This story has been updated.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Erin Stewart identified her preferred running mate as Rep. Tim Ackert of Coventry at an upbeat event overshadowed Wednesday by the release of an investigative report alleging carelessness and improprieties in the New Britain tax collector’s office during Stewart’s tenure as mayor.

The report, commissioned by Stewart’s successor, concluded that the tax collector, Cheryl Blogoslawski, had regularly backdated tax payments to spare herself and others from interest penalties. It stated Blogoslawski claimed she acted with the knowledge of Stewart’s office and in one case at its direction.

Stewart, who initially refused to respond to specifics in the report at the midday press conference with Ackert or in a written statement two hours later, issued a second statement after 5 p.m. denying ever directing anyone to backdate a tax payment.

The investigative report also detailed a failure to secure cash in the office safe, including one incident in January 2024 when “over $246,000 was left unsecured on top of the safe,” prompting alarmed janitorial staff to refuse to clean the office. The report did not say if the mayor’s office was aware of the lax handling of cash.

The tax collector was an elected position in New Britain for nine of Stewart’s 12 years in office. A charter revision approved in 2022 made Blogoslawski an appointee of the mayor.

The investigative report from the Crumbie Law Group, which was hired by Mayor Bobby Sanchez, the Democrat who succeeded Stewart in November, was emailed to reporters by Sanchez’ office at 12:05 p.m. as Stewart was introducing Ackert as her choice for the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor.

“Obviously timing the release of this memo to coincide with today’s press conference shows this to be the political witch hunt we’ve known it to be,” Stewart said in her first statement. “And it confirms what I’m the only Republican Ned Lamont and his minions are scared of.”

Alisha Rayner, the director of operations and communications for Sanchez, said via email that the release, which came a day after the report’s submission to the city’s corporation counsel, was timed to the mayor’s budget presentation Wednesday night to the city council.

“This topic will be relevant and addressed during his speech,” she said.

Stewart’s first statement issued shortly after 2 p.m. did not directly address specific allegations in Crumbie’s report. Three hours later, she issued a second statement denying she had directed the backdating of tax payments, while acknowledging involvement in negotiating tax delinquency payment plans for individuals and businesses.

“I did so in consultation with the Finance Department and the Corporation Counsel’s Office, who would have been the lead on those negotiations,” she said. “This happens frequently in a city where the goal is to get people current on their taxes. However, without further specifics on exactly who this memo if referencing I can’t give analysis on everything in there.”

The Connecticut Mirror was unable to independently verify Crumbie’s account of Blogoslawski’s admitting to backdating payments and her claim doing so at least once at the direction of the mayor’s office. Blogoslawski did not return a call for comment.

“Ms. Blogoslawski conceded that she improperly backdated payments for at least one taxpayer (Taxpayer 1) who owned several properties in the City and was significantly in arrears, but she explained that she did so at the direction of the former Mayor’s Office,” the Crumbie report said. 

At the press conference, Stewart had declined to comment on the report without having read it. It was a brief awkward moment with Ackert, an amiable 63-year-old conservative who long has promoted the former mayor as a blue-collar antidote to the GOP’s reliance on rich businessmen from the Connecticut shoreline to lead its tickets every four years since 2010.

The press conference was held outside Ackert Electric in Coventry, the company Ackert founded and built after serving the Air Force, where he trained as an electrician.

Stewart’s management of New Britain during her dozen years as the young Republican mayor of a diverse city otherwise dominated by Democrats is central to her campaign for the GOP nomination. She is competing with state Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, and Betsy McCaughey, a Newsmax cable personality.

Sanchez, who had suspended Blogoslawski in February, fired her Wednesday, called for a forensic audit and asked for a criminal investigation by the chief state’s attorney’s office.

Fazio immediately demanded that Stewart address the allegations prior to the Republican nominating convention in May.

“All Connecticut residents deserve to know what was happening, who was responsible, and who benefitted. The media and Democrats will not be bashful about using this in the general election, so Republican voters need to know now,” Fazio said in a statement.

The report by the Crumbie group said it investigated broad concerns.

“An initial review of internal City records revealed documented reports going back nearly ten years that raised concerns about the Revenue Collector’s Office, led by Revenue Collector, Cheryl S. Blogoslawski, including cash mismanagement, ineffective people management, favoritism, bullying, and a failure to train new employees,” Crumbie said.

“Among the most egregious reports we received related to improper backdating of delinquent tax payments to avoid statutory interest, which is not permitted under state law. These allegations were raised with the previous administration; however, given that the claims were never investigated, the allegations became the initial focus of our review.”

Crumbie’s report did not clearly state who had been interviewed by the law firm, other than Bogoslawski. It quoted a “Witness 8,” who had been one of Stewart’s chiefs of staff, as acknowledging having “delivered checks from Taxpayer 1 to Ms. Blogoslawski for several years, explaining that they were trying to help Taxpayer 1 get current with his tax liabilities.”

Witness 8 denied directing Blogoslawski to backdate payments for the purpose of avoiding interest, but suggested “Ms. Blogoslawski could have reasonably felt that she was being directed to accommodate Taxpayer 1.”

Lamont, a Democrat seeking a third term, responded cautiously when approached by reporters at the Capitol.

“People are innocent until proven guilty. But I think you got to get to the bottom of it. You got to make sure there’s no stone unturned,” Lamont said. “That’s how we do it in our office, if I see something going on amongst our 45,000 employees, and I hope that’s how they do it in New Britain as well.”

Lamont has had his own issues with people in his administration getting in trouble.

Last fall, Konstantinos Diamantis, former deputy budget director, was found guilty of bribery, extortion and conspiracy related to what federal prosecutors said was Diamantis using his position overseeing the state’s school construction office to enrich himself and his family.

Lamont fired him before he was indicted.