This morning my phone began ringing incessantly at 9:07am. The callers all asked me if I had heard the news yet. Apparently a local news station was running a story in their 9:00am newscast that Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez was apparently going to announce his resignation as of September 5, 2009. This resignation would come less than 4 days before jury selection was scheduled to start in Perez's trial for his January 2009 arrest on corruption charges. Although it has been thought for several months that more arrests were coming, both for Perez and others,none have been made as of this date. The Office of the Chief States Attorney has suggested that more arrests were possible since the day of Perez's original arrest.
The sealing of the recent Grand Jury report has led to more questions than answers.It raises the question as to why city officials potentially identified with corrupt activities have more rights to privacy than we have as citizens of Hartford to know if our government is being abused and corrupted. Why is the fact that information contained in the report is so "damning", that if it were released those mentioned in the report might have their reputations damaged. Isn't that the whole idea of the investigation, to expose corruption and corrupt officials? But on the other side of the coin, is it possible that the Chief States Attorney and the Public Integrity Unit wasted 18 months on a witch hunt of the Perez Administration producing very limited results? I doubt it, they must have had cause for two six month extensions, but if the Grand Jurors report stays secret to protect the reputations of alleged corrupt officials we may never know. It seems like a rather strange move on the part of the States Attorney to call his own reputation into question to protect the reputations of individuals potentially involved in corrupt actions.
As many of you know, Hartford's official motto is "after the clouds, the sun". Well, if what sources are telling me tonight proves true, we may see the sun starting to burn through those clouds that have overshadowed our City for several years of the Perez Administration. Sources are telling me, that a deal is close to being announced that in order for Perez to avoid trial, he has agreed to resign in exchange for a possible jail sentence of up to 18 months. There have been so many twists and turns since Perez's original arrest, that I will believe it when I see the press release, but these are very credible sources. The date mentioned to me for the resignation is September 5, 2009,next Saturday, which seems to negate the possibility of a special election for Mayor through "normal means" on this November's ballot. September 3rd was the date that seems to be the deadline date for a special election, although there may be other means available under Connecticut state law to force an election.
When I say the sun may start to burn through the clouds, that is because we have a long way to go to reclaim our City, and just the resignation of Perez will not solve Hartford's problems. First off is the "Mayor-in-waiting", Cal Torres. I don't expect much change during his limited time in the hot seat formerly occupied by Perez.
Torres has been the chief bobble head of the Council and allowed much of Perez's corrupt activities to go unchecked. Real change will only come when a new Mayor is elected and reopens the shades of secrecy that have shrouded City Hall. A new Mayor that is able to read a dictionary and understand the word "transparency", a Mayor that appreciates honest city employees rather than silence and terminate those that are true public servants. A Mayor that understands that "public documents" are truly that, documents that are open to the public, and no resident or even any council member should have to be forced to subpoena public documents. A Mayor that works with every person in this city, regardless of their viewpoints on the new Mayor's policies, and understands that at some times dissenting opinion may be more valuable in forming policy than the support of the "yes men" surrounding them.
And finally, to reclaim our City, another piece of the puzzle missing now, but needed to make the system work, is a City Council with guts and backbone to stand up to the new mayor. We need a slate of council people willing to run their own campaigns, financed by themselves, not like most of those on Council now, elected through Perez's support and financing to be loyal lapdogs, both Democrats and Republican alike. We need Councilpeople to do the job they were elected to do. We don't need more council people tripping over themselves to get to the latest taping of "Face the State" posturing to become the next Mayor. We need council people who can look us in the eyes and answer the questions "what did you know?", "when did you know it?" and "what did you do to correct it?". I think on this council, with the exception of relatively newcomer Dr. Deutsch, the majority of council members could be described as "unindicted co-conspirators". Through their lack of attention and lack of action as Perez ran out of control, they allowed much of the damage to go unchecked. And finally, whoever the new Mayor is, a full clean sweep of City Hall and every department needs to take place to remove anyone that doesn't understand that they work for the residents of the City of Hartford and that the only reason they have jobs are because of the residents and businesspeople of the City. They don't have $80,000 plus a year jobs because they were good at putting up lawn signs during Perez's campaigns. They don't have city jobs because they were good at threatening neighborhood groups and neighborhood leaders and "squashing them like bugs" when they failed to support Perez. They don't have city jobs because they were good at supporting corrupt activities and falsifying bidding documents. Anyone in city employ needs to be reminded that when they receive a paycheck from the City, they are receiving that check because we expect them to strive everyday to make Hartford, its local government, its people and our city overall the best possible city we can be and strive to once again be a leader in the region and the state. A city free of corruption, free of petty politics and free of the activities that have pushed us backwards under Eddie Perez.
It sounds like an impossible task, but I have no doubt that with the proper new generation of leadership we can definitely succeed. Do we need to ask those leaders to step forward or they already in our midst? I think they are already out there, and not at 550 Main Street.
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