Corruption in the Lamont Administration: Diamantis, Duff and the New Regional Norwalk High School Project
In December 2019, right after Harry Rilling won a fourth term as Mayor of Norwalk, Bob Duff took center stage in a surprise announcement–unveiling a plan for a Brand New Norwalk High School–an audacious moment of political theater even for Duff, who’s made a career of political theater for personal gain here and in Hartford for nearly 18 years.
Duff was flanked by Mayor Rilling, members of the Norwalk Common Council, and the second highest ranking budget official in the state, Konstantinos ‘Kosta’ Diamantis, who had been appointed Deputy of the Office of Policy and Management a few weeks earlier by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), forgoing the usual CGA approval process. While at OPM, Diamantis served under Melissa McCaw, Secretary of OPM until her resignation last month amid rising concerns about the FBI’s widening probe of Diamantis and his roles at DAS and OPM overseeing the awarding of state contracts, principally for school construction projects.
Raising Eyebrows: McCaw Announces Appointment of Diamantis As OPM Deputy Secretary.
In her love letter praising Diamantis, McCaw gushed over his fiscal management and frugality with state/taxpayer resources, which is why the demolition contract for Bridgeport’s Bassick High School went not to the lowest bidder but to a contractor, AAIS, whose bid was 61% higher and a whopping $3.3 million more than the lowest bid. State reimbursement on the Bassick project? Nearly 70%. That means every Connecticut taxpayers pays a share of that extra $3.3 million for demo and hazardous material removal in Bridgeport. And the FBI investigation into Diamantis has only just begun.
https://www.ctinsider.com/columnist/article/Dan-Haar-Bridgeport-demolition-job-went-to-16939362.php
From SGC to CGA, Duff builds his case
School regionalization is one of Lamont’s pet ideas to better realize cost effeciencies (but really NOT) and bring greater educational equity to Connecticut’s students (but probably not). It’s also a deeply unpopular idea with many voters. Maybe our neighbors don’t want to merge with urban schools because they don’t care for diversity, as Senator Duff claims. Or maybe they don’t want to inherit Norwalk’s bloated Central Office staff, growing disciplinary problems and fiscal mismanagement. Whatever the reason, early attempts at regionalization failed, leading newcomers like Will Haskell to backpedal on the issue and Lamont to dangle carrots, one of which was more state reimbursement money for new school construction for regional schools with the goal of economic desegregation.
When Duff and Diamantis first met in May of 2019 to discuss Duff’s fed-up-ness over Norwalk High’s repair needs–needs he was aware of because of his controversial role on the Norwalk High School Governance Council–apparently, neither man knew about Lamont’s new rules on state funding for school building projects. And since Diamantis had been in charge of School Construction Grants and Review at DAS before he moved oversight to OPM, at least he should have known.
In fact, both wrongly believed they could pitch 80% state funding for a magnet school, so they set about planning a regional Arts Magnet High School to lure in all those Staples Players unhappy with the Westport to Broadway to Hollywood pipeline that rewarded the likes of Justin Paul with Tonys and Oscars.
Meanwhile Back in Norwalk
The plan for the new Norwalk High School may have begun as back-of-the-cocktail napkin scribbling between two men with access to $200mm in bonded state school construction money in May of 2019. But Bob and Kosta’s assignations over the summer of 2019 would not be enough to propel pie in the sky musings between two crusty politicos to poster-worthy presser six months later without help here at home in Norwalk.
There was lots of scheming to be done behind the scenes. From their first meeting in May until the December unveiling, a select few were privy to the plan. Duff and Diamantis’s inner circle did not include the Norwalk Board of Education. But it did include Jim Giuliano, founder and principle of Construction Solutions Group.
According to the CSG Facebook page, “Jim Giuliano is the on-site program manager for the City of Norwalk, Connecticut multi-year school construction program.”
According to his Linkedin page, Giuliano also ‘likes’ Bob Duff and his dog Molly.
We’ve Got Trouble!
While Bob and Kosta opened up their knitting circle to a select few, the local HTC–Harry’s Town Committee–mobilized ahead of the political season to unseat or otherwise neutralize the Norwalk Board of Education before the project’s unveiling planned for after the election. Remember Lamont’s regionalization idea? Before that Bob Duff had an equally unpopular idea to remove local control from Boards of Education by allowing mayors and selectmen to appoint BOE chairpersons rather than letting the boards elect their own chairs. That idea didn’t fly either, though it hardly matters in a City like Norwalk with single party rule. Once the mayor’s party owned the board, the mayor chose the chair anyway. Colin is not our BOE Chair so much as he is Harry’s.
In 2019, the Norwalk Board of Education was chaired by the late Mike Barbis. Other key players were former Chair Mike Lyons; Finance Committee Chair Bryan Meek; the pragmatic and circumspect Bruce Kimmel, who would later prove useful at neutralizing Barbis; and HTC utility player Barbara Meyer-Mitchell. Lyons did not seek re-election in 2019, Meek was unseated by Erica DePalma the same year, Kimmel resigned from the Board of Ed and the Democratic Party shortly after presiding over his first BOE meeting as Chair–at which he denied Barbis any role on any Board committee, and Meyer-Mitchell stepped down in March of 2021.
Lyons, Meek, Barbis and Kimmel were caught off guard by Duff’s December 2019 announcement. After the November elections, only Barbis and Kimmel remained on the board, with Kimmel acting out the part of Judge Hathorn in Barbis’s witch trial .
A New School for South Norwalk, An Angry Email, A Copy List of Traitors: Who Betrayed Barbis and Why it Still Matters
The history of the Nathaniel Ely project goes back more than four years. The use of the old Ely school site for a new South Norwalk school was controversial in 2018 because the project required the use of open space, Springwood Park, and a complicated land swap needing State DEEP approval. Locally, the idea was unpopular among some in District B, notably Travis Simms and Faye Bowman, who have since moved on, Simms to the Statehouse representing the 140th, and Bowman to another town. Even without their votes, the project passed and moved on to the office of School Construction Grants & Review, then under Diamantis at DAS. Every January the State issues their school construction priorities list. In 2019, Ely was on the list. In 2020, Ely dropped off. The official reason? State DEEP couldn’t make the land swap work. The possible real reason? Allegedly State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and former Represenative Bruce Morris pulled the plug for reasons that had little to do with the sanctity of either open space or Springwood Park.
June 5, 2019: District B Democrats Discuss Schools
Meanwhile Columbus had been identified by the BOE for replacement/renovation. On June 5, 2019, during a heated District B Democrats meeting, Bruce Morris and Darlene Young went after BOE members Meek and Barbis for their roles in the two South Norwalk school projects. Though Morris was still fuming over the closing of Briggs, Young’s concerns were more visceral. “Why weren’t we part of the conversation?” And questions about Columbus/Concord–whether to renovate as new or build new–remained.
Those questions weren’t addressed in pragmatic terms at the District B meeting–what’s best for South Norwalk’s diverse and needs-driven student population, many of whom don’t speak English at home–but in political terms. Which of the mayor’s once and future cronies sitting around the table would drive the Columbus conversation–the bike-lane enthusiast-turned-urbanist? The former NPS Chief Climate Officer-turned-litigant and former state represenative? The up-and-comer who now sits on the council and who cared more about the name Columbus than the kids inside? Or someone who wasn’t even in the room that night–someone Harry and Bob would need later to bury Mike Barbis figuratively if not literally?
Colin Hosten, then a newly-elected at-large councilperson living in District E, burst into the room during the Columbus conversation, announcing the state was sending down a team from Hartford for a site visit to Columbus because of the mixed signals coming out of Norwalk. The team from Hartford, Hosten said, would determine next steps–whether to renovate as new, build new from the ground up or scrub the whole thing. How did Hosten just happen to be in the Mayor’s Office exactly when Laoise King and the Mayor were there to get the news about the state possibly pulling the plug on a new school in South Norwalk? And why weren’t the District B reps the first to know?
Mike Barbis learned of the District B meeting–open hostility towards specific members of the BOE, himself especially, armchair quarterbacking, unapologetic underminding of work the BOE had undertaking to bring new schools to South Norwalk–Barbis became livid. So he vented to the four people in Norwalk least worthy of his confessional–DTC Chair Ed Camacho, Vice Chair Eloisa Melendez, Chief of Staff Laoise King and Mayor Rilling. Perhaps each had an interest in the undoing of Mike Barbis. With the help of the person who wasn’t in the room that night, NAACP president and perennial troll Brenda Penn-Williams, any one of the four on Mike Barbis’s copy list could help make Bob Duff’s 2019 Christmas wish come true–a Norwalk Board of Education without Barbis on a single committe, gumming up the works and reminding people that nobody–but NOBODY–asked for a Brand New Norwalk High School.
Cleaning House in Hartford…because
it’s an Election Year
Lamont annouced his re-election bid in early November of 2021, shortly after Diamantis resigned from OPM, followed by Richard Colangelo’s retirement as Chief State’s Attorney in February, after it was discovered Colangelo had hired Diamantis’s daughter Anastasia as his assistant in an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving a petition from Colangelo to Diamantis for salary increases for Colangelo’s staff; followed by the resignation of Budget Chief Melissa McCaw as Secretary of OPM in February.
Diamantis in 2020–Ely dropped off the List but NHS did not drop on
Colangelo ‘retires’ taking his pension with him
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/Lamont-to-announce-McCaw-resigning-taking-job-in-16947447.php
Melissa McCaw, who waited over two years to respond to FOIA requests related to Diamantis, resigns
Enfield Subpoena: Search emails with “Giuliano”
The FBI probe of Kosta Diamantis has yet to reach Norwalk–for now. Enfield has been subpoenaed to turn over seven years of records realted to school building projects involving Kosta Diamantis. As part of their search, Enfield town officials were asked to enter “Giuliano” and “CSG/Construction Solutions Group” in the search terms.
When the FBI finally takes their probe to Norwalk–and they will–how long before they land on Bob Duff’s doorstep? Senator Duff has a habit of avoiding constituents and questions he finds inconvenient. He routinely skirts the FOIA. He gets away with it because there are no consequences….yet. Try saying no to the FBI, Bob, when they subpoena every record with the search terms “Diamantis” and “Giuliano.” Looks like it’s going to be an interesting campaign season even without an opponent.
Will Lamont Pull The Plug on Norwalk High to Save Himself?
The heat is on for Governor Lamont. One year ago, he was virtually assured a victory. Since the Diamantis scandal broke, that inevitability seems less certain. What is certain is the role Norwalk’s political class–and isn’t the only class they have political?–assumed in usurping the work of an elected, bi-partisan Board of Education in order to do Hartford’s, and ultimately Ned Lamont’s bidding. Lamont wants to double the size of Connecticut’s cities. He’s been pushing for school regionalization. His soldier, Bob Duff, has been trying to destroy our locally elected Board of Education for years. The only thing standing in Duff’s way in the fall of 2019 was Mike Barbis, the lone maverick on the BOE who stood a chance of derailing Duff’s (and Diamantis’s) $225mm vanity project. Thanks to four people–Camacho, Rilling, Melendez and Laoise King–four Norwalk politicos who would sell their mother’s souls to the devil to advance the cause of politcal supremacy (“single party rule is okay as long as it’s ours,” quoth Harry), and a willing accomplice, Brenda Penn-Williams, Mike Barbis was sacrificed to an angry mob in late November of 2019–before Bob Duff and Kosta Diamantis unveiled their plan for a new regional Norwalk High in December.
February 2022 follow up to Mildred Melendez, assistant to Melissa McCaw
Dear Ms. Melendez,
I have questions about the way my original FOIA request from 12-19-2019 was handled and why responsive documents were withheld by OPM for two years. Hopefully, you and Ms. McCaw, before she steps down today, can clear up the confusion.
Konstantinos Diamantis was appointed to OPM as Melissa McCaw’s deputy by Memorandum of Understanding on November 20, 2019. By that time, Diamantis and State Senator Bob Duff had been meeting secretly, beginning in May 2019, to create a plan eligible for 80% state reimbursement for a new Norwalk High School.
Emails related to Diamantis’s involvement in the Norwalk High School project were not released by OPM until December 2021, after I asked a second time and after you replied two years earlier to my initial FOIA request that you had no responsive documents because Diamantis and School Construction Grants were under DAS.
Keith Norton of SDE met with Diamantis and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff on October 2, 2019. It is clear from Norton’s recap of the October 2nd meeting with Duff and Diamantis that Norton prepared for Superintendent Miguel Cardona that Diamantis and Duff were mostly interested in the 80% state reimbursement component–that and taking advantage of $200 million in state bonding.
When their original pitch for an Arts Magnate didn’t meet state requirements for 80% reimbursement, they pitched ideas that would fit the funding model. Get the dollars first and make the school fit the money. On the fly, the group came up with the P-Tech idea in order to qualify for more state money for a brand new school construction project that no one on Norwalk’s Board of Education at the time asked for and for which no need had been identified.
Since SDE official Keith Norton was already congratulating Diamantis on his promotion to OPM, where he would serve as McCaw’s deputy, on November 27th (see above), why did you and Ms. McCaw withhold responsive documents when they were requested more than two years ago? Norton clearly believed then that Diamantis’s move to OPM meant he was taking the School Construction Grants staff with him.
On December 20, 2019, you sent the following reply to my FOIA request on behalf of Ms. McCaw and OPM:
For a further refresher, here is Melissa McCaw’s announcement of Diamantis’s appointment as her Deputy effective November 21, 2019, including moving the School Construction Grants staff from DAS to OPM.
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis as Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management.
Kosta holds a J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law School and was a sole practitioner for over 28 years. His practice focused on criminal defense, including work in juvenile court, abuse neglect cases, and contracts. Additionally, Kosta served in the General Assembly from 1992 through 2006, and followed with a role as Special Counsel to the Speaker of the House James Amann. During his legislative tenure, he was named House Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and served as the House Subcommittee Chair of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Judicial and Corrections. His legislative work also includes service on various committees, such Executive and Legislative Nominations, Insurance, and Health and Human Services. Kosta will immediately begin to support the agency’s work in the areas of Intergovernmental, Criminal Justice, Capital and other programs and policy.
Some of you may know Kosta from his time at DAS, where he previously served as the Director of School Construction, Grants and Review and most recently the Director of Construction Management. Together with his team, he continues the mission to provide adequate learning environments and facilities to meet the programmatic needs for our students as well provide state of the art facilities, while simultaneously maintaining frugality with state resources and over time reducing the annual outlay of required bond allocations from $850 million to under $500 million through active management of design, construction process, change order review, site review and payments.
In order to ensure the cost efficiencies in administering the school construction program and consistent with OPM’s responsibility to administer various municipal grants and municipal aid programs, Kosta will continue to supervise the school construction program, whose staff will be relocated from DAS to OPM in the near future. For this reason, Kosta’s functional title will be Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management and Director of School Construction Grants, Review and Audit. In addition, efforts will be made in the upcoming legislative session to transfer the statutory responsibility for the administration of school construction grants from DAS to OPM. The OSCGR unit and function will leverage synergies with OPM’s extensive work supporting our municipalities.
Please join me in welcoming Kosta to OPM effective Thursday, November 21 and wish him success in his new role. I am confident I can count on each of you to orient Kosta to our great agency and the important work we do in the service of our great State. Without a doubt, he will come to know and appreciate the outstanding expertise and team members we are fortunate to have in OPM.
Best regards,
Melissa
OPM should explain why my initial FOIA request was closed on December 20, 2019 with no responsive documents when McCaw and others knew about Diamantis’s move to OPM one month earlier.
Regards,
Donna Smirniotopoulos
Norwalk, CT
Angry Taxpayer Norwalk 
Wow!
Where there is smoke there is fire.
It will be interesting to see if the FBI investigates the unusual circumstances of the NEW Norwalk HS.
It certainly seemed strange the an expensive new HS was taking precedence over other less expensive and seemingly more deserving school projects.
Everyone was caught off guard.
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Time to rip off the bandaid. Now that there’s is a federal investigation, there’s some hope they’ll shine a light on Norwalk and Duff. South Norwalk has been neglected. Other schools bypassed all so Duff can prioritize his vanity school.
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I am not surprised and hearing all this about Bob Duff Bob Duff only does what’s good for him and not good for the people for example he was asked to help the people and Ceader Court senior and disabled people of been living with bedbugs cockroaches rats and Kim ones to talk to the residence and then that was it every time he responded he would stay on the vitiating the matter which went on for a long time and any other legislator who spoke to him said we can get involved as is he is investigating the matter but as it turned out blah blah is on the board of Viesta Properties honor Arthur room light the same person who gave mayor riling $1 million for his campaign and to not help the people at Ceader Court yes schools do you need to be repaired as I thought Naranja high school has had repairs as the other schools are needing fixing asked you the growth of the city so as it says it should be an interesting election year and hopefully that people will make the change that’s needed
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