New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
RTC chairwoman resigns
Gravino felt presence was ‘causing further division within the party’
EAST HAVEN — Republican Town Chairwoman Stacy Gravino resigned over the weekend, telling Republican Town Committee members, “I believe my presence as Chair is causing further division within the party, which is not my intent.”
Gravino also is East Haven’s town clerk, which makes her the highest-ranking Republican elected town official.
She said the resignation stemmed from “just a difference in thinking. I would have liked to take the party in one direction, but I was meeting with resistance and it seems they want to keep it moving in the same old, same old ...”
She said she had felt pressured to criticize Democratic Mayor Joe
Carfora’s budget, among other things. She also said she was not happy with last week’s budget vote, in which three of the Town Council’s four Republican voted against the budget.
“No I’m not happy with that vote, and I’m not happy with people in my party trying to force my hand to disparage the budget or the mayor,” Gravino said. “People are not happy with me being in Town Hall” as an elected official “and have not been quiet about it. These things add up to a headache I really don’t need.”
Her resignation came just over a month after she was elected chairwoman and just days after the town committee met to endorse state Rep. Joseph Zullo, R-East Haven, for a second term representing the 99th General Assembly District.
“Everyone who knows me can understand how difficult of a
decision this is as I am not one to quit when times become rough,” Gravino wrote Sunday in an email to RTC members. “But, at this juncture, the situation within the party will not improve and I do not want to cause further damage to it or to myself.
“I will still maintain my membership on the RTC and I hope I can continue to serve as Co-Captain in District 2,” Gravino wrote. “Thank you to those who supported me now and through the years, I greatly
appreciate it. Good luck to whomever takes the seat.”
The RTC’s vice chairwoman is Beth Purcell, who also is a member of the Board of Finance. Purcell could not immediately be reached for comment.
Gravino said she felt pressured to criticize Carfora after he blamed the town’s current fiscal woes in his State of the Town Address on the administration of Republican former Mayor Joe Maturo Jr.
But she said of Carfora’s criticisms that “unfortunately, those were true statements.”
She said she was hoping that her differences with
other RTC members wouldn’t be enough to stand in the way of her getting the town committee’s endorsement for the upcoming general election.
“I would hope they’re smart enough not to let it affect them,” Gravino said.
Town committee member and former GOP mayoral candidate “Big Steve” Tracey, who Gravino said was at the forefront of the criticism, said the town committee wasn’t looking to have Gravino “bashing the Democrats.”
He said his problem was with Carfora “bashing the former administration” when “he was part of it” —
and voted for many of the things he is now criticizing.
“We’re not looking to bash anybody. We’re not looking to hurt anybody. We’re just looking to put a shield up to protect ourselves,” Tracey said.
He called the position of town chairwoman “a tough position to be in” for Gravino because she also is an elected official with a job in Town Hall.
“All we wanted her to do” was point out that Carfora and his allies were part of the last administration, said Tracey, who also was on the Town Council during the Maturo administration.
“We definitely did not want
the same old, same old.”
Tracey said he did not think that whatever rift might exist was large enough to affect Gravino getting the Town Committee’s endorsement.
“I didn’t know it was that serious” until Gravino resigned, he said.
Town Councilwoman Samantha Parlato, R-4, who voted against the budget along with Councilwoman Linda Hennessey, R-4, and Councilman Sal Maltese, R-2, said Tuesday that she didn’t even know that Gravino had resigned — and that she voted against the budget because she had problems with parts of it.
“There definitely were areas that I was concerned about,” including the reduced funding for fuel for the Public Services Department, Parlato said. She also disapproved of the $10,000 in extra funding for beach staffing “at this time,” she said.
“I was just looking at it as ... if we needed to raise the mill rate, it should have been for the minimal amount possible,” Parlato said.
One Republican, Councilman Robert Ranfone, R-4, voted for the budget.