F.B.I. REPORT LINKS OFFICIAL IN CONNECTICUT TO DRUG USE

Responding to a court filing that suggested he had used cocaine with
a local Democratic official, Mayor John M. Fabrizi said yesterday
that he had made some "poor personal choices," but refused to detail them.

The existence of the court filing, part of a long-running drug
investigation that has already resulted in dozens of arrests, was
reported in The Connecticut Post yesterday.

By midmorning, the United States attorney's office in New Haven had
moved to seal the document, which was filed on Thursday. Kevin
O'Connor, the head of the office, also issued an unusual public
apology to Mayor Fabrizi for having allowed the document to become
part of the public record and told The Associated Press that he was
not a "target" of the drug investigation.

Mayor Fabrizi said that Mr. O'Connor's comments pleased him, but
reporters confronted him about the filing at a meeting of the state's
utility regulators in New Britain, where he was eager to chat about
Bridgeport's just-cemented plans to buy property from a local utility
so it could redevelop its waterfront. Instead, he was fielding
questions about his being dragged into a high-profile drug
investigation. "It's a great day for Bridgeport," he asserted,
referring to the news about the land deal.

While political experts said they believed the mayor, a Democrat,
could serve out the remaining 18 months of his term, they also said
the allegations and the mayor's admissions could deepen fissures in
the local Democratic Party and make it harder for him to win another term.

"He's got a lot of support and everyone is rooting for him," said
Mary Moran, a former Republican mayor of Bridgeport. Caryn Kaufman,
the mayor's spokeswoman, said the mayor had no intention of
resigning, despite calls from some quarters, Republican and
Democratic, for him to step down.

According to The Connecticut Post, the now-sealed court filing
described conversations that Juan Marrero, a local businessman who
has been charged with running a large drug-trafficking operation with
his brother, had with F.B.I. agents last year in the presence of his
lawyers. In those conversations, the newspaper reported, Mr. Marrero
told agents that Shawn Fardy, a Democratic Town Committee member who
pleaded not guilty this week to narcotics conspiracy charges, said he
had a videotape of Mayor Fabrizi using cocaine. Mr. Marrero also told
agents, according to the newspaper, that he once supplied Mr. Fardy
with about half an ounce of cocaine after Mr. Fardy told him "Fabrizi
was coming over" and "needed a hit."

Asked repeatedly for comment, Mr. Fabrizi, 49, admitted to having
personal problems of an undefined nature but stopped short of saying
they involved substance abuse. "One can infer what they want," he
said, getting teary. He said he now wished he had commented publicly
last year when rumors about his having been implicated in the drug
investigation first swept the city and forced him to make disclosures
to his wife, Mary, and their teenage son, Michael, about the matter.

"I made some poor personal choices in my life before, choices that I
am not proud of," he said.

Asked by reporters if he was referring to drug use, he spoke in the
present tense and said, "No, I do not have a drug problem," and also
indicated that he had put his problems behind him.

Chris Caruso, a state representative who ran against Mr. Fabrizi in
the 2003 Democratic mayoral primary, said he had compassion for
people with drug addictions and other problems. But he said he did
not think someone with those issues ought to be overseeing the city
and its law enforcement.

He said he was also dismayed that the mayor had said publicly that he
hardly knew Mr. Fardy, when it turned out that the mayor had
officiated at Mr. Fardy's wedding.

"The mayor has acknowledged he misspoke," Ms. Kaufman said, when
asked about the matter. "He was trying to downplay it." She said that
the mayor meant to say that he did not know Mr. Fardy in the context
of the drug investigation.

Alison Leigh Cowan reported from Stamford for this article and Stacey
Stowe from New Britain, Conn.