The Democratic State Party Convention started off with a break from tradition Friday night when it was called to order at the Connecticut Expo Center. From what State Central leaders told me, it was the first time in recent history, that they could recall, that the opening address was not given by the Mayor of the host city.
Apparently that was a conscious decision by the party leaders not to invite Hartford's Mayor Eddie A. Perez to speak. Apparently they felt that it didn't bode well for the party to be addressed by a Mayor on trial and currently under arrest on felony charges related to a corruption investigation.
That didn't stop Perez or his wife from attending the opening night as they wandered around the convention floor. Unlike his popularity from earlier in his term, Perez was not surrounded by many people as he walked through the Expo Center. His fellow Democrats were probably trying to avoid any photo-ops involving the Mayor.
One of the most interesting observations, other than the Saturday morning love fest which I'll go into shortly, was another delegate crossing paths with Perez on the convention floor. I'm sure Eddie's heartbeat sped up when he saw the Prosecutor from his court case also wandering the Expo Center floor.
Yup, Assistant State's Attorney Christopher Alexy was also a delegate from his hometown, where he is the town's Vice-Chair. Poor Eddie, he can't even catch a break in a building full of Democrats. Alexy was also in attendance Saturday when the Hartford Team of Evil was working the floor.
Apparently there have been a few closed door meetings between Perez and Ned Lamont leading up to the convention. That is a stark contrast to the Malloy campaign's approach from what I was told by a Malloy insider. Malloy's campaign made a decision to stay at least arms length from Perez considering the ongoing trial.
Apparently Ned Lamont wasn't concerned about wheeling and dealing with a Mayor on trial for corruption and courted Perez right up until the time the final vote for the Governor-nominee was cast.
In an unusual situation that could be filed in the "politics makes strange bedfellows" category, the love fest that took place among some of the Hartford delegation on Saturday morning was an eye opener to many. I didn't get to the convention until about noon on Saturday, but a little after 10:00AM my phone started ringing and the text messages were flying.
State Representative Minnie Gonzalez and Eddie Perez, who have been bitter adversaries, were hugging on the convention floor and cutting deals. Completing the love fest were the supporting cast of Matt Hennessey, Susan McMullen and Nick Carbone. Yes , you read those names right. I heard that they were all singing "Kumbaya" by the front doors of the Expo Center as they held hands later in the day.
The cast of characters were twisting arms hard in the Hartford Delegation trying to swing votes to the Lamont campaign. If they haven't realized yet, corruption trials have a way of reducing one's political clout, and alas, Dan Malloy carried the Hartford delegations votes. Maybe Perez needs to get a picture of "Air Force 1" like Hennessey uses on his website to make it seem like he still has power.
I am pretty sure that the pesky Prosecutor, who was only one section away from the Hartford delegation and Perez, didn't make anyone in the "Circle of Evil" comfortable.
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16 comments:
Kevin....if you are right about the cast of characters...then it is about the most disgusting thing i have heard about Hartford politics.It seems there are alot of political whores who apparently change their positions and allies like they change used underwear.I expected Ramon/Minnie and Carbone to be honorable and here they are ..on their knees to the Mayor...LMAOOO unreal
I never trusted Carbone anyway...he is owned by Billy DiBella who got Carbone his state gig and for which he receives a annyal pension of over 20K.And Billy,MDC Chair, got Minnie's kid a MDC job.So Minie is in part owned by Billy.
Yes once again Minnie/Ramon and Carbone are back in the Mayor's domain and will do his bidding.They are shameless political hustlers and instead of walking the street like a regular hustler,they hustle at the town committee,waiting to be bought.
LMAOOOOOO these 3 political prostitutes..Minnie/Ramon/Carbone will go to other meetings and pretend that they are reformers LMAOOOOOOOOO
Merrick Albert upon leaving from speaking to the Hartford Town Committee last week said..." this is the most dysfunctional town committee that I have ever seen." And no wonder, we now have;
1. A Mayor on trial for his political life, with little hope of a not guilty verdict.
2. A Town chair whose house is in forclosure and who doesnt even own a car to get around.Nor does she know how to conduct a meeting or know the party rules or what to do as Chair.
3.10 years ago Hartford had 4 state central people and now has only 1.
4. The other Officers of the town committee are incompetant and some are criminals and/or traitors to the party.The Treasurer James Mularkey has given money to the Republican candidate for Governor Michael Federle. The Vice Chair of the Party is under investigation for taking kick backs.The Secretary of the Pary is a known felon.
5. The town committee itself is loaded with city employees and non profit people who get their funding from the city and can easilly be led by city hall on any vote they want.Which means that the district spokesperson doesnt have influence over their own members.
6. Much of the rest of the town committee members are either psycho's,incompetents,corrupt or emotional disturbed to the point that no town committee meeting is done without several folks disrupting the meeting and/or screaming like a banshie,which usually has the meeting in a choatic way and nothing of substance gets done.
And yet Hartford delivered more votes to Merrick than any other delegation except Torrington, so what does that say about him? As for the truly wierd, not only were Minnie and Eddie delegates for Lamont, but Art Feltman, now living in West Hartford, was a Lamont delegate as well. Makes you wonder whether I. Charles Mathews is a Lamont supporter.
Rich...the posters have a point dont they?
You just can't make this stuff up. LOL.
Love the comments about prostitutes. Remember back in the late 80s when Arroyo got arrested for soliciting a prostitue on Broad St. I believe he pleaded no lo contendere and was given AR. He was a casework supervisor @ the time in the city welfare office. The more things change the more they stay the same.
yes...Ramon Arroyo was a welfare caseworker and was banging his client,Minnie Gonzalez, who was on welfare at the time.Then he got caught on Broad Street with a prostitute in the late 80's when he was the President of the Puerto Rican PAC.He had to leave that office and blames Edwin Vargas for his downfall,when he should blame himself.
We don't have Abe Giles and his "family" on the Town Committee. We don't have Eddie making the decisions about who will be candidates and the districts are free to make their own decisions, stupid or not.
Anonymous...Giles and his friends may be off the town committee but they still are a factor in Hartford politics.The Mayor is active behind the scenes,helping the candidates of his choice and as Kevin blogged, with new allies.The districts do not "make their own decisions" per se,as many of the town committee members are city hall employees or are running non profits funded by the City and are prone to obeying a call from city hall about who to support.That means of course, the district leaders having town committee members beholden to city hall and not the district,have far less say then you might imagine.In addition most elected officials within a district usually has some town committee members that they "own" as well and can make the town committee member dance to their tune.Another hindrence to autonomous districts is that at least one hartford district has an informal and I will say illegal "unit rule" binding their district members" Another hindrence of district autonomy is the taking of pre-signed resignations from town committee members, which mandates political conformity or the reignation is accepted.
BTW anonymous...while Ramon Arroyo was banging Minnie...he was married lol
Arroyo is very skilled at multi-tasking: wife, lover & prostitute. Back in the day, he would dye his hair jet black and the folks who worked with him always commented that after the dye job there was toner missing from the photocopier. BTW he also used to drive a black car that resembled "Knight Rider", so that's what his staff started calling him, not to his face of course. LOL.
Instead of calling Arroyo "knight rider" given his affinity for prostitutes on Broad Street, his name should have been "night rider"
"Broad Street", amazing name. When I lived in Providence, RI, the same kind of business was carried out on its Broad Street. LOL to the last anonymous post, I love a good homonym!!!!
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