Maturo won’t seek a new term

Longtime mayor says he will retire from public office

EAST HAVEN — East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr., announced Saturday that he would not seek reelection this November.

“After careful reflection and discussions with family and friends, I have decided that I will not be seeking any elective office this November. At the end of my current term as Mayor, I will be nearing my 69th birthday, and have decided that it is timeforme to spend more time with my family, and to start enjoying life as a fulltime retiree,” Maturo wrote in his announcement.

Maturo had raised speculation about the possibility of running as an independent candidate in the fall election for the mayor’s office. His announcement Saturday ended speculation that he would be a candidate.

Councilman “Big Steve” Tracey defeated former Board of Finance member Salvatore Maltese in the Republican primary Tuesday, and will face Democrat Joe Carfora and independent candidate Oni Sioson in the Nov. 5 general election.

Discussions about Maturo’s political future were ongoing.

Maturo, who has served a total of nine terms as mayor — including five from 19972007 and four since defeating Democratic Mayor April Capone by 34 votes and returning to office in 2011 — had announced in June that he wouldn’t seek the GOP endorsement.

Maturo concluded his

announcement:

“As a Republican in a town where there are twice as many registered Democrats as there are Republicans, at times it proved difficult to keep winning elections, but we were able to do so anyway.

“I believe we were able to do so because my administration always put the interests of the residents first. To put it very simply, as an elected official you have to listen to your constituents and govern by their wishes,” he said. “I am also very proud that during my tenure we were able to maintain excellent financial stability for East Haven. Every tax dollar we were able to save helped our residents with their discretionary spending in their everyday life.

“I am hopeful that my successor will keep East Haven on the sound fiscal footing that we have planted,” he said in the statement. “I will be supporting the entire Republican ticket in the upcoming election with the sincere hope that the new administration will continue to build upon our success.”

Since returning to office in 2011, Maturo has been at the center of a number of highprofile controversies, beginning with a nationwide firestorm that followed remarks that “I might have tacos for dinner” when a WPIX TV reporter asked him what he was doing for the Latino community that night in light of the Jan. 24, 2012 arrests of four town police officers in a federal profiling probe.

Maturo

Maturo had been under fire in recent months concerning a sexual harassment case and his use of a townowned car that was involved in a collision.

In the sexual harassment case, the town and its attorneys in September 2018 negotiated a compromise to pay $175,000 to the former employee who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit Maturo.

At the time the settlement was announced, East Haven Town Attorney Joseph Zullo said the compromise brought a “swift and favorable conclusion to both the federal wage and overtime and state court lawsuits brought by Francine Carbone.”

The suit has “threatened to drain the town’s coffers and rip apart the fiber of our community,” Zullo said in September 2018.

The release at the time said the town negotiated a compromise in which, in addition to the payment to Carbone, she would be provided with “medical benefits until age 65, along (with) an inexpensive supplement thereafter — benefits Mrs. Carbone would have likely received had her employment not abruptly concluded in 2014.” The compromise represented a conclusion her employment and nonemployment claims against the town, which had been pending since 2015.

Maturo