Giusti: Able, Compassionate and Approachable

SCC June 21, 2011 at 06:46 am

Bob,
It seems to me manifestly obvious that experience in business managing a large number of employees and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars is relevant to an executive branch position that involves managing a large number of employees and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars. And given the town's reliance on the value of homes as a source of revenue, knowledge about the kind of local environment that can make a town attractive to both home buyers and home builders, obtained from experience in the home building business, would seem to me equally relevant, particulalrly in our current economic climate. As to what Giusti has "divulged", I suggest you seek out and actually read his campaign materials. The material I have seen details precisely the kind of information you claim to be interested in, ie the size of the businesses he has been involved in and his past experience in town government.

Jon S. June 21, 2011 at 12:36 pm

Not sure how relevant that "home building" and "management" experience is to running New Canaan's Town Hall. To take your "manifestly obvious" argument to its logical conclusion, New Canaan's first selectman should locate his primary office in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and run our town government from there, nearly 1,000 miles away, while employing a local person to do the real work.

Elmcrest June 21, 2011 at 02:24 pm

Please don't denigrate Mr. Mallozzi's business acumen or people skills as mere "baseball restocking." That's just shameful and suggests you have no idea how valuable businesses like Bob's Sports are to our town. Rob's experience proves he's a talented businessman, tireless volunteer, and positive contributor to New Canaan. And why should he call an absentee executive of a residential home builder in the midwest for commercial renovations in New Canaan? Perhaps we need another $200,000+ taxpayer-funded study first.

SCC June 21, 2011 at 02:52 pm

Jon S.
My "manifestly obvious" remark was not an argument, but instead an observation. And if you believe that the (obviously true) premise that experience managing a large budget and number of employees is relevant experience leads logically to the conclusion that the First Selectman's office should be run out of Wisconsin, I recommend that you invest some time trying to understand the rules of logic.

CTgal111 June 21, 2011 at 03:03 pm

@Hank Edwards: Wow, that is just beyond a nasty comment. Shame on you.
A blight to New Canaan? funny, since the store supports the local school teams, the outdoor music festivals, offers local teens jobs, pays municipal taxes, makes countless donations for charitable events, etc, etc. It is in fact one of the more highly community-oriented business in town!!! You sound mean-spirited and should be embarassed by your narrow world view.

Jon S. June 21, 2011 at 03:04 pm

SCC, no one is interested in your constant recommendations and suggestions on what we should think and what we should do. You continue to split hairs and miss the point.

JL June 21, 2011 at 03:16 pm

This election is pretty simple actually. If you believe that Jeb and his people have been doing a good job, then vote for his handpicked sucessor, Paul Giusti. Nothing will change. We will continue with the Long Range Planning Committe and spending on outside consultants.
If you think this is the wrong approach, then vote for Rob. Everything else is just noise.

Sheryl Shaker June 21, 2011 at 03:17 pm

Is it not possible for commenters to stick to the issues and to state their points without denigrating the character, intelligence and motives of people who hold different points of view? No one wants to walk into a room where people are arguing and insulting each other, so please stop. Can we get this conversation back on topic: What are the issues and challenges that matter most to our town? How will your candidate best address those issues?

Bob June 21, 2011 at 04:06 pm

SCC, I have looked at the Gusiti web site. All it says is that he was the COO (typo corrected from CEO) of Fortress Group. As we all know that company failed. Also, we don't know what were his responsibilities as COO. Depending on the structure, often COO's may only have responsibility for staff functions such as Legal, HR, public relations and the like. All that he has said about Fortress was the number of employees and revenue. But nothing about how much of that he was directly responsible for in his role. And the amount of revenue is totally irrelevant if the expenses were greater. Which is what happened at Fortress Group. Your candidate has not given us anything solid about his time there. As to Brookstone, we know equally little about his efforts there. If you search any of the business reporting agencies for Brookstone, it comes back as a company with less than $5,000,000 in sales and 8 employees. And Guisti is not listed. In fact, someone else has the title of CEO of Brookstone. Again, too many unanswered questions about his career. This would be fairly simple to set straight if he would address these issues. But he has chosen not to do so.