Timothy Wrightington on the Checks and Balances that Failed West Haven Taxpayers

Timothy Wrightington, long known for political activism in West Haven, has written an editorial letter in the West Haven Voice entitled "Checks and balances all failed taxpayers". Despite the adversarial tone of the piece (which lays blame with many sources- and those who read this blog know that I'm about solutions, not finger pointing), and the fact that he seems to implicate people without given examples and by making assumptions, there are some good questions that the piece raises. Some of these, I'd like to highlight, as I think they deserve special notice.

If the bond counsel (noted in the article as bond council, but I believe he means their legal counsel) is compensated on a percentage of the bonds issued, there is a conflict of financial interest for the counselor to not recommend going forward with a bond. However, Mr. Wrightington fails to note that attorneys take an oath of office to uphold the law - there still is incentive (aka licensing) to act ethically. Although the role of the bond counsel isn't one that I'm very familiar with, I suspect that their role is more in oking the initial paperwork that is set forth, and issuing opinions on issues that the city specifically asks them about.

He mentions that he feels a part of the blame for the tax situation lies with the city's auditors, Levitsky & Berney - I feel very strongly about this. We hired auditors to audit our books - it's inconcievable to me that they wouldn't have found problems with our books, given the sad state of our previous accounting practices. My (non-legal) opinion is that we hired them to do a job - and they didn't do it.

Finally, he points out that the most important Check and Balance that failed was the West Haven Taxpayer -- and he has a point. City Council meetings (while intensely boring) are open to the public. Apparently, the 75 or so people that have been showing up lately is a record... that's ridiculous in a town that is 54,000+.