Rossi Wins West Haven Mayoral Recount

West Haven CT

07 November, 2021

7:24 PM

Description

WEST HAVEN, CT — Incumbent Democratic Mayor Nancy Rossi defeated Republican challenger Barry Lee Cohen in the recount of West Haven's municipal election on Sunday, according to multiple reports. The New Haven Register reported Rossi's total increased to a 32-vote advantage, with a final tally of 4,275 to 4,243 votes for Cohen. Rossi initially claimed a 24-vote victory on election night. The lead then increased to 29 votes, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of the State's Office. In light of recent scandals, Cohen on Saturday called on Rossi to resign or pledge to not take office on Dec. 5 regardless of the results of the recount. Former State Rep. Michael DiMassa, who also worked as Administrative Assistant to the West Haven City Council, was recently arrested in connection with defrauding the city out of more than $636,000 in COVID-19 relief funds. John Bernardo, a housing specialist in the West Haven's Community Development Administration, was arrested Thursday in connection with the case. "It has become clear, as more facts come out regarding the misuse of federal Covid funds by the Rossi administration, that Mayor Rossi was aware and complicit," Cohen said in part in a news release on Saturday. "She has acted in bad faith and participated in hiding her administrations' bad deeds in these crimes." Rossi called Cohen's claims "utter nonsense," according to NBC Connecticut. The CT Mirror reported that West Haven spent COVID-19 relief funds on Christmas decorations, payments to a city councilman's business and more than $7,600 to hire a marching band that performed at the city's Memorial Day parade. Cohen criticized the payments as "questionable expenditures," along with the use of COVID-19 funds as bonuses to six senior staff members in Rossi's administration, according to a news release. WFSB 3 reports Cohen claimed there were problems with the absentee ballots and his team is planning a legal challenge. Read more at NBC Connecticut here and WFSB 3 here.