A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut, Erin Stewart, suspended her campaign after a report alleged that her personal use of a city credit card as mayor of New Britain was fraudulent.
She dropped out Thursday after she was accused of using the card in a “repeated and deliberate circumvention of the city’s purchase order system to benefit herself, members of her family, and her political campaigns.”
The claims came from Crumbie Law Group, hired by her Democratic mayoral successor, Bobby Sanchez, to review the charges, concluding that they warrant a criminal investigation by state and federal criminal authorities.
“I take the allegations that have been made against me very seriously. And for that reason, I am suspending my gubernatorial campaign effective immediately so that I can focus on addressing those claims,” Ms. Stewart said on social media.
She reportedly spent $207,076.07 on a city-issued credit card over almost a decade, most of which was unrelated to city business and did not include supporting documentation regarding the use of the funds.
She purchased women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, a private club membership, gifts, travel and even supplies for her daughter’s tropical Peppa Pig-themed party.
“Yesterday I requested copies of the relevant documents and I will be reviewing them carefully,” Ms. Stewart said Thursday. “I will take accountability for any mistakes, and I intend to make full and complete restitution to the City of New Britain — my home — for anything that I owe.”
Mr. Sanchez labeled the findings “outrageous.”
“The report further concludes that these were not isolated incidents, but a consistent pattern of conduct that investigators say violated City policy and undermined public confidence in government,” he added.
The firm’s findings allege that she purchased a $531.62 work lunch on her birthday in 2023, just over $220 in supplies for her husband’s 40th birthday in 2022 and a $19,260.67 charge to pay for her membership and associated dues at The Hartford Club, where she hosted a fundraising event for her re-election campaign in 2017.
The New Britain City P-Card Policy Manual says that “employees with such credit cards shall not use them for any non-business, non-essential purpose, i.e., for any personal purchase or any other transaction that is not authorized by City Department Directors.”
When the findings were published at the end of April, Ms. Stewart decried is as a “witch hunt” led by the “corrupt Democrat machine that has run our state into the ground.”
Ms. Stewart was favored to win the GOP nomination over state Sen. Ryan Fazio and Newsmax host Betsy McCaughey — and if she won, she would have had access to nearly $3 million in public financing, according to the Connecticut Monitor.
Upon her exit, she immediately endorsed Ms. Fazio.
