The following editorial appeared Monday Jan. 21, 2008 on the editorial page of the New Haven Register. It is an editorial opinion and it was not written by the contributors to the All About Milford blog but is reprinted here as it involves a Milford issue.

Police board loses qualified member in partisan reprisal.
Milford’s Board of Police Commissioners has lost a good member thanks to what appears to have been political spite. On a party line vote, the Democrats who control the Board of Aldermen rejected the reappointment of Tony Candido, a member of the police board for six years. Candido is a Democrat who had been nominated for reappointment by Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr., a Republican. Candido was amply qualified for reappointment. Aside from his six years of service on the board, he is the chief marshal in charge of courthouse security for the Waterbury Judicial District. As chairman of the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities, he has devoted further hours to public service in Milford. Why did the Democrats reject a fellow party member’s appointment? Candido had supported the unsuccessful candidacy of his wife, a Republican, for election to the Board of Aldermen. Republicans have charged the Democrats blackballed him in retribution. The Democrats who voted against him offered no other explanation beyond suggesting he would have done better if he were a Republican and that he was not “reflective of what the Democratic Party is now.” If that means small-minded and partisan, Candido should be honored that his party rejected him.