Well, 5:00pm on Monday has come and gone and Eddie Perez is still Hartford's Mayor. No letter of resignation has been submitted or received by Council President Pedro Segarra.
If Hartford is going to begin rebuilding any confidence as a viable city, this can not be allowed to continue. Hartford is now being run by a convicted felon. No longer "allegedly", no longer "apparently", Eddie Perez is a criminal, a convicted felon.
The Hartford City Council needs to act immediately and decisively to remove Perez at the earliest possible opportunity. Any indecisiveness or ambiguity by the Council will send the wrong message. It has been a long and painful process but a huge opportunity to take back Hartford and move in a positive direction has been placed at our doorstep. To squander that opportunity by being allowed to be held hostage by Perez and any demands will be almost as criminal as Perez's acts that he was convicted of.
The Hartford City Council needs to act immediately and with a clear and unified voice and make a statement to developers, business owners, residents and anyone else able to listen that it is a new day in Hartford.
In the true spirit of Hartford's motto "After the clouds the sun", the dark clouds brought over Hartford by Eddie Perez are parting and the sun will soon be shining on a new day in Hartford.
-
36 comments:
Kevin- So glad that you are back. What do you think Eddie has up his sleeve? He should know the council is going to impeach him.Do you think he got some of them to change their minds?
Given the fact that Eddie's appeal is pending, his peeps (rJo, Calixto + Cotto) probably still will not have enough political will and/or cojones to do the right thing and discharge him. So yet again, there will be not enough votes. This is a shame b/c as you say it would send a strong message to the community, businesses and developers. That's okay for now, but Eddie's peeps probably won't be re-elected. Sometimes things have a way of working out on their own...
Boy, did we miss you, Kevin. Plus you missed all the fun.
This fiasco of Eddie still clinging to his position and the Council allowing him to continue to drive the bus is disappointing. The Councill needs to take some ownership of the city government, get Eddie to resign - from Everything!- or promise to follow up with the impeachment and follow through. No wonder so many kids in Hartford are messed up with this example of consequences.
Also, what's this 5 hour notice to the residents about asking what we want to do. First, Eddie is now a convicted felon. In ANY other job, except a demented monarchy, this person would be removed. How can you ask what we want to see in the future with the past hanging around like dead fish?
And don't get me started on what other repercussions Hartford residents have put up with since Eddie's reign started.
Maybe Eddie just wants 2 more pay checks. They will impeach him one way or another.
They have to because if they don't it will be in the media and his allies who refused to vote against him will be identified and condemning themselves to political suicide.
Take note of his failure to resign Judge Dewey, take note!
He just doesn't want to let go of that power. That is the part that is killing him, he will have no power.
So true Gigi.
As they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. He's had too much power for too long.
I strongly think he will go into hiding before September 10th too. Possible try to hide in Puerto Rico.
I believe that once he is sentenced, he has to leave office, as he will have lost his right to vote, which bars him from holding public office. He could flee to PR, as Jeff suggests, but would just be extradited back here. He would need to go somewhere where there is no extradition treaty, and I would assume his passport has been confiscated.
How long, do you think, before he has City Hall surrounded by cops who are still loyal to him, and simply refuses to leave?
Way to go Pedro with your first big decision!!
Perez has reached the point where he beyond pathetic. There is no reason why he could not have tendered his resignation today. Does anyone believe that Judge Dewey will set an appeal bail for him?
Now is the time to begin term limits for all Hartford Municipal Elected officials,
Mayor - Two terms
Council-Two terms
Board of Education -Two terms
This will limit spending on officials and do away with lifetime benefits and pensions for elected officials.
Hartford Government has become for many years a stopping place for people to put in time "as little as allowed, for full time pay" and take away as much as a person can grab and then move to another area!
Enough already,
Lets see how well this will go with the new powers that be!
What did Pedro do?
The democratic caucus should be meeting tomorrow to cobble together an agreement for a resolution of impeachment for this coming Monday's agenda.I hope they bring in the WFP and veronica as a partner here as it would send a great message if there were 9 co-signers of an impeachment resolution.
Judge Dewey I think, will not take kindly that Mayor Perez didnt resign,and will not be inclined to grant an appeal bond.Therefore,we all may have to suffer through this criminal until 9/10/10 when he is sentenced,and if the Judge doesnt grant the defense Motion for an Appeal Bond..goes directly to jail.
On the other hand if the rumor is true that Pedro and Eddie are meeting...and the only purpose of the meeting is to receive an offer from Eddied to resign for "certain" things of value..then Pedro will in all liklihood bring back Eddie's proposal to the Caucus.They will then chew it over and make a decision.
we are weighing several things here...if Eddie is given a "sweetener" of some sort, he leaves right away via a letter of resignation.If he doesnt receive s "sweetener" of some sort, he may well remain as Mayor, pending some sort of impeachment trial,which must be over by 9/10/10 which is sentencing day.If he is impeached before 9/10/10 then he goes and receives all his sick and vacation pay, with a chance of paying into COBRA,like any other fired employee would have the opportunity, for health benefits.On the other hand, it is my belief that Judge Dewey seeing a recalcitrant Mayor who refuses to resign, wouldnt be inclined to grant a Defence's Motion for an Appeal Bond.In which case he goes into the slammer right away.On the other hand, since the felonies werent of a violent nature,she might grant the Defences Motion for an Appeal Bond, and then the City would be stuck with a felonious Mayor for the length of the appeal,which could take a year.In that case Eddie might be phusically around until late 2011.
The above options and moves are what the 9 members must be weighing as they await word from Pedro about the meeting with Eddie.
What a disgrace this man is.
Most people are going to assume any council member who votes to not impeach Eddie is also corrupt.
There also are no assurances that there would be 7 council votes to "convict" Eddie at this trial.If the impeachment goes forward then Pedro would have to step down as the chief judge as it were and the council would have to select a lawyer and city resident who has at least 10 years of lawyer experience, who wold "preside" over the impeachemnt trial.You can be sure that if the trial goes forward, Eddie will raise every defense he can, including challenging the charter impeachment provisions and any other procedural and substantive defense he can think of.The defense would have an interest in "running out the clock" until 9/10/10 and trying to make the Council (jurors) look bad as compared to Eddie,so that Judge Dewey might be more favorably influenced to grant the Motion for an Appeal Bond.
The news keep saying all 9 council members agreed in writing they would vote Eddie out if he didn't man-up and resign. How does that play in?
Jeff..i agree that most people would probably vote to convict the Mayor even under the "incapacitated" or "disbility" part of the Charter, let alone for anything else.Correspondingly,most people would assume that a "not guilty" verdict by a councilperson ( juror) would mean that the person is either corrupt and/or in Eddies pocket by virtue of their past friendship with him.
Jeff...when and if the impeachment trial goes foward, the jurors ( councilpeople) would have to swear an oath to be impartial and not have a pre-disposition,which means to me that the signed paper by all 9 councilpeople is not operative in this situation.In fact,Eddie's lawyers could have a field day with that signed document and argue that the signed document prior to the hearing is evidence of a prior guilty disposition of the jurors and hence he couldnt receive a fair and impartial impeachment trial from these jurors.
I also think this case is such high profile and CT is known for it's corruption the Judge will not be inclined to work with Eddie.
To let Eddie sit around for a year or more continuing to run Hartford after 5 felony convictions would make CT the laughing-stock of the country.
CT wanted this case from the Feds to make an example that CT can police it's own corrupt politicians and smug Eddie is pissing off the Governor and a lot of other people with his games.
Maybe they just agreed to have the impeachment trial itself in writing.
What a mess this is. Anyone out there still think Eddie cares about Hartford and it's people?
It's ridiculous that the state has no way to step in here. So if Eddie had robbed a bank, fled from police, and held off the police in a four-hour standoff, he would still get to be mayor? What kind of a stupid system is this? He's a convicted felon. Convicted felons should not be allowed to hold public office, period, and that should be the end of it.
No, Jeff. It's obvious that all Eddie cares about is himself. I have a feeling that Eddie is going to fight this tooth and nail. It is hard to grasp that Hartford is now being run by a convicted felon.
When he was getting paid to sit in court all day while "running" the city I though it was ridiculous, but tolerable. Now that he was found guilty and facing 55 year in prison him leading our Capitol City is outright absurd.
I'm wondering if there's any law preventing Judge Dewey from moving his sentencing date up to something much much sooner?
If she legally can City Council should drop her the hint they are seeking help removing this bozo.
What baffles me is he was found guilty of abusing his elected position yet he's allowed to continue staying in that position.
It's like a boy scout troop leader being found guilty of misconduct with his boy scouts then he leaves the court room and returns to leading the scouts.
Eddie just updated his facebook status to : going to jail soon.
Jeff...any sentencing in the state for a felony must include a pre-sentencing report.Those usually take a few months due to the fact that the report is compiled by both the prosecution and the defense.That is why the sentencing is in September and not sooner.Needless to say, Judge Dewey knows all this and wouldnt move the sentence day up.
Jeff... I talked to a Council person just now....Pedro is meeting with Perez and will tell Perez that there is no negotiating,he must submit his written resignation today or the Council will submit their impeachment resolutions.Those resolutions are done and ready to go if need be.
Sounds good, please keep us posted.
I like Pedro's no nonsense resignation demands. Good start for our new Mayor.
I see his plans to resign Friday have hit the news. I'll believe it when he's gone.
Actually one source of media is saying he will resign Friday and another says he will submit his letter of resignation Friday but the his final day will be worked out with city council.
Jeff...my understanding is that he is submitting his resignation on Friday,effective July 1st.
Like you, I will believe it when I see it.
Eddie should be forced to leave immediately no if's ands or buts. He should not be allowed to enter into a new fiscal year (7-1-10). He should also be paid in a lump sum for vacation/sick time so that does NOT fall into the new fiscal year AND NOT BE ALLOED TO BUY 4 YEARS time w/sick leave. NO DEALS SHOULD BE ON THAT TABLE!!!
Hmmmm ... well, he said Friday, but he didn't say Friday of what year.
Sarah Barr,Barbara Crockett,Susan McMullen and John Rose have been told to start packing as they are terminated in 30 days...the reasoning for the 30 days is to effectuate a smooth transition for the new people soon to be in the Mayor's Office and the new Corporation Counsel.
If I was City Council I would move forward with the impeachment process in a non public just in case Eddie tries some last minute delay crap on Friday.
Sorry I just don't trust the guy.
Agreed Matt.
Thanks for updates Bruce.
Jeff said: "I like Pedro's no nonsense resignation demands. Good start for our new Mayor."
So much for no nonsense resignation demands.
Post a Comment