NY TIMES CALLS FOR PEREZ TO STEP ASIDE

TEXT FROM NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL, 2/2/09, PICTURE FROM COURANT.COM

Editorial
Hartford Pays the Price

Published: February 2, 2009
Mayor Eddie Perez of Hartford, a Democrat, was arrested on Jan. 27 on bribery and other charges. For the good of the city, Mr. Perez should step aside while his case unfolds. Hartford, Connecticut’s capital, is the poorest city in the state and one of the poorest in the nation. It cannot afford a chief executive who has three years left on a four-year term and who is sure to be deeply distracted by the need to lodge a protracted legal defense.


Mr. Perez says that he has done nothing wrong. He deserves a fair trial. Yet the well-being of his city is also at stake. Hartford is unlikely to attract the private investment or public help it so desperately needs while its chief executive is accused of corruption.

Mr. Perez is the latest in a string of Connecticut officials — among them a governor, a state senator, a state treasurer and several mayors — who have been arrested for corruption in the last decade. Mr. Perez is alleged to have hired a city contractor to do thousands of dollars worth of home renovations in 2005 and not paid him until the authorities started asking questions two years later.

The 25-page arrest affidavit quotes the contractor as saying he never expected payment for work on the mayor’s house, calling it the price of doing business with the city. The allegations, which surfaced in 2007, didn’t prevent Mr. Perez’s re-election to a third term.

The charges are serious, and no matter the outcome, will take months or even years to resolve. In the mean time, Hartford deserves unblemished, undistracted leadership.

One encouraging sign is that state, not federal officials, investigated Mr. Perez and brought the charges against him. For too long, Connecticut has failed to vigorously pursue homegrown corruption, leaving it to federal officials to investigate most serious allegations. More aggressive state enforcement would almost certainly lead to cleaner government.