WETHERSFIELD - House District hopefuls Paul Montinieri and Amy Bello aren’t too far apart with respect to platform, so the two former Democratic Mayors attempted to differentiate themselves on track record last month while conversing with 50 Wethersfield Democratic Town Committee (WDTC) via Zoom.

       The candidate forum – part of the WDTC’s April monthly meeting – was held with a little over a month before around 60 delegates from Wethersfield’s 28th District decide who will run this coming fall for retiring State Rep. Russ Morin’s seat.

       Montinieri and Bello didn’t disagree much – if at all – through close to an hour of fielding member questions on education funding, labor legislation, economic development, healthcare policy, and the controversial conclusion to the Hartford State’s Attorney investigation of last April’s fatal officer-involved shooting on the Silas Deane Highway, so they focused mostly on their qualifications for tackling those issues.

       "I'm proud of what we've accomplished under my leadership as Mayor,” said Bello, the current Democratic Minority Leader.

      

       Bello, who’s put a premium on environmental protection measures and economic development stimulus since announcing her run, pointed to the town’s conversion to LED streetlights and the passage of local fracking waste ban, as well as a business influx that included Kay Jewelers and Pasta Vita.

      

       For both candidates the present-day COVID-19 situation was impossible to leave out, as they forecasted its impact on the near-future.

      

       â€�"So much of this session's work will be driven by what's happening now,” Bello said. â€�"This crisis has shown us the need for affordable healthcare.”

      

       Montinieri, in his opening statements, didn’t waste any time addressing the pandemic’s economic impact – particularly as it pertains to the business community that he, as the owner of Kelly Container, is a part of.

      

       He’s been vocal about his work negotiating with state agencies such as the DECD on behalf of business owners desperate for economic relief.

      

       "It's been a crazy couple of months. The flip side of having to confront of that has meant being involved with different liaisons, which has confirmed for me some of the skill sets I think a Rep. will need,” he said. â€�"As difficult as it's been, it's also been enlightening. I've seen how the process can work effectively."

      

      

       State’s Attorney’s Timing Draws Criticism

      

       While other issues would dominate the evening’s discourse, Montinieri and Bello were confronted immediately with Hartford State’s Attorney Gail Hardy’s findings in the case of Layou Eulizier Jr., the Wethersfield police officer whose shots killed 18-year old town resident Anthony Vega Cruz last April.

      

       Hardy’s ruling – that Eulizier feared for his life when he discharged his weapon into the windshield of Cruz’s vehicle, which was moving toward him – went public in mid-March, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was prompting bans on large social gatherings, raising eyebrows as to the motive for the timing.

      

       "The death of Anthony was a tragedy for everyone,” said Bello, who was Mayor at the time. â€�"It was the most difficult issue I dealt with. I understand why it divided people. The State's Attorney's report took too long, and it was a tough wait for our community.”

      

       â€�"The purpose of the report was to determine if the use of force by a police officer was justified under state law with no intent to impede First Amendment rights to protest,” wrote Mark Dupuis, a spokesperson for Hardy’s office, in an email. â€�"The report was released when it was completed and was first provided to representatives of the family and the police officers involved in the incident, who deserved to know the conclusions of this investigation in as timely a fashion as possible. We again express our condolences to Mr. Vega Cruz’s loved ones on their loss.”

      

       But WDTC member Debra Cohen, who raised the issue, seemed more concerned with what comes next – particularly at the local level.

      

       She asked both candidates for their take on officer training, as well as the establishment of a civilian review board – the latter of which, Montinieri acknowledged, would need to come through a Charter Revision, which means the next State Rep. won’t have much involvement in the matter.

      

       So Montinieri, who also lauded Bello’s handling of the post-shooting backlash, pointed to his tenure as Mayor, during which the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project released a report highlighting what appeared to be disproportionate traffic stops of minority motorists – particularly where Wethersfield borders Hartford.

      

       While Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran has disputed the report, pointing to what he describes as flawed methodology, Montinieri said that he engaged him in dialogue at the time, expressing concern about the perception and the potential for further police/community relations issues to arise.

      

       â€�"I was disappointed Jim did not do more with that prior to the end of my term,” he said. â€�"We still have this backdrop, and many officers have told me they’ve since backed off making those stops because they don't want to seem racially insensitive.”

       While Cetran didn’t dispute the characterization – he points to the Project’s own data, which show his Department’s traffic stop volume dropping from 5547 in 2013, the year of the first report, to 2899 in 2017.

       He maintains, however, the position that the Project’s reliance on Census data to set driving population benchmarks creates a false perception of racial disparities as it pertains to traffic stops - particularly for a town bordering Hartford.

       â€�"How can you hold someone accountable with inaccurate numbers?” Cetran said over the phone last week. â€�"Like Paul said the optics look bad but it's based on faulty numbers.”

       While the reports acknowledge the limits of Census data reliance, they also call upon other methods, contends Ken Barone, the Project’s lead researcher.

       Most prominent of those in the wake of the Vega Cruz shooting refers to what activists characterize as â€�"border policing” – or, a higher volume of stops where Wethersfield meets Hartford.

       A 2017 follow-up report pointed to a heavy emphasis on equipment violations relative to state averages and a higher concentration of related stops in the northern Wethersfield neighborhoods bordering Hartford - though the report admits that the sampling was only able to capture 43 percent of the Department’s stops.

       Cetran denies that this is indicative of bias – he says the Department simply sees more calls and motor vehicle accidents in that area.

       â€�"We have the same number of officers patrolling the north end as the south end. I do not put 10 cops on Jordan Lane stopping cars coming from Hartford.”

      

       Both Candidates Plead the Case for Tolls

      

       After a slew of implementation revisions, GOP condemnation, a marathon public hearing back in January, and finally, apparent hedging on the part of Democratic lawmakers, Governor Lamont’s proposal to install heavy trucks-only electronic tolling gantries on major bridges as part of a plan to fund their long-awaited repairs never even saw a House and/or Senate vote.

      

       Which means the legislature will more than likely be confronted with the issue again as they look to the future of transportation infrastructure financing.

      

       Both Montinieri and Bello said that they think looking to toll-generated revenue makes sense.

      

       â€�"I realize it's not a popular position, but if we want to get control of our debt, we need to find different and fairer ways to generate revenue,” Bello said. â€�"Tolls spread it out.”

      

       What Bello is referring to is the Governor’s promise that out-of-state drivers would account for a vast majority of the revenue generated.

      

       â€�"[As a business owner] we're sending trucks all over New England - Connecticut is the only state not using tolls,” Montinieri said.

      

       He says he’d prefer seeing it implemented as part of a more holistic transportation infrastructure plan.

      

       â€�"I think that should happen in concert with mass transit,” Montinieri said.

      

      

       Candidates Look Ahead to Local School Renovations

      

       Students might have to settle for virtual learning for a while, but renovation work at all five district elementary schools remains a top district priority – even if the present pandemic situation delays it.

      

       To that end, Montinieri and Bello turned to the State Department of Education’s (SDE) reimbursement formula for building projects which, as former Board of Ed. member Bobbie Hughes Granato pointed out, offers less return for new construction.

      

       She would like to see that change – a sentiment both candidates echoed. Currently the rate for renovate-as-new projects is 56 percent, versus the 43 percent for reconstruction.

      

       The problem? Renovation often ends up costing more – Granato says she’d like to see new construction, particularly on dated buildings plagued with asbestos and other hazardous materials, better incentivized.

      

       â€�"All of our schools built when hazardous materials were used in construction,” Bello said. â€�"We should be building new schools.”

      

       And with bonding interest rates relatively low, this is the time to do it, Montinieri said.

      

      

       Labor and Healthcare During COVID-19

      

       Montinieri and Bello both rallied behind progressive labor policies such as Paid Family Medical Leave legislation – passed last year - stating that the need for more worker-friendly measures have only been underscored as the pandemic sidelines the state’s most vulnerable wage earners.

      

       â€�"Just look at how important this is now,” Bello said.

      

       Montinieri says his business was putting it into practice long before â€�"it was a catch phrase”, saying he once extended the paid leave period for an employee who encountered pregnancy complications.

      

       â€�"We paid her 100 percent of her salary. We exceeded family leave,” he said. â€�"That’s where you put your money where your mouth is.”

      

      

       On Economic Development, Both Tout Spirit of Collaboration

      

       Democrats in Wethersfield have leveraged their economic development record – namely the over 90 new businesses that came to town during their 6 years in the Council majority – in the past few municipal campaign cycles.

      

       Now, the two Mayors presiding over that period are working to distinguish themselves from one another.

      

       Bello’s administration saw the arrival of 26 new businesses in 2018 and 31 in 2019, according to Economic Development Director Peter Gillispie.

      

       Under Montinieri, the town added 91, though he was Mayor for 4 years, against Bello’s two.

      

       "I think economic development is a team effort,” Bello said. â€�"I've shown my strength is the ability to work collaboratively."

      

       On the latter note, she pointed to her tenure in the Town Clerk’s Office, as well as her current work on the Council.

      

       Montinieri says that a bulk of his collaborative work has been behind the scenes – on flagship economic development projects such as The Borden and negotiations with historic district residents to reach an amicable site plan for a new Middletown Avenue restaurant.

       â€�"We even got the Republicans to come along with the tax relief,” he said of the Borden project. â€�"The truth is it was a 4 -year effort to bring very adversarial situations to a consensus."

      

       It started with convincing the trust controlling the former Fun Zone parcel to sell, said Senator John Fonfara, who worked closely with Montinieri in the earliest stages.

      

       But with Montinieri and Fonfara’s broader vision for the surrounding area of lots – a synergistic commercial/residential HUB for the millennial workforce Montinieri’s said he’d aim to bring back from Boston and New York if elected to the House – they needed the former owner of the Puritan building to make way for some additional development on its neighboring parcel.

      

       "Paul Montinieri can talk a hungry dog off a meat wagon. I never thought he could get the owner of Puritan to sell and liquidate,” Fonfara said. â€�"This was going to be a broader plan."

      

       But they still needed $5 million in tax relief from the State Bond Commission to get the ball rolling on The Borden – market rate apartment units atop and adjacent to a high-end restaurant.

      

       â€�"The Borden wouldn’t have been possible without the work of the state delegation,” Bello said during the forum.

      

       Fonfara echoed the sentiment, crediting Morin, as well as then-Senator Paul Doyle and former House Rep. Tony Guerrera.

      

       â€�"I takes a village to get this stuff done,” said Borden developer Marty Kenny. "They all helped, including former Mayor Bello, as well the current Mayor Mike Rell." 

       But Montinieri, Kenny said, was the â€�"catalyst”.

       On his last night in the head Council seat, he rallied cross-party consensus on the tax abatement, with Bello’s administration presiding over the Borden’s groundbreaking and construction years.

       â€�"Paul did a lot of leg work from the beginning,” Kenny said. "It was a difficult negotiation and he was and that allowed us to buy both properties, and if that didn't happen the overall project wouldn't have worked.”

      

       Both argue their case on electability

       One DTC member asked Montinieri and Bello why they feel they give the party the best shot at protecting Morin’s seat – perhaps of even greater concern to Democrats after last November, which saw a Council supermajority turn red.

       "I'm sure Amy and I are both capable of doing that in a town like Wethersfield,” Montinieri said.

      

       That being said, he touted his record on building consensus – particularly in the case of the Borden and the Middletown Ave. restaurant discussions, as well as a police union dustup during his first mayoral term.

      

       Bello, who was a first-year Councilor during Montinieri’s second term, says the proof regarding her electability is in her quick rise to Mayor.

       "I went from last place to being your Mayor in two year's time,” she said. â€�"[This year] we reached over 200 donors to qualify for public campaign financing, and we did it all without a fundraiser.”

       She also touted the endorsement of Morin himself.

       â€�"I think carries a lot of weight in our community,” Bello said.