The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-10-28


 statement published Sunday was similar to the statements published in 1889, SO does the same answer apply today. The author of the statements has been a candidate for Republican nomination for political office. He wishes to main tain his influence within that party for purposes which, however legitimate, have nothing to'do with the welfare of the City of Water bury.
 I could give a thousand answers to the charges made by MT. Pape. They can be found in the daily conduct of our municipal affairs; in the conduct of the affairs of the Democratic party under Chairman Maurice Tangney and Secretary and Treasurer Neil Maloney; in the caliber and conduct of the Democrats and Republicans who serve on our various boards; in the character and ability of our appointed officials. Perhaps the best answer that I can give, how ever, is to refer to what has been said since my first election and more important, what has not been said by the papers which are pulp lished by Mir. Pape. Before I took office, the Waterbury Republican published an editorial-"Mayor- Elect Vincent Scully spoke last week of the row which he has to hoe, with determination that was good to hear but pessimism that we can't believe is entirely war; ranted-still Quoting-He fully ex- pected to be denied reelection be- cause of the accumulated opposi- ton of disappointed job seekers" Then 1t said, we think that's too gloomy an outlook. If he does a manful job of 1t, we think he is going to surprise himself" On January 1st of 1940 the same paper had this to say, and I quote-"The Scully administration has got off with the new year on what cer- tainly looks like the right foot the extent to which he has made old office holders surrender their places to political youngsters is really astonishing-we believe that that MT. Scully would be cheered if he knew the lift and encourage ment that his announced program has given the general body of Waterbury citizens" End of quote. And on March 13, 1940 the same paper refers to "Murmuring against his administration raised by disappointed job seekers" It continued, "They had supposed that Mayor Scully's sober state ment of purpose was only for cam- paign consumption = they were wrong-the course followed by the Scully administration is arousing fervent approval elsewhere and we admire the Mayor for hewing to the economy line whether it is good reelection strategy or not" and that ends the quotation. These quotations have been given to you to show the attitude expressed when I was setting up my admin istration. I don't intend that you should regard them as an endorse ment of my entire administration. They do show that I set up in my appointments of officials and boards an administration which was designed to go a good job. They portray a situation which would be completely u1lrecogniz- able from the predictions made in November, 1899, which are being repeated in October, 1940. They show you what I mean when say that installed an administration that not only has not, but could not be subjected to improper poli- tical influence.
 Groups Dissatisfied
 As to whether or not the initial program was followed out, I would remind you that until the very climax of this campaign no irn- portant and direct attack has been made upon my administration. On the contrary, the newspapers of this city have carried countless comments on dissatisfaction with in political groups for my failure to play politics and my insistance upon carrying out my program.
 Even the article which I men, toned makes only one reference to my actual record in office. MT. Pape says we are getting, quote a slow, cautious, uninspired, in- offensive administration at 8 cost which is still too high" End of quote. Comptroller Thomas Con- lon has covered our financial re- cord. I will cover "slow and cautious" and concede that the terms "uninspired and unoffensive" are a matter of personal opinion. As to being slow and cautious, can tell you that we have launched perhaps the most extensive pro- gram of public Improvements in the history of our city. We have built the Baldwin Street Bridge and the Anderson School Gym. We have carried out an extensive program of street paving, water extensions, sewer installations and