Democrats Want Manafort Sign Gone
They Say Adding ‘Sr.’ Not Enough
NEW BRITAIN — Tweaking the name Paul Manafort Drive to Paul Manafort Sr. Drive last month just wasn’t enough, city Democratic leaders say.
They want the Manafort name off the street sign altogether.
“It’s scandalous, it’s an embarrassment to New Britain,” said Carlo Carlozzi, majority leader of the common council.
Carlozzi and six other Democratic aldermen are proposing to rename the road Ebenezer D.C. Bassett Wayto honor the first black graduate of the Normal School, predecessor to Central Connecticut State University.
Holding a 9-6 majority, Democrats are confident the measure will pass when the council meets Wednesday night. Whether Republican Mayor Erin Stewart would go along, however, remains to be seen.
The suggestion is likely to trigger a new round of debate about whether New Britain should continue honoring the late Paul Manafort Sr., a former mayor.
For the past year, Stewart has insisted there’s no reason to harm the senior Manafort’s reputation because of the misdeeds of his son, Paul
Manafort.
The younger Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, has been making headlines around the world. This month he agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. In August he was convicted of eight felony charges in federal court, and later pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges.
When he was indicted last year, the name of the road along CCSU’s campus quickly became controversial. The city had designated it in1994 as Paul Manafort Drive to recognize the senior Manafort.
Last winter Farmington resident Dan Russell launched an online petition to change it, saying “This street next to New Britain’s featured university should honor a better name.”
Stewart rejected the idea because the honor was intended for the father, not the son. When the topic arose again last month, she gave the same response, saying “Mr. Manafort served the city for a long time, he was a war veteran. You can’t control what your kids do and what they don’t — that doesn’t take away from the service that the father gave to the city.”
But days later, city workers put up a new green street sign with a different name: Paul Manafort Sr. Drive.
Carlozzi and his caucus said this week that there’s just too much disgrace around the Manafort name to leave it in place.
“The name Paul Manafort has been mired in national scandal and guilty pleas,” according to the resolution they’re putting forward. “The recent addition of the word ‘Sr.’ to the name still brings attention to the national scandal and brings embarrassment to the city.”
The resolution adds that the senior Manafort had “no connection” with CCSU.
Former resident Patricia Karwoski went further this month when she called on the council to find a better name. She emphasized that the senior Manafort was charged — but never convicted — in connection with a municipal corruption scheme during his administration.
“Why not re-name Manafort Drive after a true New Britain hero?,” she asked. “Manafort Senior was mired in corruption.”
The Manafort family’s friends have said there’s no reason to roll back the honor for the former mayor. But his granddaughter, Jessica Manafort, this month filed papers to legally change her name to Jessica Anne Bond “to separate myself and my work from a public perception that has nothing to do with the person that I am.”
New Britain Democrats say Bassett is a vastly better choice for the road name.
In 1853, Bassett became the first African-American to graduate from the Connecticut Normal School, and went on to become a teacher, a principal and the nation’s first African-American ambassador.
Bassett served as the nation’s top diplomat to Haiti for eight years.
“He is the only American ever to be given the title of consul general in Haiti,” said William Fothergill, a counselor at CCSU’s wellness center who chairs a committee seeking to honor Bassett on campus.
“Ambassador Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett is probably one of the most honorable individuals — the most distinguished individuals — who graduated from what is currently Central Connecticut State University,” Fothergill said. “He embodies the principles of our students.”
Fothergill’s committee has worked for a decade to promote Bassett’s name, and is pressing CCSU to name its new social sciences building after him.
Fothergill said he knows there is some support on campus for renaming Paul Manafort Sr. Drive in Bassett’s honor. Fothergill likes the idea, but said the campaign remains focused on getting the Bassett name on a classroom building.
“Anything that honors him is good, but we can’t get sidetracked,” he said.