{news} W.F. and Inden. Parties paid relatives to poll watch, work on campaigns

[Tim McKee]

[IMAGE] Saturday, January 24, 2009 3:15 AM EST

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Independents shared wealth

$125,000 from state went to more than signs

BY PENELOPE OVERTON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

WATERBURY — The state gave almost $125,000 in public money to local
Independent politicians running for the state legislature last year,
giving the cash-strapped third party a shot at a financially level
playing field. So what did they do with the taxpayers' money?

Recently filed state campaign finance reports show Independent candidates
bought their fair share of slogan-splattered campaign pens, T-shirts and
lawn signs, but they also paid their friends, relatives of friends, and
each other.

Mike Telesca, an Independent candidate for the 73rd House District,
earned $6,000 from fellow Independent candidates Cicero B. Booker Jr.,
Frank A. Burgio Sr. and Arthur J. Denze Sr. for shooting their TV ads.

The four men also serve together on the city's Board of Aldermen.

Lawrence DePillo, the founder of the Independent Party and a former
candidate for mayor, earned $11,000 from Booker, Burgio and Denze in
consulting fees for serving as their campaign treasurer. He served as the
town committee treasurer for free.

And they paid 55 of their friends and fellow party members, including
relatives of one another, to stand at the polls on Election Day handing
out their campaign pens and fliers to voters.

The poll standers earned anywhere from $50 to $140.

"As a third party, we have never had the resources to compensate the
people on our campaigns, but now, thanks to the public financing law, we
finally have a shot at the level playing field we've always wanted,"
DePillo said. "It's about time."

The finance law was not without its downside, however. The amount of time
required to document a candidate's eligibility — candidates had to raise
enough money from individual contributions to get the state cash — was
incredible, DePillo said.

"It wasn't a matter of hours, or even days, but weeks," DePillo said.
"Every dime had to be traced, documented and defended. I have donated my
time to the party in the past, but I knew the new reporting requirements
made this almost a full-time job."

DePillo defended the payment of poll standers. The Working Families Party
pays its poll standers, and a number of them were in Waterbury working on
behalf of the Booker campaign, which Working Families cross-endorsed,
DePillo said.

The leaders of the local Independent Party felt it would be unfair to
have their people standing next to the Working Families volunteers,
drinking the same cold coffee as they did, knowing that one group was
getting paid while another was not, DePillo said.

"Poll standing is hard work," DePillo said. "You are out there in the
cold on your feet with barely enough time to eat a sandwich or run to the
bathroom for 14 hours. I wish we could have paid people in the past, but
we couldn't. Now we can."

"Poll standing is hard work," DePillo said. "You are out there in the
cold on your feet with barely enough time to eat a sandwich or run to the
bathroom for 14 hours. I wish we could have paid people in the past, but
we couldn't. Now we can."

No Independent candidate who got public money paid a relative to be a
poll stander, DePillo said.

However, some paid each other's relatives to stand, and in some cases,
due to overlapping districts, it might have been at the same polling
place.

For example, Booker, the party candidate in the 15th Senate District,
paid Denze's niece, Brenda, $125 for standing at the polls, while Denze,
the party's candidate for the 71st House District seat, paid Cicero's
relative, Conrad, the same for standing for him.

Some local political insiders say it is unusual to pay poll standers. The
former chairman of the Democratic Party, Ron Napoli, said the local
Democratic Party does not have to pay poll standers because they have
plenty of people willing to volunteer their time.

DePillo said his party hasn't had trouble finding volunteer poll standers
for past city races, but it is more difficult for a state legislative
race.

Public financing might have changed the campaign rules for major parties,
too.

Republican incumbent Selim Noujaim, who beat Burgio in the 74th House
District with the help of public financing, paid for poll standing, as
did Joan Hartley, the incumbent Democrat who defeated Booker in the 15th
Senate District, records show.
[IMAGE] [IMAGE]


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Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282
 National Committee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com

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