October 22, 2024 – Alfredo Castillo, a City Council Representative for the 136th District since 2013, has been in the news a lot lately. 

In June, Mr. Castillo was arrested on election fraud charges stemming from Bridgeport’s 2019 mayoral primary. In July, body cam footage was released of a combative traffic stop in Fairfield where he refused to comply with the police officer’s orders. In August, the CT Post broke the story that Mr. Castillo has evaded Bridgeport car taxes for years by registering his cars in Shelton. In September, the Secretary of State received a formal report from Bridgeport’s election monitors warning that Mr. Castillo and others have been abusing curbside voting.

And finally, just this week, we learned that Mr. Castillo has been accused of pressuring a permanent legal resident to register to vote and apply for an absentee ballot, even though he knew she wasn’t eligible to vote. 

All of these scandals come after Mr. Castillo, a Democrat, was implicated in the same 2023 video surveillance footage as Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice-chair of Bridgeport’s local Democratic Party, which showed him, Ms. Geter-Pataky, and others illegally depositing ballots into Bridgeport’s dropboxes during the 2023 mayoral primary. Last week, at Mr. Castillo’s pre-trial hearing for the 2019 charges, prosecutors asked the judge for more time, stating that the investigation is ongoing

So we want to know: Why is Alfredo Castillo still on City Council? Why has he not resigned? And why has there been zero public pressure from high-ranking local officials calling for his resignation? 

A Pattern Across The Country

Across the nation, elected officials’ corruption is being exposed. From New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams, to former New Jersey U.S. Senator Bob Menedez, from former U.S Rep. George Santos, to former President Donald Trump, Americans have witnessed a steady stream of criminal indictments. Sadly, however, there isn’t a steady stream of personal accountability in their wake.

Elected officials, perhaps encouraged by Trump’s flagrant disregard for the rule of law, are getting bolder in their refusals to resign, despite overwhelming evidence that they have irrevocably broken the public’s trust. In fact, George Santos refused to resign for so long that Congress was forced to take a bipartisan vote to expel him, making him only the 3rd member to be expelled since the Civil War. 

Let’s be clear – Alfredo Castillo must resign. His arrest by state prosecutors on 2019 election fraud charges are reason enough, but it is Mr. Castillo’s recent transgressions that warrant public outcry. Tax evasion is a form of theft. By knowingly registering his cars in Shelton, Mr. Castillo was stealing from the people of Bridgeport for his own personal benefit. All while he voted year in and year out on the city’s budget, hearing countless testimonies from parents, students, and teachers pleading for more money for our public education.

The city’s proposed remedy, where Mr. Castillo is now ordered to start paying his car taxes in Bridgeport, is laughable – and not just because he already missed the September deadline. Mr. Castillo should be officially audited and charged interest plus a fine on everything he owes. If there’s no real penalty for car tax evasion, what’s to stop Bridgeporters from following his lead? 

Additionally, this week’s unsealed complaint demonstrates the lengths to which Castillo will go in order to steal elections. In it, Castillo allegedly advised Arianna Hernandez, who is a legal permanent resident, that it was OK for her to sign paperwork to become a registered voter, even though she informed him at the time that she was not a U.S. citizen. The complaint goes on to state that Mr. Castillo, with the assistance of Ms. Geter-Pataky, then helped Hernandez apply for an absentee ballot, which the councilman then cast in advance of the city’s 2023 Democratic primary.

Alfredo Castillo’s theft, the stealing of tax dollars and votes is egregious. It defrauds hard working Bridgeport residents of resources, violates our civil rights, undermines our democracy and puts vulnerable people in harm’s way: Mr. Castillo must know that it is a Class D felony punishable by $5,000 and up to 5 years in prison for any voter to fraudulently complete an absentee ballot application. By convincing Ms. Hernandez to do so, he put her, her immigration status, and her family’s safety at risk. 

Searching For Accountability

But how can Alfredo Castillo be so bold? Maybe it’s because he knows that no one who should hold him accountable – not Mayor Joe Ganim, not Democratic Town Committee Chair Mario Testa, not City Council President Aidee Nieves, no one person from our state delegation, nor any of his  Council colleagues – save Councilman Matthew McCarthy from Black Rock’s 130th District – has publicly called for his resignation. 

We know why Ganim and Testa won’t. It is widely known that they both uphold and benefit from Castillo’s election fraud. And Council President Aidee Nieves is facing her own legal issues: In September, the State Elections Enforcement Commission referred Nieves to state criminal prosecutors for a case involving alleged 2023 election irregularities. More to come on that.

But where is State Rep. Christopher Rosario’s leadership? He serves on the 136th Democratic Town Committee with both Geter-Pataky and Castillo, and sits on the state legislature’s General Administration and Elections Committee in Hartford. Rep. Rosario – who recently wrote an Op-Ed about the crisis of misinformation within the Latino community – should know more than anyone how destructive election law violations can be for democracy. And how about City Council Rep. Scott Burns and Ernest Newton, the long-time Co-Chairs of Council’s Budget & Appropriations committee? Where are their voices on the damage caused when public officials openly evade paying their taxes into the city’s coffers?

Given the flood of scandals, his arrest on election fraud charges, and the ongoing investigation, Alfredo Castillo must step down from City Council for the good of our city. And to preserve their integrity, local leaders should be the loudest voices calling for his resignation.