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It Was Abundantly Clear

Was the election result in this past mayoral election subverted in such a way as to produce a winner the majority of our citizens did not support? According to Mr. Sal Maltese, that precisely is the case, which encouraged him to challenge the outcome and ask the judge to declare him the winner.

His main contention appears to rest in the matter of the absentee ballots where the number, submitted, allegedly did not reconcile with the votes that were counted, but to be convinced of that suspicion requires a deluded belief that our election officials, including that of the state’s, are so patently corrupt as to willingly throw away their hard-earned reputation for a simple and temporary gain that could surely be easily be reversed in the next municipal election.

So what could be at stake in the mayoral office that would embolden anyone to perpetrate such misdeed? None of a life’s worth, that’s even easy to imagine.

Judging by the lawsuit, Mr. Maltese was convinced it was worth burning the bridges for, because, well, it was the taxpayers’ money that paid for the town’s defense, which ultimately beggars the bigger question of whether he truly cared. For that matter, what did he truly gain? But we know what the town lost.

The money spent to pay for the town’s defense was a scarce resource that could have been invested in some purposeful, productive way, but Mr. Maltese’s poor decision, unfortunately, took that option away.

Needless to say it was his right to challenge the process, but if the witnesses’ testimonies his counsel called to buttress his allegation were any indication to the facts of the case, it was abundantly clear he still could have raised his objection without the need for the expense and bad publicity it generated.

Oni Sioson

East Haven