The City attorney position has been vacant for years. Deputy City Attorney Tim Lynch has done most of the duties since the retirement of Attorney Trina Solecki. Recently , Mayor Dan Drew has sought to fill the position. After four qualified applicants applied, but were "unsuitable" in Drew's eye, he again, as is being done with the
deputy chief police position, Drew relaxed the qualifications to target more applicants - or so was the excuse. In the second round of applications, the same four qualified applicants applied, including acting City Attorney Tim Lynch. Lynch has over a decade experience on the job. The other four qualified applicants all had previous experience working with the City of Middletown specifically, and lengthy experience with other cities and municipal law.
The June 4th issued job description that was "dumbed-down" by Drew to afford a larger applicant pool, calls for a attorney with "a Juris Doctorate with five years minimum of municipal law related experience, with an emphasis on employment law, and labor relations."
Mayor Drew will announce soon that he has chosen local Attorney Phrances Leverton Szewczyk. Attorney Szewczyk does not meet even the "dumbed-down" qualifications, having little to no experience in labor or municipal law. On her website, Szewczyk,who was admitted to the CT bar in 1993, claims her area of expertise are business, elderly, estate, probate, arbitration/mediation, administration, real estate, and trusts & estate law.
Sources tell the Insider that Drew plans to argue that Szewczyk's stint on the Common Council covers that labor law experience- however the Insider calls foul and so should tax payers. The appointment seems to be another patronage/crony appointment of another under qualified person who is close with the Middletown Democratic Town Committee. Szewczyk has been very active in supporting local Democrats as a former Democratic Councilwoman.
The current personnel director was/is not qualified either. She was given labor "experience" for sitting on the BOE while a licensed attorney negotiated its personnel contracts.
ReplyDeleteCronyism has long been the rule of thumb in Middletown, DD is just the latest in a long line of shameless practitioners of the sport.
Dear ANON:
ReplyDeleteWe at the MI agree with your statement, but the question is, what does one do about cronyism?? Perhaps, that is just a natural part of the political landscape, perhaps more in Middletown than other towns? That is one of the main reasons why this blog stays anonymous, the Insider goes against the town's status quo and digs down deep to find out the real "pulse" of the city.. Thanks for writing.
This is only the beginning. Just wait and see who else is getting a city job. So much for a fair shake at any job opportunity.
ReplyDeleteWho were the 4 "qualified" candidates?
ReplyDeleteAsk Sebastian Giuliano about cronyism. He was accused of the same thing.
ReplyDeleteIts life. We do each other favors.
HOWEVER...
A position of power in which you're responsible to appoint others 'doing favors' should take a back seat in choosing someone that must do a job for ALL the people of Middletown.
Someone pushing a pencil at the BOE is one thing. But the City Attorney needs to be held to the up most accountability. To choose someone because they are "on the same team" and not based on experience is in my opinion irresponsible to say the least.
TBC
Dear DL- its stupid to condone one set of cronyism and not another proven one-
ReplyDeleteGiuliano was accused but the difference was he didn't do it!!!
ReplyDelete