The imperial mayor: “I will not tolerate that any longer.” Stewart letter to Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce declared “our partnership is ceased until meaningful change is taken….”

In her final year as mayor of New Britain, Republican gubernatorial candidate accused the executive director of the Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce of “ruining the City’s business community’s reputation, and by extension the City’s–I will not tolerate that any longer.” Stewart made her pronouncement in a January 13, 2025, letter to members of the chamber’s board.

The letter was sent as an attachment to 25 recipients associated with the chamber and two New Britain officials by Stewart aide Brock Weber. Stewart’s missile accused Dolores Babkirk of being “intoxicated at many public functions, engaging “in both public and private confrontations with dozens of City employees, myself included,” the mayor wrote, and portraying “herself as the face of the New Britain business community which is without merit and unwarranted….” Stewart accused Babkirk of “ruining the City’s business community’s reputation, and by extension the City’s–I will not tolerate that any longer.”

Stewart’s letter refers to Babkirk as the organization’s executive director. Babkirk’s complaint states she was hired as president on February 20, 2023. Stewart’s father, also a former mayor of New Britain, served as president of the chamber until the reaction to a misogynist 2013 social media caused him to resign from his post. Erin Stewart said at the time she was both “embarrassed” and “mortified” by her father’s comment.

Four days after Stewart sent her demand, Babkirk was fired. The letter was published in the New Britain Herald on January 23, 2025, according to Babkirk’s three count defamation lawsuit against Stewart and the city. The plaintiff claims that Stewart’s letter has caused her to incur “damages, including, loss of employment, harm to reputation, emotional distress, attorneys fees, benefits, costs and interest.”

Through her counsel, Stewart has sought a protective order that will limit the plaintiff’s attorney in questioning the gubernatorial hopeful when she is deposed. In addition, Stewart seeks to preclude the public from seeing Stewart’s deposition testimony. Babkirk’s attorney, Michelle Holmes, filed an objection dated April 11th to Stewart’s motion for a protective order, citing the long tradition of broad discovery in litigation. Holmes argues that Stewart’s claim that her status as a candidate for governor entitles her to a protective order is without precedent.

A footnote at the end of Holmes’s objection to Stewart’s motion indicates how heated the litigation has become:

Team Babkirk has been attempting to depose Stewart since October.

Published April 13, 2026.