Drew Says City Needs to Heal

His election as mayor reflects a desire among residents here to end controversies like the police chief issue and antagonisms between City Hall and the Board of Education, Dan Drew said today during an interview on public radio.

Drew told radio host Colin McEnroe that his ability to topple Republican Mayor Sebastian Giuliano means residents want “a conversation about civility. Middletown is a city that needs to heal right now. That’s the direction I want to take us in.”

Between the conflicts over appointments to school administration positions and the police chief controversy, “we seem to have faced a divide in just about everything we were going into,” Drew added.

The new mayor joined three other city mayors who were elected, or re-elected, on Tuesday, on the Colin McEnroe Show, including ones from West Hartford and New Haven.

While a teaser for the show indicated McEnroe would ask Drew about  the city’s ongoing controversy with Deputy Police Chief Patrick McMahon, who is on paid leave pending an investigation into whether he drank alcohol in a local restaurant while wearing his gun and badge, the show ran out of time before McEnroe was able to raise those questions.

Drew, however, addressed the issue in a story today in the Hartford Courant.

Asked if the disasters the city has faced in recent years, including the Kleen Energy plant explosion in 2010 and two recent storms that hit the region hard, have made him more cognizant of the need to be prepared for emergencies, Drew said one of the first things he’s discussed with his transition team is the need for such planning.

The mayor-elect also got some helpful advice from the mayor of West Hartford, Scott Slifka, who told Drew to be wary of the demands of the job and learn to balance those demands with his home life. Drew is married and has three children.

“It can be a tough couple of years, you’re never off when you’re mayor,” Slifka said.

Drew said he and his wife are aware of the pitfalls of the job.

“My wife is incredibly supportive. She’s been with me through thick and thin. She’s well aware of some of the rigors of the political process.”