Mayor's Race: GOP & Democratic Dueling Op-Eds

From statements emailed to Patch by the East Haven Republican Town Committee and from the campaign of Democratic mayoral candidate Joe Carfora. A pdf file of related documents was attached and can be found here.

"On Monday, East Haven Republican Town Chairman Bob Parente slammed mayoral candidate Joe Carfora for misrepresenting the size and seriousness of the candidate's personal and business tax debt."

Parente explained, "Back in April, Mr. Carfora explained that family obligations took a toll on his personal and business finances, but pledged that he had 'rebounded' and was cleaning up the debt. According to official documents disseminated by a whistleblower and recorded on the land records in both East Haven and North Haven, Mr. Carfora, personally and through his business, owes a staggering $289,533.18 in back taxes to both the IRS and the Town of North Haven," Parente wrote.

Parente added, "Mr. Carfora is not rebounding, he is sinking. Even worse, he failed to disclose the magnitude of this debt and misrepresented the seriousness of the issue."

According to Parente, a whistleblower delivered packages to local and state leaders sometime last week detailing the extent of Mr. Carfora's tax delinquencies. Others receiving the package included local elected officials, press outlets, and past and present local party chairs."

Parente explained,"Last week, a whistleblower delivered documents to a number of people documenting the extent and seriousness of Mr. Carfora's debt. I was so thoroughly concerned and stunned by the revelations, I took a week to verify the authenticity of the documents before deciding to comment," he wrote.

"According to the documents, and a letter transmitted with the documents, Mr. Carfora 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."

Parente added, "Although Mr. Carfora has sought to minimize and justify his debt problem, it is not an isolated incident. These documents spell out a pattern of irresponsible financial conduct dating back almost fifteen years. "

"According to the documents, Carfora's tax and other delinquencies since 2005 have totaled almost $450,000 dollars. The documents detail missed payments to private companies, the CT Department of Revenue Services, the Regional Water Authority, the Town of North Haven, and the IRS."

Parente explained, "This is not the kind of financial record residents would expect or want to see from someone seeking to run a $91 million dollar budget. This is a long-standing, disturbing pattern of tax avoidance and irresponsibility."

Parente concluded, "I am saddened that Mr. Carfora sought to minimize and avoid discussing this serious issue. The people of East Haven should be concerned about Mr. Carfora's fiscal problems. They should be even more concerned about his convenient avoidance of the issue. No explanation will justify Mr. Carfora's silence, to-date, or his failure to pay. Nevertheless, he owes the residents a thorough, honest explanation."

Carfora responded

"I expected my opponent to attack me personally- and apparently that time has come. This isn’t a new line of attack. Like so many families here in East Haven, there have been difficult times in my life that brought about these financial difficulties. Losing my family home to a fire and divorce after 20 years of marriage certainly sets one back-- and they did. But what really impacted my business and financial situation to the core was that I took time away to care for my mother who was sick with cancer- the disease that ultimately took her life. While I would not trade a minute of that time with my mom, the time away from my business hurt me severely. But like so many other things I learned in my life quitting is not an option. And for each of my obligations I have a plan and have met that plan."

"I was upfront and transparent about these issues when I announced my exploratory committee and I addressed the issue again in my nominating acceptance speech. I have been a small business owner for 38 years and I would never walk away from the obligations of my business. There are NO secrets with me. Can my opponent say the same—only he can answer that."

"When you work as hard as I have to work through issues like those that my family has faced, it makes me reflect on the fact that so many people also face difficulties in their daily lives. Connecticut, while beautiful, can sometimes be a tough state to live in, and certainly a challenging place to run a small business. We all have gone through difficult times and that is precisely why I am running for mayor of East Haven. With these realizations, and a renewed empathy for what taxpayers’ face, it will guide my leadership of our town and help me govern and protect the taxpayers of East Haven."

"When I entered this race, I told you that I would be attacked- and here we are. This campaign needs to be about ideas, solutions, and how to make the quality of people’s lives better."