Gary DePalma’s negative campaign is proving that he completely lacks the qualities necessary to serve as mayor of East Haven.
Since launching his campaign in early April, DePalma has become the poster child for negative campaigning. He is completely out of touch with the fact that a poison pen and hateful words are not what’s needed to move East Haven forward.
DePalma claims to offer a new direction for East Haven. Yet, he seeks to run on the same old issues raised four years ago. In 2007, the same people running DePalma’s campaign brought East Haven in a “new direction” upon defeating Mayor Joseph Maturo: spiraling downward. In Maturo’s absence, the Town ran three straight deficits, suffered a crippling 17 percent tax increase, and had its credit rating dropped twice.
Since 2011, under Maturo’s renewed leadership, the Town has run two straight surpluses, lowered taxes for 7,000 households, and given education the largest single-year increase in funding in the last four years. Because of Mayor Maturo’s solid record, Gary DePalma has no real issues to run on this year. So he’s digging out the playbook from 2007 and running one of the dirtiest, negative campaigns in East Haven’s history. DePalma’s campaign is proving that the only “direction” Gary DePalma is capable of taking East Haven is backward.
Carl Ruggiero
East Haven