{news} Gubernatorial hopeful says Bridgeport mayor should go to jail

[clifford thornton]

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16827113&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576&rfi=6&xb=lekoy<http://www.nhregister.com/site/newscfm?newsid=16827113&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576&rfi=6&xb=lekoy>

New Haven
Gubernatorial hopeful says Bridgeport mayor should go to jail 
Angela Carter and Andy Bromage, Register Staff
06/23/2006


NEW HAVEN - Green Party gubernatorial candidate Clifford Thornton on Thursday decried Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi's forced admission that he abused cocaine and alcohol while in office as "a double standard" in the so-called "War on Drugs." 


"Powerful white politicians are held to one standard of behavior and poor brown and black people are prosecuted based on another standard for this same behavior," said Thornton, 61, the first black and the first Green Party candidate for governor in Connecticut.


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Published reports have revealed that Fabrizi's name had come up in documents related to a federal drug investigation.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Kevin J. O'Connor said Fabrizi is not the target of the extensive investigation and had not intended for the documents to become public.

Fabrizi on Tuesday apologized to Bridgeport residents and city employees, saying his performance as mayor never was impeded by his substance abuse and he has no plans of resigning.

Fabrizi declined comment Thursday on Thornton's stance. O'Connor's spokesman, Tom Carson, could not be reached for comment.

Thornton said drug addiction should be treated as a public health issue, rather than a criminal justice matter. He has traveled the United States, New Zealand and England advocating the decriminalization of cocaine and marijuana and for allowing medical uses of those substances.

But because of the enforcement laws on the books, Thornton said Fabrizi first should resign.

"He should secondly be prosecuted and sent to jail and he should have a felony on his record like the tens of thousands of blacks, browns and poor whites in our prison system," he said. "It's time to get to the real deal here."

Thornton also is the founder of Efficacy, a nonprofit that educates the public about drug policies and disparities in the criminal justice system.

His Republican opponent, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, did not directly respond to Thornton's assertions but issued a general statement.

"I was saddened to learn of Mayor Fabrizi's admitted drug abuse. He deserves credit for acknowledging his problem and his candor with the public is much-needed. He must continue to be open and forthcoming as he works to regain the trust of the citizens of Bridgeport."

Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, the Democratic Party's endorsed candidate and a former prosecutor, said it is too early to know if Fabrizi would face legal action.

"You have to be careful that a fair standard is applied to everyone. But as we stand here, the mayor is admitting to an addiction problem, which he says he is in treatment for. I know men, women, white and black in public life who made that kind of admission, got treatment and gone on with their lives," Malloy said. "And then I think there is an important public policy issue here. We want people to come forward and get treatment, so let us be careful what the message is that we send to our populous about seeking treatment," he said.

Malloy will face New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. in an Aug. 9 primary for the party nomination. The winner will go on to face the ever-popular Rell in November.

DeStefano was unavailable for comment Thursday. 




 

Clifford Thornton




©New Haven Register 2006 

Thornton for Governor
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