Past and recent actions are coming back to haunt Republican Gennaro Bizzarro’s candidacy for State Senate, with the election only weeks away.
In the span of just two days, Bizzarro has found himself under criticism for two different things, one involving a campaign video and the other his leadership of the Board of Directors of the Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce.
On Tuesday (Febuary 5, 2019), United States Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-5) took Bizzarro to task for a campaign video that has been called deceptive by leaving a false impression that Hayes supported Bizzarro’s candidacy for State Senate.
“I am deeply disappointed that the video posted by Gennaro Bizzarro was taken out of context and used without my permission as an endorsement for his campaign,” said Hayes. “I was congratulating his daughter for her winning submission to an art contest during a Martin Luther King Day celebration recently in New Britain.”
“The images captured on video of me greeting Mr. Bizzarro and his family are not to be viewed as an endorsement or show of support for his campaign of any kind,” Hayes added. “I have asked him to remove the video from all public media immediately.”
Later on that same day, former Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart made a misogynistic comment during the State of the Union address about female members of Congress.
Bizzarro, who is the Chair of the Chamber Board of Directors employing Stewart, according to a WVIT report, criticized Stewart’s comments, saying, “I could not be more disappointed in the social media post made last night by Tim Stewart. His choice of words was inexcusable and has no place in modern civil discourse.” The article said that Stewart had been placed on administrative leave, pending further review by the Chamber Board.
But, the fact that, a little more than a year ago, Bizzarro had defended Stewart after a similar online comment, also widely criticized as bigoted, has raised questions.
In that 2017 scandal, Stewart had said, “Unfortunately the inmates continue to run the neighborhood,” in an online discussion regarding the city’s North-Oak neighborhood, a neighborhood that has a large Latino and African American population.
Many people, including the New Britain Branch of the NAACP, called on Stewart to resign or be removed from his influential position as Chamber President, and from the Mattabassett District Commission and the city School Building Committee, two influential positions in the administration of his daughter, Republican Mayor Erin Stewart.
The Chamber of Commerce has a close relationship with City Hall in New Britain. The elder Stewart became President of the Chamber shortly after the younger Stewart was elected mayor, and Bizzarro, is, himself, employed by Erin Stewart as the city’s Corporation Counsel.
As Erin Stewart sought to distance herself from the scandal roiling the city in 2017 by saying that the Chamber, “is not an entity of the city,” it was Bizzarro who announced that the elder Stewart would remain as Chamber President, despite the public outrage.
The Hartford Courant quoted Bizzarro at that time, defending Stewart from calls for his removal from the Chamber Presidency, saying, “Tim Stewart has been a tremendous advocate for the entire city of New Britain during his tenure as president of the Greater New Britain Chamber.”
Now Bizzarro’s past defense of Stewart in that position is coming back to haunt him.
“Tim Stewart’s comments last night are beyond outrageous,” said Lindsay Farrell, state director of the Working Families Party. “But while the Chamber’s President’s attack on women is shocking, it is not at all surprising. Men like him are all too often protected by other men in positions of power and decision-making roles.
Farrell continued, “Chamber of Commerce Chairman Bizzarro paved the way for this behavior when he defended Mr. Stewart just over a year ago after his racist ‘inmates’ comment, also on social media. These guys look out for each other; Mr. Bizzarro got his job with the city of New Britain from Mr. Stewart, after all.”
In addition to working as Corporation Counsel for Erin Stewart, Bizzarro also worked for the city in that same position for Timothy Stewart when he was mayor.
“Chamber of Commerce Chairman Bizzarro has not gone far enough in placing Mr. Stewart on leave; he needs to call for his immediate termination,” said Farrell. “Anything less sends a signal to other men with derogatory, outdated views of women or anyone else, that this kind of behavior is tolerable and will go without real consequences.”
Bizzarro is running for the State Senate in a February 26, 2019 special election called after former State Senator Terry Gerratana (D-6) joined the administration of Gov. Ned Lamont (D-CT). Bizzarro will face Democratic State Rep. Rick Lopes (D-24) in that election.
