Probe overdue

The Ledyard Town Council did this week what it should have done a year ago. Councilors authorized a probe of Republican Mayor Fred Allyn Jr.'s disregard of the town charter and overspending of legal fees.

Last July this newspaper urged the council to take action to rein in the first-term mayor, not only because of his penchant for hiring lawyers, but because of his disregard for the state's Freedom of Information law and labor rules.

Since then the mayor has dug a deeper hole. Despite a council-imposed mandate last spring to cap the town's 2009-10 legal spending at $343,598 ($111,598 over the original taxpayer-approved allocation), the mayor continued spending. Two months into the new fiscal year, the 2009-10 figure is now $12,600 above the council-mandated cap, and the legal bills keep coming in. Councilors are justifiably livid.

The mayor has used taxpayer dollars for legal advice on how to block council requests for public documents; on a second opinion from a different lawyer when he didn't like the first one; and he even hired counsel to investigate whether he could force the council's finance chairman from office.

Members of his Republican Party, including friends, have asked Mayor Allyn to resign. The mayor says he won't be "bullied" out of office, but he can best serve the town by stepping down.

Town Hall is in turmoil. Its land-use offices are dysfunctional. Employee grievances are piling up, and the mayor's long-running dispute with the zoning enforcement officer will likely end with a buyout or lawsuit.

Mayor Allyn told this newspaper a year ago that he would only leave if constituents demanded it. "If hundreds of people were outside screaming at me I'm doing a crappy job ... if it really became obvious I was ruining the town," well, the mayor said then, he'd leave.

We suggest taxpayers organize a rally outside the mayor's office window and tell him it's time to go.