The sniping in the Fifth District Democratic race is heating up in the race’s final week. Today political newcomer Dan Roberti is striking back at former state Rep. Elizabeth Esty over claims about Roberti’s ties to a firm owned by his father, a powerful Washington lobbyist.
In the 33-second ad, which the campaign says will air districtwide this week, Roberti denies that he participated in the company’s activities.
“I’ve never been a lobbyist and Elizabeth knows it,” Roberti says over soft background piano music. “I’ve spent my life running a homeless shelter, organizing disaster relief and fighting poverty with Martin Luther King III. The lobbyist she’s talking about is my father, not me.”
Esty’s ad claimed that Roberti was co-owner of his father’s firm. When Esty made similar claims at a debate in Litchfield on Sunday, Roberti said that he had owned a stake in the firm through a trust set up by his father, Vincent Roberti. But Roberti said Sunday that he had divested from the firm to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
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4 Responses to Roberti Punches Back: I’m No Lobbyist. I Run A Homeless Shelter
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Here’s Esty going after Roberti last Saturday in Litchfield. If only they knew how to use a microphone.
They like to hear themselves speak so I guess they don’t care if anybody else can hear. Only Chris Donovan gets it.
http://youtu.be/-7A1LaTEXIE
Laughable!
If If Roberti’s been involved in all of this work for tex-exempt charities, his salry and benefits must be a matter of public record. Has anyone in the media inquired as to his past positions and compensation and his current compensation?
Also, there are many ways to ‘divest’ one’s self of assets and financial interests. One of this is to place said interests and assets in a blind trust. This allows the person to disclaim any personal knowledge of how those assets/interests are being managed or invested, while providing for the ability to reclaim the assets at some point in future. These types of ‘divestitures’ preserve a kind of arms-length relationship while allowing the person to give the impression of being unable to actually claim the assets. Have no dount that as a lawyer, he didn’t do anything stupid.
So, exactly how did Roberti “divest” his assests and financial interests?
the people of the 5th have got to be so embarrassed: Donovan, Greenberg, Roberti, Wilson-Foley ….. wow, huh?
HST