News + Press

Yesterday, a major update to ongoing investigations into the allegations of long-running corruption of Erin Stewart’s Republican tax collector, Cheryl Blogoslawski, raised serious questions about Stewart’s tenure as Mayor of New Britain and whether she or members of her staff directed any of the misconduct. 

This morning, Erin Stewart briefly called into WTIC to address the situation. While continuing to characterize the situation as a “witch hunt” to avoid responding to the specific allegations in the report, she inadvertently raised new questions about her role in the unfolding situation in New Britain.

Prior Knowledge of Wrongdoing?

Stewart’s four minute call-in provided one significant revelation when she accused the Crumbie Law Group, the outside firm hired by New Britain to investigate the Revenue Collector’s office, of piggybacking on her own investigations of the same individual without crediting her.

“The funny thing is is that if you look at the update that they provided to you, part of what they talk about is literally a copy and paste from from meetings and disciplinary hearings that I had had with the tax collector before for some of the behaviors that I didn't agree with that were happening in the office,” she said. “They copy and pasted directly from my fact findings and my hearings that I had with her. But yet they don't mention that at all.”

Stewart declined to elaborate on what the “behaviors that I didn’t agree with that were happening” actually were, or provide any indication of when these alleged hearings took place, and whether any actions were taken as a result. 

This development is significant, as Stewart appointed Blogoslawski to that role herself in 2023,  following a charter revision she actively supported to change the position from elected to appointed.

Stewart mischaracterized the relationship between the Mayor of New Britain and the position of revenue collector, contradicting herself in an attempt to insert distance between herself and Blogoslawski’s alleged decade of improper behavior. 

“None of that behavior has happened by me. This is a separately elected tax collector,” Stewart said. “It wasn't until just the last municipal election that the tax collector was not an elected position.” But even before Stewart nominated her in 2023, Blogoslawski had been a part of “Team Stewart” and the two campaigned together repeatedly for re-election.

The report details an apparent admission from Blogoslawski of an instance in 2017 in which a former Chief of Staff of the Mayor personally directed her to honor a taxpayer’s checks as timely despite being two years overdue, without a legal basis. Said Chief of Staff apparently stated that anything that they did was either at the mayor’s direction or with her knowledge, and a computer note in the system marks the acceptance of the late payment as a “1 time courtesy per mayor.”

Worryingly, the report also claims that “two witnesses stated that they reported this [backdating] practice to a member of the Mayor’s Office, who indicated that they would look into it.”

Mixed Signals on Accountability

When asked by WTIC whether she denied wrongdoing on the part of Blogoslawski, Stewart said no. 

After Stewart confirmed that this behavior could have occurred while she was mayor, the host asked her: “Is it possible that someone in your office either knew or directed it? It might not have been you, but is that- is that, in your opinion, possible?” 

Stewart paused, before saying “Yeah.” 

However, she also continued to characterize the whole report as politically motivated, saying “the new Democrat administration in New Britain has had it out for [Blogoslawski] since day one.” 

In February, Stewart was much more openly defensive of Blogoslawski. Claiming she had no information on what the allegations were, she said: “I will say that I’ve always known Cheryl to be dedicated to the City as her family has a long history of service.”

Statement from CT Dems spokesperson Ian Clarke:

“The alleged behavior described in yesterday’s report is a damning indictment of Erin Stewart’s administration in New Britain. No matter how much she tries to blame others, she will need to explain why multiple witnesses apparently claim that her office was aware of or directly involved in her tax collector’s corrupt and illegal misconduct.

If this is how finances were handled at City Hall, it’s fair to ask: what would it look like with the entire state budget on the line?”