JUST THE FACTS PLEASE CHIEF TEALE

After many comments, news reports and conversations, the Dan Nolan termination picture is starting to become clearer, but the motivation and reasons for his firing are still very unclear.

Rather than try to figure out the entire picture, I hope the attached documents will make the situation easier to understand, and you make your own decisions.

On March 18, 2008, Lee Erdmann, Chief Operating Officer for the City of Hartford sent a hand written memo to Human Resources Director Santiago Malave and Hartford Fire Chief Charles Teale, the subject of which was "re: Fire Complaint" and they were requested by Erdmann to "please jointly investigate attached complaint and report results to me" also noted on the memo in handwriting that appears to be other than Erdmann's it states "possible charges- lying, abuse of power, excessive mileage, creating artificial ___________". The second handwriting has not been identified at this point. Attached to Erdmann's note is a typed document that details "a complaint from wife of Fire Applicant-Did not want to release her name". These documents are attached below.
Nolan Erdmann Memo

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Subsequent to Erdmann's March 18, 2008 memo, a letter was drafted by Vincent Fusco, President of the Hartford Firefighters Union, local 760 of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) on April 7, 2008. Fusco's letter to Assistant Chief Michael Parker of the Hartford Fire Department reports that "a serious allegation" has been made against Chief Nolan. Fusco doesn't mention who made the complaint, how he received it or if he attempted to verify any of the information. He does state though that "these are serious allegations that must be looked into and investigated immediately"

Fusco's letter can be viewed below:
Nolan Union Complaint

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Apparently after the Union President, Vincent Fusco requested the investigation into the "serious allegations" against Nolan, on May 7, 2008 he did a 180 degree turn and sent a letter to Human Resources Director Santiago Malave expressing his concern that Nolan "is being disadvantaged monetarily by being denied the opportunity to perform overtime and his continued status on paid leave continues to potentially adversely affect his reputation". That letter he copied to Dan Nolan, unlike the first one accusing Nolan of "serious allegations".

Nolan Fusco Letter 2

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Some might question the motives of Fusco in reporting the vague allegations directly to Chief Parker without speaking to Nolan first, none the less, an "Internal Investigation" was begun by Assistant Chief Parker. After Erdmann's memo of 3/18/08 and Fusco's complaint letter of 4/7/08, a "preliminary" investigation was completed. On April 18, 2008, Chief Teale wrote to Santiago Malave, Director of Human Resources, asking to meet with Malave for "review and consultation to determine what must be accomplished regarding this matter". Teale's choice of words "what must be accomplished" seems somewhat unusal, and raises the question as to what the initial goal of the "investigation was. Although the initial "preliminary report" is four pages long, it seems to be very short on specific charges, but speaks about "the 3 anonymous alleged allegations". The report continues to layout the "anonymous alleged allegations, yet does not provide any solid facts or statements from individuals willing to state on the record wrongdoing on Nolan's part. The first "anonymous alleged allegation was that Chief Nolan "is giving out questions to the oral interview before the applicants meet with Chief Teale" in return for a donation to Chief Nolan's Charities. Nolan admitted to Chief Parker to speaking to approximately 10 applicants. The questions reported to be "leaked" are detailed in page 2 of Erdmann's memo above. The questions appear to be very generic in nature, and I would hope that any applicant could answer the questions and not need to be prepped beforehand. Also, since it appears that Teale did not circulate the questions specifically being asked for the interviews, it would be supposition on anyones part as to the questions, other than relying on past history of the type of general questions asked over the years. The final line of "anonymous alleged allegation" one was that Deputy Chief Nolan is involved in many charities ; Cystic Fibrosis, Leukemia, Miami Project, Cherish the Children...

Nolan should be fired just for taking this much interest in charities, how dare he exhibit such behavior.

The second "anonymous alleged allegation" was that Chief Nolan violated the Hartford Fire Departments Vehicle usage policy. This "anonymous alleged allegation" apparently developed through an inquiry brought forth by Assistant Chief of Operations Milner. Milner claims that in February of 2008 he looked at the mileage in Nolan's city vehicle and while doing that he saw a "connected GPS unit" in the vehicle and he "assumed belonged to the Dept" As Milner was "poking around the unit I pulled up the history and noticed travels to the State of Rhode Island and LaGuadia Airport in New York. Milner further states that after discussing the mileage on the vehicle compared to others assigned to HFD personnel that "the mileage difference alarmed me". Milner was so alarmed that he waited until July 10, 2008 to put the "facts" he claimed in writing.

Milner's memo is below, dated 7/10/08

Nolan Milner Memo

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The third "anonymous alleged allegation" in the report was that Nolan "solicited the recruits to donate to a charity that he is involved in" in exchange for a reduction in the recruits "towers". "Towers" are a form of punishment, similar to military recruits or police recruits performing sit-ups, push-ups or extra laps around a running track. Towers require that recruits run a certain number of times up and down the flights of stairs in the training "tower" at the fire academy. This exercise is very similar for the recruits as to what they would face in normal fire situation, carrying equipment or victims up and down in a highrise building, less the smoke and fire. In most cases the "towers" were assigned to the entire recruit class. In Nolan's "Laudermill Hearing", a legal title for the hearing held to result in Nolan's termination, the following exchange took place between Nolan and Teale:

Teale: "There is no standard related to how fast a person should run during fire recruit training. Why did you give towers as punishment for those who you thought ran too slow?
Nolan: "As I said, teamwork, motivation, there are weak links in the chain. In order for that chainto be effective, all the links must be present and pull together simultaneously. To me, a lot of people were not giving effort. It was walking time instead of running time and it impacted the whole class"

What was Nolan thinking? Teamwork, motivation, giving your full effort? How could any of that possibly relate to firefighters in a burning building needing to count on the person behind you for your life?

Pages 3 and 4 of the report essentially quote almost sixty "anonymous" statements making accusations without any names or written statements attached. Affidavits were taken from recruits attending the Hartford Fire Academy at the time in question, although the time line on the affidavits is also questionable because they were taken by Ivan Ramos of the Corporation Counsels Office in late September, almost six months after Teale claims the preliminary investigation was completed. Since no other reports were provided through my FOI request asking for "all reports", there are two possible scenarios. One is that the City was attempting to cover their tracks after Nolan refused John Rose's offer,through the Hartford Firefighters Union and Fusco, to go away quietly and they wouldn't touch his banked sick and vacation time or another report exists and the city is not releasing it. That would be a violation of the Freedom of Information Act since the City claims it released all the documents to me, and we know the City and Mr. Rose wouldn't do that.

The affidavits solicited from the recruits all appear to be almost identical, and apparently not in the recruits own words. They almost appear as "form" affidavits that they were all asked to sign, rather than pay for copies of all the affidavits from the City, I randomly picked a couple to have copied. They are attached below, you can make your own decision as to their validity. Surprisingly though, nowhere in any of the affidavits that I read was it ever mentioned that ANY recruit felt threatened by Nolan's requests to participate in charity events or assist in charity fundraising. Not one statement was made that ANY recruit felt as though adverse action would be taken if they did not participate, that they might be terminated, punished or in any way harmed by Nolan if they said no to his requests. In fact on recruit went so far as to on his own solicit gift certificates from a couple of Hartford restaurants as raffle prizes and one recruit who chose not to donate money, donated a gift certificate of his own for "Salsa" lesson instructions that he would provide.

Nolan Recruit Affidavit Sample

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The entire "preliminary investigation" and Teale's memo to Santiago Malave is below

Nolan Teale Parker Investigation

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On April 21, 2008, Deputy Chief Nolan was placed on "administrative leave" by Chief Teale. That letter is attached below:
Nolan Admin Leave Letter

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More to come as I continue to try and follow the paper trail leading to Nolan's termination. Also, I will provide more information and try to connect the dots as relatives try to protect relatives forced out of the Fire Academy, only to be re-hired after Nolan's removal. The issue of the pregnant recruit and her HFD connections and how she was protected,and another recruit that shares the same name with a high ranking HFD official snared in a scandal of his own and accused of perjury and how she survived the academy after Nolan threatened to remove her.Read what a Superior Court Judge had to say about this HFD official on the record. More interesting history will be spelled out here as I attempt to get to the real reason behind this termination. If you have more that you think is important, please free to e-mail me.

Deputy Chief Nolan Update #2

The following comment was posted today on the blog:

Nolan was dishonest. You should get all of the facts before you print your tripe.

Well, that's the beauty of the Freedom of Information Act. Although the City of Hartford and Corporation Counsel John Rose have made a mockery of FOI during the Perez Administration, eventually the truth does come out. I filed the following FOI request yesterday with the City:

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act I am requesting the following:

Any and all investigations and/or investigative reports conducted regarding Daniel Nolan related to his employment with the Hartford Fire Department and the City of Hartford, including but not limited to written documents, e-mails, memo's and correspondence as well as any witness statements and supporting documentation.

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter

Once the documents are received, they will be posted here in their entirety and we will see where the truth lies. You will be able to read them and make your own decision. A couple things make me suspicious though of the City of Hartford's intent. First, if you conduct a legitimate investigation, I would think that it would not be a problem to outline your allegations for a termination and give those to the employee that is being terminated, it only seems fair. Second, I have yet to have anyone point out to me any other time in the history of the Hartford Fire Department that such an investigation has taken place, especially in the way that this has been handled. Almost a year long investigation handled by the Corporation Counsel's Office under the direction of John Rose. It just seems odd, and to me a conflict of interest, for the investigation to be conducted by Rose, the decision to terminate not handled by the Human Resources Director or Fire Chief, but by Rose and any legal action will be handled for the City by Rose. The FOI documents may prove differently, but we'll see.

John Rose sent me the following response today to my FOI request submitted yesterday:

Mr.Brookman, I have the attached FOI request and have acted to advise
the parties who have access to any disclosable documents to collect them
and to deliver them to Att'y Ramos of this office. He will coordinate
whatever disclosure there will be. Once he has secured the documents he
will notify you and you should then contact this office to obtain copies
or to inspect same. The number here is 757-9700. We will bill for any
copies provided at the per page rate prescribed by law. JohnRose

This is their standard response, and most likely will not be complied with easily.
There are a couple exclusions that they could try to use to deny releasing the documents. 1.) That the request involves an ongoing investigation. Since the termination has taken place, that most likely won't float, any competent individual would complete the investigation before taking any action. 2.)The incident involves pending litigation and the release would undermine their defense. According to Nolan no "intent to sue" has been given to the City, so that won't float either. Also, the City could claim that to release the report would be an invasion of privacy for Nolan or that the investigation is not of legitimate concern to the public. Those two also won't float because the accusations appear to involve on-duty conduct by Chief Nolan and didn't carry over to incidents in his private life that would be extremely damaging to him if they were released. As an example WFSB Reporter Len Besthoff and Courant Reporter Dan Uhlinger partnered in a complaint against the East Hartford Police Department (Docket #FIC 2007-702, can be found at ct.gov/foi). In that decision, it involved an internal investigation used for the demotion of an East Hartford Police Lieutenant who was accused of sexual harassment of another officer and the report detailed sexual activity both on and off duty. That report was eventually ordered released to the public by the Commission. Essentially, there are very few instances where internal investigations conducted by a public agency of a public employee are not open to the public's review.

As soon as the documents are received, you can be sure they will be posted, which ever way they go. I'm betting on the guy who has served a couple tours in Iraq, but if I'm wrong, I'll admit it.

FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF DAN NOLAN UPDATE

More on this as I can develop information, but I spoke with Dan Nolan by phone today to see if I could get a copy of the "internal investigation" that was used as justification to terminate him. Nolan stated that he has not seen or been offered the opportunity to review the report, nor has he been given any specific charges that were used to terminate him. Since the termination has been completed, the investigation for all intents and purposes is complete, and I have filed a Freedom of Information request to review the investigation and related documents. Nolan has not filed an intent to sue the city, so there is no legal reason to withhold the report under FOI laws, in fact Nolan welcomed me getting it and asked me to provide him with a copy when I get it. It makes me believe even more in Nolan's innocence, if he knew there would be damaging information in there , I don't think he would want me to see it.

I spoke with Human Resources Director Santiago Malave to get a copy of the report. He stated that the "investigation" report was done by the Corporation Counsel's Office and he didn't have it. This makes me wonder even more about the legitimacy of this termination. My first thought is that if City Attorney John Rose was in charge of the "investigation" , then of course it must be fair and impartial. I'm sure John Rose would stand his ground and tell Mayor Perez that he can not be influenced and would issue his report based on the facts he develops.

Ok, time to get off the floor and stop rolling around laughing,I know as well as most do, that John Rose's strings are being pulled by the master puppeteer at City Hall, the Dishonorable Mayor Eddie A. Perez. You have to laugh at this stuff or you will go crazy thinking about the lives that Perez has ruined. The only saving grace is to keep in mind a key lesson my parents always taught us- what goes around comes around and people like Perez will get their day. The dawn of Eddie's day has begun and I for one intend to follow it right through until that great sunset on the Perez Administration, when the next chapter begins in Somers for King Eddie and his cast of characters.

The next court date for the Dishonorable Mayor Eddie A. Perez is scheduled for March 19, 2009 at 101 Lafayette Street, Hartford at 10:00am. Feel free to join me there.

LEADERSHIP BEGINS AT THE TOP

I have received many comments and calls regarding my posting about Jose Silva, the 14year city employee, laid off from his job the day he closed on his first home. Every single comment has been about the same as I felt last Sunday when I left the Silva home after meeting and discussing the layoff. One e-mail pretty much said what all of us are feeling after hearing his story;

The story actually teared me up because for folks like us who are foolish enough to believe life is supposed to be fair and bad things are not supposed to happen to good people, this is just offensive. It also just frustrates me because it just makes you feel so helpless to stop what's going on. And the more stories I hear like this, the more I wonder if things will ever change.

It aggravates me even more when I hear Sarah Barr trying to justify some of the hiring going on in the middle of a hiring freeze and layoffs. On one hand you have people like Jose Silva, making around $34,000, who just wants to do his job. On the other hand you have people like former state Rep Evelyn Mantilla, pictured above at the Perez prayer vigil last week, during city working hours. Mantilla stepped aside from her seat in the Legislature to make way for Perez puppet Kelvin Roldan to run. During that time Mantilla was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the Perez campaign as a "consultant". This is all documented in campaign filings of the Perez campaign required under state law. Subsequently, Mantilla was put on the City payroll in the Mayor's office as a "consultant" for approximately $60,000 for a temporary contract. Once that contract came time to expire, Mantilla has now been hired, according to Barr, to implement new software in the Health Department for $69,000 a year, plus benefits. Just a side note, Jose Silva bought his home in Hartford, Evelyn Mantilla moved out of Hartford when she left the legislature. No need to remain in Hartford if she could still feed from the Perez trough without actually having to live here. Also in the picture above (top center, with the coffee cup in his hand, his wife next to him, she runs Family Life Education, a non profit in the city)) at the prayer vigil during city business hours, is Genaro Sepulveda. Sepulveda is the City of Hartford Public Works supervisor who created a stir last year when he lost his license due to a DUI. Sepulveda's job requires him to travel about the city inspecting various facilities. it would seem to most observers that this would require a drivers license. Yet, since Sepulveda is a close ally of Perez, it was revealed to the public that his job didn't require he have a valid license. Although he apparently didn't need a license or use of a city vehicle to perform his duties for a year. Yet now that his license has been re-instated, he has been rewarded with his take-home city car again. Hopefully safeguards have been put in place to avoid the possibilty of a third DUI arrest , especially while driving a city vehicle. We have had enough Crown Vic's wrecked in the last year,I'd hate to see us lose one of the new hybrids, so much for zero tolerance for alcohol in city vehicles. The other person in the pic on the left is Francis Davila, another Perez ally and a State of Connecticut DCF employee, at the vigil, also during working hours, but we have enough problems in Hartford to focus on, the State can deal with its problems.

When you see people like Jose Silva getting laid off but the perpetual feeders at the trough keep their positions, whatever those positions are besides propping up Perez, it makes you wonder. I am not typically a big union supporter, but in this case I hope the city employee unions use a line out of the Jim Calhoun playbook when asked for concessions... "not a dime" with the caveat that once Perez sets the example and scales back his staff and spending, the union membership will gladly follow and do their part, as they always have. And one final thought; Eddie do you really think you will be around next year to give back that raise? I'm not a betting person, but I would take the odds in favor of probably not

THE MAYOR MICHAEL P. PETERS CONVENTION CENTER

It has a nice ring to it I think. After listening to Mayor Perez Monday night claim that he was naming a firehouse after Mayor Mike, I took it as a decent gesture by Perez, but far from being enough. Mayor Mike may have been a career firefighter, but no one can deny that his vision and enthusiasm for the city he loved and called home his entire life, brought the Convention Center to reality. His ability to actually work with Governor John Rowland and others and get things done was a credit to his life and love for Hartford. It seems only fitting that one of the largest development projects in recent Hartford history should bear the name of someone truly worthy of such an honor.

I have spoke with a couple legislator's and a high ranking state elected official over the last 24 hours, and they have all offered to help get this done. Any ideas, comments or support would be greatly appreciated to move this forward, please feel free to e-mail me at krbrookman@earthlink.net or call me with your ideas.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Even though I have been pretty tough on the Dishonorable Mayor Eddie A. Perez and his Director of Mis-Communication Sarah Barr, it's hard to not be when they hand you things on a silver platter. Barr's messages have been about as inconsistent as our weather lately, and her facts and information leave a lot to be desired, especially for what she is being paid.

In Monday's State of the City Address, Perez quoted Abraham Lincoln and attributed it to Lincoln 200 years ago. Lincoln was born 200 years ago in 1809. I have admired Lincoln, and if he was making such profound statements at 3 weeks old, is it any wonder he stands out to many as one of our greatest President's.

Then today, I read Jeff Cohen's comments at Courant.com/cityline and he mentioned the presentation folders that Barr handed out to "credentialed media" Monday night.

The old Hartford Image Project was going to throw the folders out last year, said Perez spokeswoman Sarah Barr.

"In an effort to 'go green' and to save money and not buy new folders," she got a few boxes of unused folders and "repurposed" them with stickers, she said in an email.

"In fact, when the mayor went before the Courant editorial board last year, I used them for the handouts and gave the editorial board the very same explanation that I am giving you and they seemed very pleased with our recycling efforts," Barr said.

Details again, I know, but Eddie Perez never went before the Courant Editorial Board last year (unless it was for a reason other than his re-election endorsement, thanks J). It was 2007 that he was unfortunately re-elected. I was able to check the date because he was interviewed by Dave Medina and the Courant's Editorial Board shortly after his home was searched by Inspector's from the Chief States Attorney's Office in August of 2007. This past year when the Courant's editorial Board interviewed candidates for State Representative and State Senate, Dave Medina was already rewarded by Perez with his position at the Board of Education.

And as far as going "green", recycling a few folders doesn't even come close to balancing the "carbon footprint" being left by Perez and his staff members and their gas guzzling luxury SUV's running around the State at the taxpayers expense.

HARTFORD, CT - FANTASYLAND PART 2

The more I look at the press releases for the Dishonorable Mayor Eddie Perez's "State of the City Address", the more I wonder what this guy is thinking. The press release was titled "NOW IS THE TIME FOR BOLD ACTION". The only bold action that this City needs right now is for Perez to resign as Mayor, and let someone competent begin to regain control of Hartford city government. And yes, I said someone competent, so I guess we need to go searching beyond the heir apparent to the Mayor's throne, Cal Torres.

In the press release, which is attached below, initiative number one states that in the next 90 days, more than $175 million in construction projects will flow into the City's neighborhoods. I don't mean to shout here, but MAYOR PEREZ, ARE YOU INSANE? First of all, I realize there is a huge disconnect between the Mayor and the City Council, but apparently word hasn't filtered back to Perez that the Council has suspended all capital projects. Every municipality around us with a leader with an ounce of common sense and/or intelligence have suspended essentially all spending. Yet Perez is going to spend $175,000,000 in ninety days and put hundreds of "residents" to work in union jobs. No word if he is talking Hartford residents, but I tend to doubt it. Hopefully those "hundreds" of jobs can be filled by the "hundreds" of city employees laid off due to Perez's incompetence and mismanagement. I know we are all counting on our share of the stimulus money that Eddie thinks will flow into Hartford. A couple of key points to consider though. I don't think President Obama went to the same management style classes that King Eddie attended, and I don't see President Obama as a vindictive, "tyrant" type leader as Mayor Perez is. But I seem to recall that during the Presidential election, Barack Obama made a stop in Hartford, where he filled the XL Center to capacity. Surprisingly, from what I understand, Eddie Perez was still at the learning Corridor with the candidate he was supporting, Hillary Clinton, and both Eddie and Kelvin Roldan were busy trying to get her campaign to pay her bill. Apparently Perez was too busy to return repeated phone calls from the Obama campaign regarding the visit, and in typical Perez style, another bridge was burned. Combine that with a couple of felony arrests, and is it any wonder that Eddie Perez wasn't at the White House recently with 500 other big city mayors? I really don't see any photo-ops involving Perez and President Obama in the near future.

Perez may want to focus on providing core city services to the City of Hartford. Providing money to the Arts is great, when your budget is on track, revenue is flowing in and the future looks good. But how can anyone in good conscience continue to lay-off essential city workers while giving dollars away to non-essential programs?

Also, Eddie Perez is no fool when it comes to payoff's and raising campaign money. Was it any wonder Perez played to the Carpenter's union at Monday nights speech? The rank and file may want to ask their reps about meetings help between them and Perez and City Council "leadership". Ask them about the deals hammered out at those meetings and find out who personally benefitted. What Perez fails to realize is that the unions may dump money into his campaign chest, but they do very little for the city overall. The construction jobs they fill are great, but the "engine" that drives Hartford is small business. The majority of these small businesses are not union shops, yet generate more for the local economy day in and day out than any construction project could.

State of the City Release 09

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ALL ABOARD THE RIDE TO FANTASYLAND, EDDIE PEREZ'S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

In these tough times, all of us can use a little comedy in our lives. The State of the City address given today by the Dishonorable Mayor Eddie Perez would have been laughable if it were not for the damage Perez and his actions have caused to the city that many of us still love and call home. A very few "non-reserved" seats were available to members of the public, after the reserved signs were taped to almost every seat in the Council Chambers (pic above). Once the members of the Carpenter's Union arrived, the room was standing room only. Several members of the Carpenter's Union I spoke with told me they had never been inside City Hall, never met Eddie Perez but were told to be there to show their support for Perez if they wanted to keep their jobs and keep working. Not a hard call to make in these economic times. I wondered how many of them were actually Hartford residents and could relate to what people in Hartford are going through. If only they knew how much money was being made through the back room deals, at their expense. If you looked in the far corner of the room, in the very back, you would have seen Police Chief Darryl Roberts and his command staff. Normally he would have been front and center, stars gleaming, flanked by his command staff. That was of course last year, before the Chief's comments about Hartford having lost its moral compass. I guess the Mayor and his staff didn't appreciate the Chief's honesty as much as the rest of us did. Plus, when the Mayor, at re-election time, promised us big numbers of Police Officer's he was going to hire, I can see why he wasn't big on having the Chief up front. It might remind us that this was just another empty promise by Perez to get re-elected, and the cops aren't coming as promised. Chief Teale from the Fire Department was also banished to the back of the room, no reserved seating for him either. I would have thought he would have been up front. He did just do the Mayor's dirty work and fire Chief Dan Nolan as Perez ordered. The rest of the reserved seating were a lot of the usual cast of characters, people beholding to Perez for the support of their non profits, their jobs and more than willing to applaud Perez on cue.

One of the most surprising attendees though was Jeanette Peters, widow of Mayor Mike. There is a lot I can say about the slimy actions of Eddie using the memories of Mayor Mike after his death to apparently boost his own image, but that's Eddie, no shame. Perez, or more likely his Director of Miscommunications Sarah Barr, quoted Abraham Lincoln in the speech. The quote in and of itself was quite prophetic since according to the Mayor's timeline, Lincioln would have been about three weeks old when he said it ( I know, details, details) The quote they used was "I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him". I'm not sure why Perez threw that in, probably thinking that people might be proud of him, highly doubful after his track record. But I think that was a quote that exemplifies Mayor Mike. He was always proud of his home city, never left for greener pastures, and his pride was infectious. Pride that extended outside of the City boundaries, and no one that ever heard him speak of Hartford could help but feel that pride themselves. And Mayor Mike, I know this must be tough for you to watch what is being done to your City,our city, but that pride you felt for Hartford, many of us now feel that same pride in you, we will always be proud of your efforts on our behalf. You knew more about being a leader, even without the benefit of being called a "strong Mayor".

Naming a Fire House in honor of Mayor Mike may be an appropiate start in the tributes, but let's think big, like Mayor Mike always seemed to do. First thing tomorrow I urge every one to pull together and lets begin an effort to name the Connecticut Convention Center in honor of Mayor Mike. Let's rally as a city to get it done, "Go Hartford" go Mayor Mike.

WOULD A "MAN OF FAITH" ACT THIS WAY ?

Over the last couple years I have spoke with many people across the city, and many ask me what is Eddie Perez thinking. Since the Mayor and I are no longer friends, I just have to answer that I am as dismayed as they are. Many of these people, most like myself who were at one time supportive of Perez, wonder if he is actually trying to kill the City of Hartford as we knew it pre-Perez.

I have taken a role, as well as others have, of doing everything I can to expose this administration for its incompetence, mismanagement and outright corrupt activities. Almost daily I receive phone calls with information regarding activities at City Hall and in the Mayor's office. Some you take seriously and are able to validate, and others you can see that they may have a hidden agenda behind them and disprove them.

These phone calls usually tend to invigorate me when I can substantiate them, especially when I can move information forward that the source is unable to for fear of retaliation or reprisal from a corrupt administration. It has not been an easy task, but more and more lately I have been receiving the phone calls, e-mails and even personal acknowledgements from people thanking me for getting information out.

I am not writing this to give myself a pat on the back, others have been right beside me in exposing Perez and his administration for his corruption. Some of us have lost jobs, homes, city contracts and I for one had several sleepless nights after I began receiving death threats that I was told by law enforcement to take seriously.

I've had many people relay their stories of things Perez has done to them, some of them in tears explaining the vindictiveness of the Mayor's actions. I spoke with Hyacinth Yennie one night last summer when she called me complaining that her requests to Perez for a ribbon cutting for the completed Maple Avenue Streetscape project were going unanswered. Hyacinth confronted Susan McMullen, Perez's Director of Gospel Services, and asked her what the deal was. McMullen responded "you didn't support the Mayor during the election and he's not supporting you now". I told Hyacinth we would organize our own ribbon cutting, which we did, and it was well attended. It was an election year, do you really think John Fonfara and Hector Robles would say no to one of the most organized and effective NRZ's in the City? And Hyacinth was the driving force behind the successful completion of the project, on a timely basis, on schedule with quality workmanship. Far different than the Park Street project which has been ripe with corruption, cronyism, shoddy work and still is tied up in litigation and not completed.

With that being said, none of these phone calls, information and documentation of Perez's corrupt activities and dirty deeds has affected me like the one I received on Friday. You kind of have to keep the mindset that this is all part of a larger game and approach it as such, if not I think it could very easily take a toll on your sanity. Eventually we will hopefully see the good people of Hartford win and Eddie Perez lose. From the previous post, you can see that I received information regarding Perez once again building his staff, even though there is supposedly a hiring freeze,with spending of almost $400,000 for only three staff positions. The source who gave me the information suggested I track down a laid off city employee, Jose Silva, and speak with him. On Sunday I met with Mr. Silva and his family and afterwards left their home dumbfounded as to how a person like Eddie Perez could claim at a prayer vigil earlier in the week that he was "a man of faith". I leave the judgement calls to the guy upstairs on that one, but tell me if you think a "man of faith" could look another human being in the eyes after you read this story.

Jose Silva, a hearing impaired father of four, had been employed by the City of Hartford for 14 years as a laborer in the Parks Department assigned to Elizabeth Park as a groundskeeper. Silva, from what sources in the Public Works Department tell me, was a stellar employee. No workers compensation claims, no abuse of sick time, always at work as scheduled, and just an all around good employee. Silva, with no disciplinary problems must have thought he was pretty secure in his job. Silva and his family even went so far as to purchase a home in a neighborhood in Frog Hollow, on Ward Street. A neighborhood, like many in Hartford that is on the brink of going one way or another, stability or decay, depending on the inhabitants and care the neighbors show. Silva had heard the Mayor talk about home ownership and figured the time was right to plant his roots in his first home of his own. After all, he was a long time City of Hartford employee, why not buy in Hartford. He chose to buck the trend of many fleeing from the city. Even though his back yard abuts some of the most crime ridden streets of Hartford,York Street, Zion Street, Park Street, you wouldn't know it by looking at Silva's home. For Silva, the American dream was coming true, his mortgage was approved, he had a stable job to qualify for the mortgage, and the home purchase moved forward. In February, Silva closed on the purchase of his home at 220 Ward Street in Hartford. He remembers quite vividly that day the joy he felt in becoming a homeowner, and proudly beginning the move into his family's new home. Later in the day he was surprised by a visit from his supervisor from DPW, but thought it was a nice gesture to stop at his new home. His dream of home ownership rapidly became a nightmare when the supervisor explained that he was there to tell Silva that he no longer had a job. Silva had become the latest victim of corruption and incompetence that we have come to know as the Perez Administration.Silva was laid off at the same time Perez was hiring his new "Energy Czar" at $105,000, roughly 3 times Silva's annual salary, and Charlie Crocini punching the Mayor's timclock for his part-time $85.00 an hour job. (Silva and 4 or 5of his laid off co-workers could still be employed if these two positions, filled by non-Hartford residents were cut)

When I spoke with Silva and his wife and son on Sunday, I was surprised at Silva's upbeat spirit and his constant smile. Silva and his wife are both hearing impaired and their son acted as our interpreter when needed, but essentially said he loved his job and wishes he could go back to work tomorrow. He has been searching for a job, but his hearing impairment limits the scope of the search, and the economic situation isn't helping either. In the mean time, Silva says they are without health insurance for him and his family, but for the time being they are getting by hoping that dream of home ownership continues to be a reality.

Maybe the next prayer vigil organized should be for people like Jose Silva and families like his across the city that they can keep their homes, not to keep a Mayor out of prison.

AND REMEMBER, BE KIND TO YOUR MAYOR,HAVE YOUR COUNCILPERSON SPAYED OR NEUTERED

It seems as though ever since Hartford switched to the "Strong Tyrant" I mean "Strong Mayor" form of government, much criticism has been heaped upon the Hartford City Council for not exercising its powers given to them as a body under the new charter. This has been very evident, especially at budget time. The Council has appeared to choose a lapdog mentality when approving spending rather than using the pitbull powers they were handed under the Charter.

This became very obvious this week when it came to light that despite layoffs of City employees, some not far from the poverty level, Mayor Perez continues to build the Sovereign Nation of Perez, also known as the Mayor's Office. Even the titles are striking fear in the peasants as they were introduced to the Mayor's new "ENERGY CZAR" this past week. Don Blakelock has been making the rounds this past week and being introduced to City staffers as the latest Knight in King Eddie's roundtable. His official title is Energy Manager, with a salary anywhere from $90,000 to $105,000, depending upon which version you listen to. Ironically, some of these introductions to Blakelock were made to City employee union representatives as they were leaving meetings requesting givebacks from City Employee's to help curtail the budget deficit. I wonder how those talks are going now? Czar Blakelock's annual salary would save more than 3 Public Works laborer positions.

In addition, we were told last summer that Charles Crocini was leaving the Mayor's Office and his replacement, James Keaney had been hired direct from Digg's Construction (yes, that Diggs Construction). It was interesting that at the time of Keaney's hiring, according to the Mayor's Director of Misinformation Sarah Barr, that Keaney had negotiated into his city contract the purchase of a luxury SUV by the City for his use, heated leather seats, roof rack and all. On Friday I received documentation from Santiago Malave, the City's Director of Human Resources, that Keaney's annual salary is $150,000, more than that of Mayor Perez (or at least what he claims on the books, less countertops, jacuzzi's, steam showers, Ireland plane tickets, etc). Mr Keaney's luxury SUV (so much for King Eddie's promise of becoming a green city) purchased by the city could in itself have saved one laborer at Public Works or maybe even a teaching position.

Oh, and Charlie Crocini who was mentioned above as leaving city service to make room for Jim Keaney, don't feel bad for him as a retiree struggling to make ends meet in this economy. Mr. Crocini has been hired back as a "Special Assistant to Mayor Perez", only on a part-time basis though. He's "only" being paid $85.00 and hour for his services as "Special Assistant to the King" (I think they call them Knights). At $85.00 an hour,(yes, not a typo, $85.00 an hour) if he works 15-20 hours a week at the end of the year that could land him close to $80,000 a year. Not bad for a part time job, sure beats those unfortunate retiree's that have to work at Wal-mart.

And finally, on the City vehicle front, Clarence Corbin apparently is not one to be outdone. Last summer I raised the issue of city vehicle use and found that Corbin had two city vehicles he claimed for his personal use. A Buick and a new Ford Escape SUV.(I guess you can do that when you are the one running the fleet of vehicles).This at a time when the Hartford Police Deaprtment was assigning 2 and 3 officers to Patrol Vehicles because they were short of cars. Well, anyway, Corbin gave up the Buick and kept the SUV Ford Escape. Apparently as winter and the cold weather set in though, Clarence must have become envious of Jim Keaney and his luxury SUV with the heated leather seats, because Corbin ordered one for himself. It apparently arrived in the last couple weeks, a lovely shade of green just in time for St. Patrick's Day, and Clarence Corbin can now arrive at work every morning with the same rosy cheeks Jim Keaney has from his heated leather seats. (oops, wrong cheeks)

The Hartford City Council has the power to end all of this insanity. The only problem is, once you are neutered, I don't think it is reversible. We'll see.

THE 'CREDENTIALED" MEDIA

For those that haven't seen the Courant's latest addition to Courant.com,"Cityline", check out courant.com/cityline. As the Courant seems to continue downsizing its daily editions, Cityline allows Courant reporters to post articles and information that might not make it into the print edition.

Saturday's Cityline posted a story about Sarah Barr, Mayor Eddie Perez's Director of Misinformation or more aptly a disciple of the "Gospel of Perez".

For some reason, Sarah Barr has a problem with me. I can't figure out what this could be, especially since Sarah has at one time or another considered herself a journalist. Sarah consistently claims that the Perez Administration continues to be the most transparent administration in recent history at Hartford City Hall. Although, I guess transparency can only go so far when job one is to make sure only the good news gets out. When information is put in the public domain that goes against the Gospel of Perez, I can understand that Sarah might feel responsible for not protecting her boss, and at this point in her career another job loss might be hard to take. I can imagine that the Channel 3 termination was tough enough, never mind getting dumped by a Mayor facing prison. How bad can it possibly get ?

When I started my public access program called "We the People", I also began this blog to continue to get information out to the general public. Both public access programming and "bloggers" are considered,for all intents and purposes, media outlets. This has been determined by court decisions, and in many states now, bloggers are covered by media shield laws.In addition, I have also worked for at least three area television stations as a freelance videographer providing video of crime scenes, fires, accidents and the like. In fact, I had been nominated for an Emmy award for video that I had shot for Channel 3, WFSB. I am also a member of "IRE". the association of Investigative Reporters and Editors. (IRE is a great resource and their monthly newletters really give you great ideas on how to uncover corruption and obtain documents)Note to Sarah: the dues aren't bad and it might help to dust-off those job skills, their mentoring program is great and they can pair you with an actual media professional.

In June of 2008, I had requested to be added to Sarah Barr's media notification list. I figured that for someone that claimed to strive for transparency, this was no problem and she would enter me into her database. WRONG !!!!!

The first e-mail request I sent was answered with the reply "and what media outlet do you represent?". I replied that I had the public access program "We the People" which I was sure she was aware of, because I had been told it was an occasional topic of discussion in the Mayor's Office. None the less, I figured she might not venture out of the bunker at 550 Main Street often, what with having to explain search warrants served on the Mayor's Home, a Grand Jury investigation, failing schools, a budget deficit that today approaches or exceeds $36 million dollars, sky rocketing gun violence etc, etc, etc. I offered to provide her with a DVD of the program for her viewing pleasure, but I never heard back. Since I can't force her to place me on the media list, I did the next best thing. I requested her media list through an FOI request, and since the list is public information , she is obligated to provide it. Again no response, and the FOI complaint was filed with the State of Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission.In September the case was docketed and Disciple Barr was sent her notice that a complaint had been filed. Not surprisingly. that same day, the former Channel 3 employee (until her termination) sent me a list of names via e-mail, some of them I recognized as media people. I guess she thought that would make the complaint go away. Once again Sarah, wrong. The hearing will be held later this month and I look forward to hearing Sarah explain her position, under oath. Apparently a City Hall employee overheard a conversation between Barr and another employee that same day, and when Barr was asked why she just didn't provide the list in the first place, she replied "I just don't like him". The walls have ears in the Mayor's Office, and from what I understand the flower pots and lamps may also, with Federal Agents at the other end.

So anyway, it came as no surprise when Jeff Cohen from the Courant asked me yesterday what I thought of Sarah's press release about Monday's State of the City speech being released to only "credentialed media". I wasn't surprised and actually find it comical. Even though I'm not a "paid" journalist, I try to stick to the facts. As you can see from my postings, I have documents, e-mails and whatever I can find when I address an issue and try to present facts in a responsible manner. And since Monday's speech from Eddie to his Kingdom will most likely border on a fantasy tale, I really don't need an advance copy. The other problem with Sarah's press releases is that my inbox usually gets jammed with people forwarding them to me after she sends them out. It usually is ten or fifteen minutes after she sends them, so I am getting them delayed.I didn't go to school in Hartford, so I'm a fast reader, and they are typically pretty light on the content side, so I can live with that.

Again, check out http://courant.com/cityline when you have a chance, we are trying to make Jeff Cohen a legitimate blogger