Is there any oversight to abuses of power in small CT towns?
I live in a small town in CT that has been controlled by the same First Selectman for a very long time, despite having a very concerning history he continues to get reelected. All of our town boards and commissions are filled with his "people" usually ones who come into power through first volunteering with a local first responders. Sometimes their wives also get appointed.
At this point the power has gone on so long until recently he even controlled the other political party's town committee through a town employee who was the chair. Meaning both political parties were doing his will. All reappointments come through the board of selectman. There is no ability to recall and most of our town government is appointed.
Those who speak out against him end up "fired" for reasons that sometimes have gotten them arrested. The town employees are terrified to come forward even after other employees have harassed them.
We have no media that truly covers the town. Only a biased paper in a nearby city that basically uses his "press releases" for articles and a tiny paper run by a "reporter" who sometimes chimes in at selectman meetings.
The more I look into the town the more concerned I get but I don't see any organization that provides oversight. Even the local police chief stands in the selectman's "tent" on election days. It's scary to live here and I'm not sure there's anyone in state government who would even care and when a town has been so totally taken over it's too many little things to even investigate.
So how do we fix it?