thomas p gaffey is an american politician gaffey a democrat had been a state senator from connecticut since 1995 but left office due to criminal violations on january 5 2011gaffey a resident of meriden has represented the towns of cheshire meriden middlefield and middletown in the connecticut senategaffey was born in meriden and graduated from southern connecticut state university he was appointed in the fall of 2005 to serve as chief deputy majority leader by senate majority leader martin looney and senate president pro tempore donald e williams jr and previously served in the positiongaffey also serves as an executive with the connecticut resources recovery authority 1 in 2002 he was linked to meetings with failed energy firm enron 2 he was also cited that year for spending over 10000 in personal expenses on his authority expense account and failing to make timely reimbursement but later issued a crra check for more than 1600 to repay amounts reimbursed in excess 3in january 2009 the hartford courant announced state auditors were looking into other instances of improper reimbursement by gaffey including double billing of out of state travel to both the state government and his political action committee 4 on january 18 the courant urged the state senate to censure gaffey for his ethical improprieties 5on may 6 2009 the state election enforcement commission announced that gaffey and his campaign treasurer had agreed to a settlement over the double billing complaint in one of the largest fines levied by the commission gaffey agreed to a 6000 fine and his treasurer agreed to a 3000 fine gaffey also agreed to dissolve his political action committee and forfeit its 20000 balance to the state the commissions enforcement director called gaffeys record keeping disastrous 6 the charges later led to a criminal investigation and gaffeys resignation 7in 2006 gaffey supported legislation spearheaded by fellow democrat donald williams intended to address childhood obesity in connecticut the legislation was however derided by opponents as the cupcake bill as of august 2008 more than 63 of eligibile school districts have enrolled in the programin march 2008 new haven schools enforced this policy by suspending an eighth grader for selling a classmate skittles 8 in may 2008 a principal in greenwich was suspended in a dispute over bringing cupcakes to school 9in 2007 gaffey proposed that the governors power to appoint the commissioner of education be limited allies of governor jodi rell labelled the proposal an attempted power grab that year gaffey also opposed efforts to increase education aid to suburban school districts even those represented by fellow democrats in favor of adding more funds to urban districts his response to complaints from suburban legislators was like everything else in those districts that is rich 10 gaffey has also clashed with leaders of his local school board over the installation of artificial turf 11in november 2007 gaffey suggested that the state had to impose a more stringent school integration plan on suburbs in the hartford region the notion that were going to get a better result by voluntary programs is ridiculous said state sen thomas gaffey dmeriden cochairman of the legislatures education committee we need to shift away from the model of remedy that the state has been pursuing for years the district is as racially isolated today as it was 10 years ago it suggests you need to do something different 12another gaffey initiative was a bill that banned most outofschool suspensions educators were unsure how they could comply with the law 13in 2008 gaffey did break with party leadership to support a three strikes law to give life sentences to career violent criminals supported by governor m jodi rell perhaps as the town of cheshire is in his district and its 2007 home invasion prompted the billthomas p gaffey was the father of three children his son thomas m gaffey died on february 2 2009 at the age of 16 14 in 2005 the connecticut appellate court denied the senators exwifes request for increased child support 15 all three grew up in meriden connecticut thomas p gaffey has a mother joyce and a father marty who was in the war