Top 10 of 2019: #3 – Stewarts: “A Class Act”

Many important stories have been covered by the New Britain Progressive in 2019. It may be difficult to name only a few articles as the top stories of the year, but there are a few the New Britain Progressive would like to share as our Top Ten.  Other Top Ten stories can be found at “Top Ten Stories of 2019.”

---

Gloating antics and a vulgar hand gesture in their 2019 electoral win celebration put the character of the two Stewart mayors on unflattering display.

Republican Mayor Erin Stewart had reported been ungraciously gloating at the election loss of former Ald. Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. (D-5), a frequent critic of her policies, when Republican former Mayor Timothy Stewart, Erin Stewart’s father, stood beside her and made a middle finger gesture. (“A Class Act”.)

The Council member whose election loss the Stewarts were celebrating, Carlozzi, the former Council Majority Leader, has been a strong critic such Stewart polices as Stewart’s tax increases, Stewart’s increases in city debt and the Stewart proposals to sell the Patton Brook Well and to allow strip-mining of the city’s protected drinking watershed land. He is also widely known as a polite, respectful and courteous public figure.

By their the gloating-middle finger duo act, the Stewart mayors cast themselves in the opposite light and made this moment one of the New Britain Progressive‘s Top Ten Stories of 2019.

---

“A Class Act”

November 7, 2019

The latest Stewart scandal is drawing widespread condemnation, as people react to a triumphalist, middle-finger gesture at a public Republican event.

As reported in the Hartford Courant, Republican Mayor Erin Stewart was openly gloating at the election loss of Ald. Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. (D-5), a frequent critic of her policies, when her father, former Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart, “stepped up alongside her, put his hands in the air and flipped a vulgar gesture with both middle fingers toward the ceiling, apparently directed toward Carlozzi.”

The moment was reportedly caught on video, but that video, apparently by a Stewart supporter, was later removed from the internet, according to Carlozzi.

The Courant also reported that Erin Stewart refused to comment on the matter.

Comments online about the latest Stewart scandal have been scathing, including comments such as,

That’s absolutely disgusting.  I’m sorry Carlo

That is rude and disgusting! He’s following the tone from the top, the White House buffoon.

I don’t care what your political leanings are–this family has no class. Whether you like Carlozzi or not, he served the city for a decade, thank him for his service and refrain from gloating. Politics in New Britain are downright EMBARRASSING.

There is a way to win with dignity.  The Mayor should always display the dignity befitting the office.  Not this Mayor, apparently. No dignity. No class.

Among the advocacy by Carlozzi, the Council Majority Leader, has been his strong criticism of Stewart tax increases, Stewart’s increases in city debt and the Stewart proposals to sell the Patton Brook Well and to allow strip-mining of the city’s protected drinking watershed land.

Carlozzi, however, said that the election loss, “will not stop me from speaking out on these matters that are important to the residents and taxpayers of the City of New Britain.”

The latest Stewart scandal is being widely viewed against the backdrop of two other scandals that led to the former Republican mayor being forced to relinquish the powerful position of President of the Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce.

In 2017, Timothy Stewart’s comment, “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, drew fierce condemnation and accusations of racism from city residents.

Timothy Stewart was protected at that time by the local Republican establishment, despite calls for his removal. The Chamber of Commerce has had 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 the Chair of the Chamber Board of Directors that employed Timothy Stewart, during that scandal, Gennaro Bizzarro, was and is, himself, employed by Erin Stewart as the city’s Corporation Counsel.

When Erin Stewart sought to distance herself from the Chamber of Commerce in 2017, as calls rose for Timothy Stewart to be removed as Chamber President, it was Bizzarro who announced that the elder Stewart would remain as Chamber President, despite the public outrage. Bizzarro, a Republican, is now also the State Senator for the 6th Senatorial District, which includes New Britain.

Then, in 2019, Timothy Stewart referred to female members of Congress online as, “B-tches in heat.”

Erin Stewart again sought to distance herself from the Chamber of Commerce, but Timothy Stewart resigned from the Chamber presidency amid pressure from a resolution from City Council Democrats that would have frozen city support for the Chamber until Stewart resigned or was fired.

Between his own position in the Chamber of Commerce and his daughter’s as mayor, Timothy Stewart was reputed have to been exercising great influence in the affairs of the community.

Recently, the Hartford Business Journal reported that Timothy Stewart is now working as a commercial real estate agent for Reno Properties Group.

The Hartford Business Journal said that Reno managing broker Michael Gallon said that, “Stewart’s initial task is soliciting retail tenants for a new $80-million mixed-use development — known as Columbus Commons — located near a downtown New Britain CTfastrak bus station.”

A July, 2019 press release from Erin Stewart’s office said that, “Columbus Commons is a joint venture between Xenolith Partners and Dakota Partners. The site is located at 145 Columbus Blvd in New Britain and was formerly the site of the New Britain Police Station. The City solicited development proposals through an RFP in December 2015 and awarded the project in mid-2016. The team is now in construction on the first phase of this sustainable, transit-oriented two-phase, mixed-use development. The first phase is expected to be completed by January 2020.”