Connecticut's Citizens' Election Program awards substantial sums, in excess of $85,000 for a state Senate race, to candidates who meet its qualifications for demonstrating they have enough grassroots support from voters to wage a campaign.īut the State Elections Enforcement Commission imposes restrictions on the receipt of this money. The nature of their relationship is not a question of nosiness. Specifically, I asked Miron in emails, voicemail messages and letters over a five-month period if he is married to Habelka, engaged in a common-law marriage, in a domestic partnership or in a close personal relationship, such as a "significant other." He declined to be interviewed. He also was offered the chance to explain why his media strategist, Heather Habelka, who lives with him in Stratford, is registered to vote at the same address and runs Red Poppy Marketing LLC from their home, received $8,060.87 from his state Senate campaign committee, with the lion's share of those funds incurred in the last two weeks of the campaign. Miron, who enjoys commenting and bantering with Stratfordites on his and other blogs, declined a dozen requests to explain how he and his campaign committee plan to pay this printer. He doesn't indicate in that email what might happen to any excess money raised. "The campaign would provide the names and address of folks to invite that are still able to contribute under campaign finance law and you could invite anyone else that might be interested in attending to help retire this debt with the understanding that 100 percent of the proceeds up to the amount owed would go to your company." "In thinking of ways to get this debt retired (or substantially reduced), I suggest we partner and host a retire-the-debt fundraiser together," Miron tells Fiorillo in an email. Case in point: the candidate's suggestion for dealing with his financial obligations to Andrew Graphics. In Democratic circles, Miron is known as a gregarious attorney, a micro-manager with a huge ego and a lot of chutzpah. We've never ever had a customer stiff us." "In the 31 years of doing business, we have never been treated in such a shabby way. "All we want is to be paid for the work we've done," Bob Fiorillo, president of Andrew Graphics, says. At that rate, it would take Miron 34.8 years to extinguish the debt, without interest charges. The balance owed to Andrew Graphics is $12,522.90 and Miron authorized his mayoral campaign treasurer to offer to pay the business $30 per month to retire the debt after the November 2010 state elections. The first entities that a campaign committee need to pay should be the contractors they hire. Politicians who want We the People to entrust them with our hard-earned taxpayer dollars need to show they can manage their finances. This is the last thing that the Stratford Democratic Town Committee or the Democratic State Central Committee ought to allow. Kevin Kelly in a rematch in the 21st state Senate District. Now the scuttlebutt is that Miron wants to return to elective office, either to challenge the Republican Stratford Mayor John Harkins, who defeated him in 2009, or take on state Sen.
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