New Allegations Show Sheriff System

Should Be Scrapped, Advocates Say

By Matthew Daly

Associated Press

HARTFORD — With days before the election, a campaign to abolish the office of elected sheriff is getting increasingly nasty.

Pro-reform lawmakers charged Monday that a recent allegation of improper fundraising by the Fairfield County sheriff was more proof that the system itself needs to be abolished.

A former Hartford County deputy, meanwhile, said he received a death threat for his stance in favor of reform.

A spokesman for the sheriffs denied any wrongdoing, and Hartford County Sheriff Walter Kupchunos accused reform advocates of spreading falsehoods and rumors in a desperate attempt to win the November 7 referendum.

The mudslinging began with a news conference called by two lawmakers in favor of reform. State Reps Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, and Brian Flaherty, R-Watertown, accused Fairfield County Sheriff Charles Valentino of violating campaign finance laws in recent weeks.

Specifically, Mr Valentino solicited employees for campaign contributions in violation of a law passed specifically to prevent harassment of deputies, Mr Lawlor and Mr Flaherty said.

The lawmakers cited a flier for an October 22 fundraiser in Bridgeport that listed Valentino’s wife and his home phone number as contact points. The flier for the $50-per-person event at the East End Yacht Club was mailed to several Fairfield County deputies, who interpreted it as a veiled threat, the legislators said.

“This is a classic case of exactly what the legislature intended to prevent” when it barred sheriffs from seeking political donations from their employees, Mr Lawlor said.

Mr Lawlor and Mr Flaherty referred their complaint to Chief State’s Attorney John Bailey, who said his office was investigating.

Mr Kupchunos, who attended the news conference, denied any wrongdoing and said Mr Lawlor and Mr Flaherty were “spreading falsehoods” as they tried to eliminate an elected office older than the state itself.

“This is the people’s right to vote” that is at stake, Mr Kupchunos said. “You’re asking people to give up a right they fought and died for.”

Mr Valentino could not be reached for comment Monday, but a spokesman for the eight sheriffs said they are “fully intending to comply with the law as written.”

If one of Mr Valentino’s employees received a solicitation, “it was not intentional and it was in error,” the spokesman, Adam Hurtubise, said.

Meanwhile, a former Kupchunos deputy said Monday he received a death threat last week after advocating reform on a cable-access show. The former deputy, John Griffin of Newington, said a Hartford county deputy approached him outside the cable station October 25 and threatened to kill him.

Mr Griffin, an outspoken critic who ran against Mr Kupchunos in 1998, filed a complaint with Rocky Hill police. No arrests had been made as of Monday, police said.