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Violated Public Trust

Maintaining public trust and upholding high standards of ethical conduct are among the highest responsibilities of a public official, elected or appointed. I believe Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey has violated that public trust. It’s why 370 electors signed an ethics complaint which alleges multiple violations of the Guilford Ethics Code.

Section 31-1 of that Code states, “The actions of a Town official affect every resident of the Town. The trust of the public in the integrity of its officials is essential…”

The complaint alleges four primary violations of the Guilford Ethics Code:

1) Hoey made the decision to bring the APT medical addiction (methadone) clinic to Guilford himself, alone, in violation of the Guilford Code of Ethics.

2) Hoey deliberately deceived the citizens of Guilford about this methadone clinic in violation of the Guilford Code of Ethics.

3) Hoey inserted himself into the APT addiction (methadone) clinic approval process in clear violation of the Guilford Code of Ethics.

4) Hoey arbitrarily made the decision to bring this APT addiction (methadone) clinic to Guilford in secret in total disregard and disrespect for the opinions of our Guilford residents without researching the effect this clinic will have on property values, crime, safety, local businesses, traffic, the environment, the town budget, or the police and fire budgets; and without doing background checks into the APT Foundation, or the effect their clinics have had on other communities, in clear violation of the Guilford Code of Ethics.

If Hoey wants a job with APT Foundation, he is free to do so. But, as our first selectman, he has an obligation to act on behalf of the best interests of the citizens of Guilford, not private interests.

Dave Holman

Guilford