Candidate Zoni’s ad reaches a new low

  That’s where Dave Zoni and his campaign for the open seat in the 16th Senate Dis­trict are based, and that makes Southington the origin of one of the sleaziest, slimiest pieces of cam­paign literature ever seen in these parts. The circu­lar, in color on slick paper, at­tempts to tie Zoni’s Republican oppo­nent, former acting Waterbury Mayor Sam Caligiuri, to former Mayor Philip A. Giordano’s sexual perversity.
  The circular focuses on the notion of child abuse, using a young-looking model (who, to avoid breaking federal laws on the exploitation of children, had better be 18 or older) apparently to represent the much younger chil­dren Giordano abused.
  In one of the photos, the model is barefoot, wearing a T-shirt and short shorts, and she is curled up in the sort of vulnerable but strangely suggestive pose that one might expect in a soft­core calendar. The photo, in short, is deliberately salacious.
  There is another curious thing about the circular: The girls Giordano as­saulted were black. The model is white. It would be interesting for Zoni to explain that choice.
  Even more disgusting than the pho­tos, however, is the accompanying text, which takes Caligiuri to task for a payoff made to Giordano during the closing months of Giordano’s final term. The implication is Caligiuri con­doned Giordano’s conduct and was willing to help finance it.
  Though the text about the money Giordano got is accurate, it is so in­complete as to barely qualify as a quarter-truth, let alone a half-truth.
  Since Zoni and his crew have chosen to look at Waterbury history, let me re­fresh everyone’s memories on a few points.
  Giordano was charged on July 26, 2001. Like all who are accused of crimes, he was presumed innocent.
  Thus, during the late summer and fall of 2001, even though he was in prison, he remained Waterbury’s elected may­or. And during those months, his lawyers were working constantly to spring him. In early August, Giordano confidently telephoned his staff from prison to say he expected be released on bail in a few days and would imme­diately return to work.
  Waterbury’s corporation counsel looked at the city’s charter and found that unless Giordano was tried and convicted, the only way to get him out of office was through a convoluted set of impeachment proceedings involving the city’s ethics and aldermanic boards.
  Giordano easily could have dragged out such proceedings for the rest of his term, which was to end Dec. 31, 2001.
  In addition, all the evidence was in the hands of federal authorities, who were not about to weaken their case by re­leasing it prematurely.
  In other words, to rid the city of Giordano, the aldermen would have had to convene a kangaroo court, con­vict the mayor without the aid of evi­dence and hope he’d never be in a position to sue.
  Further, until the conclusion of such a proceeding (and, most likely, subse­quent legal challenges), there would have been no legal way to keep Gior­dano out of City Hall or stop him from attempting to preside at meetings, make personnel decisions or carry out any of his other duties as mayor. To es­cape its predicament, Waterbury worked out a deal with Giordano and his lawyer: The city would pay the creep half his salary to stay away. (The city’s main expense, by the way, wasn’t even Giordano’s partial salary but the cost of sustaining health coverage for Giordano’s wife and children. Do Zoni and his crew really begrudge Gior­dano’s family that?) During the negotiations, Giordano’s lawyer made it clear any attempt to re­move his client from office would be a deal-breaker, and that as soon as the mayor got out, he’d be back at his desk. What Zoni’s circular fails to mention is:
  ■ Giordano’s arrogance had split Waterbury’s Republican Party, and that Caligiuri was chosen president of the Board of Aldermen over Gior­dano’s candidate as leader of a rebel coalition with the board’s Democrats.
  ■ During Giordano’s last term, Caligiuri was the mayor’s most outspo­ken and most effective opponent. It is an outright lie for Zoni to assert in his circular that Giordano was one of Caligiuri’s political “friends.”
  Caligiuri’s friends were the board’s dissident Republicans and its Democ­rats.
  Throughout his tenure, Caligiuri act­ed with dignity and integrity. Thanks to the exploitive, quasi-pornographic and dishonest campaign circular sent out last week, those two words will never describe Dave Zoni. He should be ashamed of himself.
  Ed Goodman is a copy editor with the Republican-American.

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