NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A Connecticut mayor has nixed the renaming of a street honoring Paul Manafort’s father. New Britain Republican Erin Stewart vetoed the proposal Monday, accusing local Democrats of trying to “score cheap political points” and attempting to “invent or rewrite history.”
The Common Council’s majority leader, Carlo Carlozzi Jr., told CBS News’ Danielle Garrand Democrats will try to override Stewart’s veto later this month. He says there’s concern the street name “brings embarrassment to the city.”
“If she wants to hang her hat on the Paul Manafort name, God bless her. I want to do what’s right for the community,” Carlozzi told Garrand before Stewart vetoed the resolution.
Democrats hope to rename the street after an African-American 19th century educator and diplomat, Ebenezer Bassett, Central Connecticut State University’s first African American graduate, reports CBS Hartford, Counnecticut, affiliate WFSB-TV.
Stewart recently changed the name from Paul Manafort Drive to Paul Manafort Sr. Drive to clarify that it refers to New Britain’s three-term mayor and not his son, the former chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, who has been convicted of financial crimes and accepted a plea deal under which he is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller.
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