Thursday, May 17, 2007

I-84: Fritz family fiasco?

William Fritz, son of Cheshire's state Rep. Mary Fritz, is apparently not the only Fritz at the MaGuire Company.

(But first to recap... MaGuire was the inspection company hired for the I-84 fiasco that may ultimately cost CT taxpayers millions of dollars... not to mention that, according to the Feds, driving that stretch of highway may now be dangerous due to potential highway collapses. William Fritz was the Lead Inspector for MaGuire on the job. He is now being sued by AG Blumenthal in relation to the debacle. Also see this week's Herald for a good synopsis, including their "spot on" editorial.)

Anyway, I was over on the North Haven Info blog and came across this interesting post on the relationship between one of their local political races and MaGuire executives (posted by Robert Wechsler). He wrote:

four Maguire Group employees have already donated to the "Kopetz for First Selectman" campaign: John Treichel (VP, but listed as "engineer"), Alan Asikainen (VP of the water resources division, but listed as "engineer"), James Fritz (executive VP, but listed as "engineer"), and Sebastian Amenta (VP, but listed as "engineer").
I was curious. Of interest to me was what I found when I googled "James Fritz Maguire." According to that webpage, there is a "James Fritz" who works for McGuire and lives in the zip code 06489... Southington. And this website lists an Executive VP of the Maguire Group with the name "James Fritz."

Does Maguire employ a James Fritz of Southington as an Executive VP?

Then I clicked Whitepages, and saw only one address in 06489 / Southington with a "James Fritz." He lives at 39 Carrier Ct... also living at that address is a Carolyn Fritz. Peoplefinders.com lists a Carolyn Fritz of Southington (age 57) with two possible relatives named James Fritz (ages 58 & 34).

Is James Fritz (of the Maguire Group) related to Carolyn Fritz?

The Carolyn Fritz of 39 Carrier Court has donated to state Rep. Mary Fritz' election campaigns. As well, a Camille Fritz of Cheshire has donated to Rep. Fritz. (click on images to enlarge):















I then googled "Carolyn and Camille Fritz" and found that state Rep. Mary Fritz has two sisters-in-law named Carolyn and Camille (cga website).

Is this the Carolyn Fritz of 39 Carrier Court, Southington?

Does Rep. Fritz have a brother who works as an Executive VP at the Maguire Group?

If so, is the I-84 fiasco a Fritz family affair... with Maguire employing both a nephew as the lead inspector and an uncle as an Executive VP?

Unlike many other state legislators, Rep. Fritz does not appear to have yet made any public statements regarding the I-84 debacle... at least not on her official state website, nor during (what I saw of) today's CT-N televised press conference in Hartford.

Nonetheless, I'm eagerly awaiting her plans to rectify the situation going forward, ensuring that no more of these projects go so drastically wrong. And I hope that statement comes soon. While the DOT claims there are no short term safety concerns... they no longer have any credibility on this issue. So action needs to be taken expeditiously.

Having said all that, I still can't understand why the Governor has yet to terminate DOT Commissioner Ralph Carpenter.

Also see Friday's WRA for I-84 light polls that may fall at any time (by Mike Puffer) and calls by legislative Democrats for the report on this fiasco (by Paul Hughes). I don't know much about state Sen. Don DeFronzo (D-New Britain), but based on what I know of him... I like him.

Tim White

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW. Tim, great work. Be careful!

Anonymous said...

It doesn't surprise me at all. There is so much corruption in the state. It is run not for the people but for the insiders and their families.

There was a bill to make the names of LLC owners public and that was killed. If you know who owns what it will explain not only what is happening at the state level, but at the local.

There are too many people in politics for the purpose of not serving the people, but serving themselves.

Good job on this one. Follow the money, find out who is who, and look at it from all sides.

Anonymous said...

Can't post to EMERGENCY MEETING 5/14? Huh?

Anonymous said...

If investigative reporting was still in style we wouldn't have to count on good people like Tim White for this sort of inquiry. The press is fading away on all levels.

redtown said...

"Oh what a tangled web we weave
when first we practise to deceive!"

...Sir Walter Scott

Anonymous said...

LIGHT POLE NOT POLL

Anonymous said...

WOW TIM-YOU ARE A REGULAR WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN
THERE IS NOTHING HERE AND YOU KNOW IT SO STOP TAINTING OR TRYING TO TAINT VICKIE AND MARY
YOU LOST GET OVER IT MAN
MOVE ON TO OTHER THINGS

Anonymous said...

Grammar Police are out in force.

Someone sore that Tim speaks truth to power?

Anonymous said...

Anon. 11:36,
There you go again. You can't factually refute anything in Tim's post, so you just smokescreen it over as his being "sore" that Vickie won.

But this whole I-84 thing stinks like a mini-Watergate, and the money should be followed wherever it leads. Your smokescreen, like Nixon's, should not impede public awareness of the dirty facts.

(BTW, where did Tim mention Vickie in this I-84 post???)

Anonymous said...

your sore loser friends have also chimed in
prove where mary went wrong
making baseless charges only make the blog more useless

Anonymous said...

1233 can you read? whart are the "baseless charges" about Mary?

Anonymous said...

Roses are red,
violets are blue.
Nixon's a crook,
the Fritzes are too.

Anonymous said...

Sweet piece of work, Tim. Maybe politics isn't your best destiny.

Behold a taste of the power of the Web, focused through the voices of the blogs.

These people are a disgrace to the noble profession of engineering.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the old soul song

"it's a family affair...it;s a family affair..."

Anonymous said...

While you're goolging, try and find a single statement made by the State Senator for this district between 2002 and 2006 on the I-84 project besides a press release taking credit for groundbreaking

Chris Murphy can ignore an ongoing disaster in the middle of his alleged home district but claims to have all the answers about Iraq. Sure

Anonymous said...

Tim you have uncovered nothing that would lead anyone to believe that there is any wrong doing.
How about the money you took from the Dentists to help in your election against vickie. Why did yoiu take that money. why not post that little document on the web so we can see you were willing to do anything to beat her and she schooled you. Goes around comes around pal.

Anonymous said...

to the last anon:

Last time I checked the dentists didn't squander $60 million taxpayer dollars on a road that started falling apart before it was finished

Ms. Nardello has taken a vow of silence. Perhaps some union members at the Taj Mahal on the Berlin Turnpike can't handle the truth

Tim White said...

11:01 I don't understand how your comment relates to this post on a family relationship and a lack of leadership from our elected leader(s). It seems a bit more like trolling than a topical question.

redtown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
redtown said...

Again, Anon.11:01 can’t refute the facts and evidence cited in Tim’s post, so he throws up a smokescreen by trying to change the subject.

In fact, the dentists’ contributions to Tim’s ’06 campaign are posted for the world to see on the Secretary of State’s website -- completely above-board and legal (unlike I-84 dealings). Tim agreed with the dentists and opposed Vickie Nardello’s proposal to allow unqualified dental hygienists to perform dentistry. For Tim it was a principled matter of public safety. But this has all been publicly discussed before; it’s nothing but a smokescreen in this discussion.

Bottom line: AG Blumenthal is investigating and suing members of the Fritz family and the Maguire Corp. for “irregularities” related to I-84. Democrat Blumenthal is a straight shooter (unlike Anon. 11:01/ 11:36/ 12:33 who’s blindly partisan).

Bottom line: As pointed out above, “the dentists didn't squander $60 million taxpayer dollars on a road that started falling apart before it was finished.”

Anonymous said...

More front page news today in HC. This will be front page everyday from the look of things.

Tim White said...

Today's NH Register article is even more in depth. It's online. I'll probably post on it later today.

Anonymous said...

According to today's Hartford Courant, the FBI is also investigating Maguire and the Fritz's role, besides the AG's lawsuit against them.

Anonymous 11:01 says, "Tim you have uncovered nothing that would lead anyone to believe that there is any wrong doing". What is he, a shill for the corrupt contractors?

Anonymous said...

There was a state senator or rep that had a lighting business years ago and got a number of street light contracts. Was there a subcontractor for the street lights?

pillow covers online said...

Having said all that, I still can't understand why the Governor has yet to terminate DOT Commissioner Ralph Carpenter.
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