The Branford Board of Selectmen appointed two new members to the Police Commission, righting a political imbalance and a past conflict of interest.
In a unanimous vote, the selectmen appointed Anthony J. Lasala, a lawyer and a Democrat and Robert B. Denhardt, Jr., a former third selectman and a Republican, to three year terms, effective immediately.
Lasala replaces Bruce Morris, a former state senator and an influential Democrat whose term expired Jan 30. First Selectman Unk DaRos praised his work on the commission, one of the most important boards in town.
Morris’s most recent term was controversial because he chose not to resign from the commission when his wife Cheryl became the First Selectwoman in November, 2005. The first selectman also serves as an ex-officio member of the Police Commission. In January, 2006, Mrs. Morris nominated her husband for reappointment for another term, the one that just ended. Jill Marcus, the wife of then town counsel Ed Marcus, did not resign from the Police Commission when her husband was appointed to the town’s top legal post. She served on the commission during the tumultuous “granite-gate” controversy. She remains on the board.
Denhardt replaces John Giordano, whom the Morris administration appointed to the board in 2006. Giordano, a friend of the Morrisses and a former Democratic Town Committeeman, switched his voting affiliation to independent right before his appointment to the commission.
In order to appoint Giordano, Mrs. Morris and Democratic Second Selectman Dick Sullivan decided not to reappoint Republican Dan Bullard. At the time Republican Third Selectman John Opie pressed unsuccessfully to get Bullard reappointed, calling Giordano “a Democrat in disguise.”
In rearranging the six-member Police Commission, the Morris administration acted contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1929 State Act creating the Police Commission. The act states that “not more than three members” of the commission shall “at the same time, be members of the same political party.”
With the appointment of Denhardt, the Board of Selectmen has returned the commission to its legitimate political balance under state law: three Republicans and three Democrats. The appointment of the two new police commissioners came late because the Republican caucus had to decide on one of several candidates. After several meetings, Denhardt emerged the winner.
The remaining police commissioners are Mrs. Marcus, a Democrat, and Robert Gott, a Republican, whose terms expire in 2010; and Republican Joanne McGuigan and Democrat Jon Grossman, whose terms expire in 2011. McGuigan is the current chair and is likely to remain in that position.