Waste of the Day: Mayor Probed For Use of City $

Topline: The City of New Britain, Conn. is investigating Erin Stewart, its former mayor, for questionable purchases she made as mayor, including groceries, maternity clothing, party supplies and much more.

The mayor self-dealt on a city pension

Stewart also approved an annual $39,000 pension for herself despite only working in New Britain for 14 years, not the required 20 years.

Stewart is currently campaigning for governor. As of May 12, she is the favorite to win the Republican nomination.

Key facts: Stewart racked up $207,000 on her city credit card from 2016 to 2025. The Hartford Courant first reported the story, and it was later verified by several other news outlets.

In June 2018, Stewart used city money to pay $1,374 to a company that prints invitations for wedding showers and hired a makeup artist for $93, The Hartford Courant reported. She was married later that year.

A few days before her husband turned 40 in 2022, Stewart made purchases that appear to be for his birthday party. She bought an arch made of balloons, 40th birthday candles and cocktail napkins, and a gag card of Donald Trump saying “Let’s make 40 great again.” They were listed as office expenses, according to The Hartford Courant.

On May 4, 2023 — Stewart’s birthday — she paid $531 for dinner at the Capital Grille in Hartford, the newspaper reported.

Stewart also used city funds to pay more than $18,000 for a membership at The Hartford Club, an elite social and dining club. Other purchases included a yoga mat, diapers, pool toys, a salad spinner, a vanity mirror and more, according to the newspaper. More than half of the items did not have receipts.

About that pension

Separately, the Connecticut Mirror reported in April that Stewart approved a “prorated pension” for herself before her time as mayor ended in 2025. Prorated pensions do not exist in New Britain’s legal code. Employees either earn a full pension if they retire with 20 years of service, or they do not earn one at all.

But Stewart is currently set to earn a $39,366 annual pension starting in 2042. Eleven days before she left office, she sent the following email to her human resources director: “Based on my 14 years of service, I calculate my eligibility for a deferred partial pension benefit of approximately 35% of my annual salary, payable upon reaching the eligible age of 55.” 

The city’s benefits administrator, Wilbert Vazquez, approved the request three days later. There is no record of anyone questioning its legality, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Supporting quote:

About her credit card spending, Stewart told the Hartford Courier:

There is a reason you have receipts and you have all that proof because there was nothing to hide. There were receipts that were submitted and annually budgeted and don’t forget independently audited too. And for 12 years there was never a question or a doubt raised until now, until I decided to step away and run for higher office.

When asked about her pension, Stewart told the Connecticut Mirror,

I think that it would be foolish for me, after 14 years of service, to not make the inquiry and see that if I was entitled to the benefit … I think that after so many years of service to not make the ask, I would be doing myself a disservice.

Summary: Hopefully this year, New Britain can increase its oversight of credit card spending and taxpayers can fund their own birthday parties with the savings.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.