While Ed Krawiecki’s nomination for appointment to a Corporation Counsel position has played out in public, another intriguing appointment has played out behind the scenes at City Hall.
It is expected that Republican Paul Tonon will be appointed by Council on Tuesday evening to the Board of Finance to replace Republican Dan Soucy. Not much controversy here- the mayor is replacing a Republican with a Republican. However, there’s more to the story…
Mr. Tonon was not the Mayor’s first choice. Mayor Ward initially nominated Robert Dunlap, an Unaffiliated voter, on June 26 to replace Soucy. I must admit, I was among those who found it curious that Mr. Dunlap was listed as ‘Unaffiliated.’ Why? Well, Mr. Dunlap was Art Ward’s campaign treasurer. Mr. Dunlap is the one, you may recall, who was fined earlier this year by the State Elections Enforcement Commission for breaking election laws during last year’s mayoral race.
Upon checking with the Office of the Registrar it turns out that Mr. Dunlap had been a registered Democrat until June 24 when he changed his party affiliation from ‘Democrat’ to ‘Unaffiliated.’ After this was brought to the Mayor’s attention, the nomination of Mr. Dunlap was withdrawn.
I will leave it to the reader to put together the rest of the story but suffice to say the good ol’ boy network is alive and well in Bristol.
Hey, Ken, the City Council already appointed Tonon - a week ago
Update: I let Ken know. He's changing the appointment to the past tense.
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
