Tetreau Accused Of Violating Campaign Law By Fairfield Selectman

FAIRFIELD, CT — Days before a major town election, a Fairfield official has filed a complaint with the state alleging the first selectman violated campaign law.

Selectman Chris Tymniak, in a complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, accused First Selectman Mike Tetreau of breaking election law by hiring a campaign adviser with taxpayer funds. Tetreau, a Democrat, is in the midst of a fiercely contested race against state Rep. Brenda Kupchick. Tymniak, a Republican, is not seeking reelection.

Tetreau hired consultant Chris Gidez to assist with communications in the weeks following the August arrests of two town employees and a former contractor in connection with dumping at the public works fill pile, as well as the discovery of contaminated material at sites across town. Emails from Gidez to Tetreau that were obtained by Tymniak address topics including Kupchick, a blog about contamination in Fairfield and the Republican response to the controversy.

"He knows exactly what he did, all of the evidence is there," Tymniak said.

Tymniak's complaint references the emails as well as a draft plan from Gidez that suggested using surrogates to "call out" people who raised public fears about contamination. The complaint also alleges Tetreau tried to hide the work Gidez performed by categorizing Gidez as an environmental consultant in a statement submitted to the Board of Finance.

"He did everything possible to hide who he was paying and getting advice from," Tymniak said.

Gidez billed the town for just under $20,000 over the course of three months. His contract did not go before the Board of Selectmen. Tetreau has said that he did not originally expect Gidez's work to exceed 30 days or $10,000 — the maximum amount of time and money for which a contract can be granted without board approval under the Town Charter — and that he should have updated selectmen when the services extended beyond those parameters. Gidez operates a reputation management firm called G7 Reputation Advisory but was hired by the town as an individual.

At an Oct. 21 Board of Finance meeting, Chief Fiscal Officer Bob Mayer said Gidez was categorized as an environmental consultant on the statement due to an error on the part of an internal auditor.

"Mr. Tymniak is doing nothing more than playing politics and certainly trying to get his last political shot in right before the election," Tetreau said, adding his campaign hired its own communications consultant, independent of the town.

Tetreau maintained that public communications created in collaboration with Gidez and sent to residents were accurate and objective. If Gidez sent Tetreau an internal email outside the bounds of his work for the town, Tetreau didn't respond, he said.

In an email Wednesday to subscribers to his office's distribution list, Tetreau said Gidez, "helped the Town stay on top of and address misinformation."

"Addressing misinformation is not political advice or strategy," Tetreau said in the email.

There are several potential outcomes for Tymniak's complaint, including a hearing under the elections enforcement commission, a settlement and a referral to the chief state's attorney's office, among others, according to a document provided by the commission.