Passero Calls Off Special City Council Meeting

City Council President Michael Passero said in an e-mail Sunday that due to developments in Police Chief Margaret Ackley’s accusations against former city councilor and mayoral candidate Michael Buscetto III, a special council meeting planned for Wednesday does not need to take place.

The council was initially scheduled to discuss a report by Beverly Hodgson, a former superior court justice who was in Ackley’s complaints, in executive session with Mayor Daryl Finizio. However, Passero , one day after Finizio and a $25,000 settlement reached with the city, saying he felt it was unfair not to release Hodgson’s conclusions as well.

The documents released Friday included a letter from Ackley’s attorney, Shelley Graves, to former Law Director Tom Londregan in which Ackley enumerated her accusations against Buscetto. Ackley said Buscetto sought to obstruct her authority in the and accused him of gender discrimination, harassment, and creating a hostile work environment. She also accused the city of not taking proper action to investigate or act on her complaints.

Other documents pertained to an internal investigation of an incident involving off-duty police officer Joshua Bergeson at the Shrine nightclub at Foxwoods Resort Casino in 2009. The documents include allegations that Buscetto sexually harassed women at the club and Ackley’s suspicion that the investigation sought to quash these statements.

Hodgson determined that Ackley would have been unable to prevail in a lawsuit against the city and that Buscetto’s actions could be determined as resulting from political differences with Ackley rather than harassment or gender discrimination as claimed. Hodgson also said the court would also likely find that Buscetto’s actions were made “as an individual politician, not acting on behalf of or by authority of the city.” Hodgson determined that the claims still had a settlement value of under $30,000 as a way of avoiding litigation and the expense of a trial.

Passero’s full statement

Passero made a statement to other city councilors and Law Director Jeffrey Londregan in an e-mail conversation regarding tonight’s meeting. He said councilors may contact him if they feel Wednesday’s meeting should still take place.

The portion of Passero’s e-mail regarding matters in the police department reads:

Thank you all for your support during a difficult weekend.  As you all know, I planned to call a special meeting of Council for Wednesday, January 11, 2012, (the first opportunity that you all were available) to discuss the release of documents related to the Ackley complaint. When I made those arrangements with all of you this past Friday, I did not know that Finizio planned to hold a press conference that very evening. In fact, I was not notified of the press conference until 4:45pm at which time I was told it would be held in 15 minutes. That conduct, lady and gentlemen, is extremely disrespectful of Council. 

Moreover, even though I met with Finizio privately for over 1½ hours Friday morning, he did not inform me of his intention to release Attorney Graves’ August letter detailing Ackley’s allegations against Buscetto or the so-called “Shrine File.” So, without the time to review the documents he intended to unilaterally release, or barely time to contact 6 other Councilors, I attended the Friday evening press conference at which the two files were released. Conspicuously, Finizio did not release Judge Hodgson’s independent investigation of the charges contained in Attorney Graves August letter. As you know, Council learned last Tuesday night that our attorney had given that file to Finizio but had not given it to Council. 

My complaint about that conduct Friday morning resulted in my obtaining the Hodgson report Friday evening just prior to the news conference. After reviewing all the documents on Saturday, I determined that it was patently unfair to have released the Ackley accusations without releasing the Hodgson Report evaluating those allegations. I also believe that releasing the “Shrine File” in an unredacted form, revealing names of witnesses and putative “victims,” was unwise and callous. However each one of you feel about the Shrine File’s release, it apparently is of no matter to Finizio since he did not see fit to consult with Council before releasing it. He also did not see fit to consult with Council before releasing Attorney Graves letter. 

As a consequence, as you all know, I consulted with each one of you before releasing the Hodgson Report immediately. All but one of you agreed to the release; one of you withheld his agreement but accepted the representation that six of us were in agreement that there was no longer a need to wait for an executive session to release the report since Finizio had unilaterally released the other two documents. I thank you all for your courtesy in allowing me to move quickly on an issue that I believed was important to the integrity of our institution, the City Council. 

Permitting the Graves letter to be in the public domain unaccompanied by the report that the Council commissioned to determine the legal validity of the claims was unacceptable.  It was also unacceptable for Finizio to unilaterally release two documents without consulting with Council, and then, hypocritically, expect that Council must wait for him before releasing the results of its own independent investigation. 

Police changes and investigation

Finizio was critical of Passero’s release of Hodgson’s report on Saturday, saying it was not conclusive and that some issues raised in the report are still under investigation. He also announced that the Connecticut State Police Central Division is assisting the New London Police Department with a corruption investigation, and said he hoped the report’s release will not compromise this investigation.

“The mayor believes he acted correctly and lawfully in consultation with the law director,” said Zak Leavy, Finizio’s executive assistant. “The mayor was prepared to discuss the judge's report with the full council in executive session on Wednesday.”

A number of administrative and personnel changes have occurred in the police department in the past week. Ackley , while the contract for Deputy Chief Marshall Segar was allowed to expire. Capts. William Dittman and Michael Lacey .

In addition, Bergeson was fired following a disciplinary hearing regarding absences from work and involvement in an assault at the Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence facility on Coit Street. Officer Roger Newton has been placed on paid leave following an accusation that he planted evidence on a suspect.

The New London Police Union has been critical of the administrative changes.

"I hope the current city government isn't giving the police chief a venue to either retaliate or remove people that she perceives as an enemy,” says Todd Lynch, president of the union, on the organization’s website.