Bully of Campbell Ave

7/28/2019 Bully of Campbell Ave

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381CONNECTICUT


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IIn .WestHaven, wherepolitics isplay~ hard and toughand

. by invitation only, Harold AilE I is thehost: .'

Bforedawn, when nearlyeveryone' else in West Ha-.venisasleep, HaroldAllen.Jr. yawns into the new.day, whichbegins with in-. sulin, orangejuice, and thefirst of dozens' of phone calls he willmakeduring the next sixteen hours. Byseveno'clock, hewill havechecked withJoseph Latella. theowner of acommer-cial rubbishcartingfirm. forwhichAllenacts as general manager. A few phonecalls later. hewill steer his 1979maroonlincoln towncar, licenseplateDEMO-I,an American solidarity. flag flying fromthe rear bumper; down thequiet streets.Passingsplit ranches and solid old farm-houses and neat three-famly homes, heputs inacall or twoon thecar's mobilephone, and finally pulls upby the towngreen in his accustomed parkingspot in. front of City Hall. facing CampbellAvenue.At eight, Allen is huddling with themayor. BobJohnson. about the runningof thecity. thecontrol of thesometimesfractiousDemocraticparty, about the dis-pensing of patronage, favors, punish-ments. The twomen'have been friends,dose friends, since school days; andtogether with Johnson's brother Freddy,the assistant director of public works(Allen's father's oldjob) andDemocratictownchairman, they runCity Hall likeafiefdom. withabsolutepower.Bob Johnson in November won anIllustratienbyRayDriver

ep b e RByRobertPal,

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unprecedented fourth term as h9(1 The iron fist behind Johnson's velveone of the most highly Ptlliticizedfi~ glove,hewill lashoutatthefirstsignthaanywhere. onewithalongreputati0r ~r someone ischallenginghim; if the chacronyism and bossism, a sort of . lengeissuccessfw. aswhen hisman~atureChi . ':Wi.ochell~ + : alocalprimary lastsummer toanupstar:li' ' . ,. Tamrnh':) fromthe ranksof theYoungDemocraEtleW iib andhewassaidtohavekicltedtablesand' . . .~ r i e < : chairsaround thepartyheadquarters, hi. ..t~ l ., wrath issomething tobehold...,..iltititf' , ;'f~3' Itmayseemstrangethat inthesedayWhe er r' apocryphal, the fluf e of purportedly open government, onehas cometobewoven into the fabfiCi f mancanwieldsomuchunbridledpowerthe town's self-image. Johnson, unl~~e Strangerstill whentheman isn'teven anthe flashily dressed. diamOnd-Rif.!:'. electedofficial.HeservesonlyastheseeADen, is cast in the mold of the IblJ , retary of the city's Inland Wetlandbusinesslike manager of govemht. t, Commssion and as chairman of tl,shunning the boss image while s~a~g Boardof PublicHealth. neitherjobapaidsomewhat aloof from the swirls I f one, but they provideAllenwitha J ar8rumor, controversy. and intrigU~1~at privateofficeindiehealth departmenfsAllengenerates, denies, and thriv o. second floor wing of City Hall, fromAlthough short and overweight, A I n whichastaff of thirteen or fourteen (bnonetheless conveysasubtleairof i- his reckoning) isathisbeckandcall.Oncal power heightened by an au.raff a.d of thetownnurses bringshimhisorangtemper heldjust belowtheboilingpoi t. juiceandhismedication. andanswershi

Somesay that beneath his gruff e td or phonewhenoneof thesecretaries isoutbeatstheproverbial heart ofgold, _r~~ Hepushesatanbuttononthesideofhiunder the skin "he's soft as at~- phone. andoneof thejunior sanitarianmallow." which wasmeant as a rib te. appears instantly, either to chauffeuMore often than not, however, e pie Allen's Lincolnor, ashappened onedasay despite his show of generosity nd recently, torunoutinsearchof arat thacivic-rnindedness, heismeanandIlVi~C- oneof Allen's aunts fears is rummagintiveto thecore. through-her kitchencabinets."Harold spreads untrue stories a ut But most importantly, the office i speople, he plants things to dam~gehis base for Allen's power brokering, whicopponents' reputations," says sdm ne isnot atall limted tothepetty cronyismwhoknowshim well. of West Haven. On the contrary, h


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- knowshowtohaunt the-hallsof thestatecapitol with thebest of them. knows thatwhen the maroon DEMO-l wheels intothe driveway of the capitol, the stalepoliceman on duty will, with a black-leatherglove,wavehimover toaparking-spot right near those reserved for thegovernor and lieutenant governor. Whenhe gets off the elevator at the secondfloor where the general assembly isdebating, small knots of legislators willdrift out to glad-band and joke withHarold Allen. Jr.His connections go back to the dayswhen he was a Young Democrat, anorganization started four decades agobyThomas Dodd and John M. Bailey as afarm system for ambitious young 'pols.Hekeeps up theold ties. stays in louchwith his old Young Dems, and loves toname drop about the many illustriouspoliticianswholaunched themselves intothe big time through theorganization ofwhich AlJenwasnational president foratime."1 come from the (Mayor) Daley-(John) Baileyschool of political leaders;'Allen says. Although he professes that"John Bailey'sshoeswillnever befilled;'he isconfident that givenashot. hecaneasily try themon for size. Like Bailey.Allen sees himself as potentially thegreat unifier of thestateDemocrats. andan upholder of theold traditions nowsoregr.ettably fallen into disrepute. "Baileywasn't adictator, nomatter what peoplemght believe," he says reverently. "Ifthere were two guys-in the room, onenever went away empty-handed. And-I'magreat believer inpatronage; there'salways enough crumbs in a loaf to goaround."In November he staked his claim tothe role of topo di tutti capi of the party.thestate chairmanship. "No onehas theright to beanointed chairman;' he says,referring to Governor Ella Grasso's ex-pected choice of Chad McCollam toreplace John.Dempsey, Jr.who is ex-.peetedto step down aschairman to runfor Congress. All these expectations arefuel for Allen's insatiable craving forpower: the state chairmanship, he willtell you, has been his dream for twentyyears, ever since he started as a runnerand Election Oaydriver for the party inhis hometown of West Haven. And, hewill add morosely. his melancholy facedrooping abit further. if anything-be ita critical news article or oneof theperiodic "campaigns todiscredit meper-sonally" that he sees behind every dis-paraging remark-keeps him from hisgoal, then the perpetrator will earn hisundying enmty.The Allen temper is not somethingthat is taken lightlyaround CityHall. Hehas thepower tohire. andif notpreciselyto lire. at least to imply that if anyonecrosses him. his career will gonowhere.Sources famliar withhismodus operandi.4O/CONNECTICUT

including some still surfcring~q ietl,under it, say he is a master or I ns nJ -tion. of letting youknow that he n wsalotmoreabout youthan you th,i k. lb treluctant toopposehis wishes. I~H '? dAllenwantsyoutoattend apart~c;tl c ,for example. beeause he needs ~~~security votes cast his way. he wiI~Iyou. "You've got ajob on the Ii e nI wgo Jal." I .008y bullying and threateni nf p . , . , 1 .working for him. and even those w0don't. hc makes them feel WO~hesssays asource who sees Allen in ctil nfivedays a week. ""lIe'l badger y u nthephone. early in themorninglFln I eat night. and say "theonly way I to k pyour-job is to stick with me.' The f tthing you hear when you start ~drk ghereis 'watch out for Harold AI,e~.Others who havesuffered his t~rI -downplay the seriousness of th mceiving the weight he throws a~u dall bluff and bluster. If he makes elower echelon of city worke~s Iju pthrough hoopsatapush of thebrttpn nhis office phone, those more srcur antheir positions in thepany shfUgdff istemper lanlrum~and violentlylloHsc elanguageasthebehavior of abO~st IIingtoprovehimself. I ."Harold wasagofer for the par y Iprsolongthat nowthat he's inap~sil artpfpower. the old guard stm dodn' ta~ehimseriously. Theman's abuff~ ;' ~b-serves a party member, wit1h softieamusement. "A lot of things h(s dor.eareignoredbecausehewasalways "i .'

"Youknopolitics is 'rotten goddamnlgame," A111said. '~lfI~~topuncheveryone Innosewhoever.talkedbehin I~back, I'd hav.arrest record Imiles long.

A lIen'sfirst run-inwithlaw occurred in 19when he was arrestand confessed tostealnearly $3,000 worthjewelry from fur- colyingaround thehomeof aWoodbridinsurance executive while a partywhich he had been invited was inswing. A $750pin was recovered lafrom a West Haven woman who 'tpoliceshe bought it on the street frAllen. who at the time was an airm2ndclass home on leave. Barelyouthis teens. he had already had atastelivingwell beyond his means.The year before. a New Haven bahad erroneously credited Allen's cheing account with the sum_of $8.1which he proceeded over the next f

But." themanshrugs, "they built himand now they've got a rattlesnaketheir hands."It'saparticularly aptmetaphor. Allewarningrattle isexpressed inagunmshine that transforms his paleblueeby aquiveringaround the dewlaps.an unmstakable edge that cuts throhis normally laconic air. When apotial sourceforthis articlereportedbacAllen a question I had asked of himQuestionintended toconfirm allegatiabout Allen abusing his authority oCity Hall employees in a parliculaoffensive way. the man who wouldstate chairman sprang to the offensiHesought adviceonthematter, hesfromhis lawyer. themayor, and"at lfortyother peoplearound here." Wheaskedhimif theallegationsweretruereplied simply. "No. Does that answyour question?" Then hehit the butby his phone. and thedoor tohis offlewopen. Eightpeoplefiledin. liningbehindme. and facingAllen, who stup behind his desk in the manner oprincipal intending to get to thebottof arumble in theschool parking lotWith the private interview suddeturned public.Allenasked theeight pple-CilY Hall workers whom I'd nespoken to-if the allegations were tHis secretary accused me of havindirty mnd, and then the eight filedagainon anod fromAllen."'When I first heardabout your alletion;' hesaid, resumngthe interviewwhatwasleftorit. "my firstimpulsetoput00mypajamasandgopunch yf-ing face in." When I assured himwasn't making the allegation, but ratseeking corroboration of informatiohad received fromhalf adozen sourchesaidwithasigh."Youknow,politica rotten goddamn game. If I werepunch everyone in the nose who etalkedbehindmyback. I'dhaveanarrrecord fivemles long."


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months to withdraw. The bank. when itcaught up with its mstake. demandedrestitution, but Allen refused, accordingtocourt documents. Ajudgment wasob-tained against him and Allen's brandnew 1953Packard wassold at public auc-tion. bringing in $1,700.Theonly cash hewas able to"produce was$60.In 1970.the bank's successor. the FirstNewHaven National Bank. took Allen tocourt inan effort to get themoney owedit, plus interest- "Allenresponded. how-ever, that when he tiled for. and wasgranted, bankruptcy in 1960. all hisdebts-for clothing, furniture. loansfrom banks and credit unions as well asthe inoney still owed from the unex-pected $8.198- windfall, totaling morethan SJ2.000-nullified thebank's claimAlways the scrapper (a word he likesto use to describe himself), Allen cameout of these and other scrapes with. ifanything. an enhanced reputation as acunning survivor. Shortly after the em-barrassment of having been caught steal-

ing jewelry, he became, at age twenty-one, the youngest person ever named tothe West Haven Democratic lown com-mttee. His loyalty and hardwork incan-vassingand running errands for thepolit-ical bigshots of theday landed himajobon the city payroll asasanitarian, wherehe learned about the running of apoliti-cal machine and the workings of thehealth department. Withnomore than ahigh school degree, he rose through theranks tobecome, ultimately. health com-mssioner. withauthority over the 10WO'stitular Health Director. a local physicianwho works part time for the city.While working in the health depart-ment, Allen learned a lot about the gar-bagebusiness. Heput"that knowledge togood use. Hewent toworkeventually forJoseph Latella as a salesman of cartingand dumping equipment. The two jobswere tobecome intertwined, and highlyrewarding. Politics and private enter-prise: the best route for "an ambitiousman withexpensive tastes to travel, andAllen .has mastered the tricky art of.straddling both lanes. Hesays hemakes$50.000a year as Latella's general man-ager while working at the job no morethan four hours a day. But his politicalwheeling and dealing-"a twenty-fourhour a day, 365 days a year job," hesays-has added considerably to hisability tosell garbage hauling services forLatella.I t almost got him into another brushwiththe law fiveyears ago.The owner ofaNew Haven industrial cleaning servicewas complaining to people that HaroldAllen had offered to help get him thecontract toclean theWestHaven schoolsin return for a $1,500 payoff. AndrewHoulding, then a reporter for the New "Haven Journal-Courier, called up theman, Donald Dupont, and identifying(Continued onpOK' .'i .V )

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The Other SideQfWestH

Beach SITeeI. Savin Rode / I IPolitically, West Haven sometimes resembles anoldwestern fro~j t1wn.withshoot- 'em-ups andbrandings the lawof theland. Theactio~ma~bealegacy of the community's late--bl~mng h~ory-although se~f~ i t.heseventeenth century, it was a collection of ivlliagesand farmand alll~ withother towns until 1921,when it finally becameatown in itsown rig t.Thecityitself wasn't incorporated until 1961. But it'~not all politics inW , Hr.~n.Where the western end of New Haven exhausts itself in scrap ietal yardsandautobody shops andheavy traffic roaridg through thespoiled s It.p~rhesalongtheConnecticut TUrnpike,West Havenbegins. There's thelan, fi U jherethecity'sgarbagegoes.andfarther alongthe!coast, thesewagetreat~e+t flant.Then theskyopens up, theair getssaltier at.d thebeacheswider. and the,.ittlebait and tackle shops open their screen doo~stothe Sound. I I IOnthe concrete piers nosing toward Long Island, retired railro,~ E 9 ' andwidows and kids playing hooky toss their lines for snapper blue:r. i~andfriendly insults aretraded freely among the~egularsonthepiers, an~al trpngerisable tojoin thecamaraderie simply byshowingsome interest in Ime~runnin.of theblues. 0 1Where Campbell Avenue, the city's major commercial artery, b~ thebeach, the ghosts of seaside lovers wander among the high-rise a ,entbuildinas and thecondos. Onceit wasSavit1Rock. afashionable w~ ingholewith outdoor restaurants, grand Victorian cottages with turrets I!F d ornateshinales. and. in later years. anamusement /park.Mostof thebig~~n$ +rayedthere, and, during the summer, trolleys ran thecitydwellers out ~!)1 ]h 9 Rockfor theseaair and aswim. TheRock itself remains. itsweathered facecoveredwithspray-painted initialsand theyearsof thegraduatingclasses, t1 .+ t ~ej area'shonky-tonk grandeur is gone. By the beginning of the sixties. tl~eFU"theaadbecome tooslt;azy,toochoked in itsown~otdogwrappers and w~" esalt_water toopolluted toattract suburban famlieswithmoney tospen' o~lh,'eFer-ris wheel and thecotton candy booths. And people sometimes ' ! r - I ttf~darklyabout "busloads of them fromthe city"-bteaning the city of Niw H~ven. afew mles and several light years awaY-I as being the final insult I the lastdegradation. ~ 'So in the styleof "urban renewal" thenl so much in vogue. evrything wasrazed, even the famous Jimmes, whichwastoSavin Rockwhat 1Flt,}ali'sstoConey Island. A l!unam wave racing across the Sound from P()rt effersoncouldn't have flattened theplacemorecompletely ,leaving thousa~ds0feetofdeserted beachand scrubby acres of beachgrass in its wake. Today there's anew, fancier Jimmes and a few competing restaurants, some co~cretd publicbathrooms, thehighrises. ashoppingcenter. andplans formore 19 ~re!.Whileit lasts, there's awonderful feelingofopenness, almost wildness-0tqyBradleyPoint now,just eelgrassand rotted pilingsa~dthesoft lappingof 1 etInywavesagainst the rocks. Oncertain dry, barometrically thrilling days in e8irlyspringand lateautumn, the water is glassy and/clear, and mllions of~Iysler shellsrefract the light back from the sandy bottom. Elderly women noa~on theirbacksorsplash around in thewaist-deep rater. gossiping in Italifr. e senseof time suspended is strong, even as the beach area's future is arg ed in theredevelopment officeand the council chaiber back in City Haul./ -R.P.

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West Haven(Continuedfrom page 41)himself by name only. askedcouldmeet todiscussthematter.told Houlding that he was leavnext morning for a Jamaican vand proceeded to pour out thethe allegedbribein great detail:at the time, had thecleaningcontheNewHavenVeterans' MerJlOiseum. He mentioned to Gerrythe Coliseums superintendent otions. that heintended tobidontHaven schools contract. PunmknewHaroldAllenbecausetheCrubbish is coll~ed by Latellathrough Alltm, toldDapont totouch with Allen, whichhedid.ingto the conversation. which Htaped, Dapent quoted Allen a s"Look, for $1.500 I'll beabletog"So I says, all right, I says, I'shot," Dapont recalled. Unforfor Dapont, thebidAllenadvisedput in wasafewdollarshigherwinriingbid. andDapoat, feelingbecausehe'd shelled out themostill not gotten thecontract. staring. Punzo, who acted as&Q-Qthe arrangement; "confirmed Dstory toHoulding. ButwhenDaptold by his lawyer that Houldinnewspaper reporter. he recantedry, asdid Punzo.Therevisedverthat Allen had provided onlsulting" services. Mayor Bob Jpressed toinvestigatethematterasked Allenif therewasany trutallegations, "and he told menone." Sothemayor declined toan inquiry against his school chthere theaffair rested.By then. of course, Allenwathe powerful. and he had perfe"best defense is a good offenseniqueof protecting himself. simptributing any problems that aroattempt by his political opponbring in the headof Harold AlleThemost recent effort wasduNovember municipal electiotown's Republicans, outnumbereone by the Democrats, dusted"Dump TheBarrel" bumper sticallusion to the rotund healthsioner/party machineoperator).Btheir last three outings, theywerwhipped. The Republicans' cJoseph "Chick" Celentano, a lomade magnate in the lucrativebusiness whomade his first buning hot dogs and fried clams ouseashore, didhisbesttohammerthe Democratic machine. feeblthe ghost of conflict of intereststhe part of the Democrats. Tsponded with campaign ads denCelentano's one-third ownerthe municipal landflll, notingsteadily escalatingpricetilecity


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ley)nttheon,ofmt,for:01-l Z0,era-Vestwhoeumting.t in:ord-.dingying,it..."ike alatelyimton thearnedyandIalk-enonpont'suwaswas aissto-m was"con-he'totheisall forand

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out that theapproval for the nwasgiven "in arelatively shoMr. Harold Allen, an officiaWest Haven Department of Halsoan employee of Joseph Lor Celentano's associates), caoffice several times a weekfinal weeks to present requemation and await responses.some indication that Mr. AlleBobSchulz (aDEP official) thatry topersuade several legislafavorably for the CRRA (Resources Recovery Authowhich was then up for votinfor speeding processing of Capplication."Allen's constant presence ahis continual phone calls backbosses inWest Haven. his badboasting became ajoke totheBut he got the job done. Hethat there's no conflict bedifferent interests. It's just hthe DEP bas come to acceptthe solid waste unit investigaunauthorized dumping opesummer at Latella's piggeHarold Allen they met with,Allen who promsed to fix thAs the late Phil Ochs usedsure it wouldn't interest anyboof asmall circleof friends. Oor so souls living in the ciHaven, the circle encompashandful, and so far remainsHarold Allen vowsthat BobJbe the mayor for two morehowever long he wants tolongas Harold Allen "has themayor," as.people like to saythe power.

todump itstrash, fromeight dollarsatonfive years agoto a current rateof seven-teen dollars, has made Celentano amayoral prospect the city can ill afford.The peculiar thing is that JosephLatella, Harold Allen's boss, is one ofCelentano's partners. The Republicantownchairman, AI Conte, charged Allenwith conflict of interest, an .accusationtrotted out every election year, becausehe represents the public health and, atthe same time, helps Latella Cartingsecuremore contracts todump rubbish.Likemost municipal landfills, West Ha-ven's has had itsshare of environmentaland health problems; unlikeother cities,however, the same person representsboth the public and the dump's owner."It's theworst keptsecret in town thatMr. Allen uses the Health Departmentand itsoffices toconduct thedaily affairsof his political organization," Contecom-plained. What he didn't mention is thathehimself is theoverseer of the landfill.Butsowhat? Oneof thegivens about lifeinWest Haven is that once the electionseason rhetoric has been shelved, busi-ness returns to normal, which is to saythe power brokers of both parties setabout enriching themselves while per-petuating the charade of healthy, opencompetition. It's aclosedsociety, and thecynical winks and dogged resignation ofthoseontheoutsideonly servetodeepenthe frustration and resentment of thosetaxpayers who feel they're being taken,and who just as strongly feel they'repowerless tochange the situation.

ILike I J t/ ~ II"UnlClllla"flfil1s, I ' I' estHasen's htlf h,adits share Ifenvir'Onnie~talroblems; u~1ike'Other Citi

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l 'S,howeveTi, hesameper.,onrepresents I otbthe public; andthedump's pwner.dumped at the landfill)./ Garbage is col-lectedbyacontractor anll taken toapig-gery." The piggery is owned by Latella,and for years thegarbagewas fed tothepigs. IWhen the town sou~ state funds tobuild an incinerator, Harold Allen wasthere to help with l1is!political connec-tions, and when the incinerator abruptlywas closed three yead laler (with ml-lions of dollars still oJtstanding on thebond), hewasstanding/by, eager tohelp,as the town entered into acontract withhis bossand Chick

Bully of Campbell Ave

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