Philip Giordano

Philip Anthony Giordano (born 25 March 1963) is a former Republican politician and convicted sex offender.

Electoral history

In 1995 Giordano ran against seven-term Democratic incumbent Edward Bergin for Mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut. Giordano won by 52% of the vote. He was re-elected in 1999 with 53% of the vote.

In 2000 Giordano ran for the Connecticut seat in the Senate against Joe Liebermann. As Liebermann was also running for Vice President at the time, he refused to show up at debates and Giordano was left to debate alone. Also due to this Giordano was largely ignored by the press and lost with only 34% of the vote.

Villainy

Corruption

During his time as mayor, Giordano was investigated by a state oversight board due to chronic pension underfunding. The resultant investigation led to the discovery that money had been stolen from the pension fund in order to balance out the budget. The board was forced to intervene to prevent more money from being taken.

In 2001 the FBI investigated allegations of bribery in the Waterbury municipality. Giordano's campaign manager Thomas Arioloa Jr. was arrested for accepting a bribe on his behalf in exchange for maintaining a $100,000 street-sweeping contract. Giordano was arrested for sexual assault before he could be charged over the allegations.

Sex offences

During the investigation into municipal corruption, the FBI searched Giordano's phone and found photos of him engaged in sexual acts with a prostitute, her 10-year-old niece and her eight-year-old daughter. They also found evidence that the prostitute had brought her children to Giordano at least 14 times. Giordano was arrested on 26 July 2001 and charged with using an interstate device to arrange sexual acts with a minor and violating the girl's civil rights. He was convicted and sentenced to 36 years in prison. A 2007 appeal against his sentence was rejected.