I received the attached letter and flyer today regarding a candidates forum being held by the Blue Hills Civic Association.
I do believe that the more voters are educated regarding their choices, the better the turnout will be.
I commend the Blue Hills Civic Association for their efforts, but it seems as though many candidates have been left off the list of invited guests.It is easy to forget that there is actually a Republican Party in Hartford. Even though they are on their last gasps of breath on their race towards irrelevance, it does seem only fair that they are included in public events such as this.
I know you haven't had the best track record the last few years, you know what I mean, Michael Skakel, Michael Ross and the rest. Now to be stuck with this Perez case, I know it's tough and in this economy a job's a job.
No one can fault you on this one because you are almost guarunteed to get paid by the City if you bill quick enough. I suggest the day the jury goes into deliberation quickly hand deliver the invoice to Susan McMullen for Eddie's legal fees. Hopefully she can "walk the invoice through" for quick payment like they did with Carlos Costa's invoices for Park Street payments after he worked on the Mayor's home.
If you are lucky you can get to the bank before a jury verdict comes back and cash the check. Make it quick though because if Eddie is convicted they will probably stop payment on the check. You know how that works, when Eddie is found guilty he has to pay his own legal fees. And good luck with that one. If he had to run to the credit union after Inspector Sullivan left for a $25,000 loan to pay off Costa, your bill might be a little tough for Eddie.
I wish that "Dyslexia Defense" had gone better for you today. It was creative, I'll give you that, but it doesn't look like many people bought it. Is dyslexia something you can develop late in life, like diabetes? Now that could be another creative twist though if you could get another witness to testify to it like McMullen did. You could probably even find a doctor to testify to it.
Just think of it, as if this trial hasn't brought enough attention to Hartford, you could now be the first to identify the "Perez Syndrome". Adult onset of Dyslexia, blame it on bad air in City Hall, or maybe radio waves from "wireless Hartford" transmitters beaming out the "Gospel of Perez".
And Hubie, in case you don't recall, early on in this sad saga I suggested an insanity defense for Eddie. I think it is more believable as every day passes in this trial, let Hennessey finish his testimony and then I think getting Eddie to cop an insanity plea is a slam dunk.
Maybe he can still collect a pension if you can make the case it was work related.
I was somewhat surprised when I received an e-mail from former State Representative and former Hartford resident Art Feltman on Tuesday.
The header on the e-mail was "Keep a Perez pawn out of the State House".The body of the e-mail is copied below:
Subject: keep a Perez pawn out of the State House! Date: Jun 7, 2010 8:03 AM
> > Sen. John Fonfara, my mentor, is being challenged for his seat in a D >> primary by union leader Ed Vargas, who organized El Jefe's successful > field operation when we challenged Perez for mayor- although Eddie has > one foot >> in the jail house, he wants to put the other in the State House: he >> never >> stops! >> >> to qualify for public financing, John is hosting a fundraiser this Wed. >> June >> 9th, 5 to 7 p.m. at Casa Mia restaurant at 381 Franklin Ave. (there is no >> min.)- donations from any address in Hartford or Wethersfield (both of >> which he represents) up to $100 makes his campaign eligible for public >> financing- contributions from elsewhere help, too- please send a check, >> payable to Fonfara 2010, to Alex Rodriguez, 81 Cromwell St., Hartford, >> Ct. >> 06114- if you can, stop by that p.m., too >> >> please give John the chance to present his side to the voters- if you >> support me, please support John at this critical time: Eddie is down, >> but >> not out >> >> thank you
I was even more surprised when I received a phone call later that evening from Art Feltman asking me to support John Fonfara and reconsider my support for Ed Vargas. Just to clarify a point, I have not decided to support either candidate, but it is safe to say it will not be John Fonfara. I really do like the Republican candidate Barabara Ruhe and potentially think she would be the best candidate, but that "R" after her name makes her candidacy an effort in futility.
I am not a fan of John Fonfara, and each year observing him I become less and less of a fan. Has he done positive things for Hartford and the State? I guess you would have to give him some credit and say yes.
Does he listen to the concerns of his constituents? Absolutely not. The major criticism I have of Fonfara is the same that many have for their elected officials. John is not accessible and does not return phone calls. This is just not my observation, but numerous people I have spoke with have voiced their dissatisfaction with Fonfara's not having the common courtesy to return calls.
It is also not acceptable to pay attention to your constituents only when you are facing a serious election challenge, or in the couple months before an election when you are soliciting donations and votes.
But back to the e-mail from Art Feltman. I found it interesting that Feltman referred to Fonfara's potential challenger Ed Vargas as a "Perez Pawn". I'm not overly friendly with Vargas, I do know him though, and I would not consider him a "Perez Pawn". I think at one point Vargas was friendly with Eddie Perez, and like many people has realized the error of his ways and has now distanced himself from Perez.
I had spoke with Fonfara shortly before his last re-election bid and told him I hoped a serious challenge would be a wake-up call for him. I had said that no one is entitled to an elected position indefinitely and any politician had to earn their seat everyday of their term. We spoke about the return phone call issue as well as others.
The one thing you may notice is that Senator Fonfara never seems to miss a photo opportunity with Mayor Perez. I brought that up to Feltman when he was claiming that Vargas was a Perez pawn. Art had no answer for that and I even mentioned that Fonfara marched shoulder to shoulder with Perez in Sunday's Puerto Rican Day Parade. Along with Fonfara and Perez was State Representative Kelvin Roldan.
I pointed out that if ever there was a Perez Pawn, it was Representative Roldan and I asked Feltman if he was supporting Roldan in his re-election bid. Feltman said he would "never support Roldan" and it just seemed ironic to me. In fairness, I am working with Roldan's challenger, Angel Morales as his campaign manager. Art wouldn't answer if he was going to support Morales.
In looking at Fonfara's campaign filings for his 2007 election bid, it seems that he has paid several Perez "pawns" thousands of dollars to work on his own campaigns. Among them Evelyn Mantilla who has benefited quite well from her alliances with Perez as well as David MacDonald who serves on the Board of Education as a Perez nominee and works for Fonfara at the Capitol.
We don't need more negative campaigning, the facts are the facts. To see who John Fonfara was paying during his last campaign, his last filing for the 2008 Campaign is below. The actual pay-outs begin on page 18.
It would be easy to be sarcastic regarding testimony today that Eddie Perez suffers from Dyslexia. In respect to those who actually suffer from the affliction, I will not be sarcastic at this point.
As one who has watched Eddie Perez read his scripted remarks for years, I would agree that he is a terrible public speaker. Has he appeared to have a problem reading the remarks? I would say no. I am far from an expert on the topic, but people suffering from Dyslexia usually have long pauses as they attempt to make sense and unscramble the printed word in their minds.
Eddie just seems to have a problem reading, not making sense of what he is reading.
Unlike Democratic candidate for Governor Dan Malloy, who has been upfront about his education issues and his dyslexia diagnosis, this appears to be a last minute diagnosis by a desperate Chief of Staff. It would be interesting to see if any documentation is available to confirm this diagnosis by an actual medical professional.
The other sad part about this is the total lack of trust in anything said by Perez or his administration. When Dan Malloy speaks about his dealing with dyslexia over the years, no one questions it. When Perez's Chief of Staff mentioned dyslexia in the courtroom today as an excuse for Perez not reading his e-mails, her claim was immediately suspect.
Maybe the Perez staff has been reading and taking notes from Malloy's life experiences. Mayor Perez, you are no Dan Malloy.
If it is true, Perez has done a good job of hiding a disability that there is no reason to hide. If it is a concocted attempt to sway a jury, it just adds to the list of Perez's despicable traits.
It is too bad that the Mayor's credibility has sunk so low that we now have to ask for proof of his disability claims.
If nothing else has been learned from the Perez corruption scandal, at least someone is paying attention to the City of Hartford's Ethics code.
Apparently Cirque du Soleil has offered complimentary admission to numerous City of Hartford officials and employees.
In a quick response, Hartford's Chief Operating Officer David Panagore sent out the following e-mail to Hartford Department heads and the City Council:
From: Panagore, David B. Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 1:36 PM To: Dept Heads (City) Subject: A COI Advisory Importance: High
Many of you may have received an invitation to a private preview for Cirque du Soleil on June 16th (See below) . After conferring with the Corporation Counsel, I share the following advice and direction.
Accepting free tickets to an event falls within the ambit of the ethics code. Without knowing the value of each ticket, the provision in the Code proscribes receiving gifts aggrgegating more than $100 in any calendar year so with Cirque tickets one could run afoul of that prohibition pretty quickly. For example, any staffer who issues a permit for the Cirque show is well advised not to take tickets. Every employee of the City is covered by the Ethics Code and, quite simply, the better part of valor is simply to not accept any free tickets or other such gifts.
If you have any questions, please contact myself or John Rose.
If only he had been around a few years ago and could have changed "cirque du Soleil tickets" to "granite counter tops", the City could have avoided a lot of embarrassment and avoided a corruption trial.
THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS BLOG ARE STRICTLY THAT, MY OPINIONS.After getting fed up with the lack of openness in Hartford City Hall, I decided to begin a program on Hartford Public Access Television called "WE THE PEOPLE". Through tips received we have been able to expose numerous issues that the Perez Administration would prefer to keep quiet.
Any information received is kept in strict confidence, feel free to e-mail me at krbrookman@earthlink.net or call me at 860-883-2297 with any information.
