Posted on 01/04/2011 5:56:33 AM PST by Libloather
State Sen. Thomas Gaffey Charged With Larceny, Says He Will Resign
By EDMUND H. MAHONY and JON LENDER
The Hartford Courant
January 03, 2011
State police arrested influential state Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey, D- Meriden, on larceny charges Monday, accusing him of double-billing the state and his political action committee for expenses associated with attending legislative conferences throughout the country — several times with his girlfriend.
**SNIP**
Kane's office said in a warrant that on six occasions, from 2004 to 2007, Gaffey sought and received travel expense reimbursement from the Government Action Fund, a political action committee that he headed. He also was reimbursed for the travel costs by the state legislature, according to the chief state's attorney's office.
The duplicate reimbursements ranged from $100 to $1,209, and totaled $2,800, according to the chief state's attorney's office.
His girlfriend at the time, Patricia Murphy, told an investigator that Gaffey said that on the trips they took, "the PAC would pay his share and that he would pay for her," the arrest warrant application said.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.courant.com ...
I’m shocked! Not that I know this guy at all or what he did, but the fact that editor let them put the (D) after his name in the first paragraph...
And it’s not even necessary in Connecticut ~ aren’t they ALL Democrats?
Wow! An honorable one in the bunch. Who else with a (D) after their name would resign under such circumstances? Not many.
Well, ok, half-honorable.
He resigned after he made a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and avoid jail time.
He knew he was cooked and if he fought it and found guilty, he'd have done time.
He has that quality known as "politician's honor" aka save your ass.
It rarely fails to amaze me how little it takes for some people to put their entire career and reputation on the line. Twenty-eight hundred -- most of us have had to find ways to cough up this amount when we have a bad car repair or the house heater breaks, etc.
We had a woman fired at our place of business recently for double-discounting a soda and snack cake. It doesn't take much to risk it all, for those so inclined.
I know of comapnies who fire based on any theft ,believing that if an employee will steal something small the employee will eventually steal something big.
I have no problem with organizations firing for petty theft. My point is that there are such stupid people as to risk everything to steal a petty amount.
In this case, a public official stole $2,800 in cumulative theft, which was enough to be labeled a larceny;yet in today's professional world it is not a lot of money. He sold out for peanuts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.