Your Daily Spin from the Middletown Mess: Dubious Drewbious

"If your lips are movin', you're lie lie lying."
Today the Mess published an article copy and pasted from a press release from the Drew camp. Aside from a few added lines, its regurgitation of the talking points Drew is using to launch is campaign for a third term. Mayor Daniel Drew received an honor from the progressive organization called the New Deal org.  The New Deal is a "non profit" made of up liberal minded elected officials around the country headed by Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Hickenlooper was co founder of the Community Health Center of Middletown back in his Wesleyan days, you can connect those dots..The Mess, oh so conveniently fails to mention what this group & award are really about. Must be an election year if the paper is already doing its due diligence as local Democrat's personal soapbox.

 Below are a few corrections to the congratulatory accolades Mayor Drew bestowed on himself in his auto- bio. http://www.newdealleaders.org/leader_drew_daniel

So what is the NEWDeal Org?? Basically a PAC founded by liberal democrats to give out fake awards to each other. Is it really news for politicos to give fellow politicos awards for towing the party line? The ND Org seems to be a millennial version of the Democratic Leadership Council, a '80s "non-profit" used to recruit young D's as future politicians & donors. A worth-the-click article explaining what this Democrat bank rolling machine is all about can be found here: http://www.vice.com/read/the-democratic-party-future-dark-money-fracking

"Since becoming mayor of Middletown in 2011, Mayor Drew has closed the $8 million deficit in the city budget and upgraded the city's bond rating with the lowest interest rates in city's history. (FALSE: All municipalities bond ratings have gone down in light of the economy! He created a deficit. Since he has been in office he has proposed & passed budgets increased by $13 million. Today there are more grievances being filed than ever before, 19 from Union 466 workers at the BOE alone, despite his campaigning to end the lawsuits. Also a record number of lawsuits by private citizens are being settled for big bucks instead of being contested, costing us all a lot more than they should. The City recently settled two for $250k and $400k that may have been disproved if they went to trial. But that would be bad publicity for Mayor Drew as the  "make nice" guy)He has also improved the efficiency and efficacy of City government by implementing large-scale re-organizations that will save taxpayers millions.(FALSE: This has never been proven with data presented to the public. In fact you can read here how in reality MORE money is being spent) Mayor Drew has restored highly competent leadership to the police department and added several new officers to the force. (FALSE: 3 officers have lawsuits for wrongful termination. Drew contested one officer's PTSD diagnosis. Since when is Drew an MD?) Several new businesses and manufacturers have opened or are under construction in Middletown. (where?)He has also enacted a senior tax relief program which will significantly aid seniors on a fixed income( most seniors don't qualify) in addition to a prescription drug discount program for Middletown seniors. (FALSE: Drew was against the Senior Center at Eckersley Hall and proposed it be crammed into the Council Chambers. The prescription drug program is independent of the city of Middletown, run by the state only low income seniors qualify for.)

In addition, he has re-negotiated a large energy service contract for the City of Middletown, saving taxpayers $1.4 million. (FALSE: Drew proposed budgets significantly raising the millrate each year he has been in office. NO savings of his attempts to consolidate departments have ever been shown.) Mayor Drew has saved taxpayers $800,000 by reducing pension fund costs. He also merged city and BOE finance operations, substantially increasing transparency. (FALSE: Outside legal costs are are at an all time high. Read it here)Mayor Drew graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2002. He will graduate from Columbia University in 2015 with an MA in social and organizational psychology.(Drew is attending college during work hours and still being paid, not too shabby, and why the hell not taxpayers sent him to CHINA once before)"