Erin Stewart suspended her campaign for governor Thursday after an investigative report concluded that her personal use of a city credit card as mayor of New Britain was a repeated and deliberate circumvention of the city’s purchase order system to benefit herself, members of her family, and her political campaigns.
Stewart immediately endorsed her chief rival for the Republican nomination, state Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich.
The great majority of the $207,076 in purchases charged to Stewart’s city-issued credit card over nearly a decade were unrelated to city business, and they warrant a criminal investigation by state and federal criminal authorities, concluded a law firm hired by her Democratic successor, Mayor Bobby Sanchez.
“The apparent diversion of public funds and municipal assets for improper purposes not only constitutes a serious breach of the public trust, but may also implicate statutes governing Fraud, Larceny, Embezzlement, False Statements, Wire Fraud, and Misuse of Government Property,” the law firm wrote.
Sanchez, who took office in November as Stewart left to launch her campaign for governor, said the report produced by the Crumbie Law Group will be referred to the U.S. Attorney and Chief State’s Attorney. The city also is pursuing “all appropriate legal avenues to recover taxpayer funds,” including suing Stewart, he said.
“The findings outlined in this investigation are outrageous,” Sanchez said.
Stewart’s city credit card records, which are public documents, have been the subject of news stories since Sunday. What’s new in Crumbie’s report are summaries of other evidence showing the degree to which the spending benefited Stewart and the conclusion that she may have criminal liability.
“The misuse of taxpayer funds reflected in the evidence raises concerns that extend well beyond administrative misconduct and may expose the individuals involved to significant civil and criminal liability under both state and federal law,” wrote the law firm, which is led by a former state trooper, Andrew Crumbie.
Stewart has called the investigation initiated by the Sanchez administration a “witch hunt” aimed at undermining her campaign for governor, but she has not challenged the authenticity of the credit-card records released to news organizations under public records requests.
On Thursday, she was contrite.
“It is my intention not only to suspend my campaign but also to step back from public life as I do what is necessary to address these questions and make things right. I cannot change the past, but I can make the next right decision — and this is it,” she said.
She promised to make restitution.
At a rally Tuesday night, Stewart was defiant but also said that “if mistakes were made, they will be addressed, they will be remedied, and we will move forward honestly and responsibly.”
John Healey, her campaign manager, said then she would have no substantive comment on the credit card records until she obtains them via her own public records request and conducts her own analysis. That would not be completed until next week.
The Republican nominating convention is this weekend, and her campaign clearly hoped that would be her last comment about the records until next week.
Long favored to win the GOP convention endorsement in a three-way contest with Fazio and Newsmax host Betsy McCaughey, she needed to win only 15% of the delegate votes to qualify for a primary in August and unlock nearly $3 million in public financing.
In the 18-page report, Crumbie described New Britain issuing the credit cards, also known as P-cards, in June 2016 with a clear warning: “[e]mployees with such credit cards shall not use them for any non-business, non-essential purpose, i.e., for any personal purchase or any other transaction that is not authorized by City Department Directors.”
Stewart registered hers as the default payment in her personal Amazon account, and she also routinely used it for family purchases at Costco — some ordered and delivered to her home at an extra cost by Costco’s online Instacart service, Crumbie said.
The findings of this investigation point not to isolated lapses in judgment but to a pattern of behavior that violated public trust and the standards expected of an elected official entrusted with taxpayer funds for nearly a decade,” Crumbie wrote. “The entitlement demonstrated by Ms. Stewart reflected by the evidence in this investigation is incomprehensible for a public official.”
The report said Stewart used the credit card for political as well as personal purchases. She used the card to join The Hartford Club, a private social club, in 2017 as she prepared her first run for governor. She held a campaign fundraiser at the club on Sept. 26, 2017 and retained her membership through 2021, ultimately costing the city $19,260 for membership fees and food and drink.
On April 2, 2025, while she was raising money through an exploratory committee for a run in 2026, Stewart charged $1,314.76 to purchase two airline tickets to Washington, D.C., for herself and Healey, her former mayoral chief of staff and the manager of her current campaign.
Crumbie’s report states she told the Republican State Central Committee that she was going to Washington, D.C., for an official event regarding President Donald Trump’s energy policies but also to seek an endorsement by the president for the gubernatorial candidacy she would formally announce in November.
At the time, Healey was employed as the chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield. No Trump endorsement has been offered.
Some of the equipment Stewart uses for campaign videos posted on her social media accounts appear to have been charged to New Britain, Crumbie wrote.
“On July 30, 2024, Amazon records reveal Ms. Stewart purchased a “FIFINE XLR/USB Dynamic Microphone for Podcast Recording,” the report said. Crumbie matched Amazon photos of the microphone with the one seen in Stewart’s campaign videos.
A search of the mayor’s office after Stewart’s term expired did not produce the dynamic microphone or a wireless microphone she also purchased.
The report paid special attention to Stewart’s purchases from three businesses: The Harford Club, Amazon and Costco.
“The callousness exhibited by Ms. Stewart’s routine use of her city-issued credit card to purchase personal items is evidenced by the myriads of items she purchased through Amazon, Costco, and The Hartford Club that alone total nearly $100,000,” Crumbie wrote.
The report said that Stewart used the card to make $47,582 in purchases on Amazon, including baby supplies after the births of her daughter in 2020 and son in 2023. The purchases of baby-related items were “sporadically initially” but became “much more frequent” after her second child was born.
They are outlined in two illustrated timelines.
The city paid for birthday parties for Stewart’s children and husband, Crumbie said. The report includes photographs Stewart posted on social media, including a Peppa Pig-themed party for her daughter, to corroborate that items purchased with her city card were used personally.
Stewart also used the card for meals on her own birthday, March 4. She charged $361.09 at Denovellis Italian restaurant on March 4, 2022 and $531.62 at “Capital Grill” on March 4, 2023. The latter evidently refers to The Capital Grille.
From June 2016 through October 2025, Stewart charged $19,222 for groceries and other items from Costco, the report states.
The first news reports about her credit-card spending came Sunday in separate stories by The Hartford Courant and WTNH.
Also using public records, the Connecticut Mirror reported on April 30 that Stewart had sought a nonexistent “deferred partial retirement pension” benefit shortly before leaving office. New Britain’s charter offers a pension equal to 50% of salary to elected officials after 20 years in office, but there is no partial benefit.
Stewart, 38, a school board member for two years and mayor for 12, sought a $39,366 annual pension equal to 35% of her $112,475 salary, payable at age 55.
Crumbie’s report is the second released by Sanchez in the past 30 days. The first reported that the city’s tax collector had backdated tax payments for herself and others to avoid interest penalties, some with the knowledge of the mayor’s office. Sanchez fired the tax official.
