The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-11-03

ever they went Fred AtWater con tinued his attacks on the extrava- gance of rae administration and the manner in which the various depart ments have spent money. He pointed out that the Mayor is giving the Park Board, the Library Board, and the Board of Education as examples Of departments that have stayed within their own appropriations, but, he said, these are the only departments over which Inc Mayor has no control
 MT. Atwater'S speech was as fol-
 lows:
 As this campaign proceeds, I be- lieve the people of Bridgeport are be- coming more fully impressed with the claims made by the Democratic party to the effect that the present condition of things must be changed i In the dire straits into which the city | has fallen, we ought to be thankful 1 that it is within our power to effect l change. Throughout the discussions ] which have taken place, have tried to make myself plain as to what my position is in this matter. The things | which we have criticized have not l been minor considerations. We have
 forborne indulging in anything petty | or misleading, so that the real issues
 may bs before the voters when they
 approach the polls. clear-cut and | capable of exact Identification. It has been made plain, and the | facts have not been con radicted, that ' practically every city department un-
 der the control of the mayor directly l I meth and waste. This is evidenced 1 by the fact that these departments in almost every instance, have been op- | erating in such fay that they have | exceeded their appropriations, con- | trary to the Charter, and have been | piling up year after year huge debts | for each succeeding year to take the ilburden of. Prominent among these, as have already pointed out, are the Police Department, the Public Works Department, Hillside Home, the Mu- nicipal Garage, the Fire Department. etc. Deficits have been caused by special operations of various kinds, such as the building of bridges, etc, in practically every instance in con- nection with which the given inn provement has far, exceeded its esti- mated cost.
 The Mayor, in endeavoring to coun- teract this situation, which is a self evident criticism of his handling of
 the city's affairs. has referred to the fact that the Library Board, the Park
 Board, and the Board of Education have substantially kept. within their appropriations.
 The fact of the matter is, that these are the only boards in the city which are independent in their control and in the government of their affairs,
 of the Mayor, and they are practical ly the only departments which have
 been efficiently handled. We cannot
 help but conclude from this record
 
 Mayors influence, they too would be in the same plight financially as some of the other departments.
 The fact of the matter is, that ev- cry feature of the city goVernn ent which lends itself to exploitation, has been subjected to interference in the performance of its work, for politi- cal purposes. There is hardly an of flee, appointive or otherwise, which
 the Mayor and his cohorts has not
 prostrated for political purposes at
 the expense of the particular depart ment and the public.
 When I entered this campaign, I did with the resolve that anything might say during 1t would be in the way of an effort to enl1ghten the pub- lie as to the true conditions, in order that they might vote intel1igently up- on it. I did hope that our oppon-
 entS would do likewise, but appar- ently they are more intent upon be-
 clouding the true facts and injecting
 with the hope of beclouding them,
 than they are of educating the pub lie to the true conditions. The only
 contention which has been made In
 behalf of Mir. Wilson and Is an argu-
 ment against the election of the
 Democratic ticket, Is the allegation that some particular interests in Bridgeport would control the taxing functions of the city, and that I was
 nominated to ensure such control.
 This contention Is so ridiculous that l am SuTplNEed that anyone at all familiar with city matters would make such a declaration and, how the mayor who has been Chief Magistrate
 of the city for ten ya911s, can put behalf any such argument as this, is quite beyond me,
 Everyone now knows that the con-
 trol of the tax assessing powers of the City has been done away with, when the office of tax commissioner was abolished because a Republincan Legislature could no longer stand the stanch that ca mo from that office and reflected upon the Republican party as a whole. Everyone knows that the assessors are nominated today in
 a party convention, and not by po- litical boss. Everyone knows that
 theu,e is not a. single man nominated on the Dem mocratic ticket for the can didacy of assessor except who has never been allied with any interest in any way whatsoever and who conse- Guently, is not susceptible to control. If any set of men were desirous of controlling the taxing powers of
 from the mayors office today. That is the way 1t was done in the past by Mayor Wilson, since he appointed MT. Connor Today they would en- deayor to nominate their own men as assessors and elect them regardless of any other men OF the ticket, so that the election of myself as mayor, and of every. other candidate on the
 
 , sessors, has nothing whatever to do
 with the control of the taxing fuIpc> tions of the city government,
 have had some experience with the Tax Commissioners office, Some years ago was appointed a member of the Paving and Sewer Commission and my term held over under Mayor Wilson. I recall very well that it | was supposed to be the duty of the members of the Paving and Sewer Commission to pass upon contracts for so-caIled permanent pave ments," Incident to this I remem- | Der that MT. King presented to me contracts with Warren Brothers Co. | for so-ca1led "permanent pavement" l which I absolutely and flat1y refused to sign. because I considered that they were perndcious, So, in order to circumvent our position, the legisla,- ture at the behest of the administra- tion, passed an act the effect of which relieved the Paving and Sewer Com 1Ilisaiaa af control slIch