving the complaint. The Insider sees a very odd coincidence in the timing of these events that begs the question: Were these students coerced into and then rewarded by the DTC for challenging Giuliano? Ironically enough, Ben Florsheim is the chair of the College Democrats of Connecticut, a huge voting block wielding a lot of power - a relationship that would be very beneficial to the DTC. For a politically ambitious young man such as Florsheim, doing the bidding of Democratic politicians in key  positions too timid to file a complaint themselves with the SEEC- for fear of appearing partisan perhaps - say attacking  a  former Republican mayor seeking a job in election enforcement would be a very smart move for such a young man seeking political advancement and wanting to trade favors down the line ( not that that ever happens). It's what you call.. well..  DIRTY politics. The process seems anything but clean.
The Middletown Patch article written by Day can be read here: http://middletown-ct.patch.com/articles/dem-town-committee-chair-refutes-retaliation-claim
The Insider thinks the timing of this article and response by DTC Chairwoman Santangelo is just strange. 
Oh and Christine Bourne - You go girl!