Release by the Southington Town Council Democrats: 

At the May 11, 2009, Town Council meeting, the minority leader, Mr. Michael Riccio exploited the Town Council meeting as a venue to execute a slanderous and innuendo filled attack on his fellow Councilmen.  As the Minority Leader, Mr. Riccio has an obligation and a duty to uphold the rules of the Town Council as well as the Town Charter that governs our community.  It is inappropriate to use the Town Council meeting for political purposes, and unconscionable that he would demand that town staff expend taxpayer time and money for his blatant political antics.

As the Minority leader, Mr. Riccio has led his colleagues to follow a political agenda that embodies all that voters despise about politics.  

Mr. Riccio’s “gotcha politics” has no place in Southington’s volunteer government.  Mr. Riccio has forgotten and abandoned our community, and repudiated our idealism and principals.

The slanderous and malicious attack deployed by Mr. Riccio at the Council’s May 11th meeting implied that Councilmen were participating in unethical or illegal reimbursements for personal expenses. These reimbursements were in no way inappropriate. They were legal and approved by the Town Manager. They were anticipated by Southington's founding fathers and codified into Southington’s original Town Charter in 1966, the very Charter that some Council members, including Mr. Riccio, have been opposed to updating.

One of Chairman John N. Barry's first actions as Southington’s leader was to initiate the first comprehensive ethics reform effort in recent history. As Chairman, Mr. Barry has also appointed more Unaffiliated and Republican individuals to boards and commissions than any Chairman in recent history; 42% of those appointments call upon individuals of other party affiliations to serve our community.

Moving our community forward requires that we cannot be encumbered by an old culture, historical entanglements and the status quo. The Council’s recent successes, including the adoption of Southington’s first fiscal policy, an aggressive containment policy and efforts to keep taxation levels in check have all been opposed by Mr. Riccio. These examples are indicative of Mr. Riccio's inability to reach across the aisle to work together. 

We hope that, in moving forward, Mr. Riccio will redirect his energy and focus on the betterment of our community instead of political self-gain. The community deserves quality governance, which demands that Councilmen refrain from using Town Council meetings as a place to promote a mean-spirited political agenda.