Some BOF members clueless about lobbyists

To the editor,

I’m a longtime resident of our city and recently retired. While in the past I haven’t had time to observe our city boards, I now do. Since I worked extensively with lobbyists throughout my professional career I thought it would be interesting to hear what the Board of Finance thought about them when they discussed the city’s new lobbyist at their June 14 meeting. While I applauded the views of Mary Lou Rinaldi and David. Kooris, I was shocked that Kieran Ryan, a lawyer, and Sal Gabriele were clueless.

For years I’ve worked with cities across the country who all use lobbyist to ensure they get their fair share of federal funds designated for their city. However, statement after statement from Mr. Ryan and Mr. Gabriele were filled with comments that didn’t make sense. Gabriele suggested our senators and congressmen’s staff could do the work of the lobbyist. Ryan thought the lobbyist would be doing legal work, which they would not. Later he and Gabriele refused to support the city having a lobbyist. Chairman Richard Freedman said it right when he questioned why they would “disarm the city” by making it the only major city without a lobbyist.

Hearing these statements and knowing the critical role lobbyist play in getting federal dollars for our city, this left me speechless and wondering, if they don’t understand the very basics about lobbyist what else do they not understand? If they are responsible for making critical financial decisions for the city, as a retired resident I plan to keep a very close eye on Ryan and Gabriele. I don’t need my taxes to go up unnecessarily but if they had their way with lobbyist we would be losing federal dollars that we, the local taxpayers, would have to make up. Now that’s ridiculous. Randy Kinder

Stamford