Hartford Courant Outlines Santanella's Bad Acts

Today, the Hartford Courant ran another story about how John Santanella tried to kick Tom off the ballot. This undemocratic act will end up costing Enfield taxpayers over $40,000 due to Santanella suing his own Democratic Registrar of Voters (Beth Jerez) and Enfield’s Town Clerk (Sheila Bailey). As this article states, Tom paid his own legal fees through his campaign in order to defend himself and stand up for the Democratic Registrar and Town Clerk. As is required by campaign finance laws, Tom’s campaign reported “legal fees” when incurred and later paid within his state campaign finance reports. In contrast, the “Santanella for CT” campaign not only failed to disclose incurring “legal fees,” they are not listed anywhere on any of Santanella's financial reports. So the public is left to wonder: Who paid Santanella’s legal fees, how much was owed, how much was paid, by whom, to whom or even when the campaign’s legal fees were paid? Attorney John Kennelly, Santanella’s campaign lawyer, brushed off similar questions in this article by saying that John Santanella paid for his legal fees "out of pocket," insinuating that payment of legal fees personally by Santanella, if true, somehow excuses him from reporting those legal fees for months somewhere within his state campaign filings. As someone who accepted a Connecticut state campaign finance grant, it’s highly suspect that Santanella could pay for this campaign expense "out of pocket" and avoid publicly disclosing it to keep the public in the dark – so much for transparency. In contrast, Tom’s financial reports were timely filed and clearly stated financial information re: legal fees incurred, paid, by whom, to whom and when, as required by state finance laws.

Interestingly, the Keating article mentions a few noteworthy Connecticut Democrats Tom Tyler has donated to over the years to include Attorney Kennelly's mother, former Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly.