Op-Ed: Matt Waggner’s past raises concerns about his integrity as registrar of voters

The following entry was submitted by a voter wishing to remain anonymous, and edited for clarity

Fairfield, we now have a new Selectman; and we have a problem no one is talking about—-a problem with our registrars of voters. It’s not the Republican Registrar of Voters (ROVs). Over the past decade, we’ve had three Republican ROVs. All have had problems with the Democrat registrar, Matt Waggner. How did Matt become a registrar of voters? His trajectory may surprise you.

Waggner’s return to Fairfield in 2006 

Matt came back to CT  to work on Ned Lamont’s campaign for Senate. Excerpt: Waggner, a Fairfield native who returned to Connecticut in 2006 to join Ned Lamont’s U.S. Senate campaign, became a district leader on the Democratic Town Committee in 2007. He was selected to receive the town committee’s Denise Dougiello Young Turk Award in 2009.”

Matt ran for ROV too. Excerpt: “To prepare, I’ve worked to better identify and pre-register new residents, movers, and students, and successfully advocated for improvements to Connecticut’s policy. My 2012 legislative testimony on Election Day Registration (EDR) is available.” 

Matt’s business venture, ROVAC, and state representative race

In 2013 Waggner launched Roast-CT, LLC  (onlineBusinessSearch (ct.gov) 

Customers for Roast include other towns and registrar offices. Are they helping other campaigns with absentee ballot applications? Assisting with voter lists from USPS—when voters move and that envelope comes back with a yellow sticker? Fairfield had numerous bins of absentee ballot applications — returned with yellow stickers in 2020. I remember because I asked about them.

Matt is also a member of ROVAC. Rovac is a Private Member Association for the Registrar of Voters. Because ROVAC is private, the public is not allowed in; nothing to see here.

In 2014 Matt ran for state representative. His list of donors includes Richard Saxl, Fairfield Town attorney. Saxl would later assist Matt with finances; we continue.

During his campaign, tensions were growing in the voter registrar’s office with Republican ROV Autuori; Autuori allegedly hit Waggner after he thought Matt was improperly handling ballots.

Large house debts mysteriously paid off

In 2017, Matt bought his first house Search Results (searchiqs.com) (enter as guest—and search ‘Waggner M’). Waggner was a first-time homebuyer, who had four promissory notes given on the same day. 

First, a lending note from The Housing Development Fund, Inc.–perhaps to assist with a down payment. The second note again from The Housing Development Fund, Inc. The third note from is from the Town of Fairfield. Finally, the fourth note was from Bankwell bank. 

The day after the closing, Mike Tetreau—former Fairfield First Selectman—signed a subordination agreement with Bankwell. Did you get any help from the Town of Fairfield with your mortgage? I sure didn’t.

But wait – Waggner’s bank mortgage was released and discharged just 2 years later. All $216,650 was paid in full. But the budget for the Registrar’s office reveals all that money couldn’t possibly be from two years on an ROV salary. So where exactly did Waggner get the money? 

Let’s look at another suspicious transaction from back in 2011—Ken Flatto was First Selectman. This information is public by the way. Matt’s mom Michele owns a house in Fairfield listed for blight; but the house was given around an 80% debt reduction. Search here by name, entering “Waggner M” 

Matt’s parents may have fallen on hard times, which is truly unfortunate. But not to worry—it seems Matt Waggner’s faithful donor, and Fairfield’s town attorney Richard Saxl, rode in on a white horse in 2011 to reduce the $110,000 down to about $16,000, in a meeting held behind closed doors. 

And hold on: here’s another unexplained payment that surfaced in Naugatuck. The town wanted to seize a house which was 5 years delinquent in property taxes. Miraculously, $30,182.00 was paid in August 2023 for those taxes—and the house belonged to, surprise, Matt Waggner’s late grandparents. Search Waggner M at this link. 

Elections, and what Waggner’s payoffs mean

The 2022 election in Fairfield is still under SEEC investigation. As mentioned before, Republican registrars 2 and 3 report having difficulties working with Matt Waggner.

After following the money trail, it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out who’s to be trusted or not in the registrar’s office, regardless of party. Matt Waggner seems to have a lot to gain by keeping certain people in power. Democrats, maybe it’s time you guys choose someone besides Matt to fill the ROV shoes.