Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

United we can force the change of Binding Arbitration Laws and other State Mandates, instill ethical standards in local and state government, and ultimately control taxes.� We can also force the change of Eminent Domain laws and stop government from taking possession of our homes.��

Come and meet Mike Guarco of the�

�Connecticut Municipal Consortium for Fiscal Responsibility�

Learn how you can help Mike bring town officials on board with his organization and challenge the state mandates which are driving up our property taxes.� Refer to Tax Talk 60 for further information on Mike�s success.� Also, read below of the Town of Somers joining Mike�s organization.� If you wish to be put on the Jan 28 Agenda or plan to attend, please contact me at 841-8032.�� Susan Kniep�

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Somers to join consortium in fight for greater local budget control

By:Tracy E. Gilchrist, Journal Inquirer, 01/12/2006, SOMERS - Three town boards by consensus Monday decided to join a statewide consortium whose goal is to petition the legislature to give towns greater control over their own budgets.� The Board of Selectmen and Board of Education voted to join the Connecticut Municipal Consortium for Fiscal Responsibility, which currently has a membership of 77 towns.� Although the Board of Finance lacked a quorum to officially vote Monday, Finance Board member George F. Warner said Wednesday that, based on discussions with other board members, there exists an unofficial consensus to join.� The Finance Board will take a formal vote at its Jan. 23 meeting.� Warner said in a news release that the consortium was formed in response to taxpayer discontent and local budget defeats, adding that the rate of budget rejections remains high, while local property taxes increase at about 5 percent each year.� First Selectmen David Pinney said today that it's tough for small towns to maintain a presence regarding critical decisions made by the legislature.�� He added that the consortium provides towns the opportunity to consolidate in voicing their concerns.� "There's strength in numbers," Warner said of towns banding together to petition legislators.� Continued at http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15915140&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=569430&rfi=6

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LET�S TALK ETHICS

Thursday, January 26, 2006 from 7 PM to 9 PM at

First Church, 81 High Street, Suffield

A Meeting Hosted by Common Cause to Discuss

The Enactment of Municipal Ethics Laws �

The following is a message from Common Cause as provided by John Kane, info@johnkanephoto.com of New Milford.��

Greetings, on Thursday, Jan. 26, from 7 to 9 PM Connecticut Common Cause will be hosting a meeting to discuss a multi-year strategy for the enactment of a broad and comprehensive municipal ethics reform package at the First Church, 81 High Street, Suffield.� Over the years, Connecticut Common Cause has tried to compel state leaders to acknowledge the wisdom of implementing such things as a uniform model code of state ethics and a code of ethics for municipal lobbyists. With the silent defeat (it was never called for a vote) of H.B. 6616 last year � a bill that had the support of Gov. Rell and prominent legislators, It has become apparent that a new strategy to implement change is necessary.�� I�m writing you and other municipal ethics proponents for your help in developing and executing a strategy that can help us achieve meaningful municipal ethics reforms.� In the next week or two I will be sending general announcements, but I wanted to send a quick message to bring the meeting to your attention.� I know Suffield is out of the way for many, but I hope you can make it. Give me a call if you have any questions.� Thanks,� Andy Sauer, Executive Director, Connecticut Common Cause, 55 Oak St., Hartford, CT 06106, 860.549.1220, 860.549.5131 (fax), 860.539.6846 (cell)� www.commoncause-ct.org

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Wal-Mart Mulls Legal Challenge to New Maryland Law That Targets Health Spending January 13, 7:00 pm ET, By Tom Stuckey, Associated Press Writer, ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., faced with a new Maryland law designed to pressure the retail chain into spending more money on health insurance for its employees, is considering a challenge to the groundbreaking legislation. Continued at this website:� http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060113/wal_mart_law.html?.v=2

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Fraud trial charts high roller Anthony Autorino's wild ride

By:Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, 01/13/2006, A federal jury this week began to hear the story of the roller-coaster business fortunes of Anthony D. Autorino, a onetime president of what was then known as Hamilton Standard, a partner of the powerful in Hartford-area realty and business dealings, and the owner of a Somers horse farm.� Autorino's affairs as an entrepreneur since the mid-1980s have embroiled him in controversy and a federal criminal case, which is being tried in U.S. District Court in New Haven. The jury heard about only a small segment of Autorino's business history on the first day of the fraud trial on Wednesday, delivered through the low-key testimony of a former credit analyst for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Charles Pryce of Glastonbury. But one of the things Pryce told the jurors about was a stunning reversal in Autorino's fortunes. On June 30, 1990, Autorino's adjusted net worth - the sum of his assets less his liabilities - was well over $25 million. But just 18 months later, on Dec. 31, 1991, he had a negative net worth of more than $13 million.� Continued at the following website:� http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15924597&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6

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Murray Renshaw, murraytheeye@snet.net

New London

Subject:� Appreciation to FCTO for Informative Material and Website

January 14, 2006

Susan and Associates,

Thanks for the 63'rd edition of Tax Talk. The information certainly is far reaching and very informative. The ABC segment on Charter Schools and our educational system was a gem. What are we going to do??? ]High taxes, increasing fuel, electric and soaring cost of living costs are becoming more and more difficult to fund by working men and women and especially unfair to senior's and people on fixed incomes- For once in my life I am afraid. Please keep the information coming- Your web site is the best of all.� Regards from New London Murray

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Doug Schwartz, thedougschwartz@gmail.com

New London

Newton Lawyers Seek To Ease Sentence, By EDMUND H. MAHONY
And CHRISTOPHER KEATING Courant Staff Writers, January 14 2006

Ex-Sen. Ernest Newton's lawyers filed a plea for a light sentence for their client Friday. The 28-page document delves extensively into the legal technicalities of federal sentencing guidelines but ignores assertions by prosecutors that Newton was a corrupt hustler who took campaign cash for favors to mobsters and demanded a raise for a no-show job.� The sentencing memorandum also sets the stage for plea for leniency based on claims that Newton has had a long career in public service, first as a member of the Bridgeport City Council and later as a state representative and state senator.�� Attached to the legal arguments were 19 letters from political colleagues, friends and relatives attesting to Newton's good character, his struggle against drug addiction and his history of work in behalf of the public.�� Newton is trying to persuade Senior U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas to give him a sentence below the 57- to 71-month range recommended by the U.S. Probation Office. Federal prosecutors, in a sentencing memo filed Thursday, accused Newton of engaging in a remarkable pattern of criminal behavior while in office - a pattern the prosecutors hope will persuade Nevas to impose a long sentence.�� Nevas on Friday postponed Newton's sentencing hearing from next week to Feb. 3 at the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. Newton pleaded guilty in September to bribery, tax evasion and mail fraud.�
Newton's lawyers argue among other things that the probation department is recommending an improperly lengthy sentence based on the erroneous conclusion that an FBI wiretap recorded Newton attempting to obstruct justice.� The wiretap captured Newton speaking by telephone with Warren Godbolt, the operator of a Bridgeport jobs training agency, who had paid Newton $5,000 for his help in getting the agency a state construction grant.�� During the recorded conversation, Newton attempts to persuade Godbolt to lie to the FBI by claiming that the $5,000 wasn't a bribe, but a consulting fee. During the same conversation, Newton instructs Godbolt to prepare a federal tax form belatedly in a further attempt to disguise the payment. �Newton's lawyers contend the wiretap recording was made after Godbolt had begun cooperating with FBI agents. In a leap of legal logic, they contend Newton could not have obstructed justice because Godbolt was acting with FBI agents, who knew Newton was trying to induce a lie.� "Putting the guidelines aside, it is extremely hard to imagine how anything Mr. Newton said or did, then or later, could possibly obstruct justice when the FBI was sitting there with Godbolt, and in possession of evidence [from Godbolt, wiretaps and other sources] showing that Godbolt did indeed pay Mr. Newton," the defense sentencing memo says.� Godbolt was just one of several small business owners in Bridgeport who federal prosecutors say paid bribes to Newton in return for legislative assistance he promised them.� The prosecutors also say Newton obtained a no-show job through now-imprisoned former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim, and then demanded a raise. And the prosecutors say Newton attempted to intervene with Bridgeport city officials on behalf of a mobster who wanted the police to stop raiding his strip clubs. The mobster later contributed to Newton's 2004 campaign and bailed Newton's son out of jail after a 2004 arrest.�� One of those who wrote character letters for Newton was state Rep. Robert Keeley, probably Newton's closest friend in the legislature. Keeley often drove Newton to the state Capitol from their hometown of Bridgeport, including during the years when Newton has disclosed he was fighting a cocaine addiction. Keeley was the only lawmaker who attended Newton's guilty plea in September.� "I have known Ernest since the 70's and I know him to be a good person who has dedicated his life to public service," Keeley wrote.�� Letters also were written by Sen. Bill Finch, elected as a Bridgeport senator in November 2000, and Rep. Reginald Beamon of Waterbury, with whom Newton served as a member of the legislature's Black and Latino Caucus.� All three legislators are Democrats, as is Newton.�� None of the senior lawmakers with whom Newton served during 17 years in the legislature provided letters.

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