Maturo's Blackout

More ink on the East Haven mayor's calendar shenanigans.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
By Betsy Yagla

What was East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo hiding under all that black ink on his office calendar?

He said they were doctor's appointments for his swollen prostate, which sunshine laws allow to remain secret for privacy reasons. Turns out they were cell phone numbers, two weddings, dinner, a convention and a fund-raiser, most of which took place after work hours.

East Haven Democrats and their candidate for mayor, Councilwoman April Capone Almon, want to show Maturo's been an absentee mayor, relaxing at his Florida vacation home for weeks on end while the town struggled with raising taxes and keeping city services intact. Dems made a Freedom of Information request for his office schedule and received two schedules: his desk calendar and the printout of his Microsoft Outlook calendar, full of mysteriously redacted entries. The desk calendar had 67 redacted entries and the Outlook version had 40.

"Those [redactions] were done by my secretary who thought we shouldn't be putting them in—I didn't know it at the time," Maturo told the Advocate last month. "She blocked out my doctor's appointments and my family's doctor's appointments."

Redacting doctor's appointments is legally permissable if the redaction is accompanied by a brief explanation. But it turns out the doctor's visit excuse is only a half-truth. Or, to be mathematically accurate, a one-sixth truth.

The Advocate was forwarded an Aug. 28 email to Lisa Siegel, the FOI ombudsman working with East Haven Dems, from East Haven town counsel Larry Sgrignari in which Sgrignari details the redacted items. Maturo's 2007 calendar—up to April—shows he went to four doctor's appointments. In 2006 he went six times.

"The list says cell phone, but not the number or who [it belongs to]," says Capone Almon. "I'd like to know who he was talking to."

Capone Almon is curious and baffled by the redactions. "Why would he redact inaugural ball? Why would he redact a wedding?"

Who knows. Maturo did not return the Advocate's phone calls seeking comment. Maybe he'll speak up this Thursday when the case goes to a FOI hearing in Hartford. Maybe that's blacked out on his calendar too.