GOP Chair: Filed FOIA For Release Of Carfora Tax Records

Submitted by Bob Parente, chair of the East Haven Republican Town Committee:

"On Thursday, East Haven Republican Town Chairman Bob Parente announced that he has submitted information requests to the Town of North Haven and the Internal Revenue Service under State and Federal "Freedom of Information" laws requesting copies of offers and compromises, settlements, or any other documents evidencing outstanding sums due for taxes and/or payment arrangements made by or on behalf of Joseph Carfora or his company, 366 Old Maple Associates, LLC, relating to debts accruing or outstanding from 2005 to the present.

Parente explained, "Ten days ago, we demanded that candidate Carfora be transparent and come clean with the people of East Haven regarding his serious, ongoing tax problems. Since then, he has dipped, dodged, ducked, and done everything but come clean. He says he is meeting his obligations, but he has refused to confirm what those obligations are and has dodged releasing any documents to show he is meeting them."

Parente added, "Since he refuses to be transparent, I have submitted freedom of information requests today to both the Internal Revenue Service and the Town of North Haven for copies of offers and compromises, settlements, or any other documents evidencing outstanding sums due for taxes and/or payment arrangements made by or on behalf of Joseph Carfora or 366 Old Maple Associates, LLC relating to debts accruing or outstanding from 2005 to the present."

On October 7th, Parente slammed Carfora for misrepresenting his outstanding tax indebtedness during his bid for Mayor of East Haven after a whistleblower disseminated documents to press and local leaders documenting that Carfora had racked up almost $400,000.00 dollars in federal and local tax debt over the last fifteen years.

According to the documents, and a letter transmitted with the documents, Mr. Carfora currently owes $247,861.48 in back taxes to the IRS, including Federal "1040," "941," and "6672" taxes. The documents detail that Mr. Carfora, though a shell real estate company called "366 Old Maple Associates, LLC," owes the Town of North Haven $40,780.90 in delinquent real estate taxes for the property which serves as the base of operations for the candidate's business, "Carfora Carriers, LLC." The documents allege that Carfora has missed in upwards of forty-one state and local tax payments dating back to 2005.

In the weeks following the criticism from Parente, Carfora has maintained on multiple occasions that he is "meeting [his] obligations," including most recently during the East Haven mayoral debate Tuesday night. Although Carfora has made assurances that he has squared the debt away, he has refused to release any documents to substantiate his claims.

Parente noted, "Carfora is big on criticizing the outgoing administration on transparency. He claims he will be transparent if he is elected. However, he continues to do everything he can to avoid releasing any documents that would prove he is meeting his financial obligations."

Parente added, "There is either something in those documents he does not want the people of East Haven to see or the documents simply don't exist. Either way, we're going to know shortly. If either the IRS or Town of North Haven indicate there are no documents evidencing settlements, compromises, or payment arrangements, Mr. Carfora will have a lot of explaining to do to the people of East Haven."

Parente concluded, “The people of East Haven have a right to know, before they go to the polls, whether or not Mr. Carfora's future town paycheck may be garnished or whether he will be dragged into court to answer for his tax debts. Either situation would be an embarrassment to the Town. Even more importantly, if Mr. Carfora's finances are in such poor shape and he is failing to meaningfully address the problems, it casts serious doubt on his qualifications to run our Town's $91 million dollar budget."