Erin Stewart faces possible legal troubles over taxpayer spending

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart could be facing more legal trouble.

[00:00:04]Stewart dropped out of the governor's race last week after an independent investigation by the city found she used her city-issued credit card for personal purchases. Now, another independent investigation could show more abuse of taxpayer dollars. Your chief political reporter Susan Raff is live in New Britain tonight with where things stand now. Susan?

[00:00:27]Well, so far it's been pretty quiet this week, but things could really heat up once the second part of that independent investigation is released. Now, Erin Stewart is already being investigated by the Connecticut State Police and sources are telling us that the FBI is also looking into this.

[00:00:44]Erin Stewart was noticeably absent at the Republican convention last weekend, a convention she was expected to win, but that could be the least of the former New Britain mayor's troubles. An independent investigation found she racked up more than $200,000 on her city credit card, much of it for routine living expenses and purchases for family events. Those events include a birthday party for her daughter, a 40th birthday party for her husband, and a 60th birthday party for her mother. There's also the Hartford Club. Expense reports show Stewart used her city credit card for a membership fee of $18,000.

[00:01:24]Plus, here's where it gets dicey. The report found she had a fundraiser there for her campaign and gave guests food and alcohol at taxpayer expense. That could be a violation of campaign finance laws. Stewart has said she'll pay the money back, but Chris Morano, a former chief state's attorney, says that may fall short. I think that would be the first step that any defense attorney will probably want to to look at. But that I mean, in a number uh the amount that we're talking about here, uh I don't think that's going to be enough for uh law enforcement to say, "Okay, we're done."

[00:02:06]And coming up on Eyewitness News at 6:00, we are being told that Erin Stewart was told that what she was doing with that city-issued credit card was wrong, but decided to go ahead with it anyway. And if that's the case, she could be facing even more trouble. Your chief political reporter, Susan Raff, Channel 3 Eyewitness News live in New Britain.