The Systemic Defamation of Erin Stewart (1), Republican Candidate for Connecticut Governor's Office

 Every once in a while something in the news cycle catches my attention and just doesn't sit right with me.
The latest political narrative is as strange as it gets. It involves a kitchen sink of lowlife politicians, so-called journalists, and rivers of social media bile.

The latest chapter of this saga is what is shamelessly described as investigative journalism in the Hartford Courant claiming expense account ("P-Card") irregularities  during Erin Stewart's terms as Mayor of New Britain.

First, what's a P-Card and what can it be used for?  Well, it's a credit card used for the nickel and dime fiscal transactions required to function in public office. Here's what Google AI documents it to include and exclude.

The Hartford Courant and its duplicitous goon squad of political banshees sensationalize the amount of money credited to Mayor Stewart's account. It sounds like a big number; $200K. A journalist with ethics might point out that that covers a ten year of twelve years in office., an average of $20K per contested year. The ethical journalist might also point out that the spending "red flags" seem to gloss over the fact that during the Covid years  during which everyone was tightly locked down, *everybody* had items shipped to their home (which unavoidably violated official policy and plausibly could account for the entanglement of some purchases if attention wasn't being paid to automated billing behaviors). 

Nor do the accusers of misappropriation acknowledge that brick and mortar spending habits have dramatically changed and the so-called red-flag that Stewart's purchases were made through Amazon, Costco, and Instacart is not unusual behavior but rather the modern day norm. And rather than being a sign of reckless spending it empirically displays prudent spending.

The other funny thing about the accusations is that nobody mentions what a shitty crook Stewart would have to be to leave so much money on the table. According to Google Gemini, average spending in cities like New Britain could average over 100k per year. Stewart managed on $20K per year with a fraction of that amount in question largely due to lack of documentation.

So what about all those RED FLAGS!?  The one that pops out at me immediately is that current Mayor of New Britain, Bobby Sanchez is the orchestrator of these accusations.

It is the City Finance Department that was responsible for compliant use of these cards (everyone who had one).Yet it is only now that Stewart, CT's leading candidate to unseat the current State administration that these accusations are being promoted.

SO... A legitimate set of questions arise. Why is Mayor Sanchez driving the narrative bus?

Furthermore, if this is some kind of search for impeccable fair and balanced justice, then why did Sanchez choose the Crumbie Law Group to represent the City interests. Founder Andrew Crumbie is a former state police sergeant and former deputy commissioner. And, given the incestuous professional ties to the CT State Police who are now "investigating" Erin Stewart, what are the chances that these investigations aren't unethical and duplicitous by all parties? This fails even a cursory smell test for "independent review". The FBI should be taking a long hard look at the email and phone correspondence involved in this cluster-muck of back stabbing. 

Sanchez's sanctimonious declarations of "restoring public trust" fall on deaf ears when the process is contaminated by the politics of hate and anti-democratic political assassination.