Agent who arrested politicians now seeks House
seat
By John Christoffersen Associated Press / July 5, 2011
WATERBURY, Conn. - Mike Clark was a young FBI agent when he came to
this long-struggling western Connecticut
city, chasing a corrupt mayor through the streets and hauling him off to
prison.
Some of the state’s most promising and ambitious young Republicans built
their careers here, only to have Clark and the
FBI’s corruption squad take them down. He helped send two Waterbury mayors to prison and supervised an
investigation that sent Governor John G. Rowland, a beloved figure, to prison
for 10 months for corruption.
Now Clark is headed back, without handcuffs, asking the
Republican establishment to send him to Congress, to the same seat that
launched Rowland’s career.
“I’ve got this
unique perspective that I’m bringing to the table,’’ Clark
said.
Clark is seeking
the nomination for next year’s election in the Fifth Congressional District,
which includes wealthy Hartford suburbs and
cities such as Waterbury and Danbury.
He faces plenty
of competition, including House Speaker Christopher Donovan on the Democratic
side and several fellow Republicans. Representative Chris Murphy, a Democrat
who holds the seat, is running for the Senate.
“I don’t see any
real definite front-runner at this point,’’ said Gary Rose, a politics
professor at Sacred
Heart University.
Clark, 56, would
join two other FBI agents in Congress. His FBI background could help him,
though it could pose concerns for some more liberal voters worried about civil
liberties and aggressive law enforcement, Rose said.
“The notion of
law and order and being tough on crime, I think that plays out quite well among
a lot of the ethnic, working class Republicans here in the Fifth District,’’
Rose said.
Several voters
interviewed in downtown Waterbury
agreed.
“I think Connecticut would be
lucky to have someone with his background in Congress,’’ said Dan Bowen, a
60-year-old used book dealer. “The people in Waterbury are basically conservative. They
want law and order, and they want politicians held accountable.’’
Anthony Carosielli, a 52-year-old plumber from Waterbury, expressed concerns about FBI
agents. “Sometimes they’re too gung-ho,’’ Carosielli
said. “They’re very strait-laced, nonbending
individuals.’’
Two decades ago,
Clark chased former Waterbury’s
mayor, Joseph Santopietro, through the street to
arrest him.
Santopietro, elected mayor at 26, said he
had just left church and ran from Clark out of
fear, not sure who was chasing him. Santopietro, who
spent more than six years in prison for corruption, said Clark
has the right to run for office. “It’s a free society. He’s welcome to do that,’’
Santopietro said.
Francis Donnarumma, Waterbury’s attorney at the time who was
convicted of a tax charge and cooperated with government investigators,
recalled Clark visiting his home the day
before his sentencing in a show of support.
“I found that to
be out of the ordinary, and really extraordinary in fact,’’ Donnarumma
said.
Donnarumma said he was thrilled to learn Clark was running for Congress.
“It was
interesting to see someone who has been through that side of government
corruption investigations willing to jump into what is often a treacherous body
of water,’’ he said.
“He has seen the
worst of it. He must perceive a certain goodness in
his fellow citizens that he’s going to jump in and fearlessly go where others
have fallen.’’
Clark is not as
well-known as other candidates such as Lisa Wilson-Foley, a businesswoman who
ran unsuccessfully last year for lieutenant governor.
“There is some
irony,’’ he admits, in becoming a politician after spending a career
investigating them.
While plenty of
politicians conduct listening tours these days, Clark
said he really learned to observe and listen at the FBI as he tried to unravel
complicated schemes.
Federal agents
were wiretapping former Waterbury mayor Philip Giordano for a corruption probe
when they were startled to hear a woman arranging a rendezvous for Giordano
with two girls, ages 9 and 11.
Clark and other
FBI agents arrived at the girls’ home at 2 a.m. to rescue them.
Giordano, who ran
unsuccessfully for the US Senate, was sentenced to 37 years in prison in 2003
for abusing the girls.
“It made me feel
we made a difference,’’ Clark said. http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2011/07/05/fbi_agent_who_busted_conn_politicians_to_run_for_house/