LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE....AND IN THIS CORNER...MATT ROLDAN

Jeff Cohen had an interesting post on his blog at WNPR radio yesterday. You can use the link to the right to go to Jeff's blog.

Apparently during an interview with Mayor Pedro Segarra, Segarra referred to former Perez bagman Kelvin Roldan as "Matt Roldan". Whether that slip was intentional or by mistake, most feel he was referring to the connection between Roldan and the former Chief of Staff for Hartford's Chief Crook, convicted felon and former Mayor Eddie Perez.

Roldan apparently has embarked recently on a journey of self discovery. Does he want to be an employee of the Hartford Schools?(employee might be the wrong term since no one seems to be able to identify what he actually does) Does he want to be a State Representative? Does he want to be Hartford's City Treasurer? Does he want to be Hartford's Mayor? Or maybe he just wants to live in quiet anonymity as his alter ego "Willie Nunes"?

So anyway, apparently Matt... I mean Kelvin...didn't take too kindly to the Mayor's slip. Roldan sent a sharply worded e-mail to Cohen after the interview aired.

To: Cohen, Jeff; ddownkowski@wnpr.org
Subject: Re: interview for a story

Hi Jeff,

Sorry for my dealyed response, Busy day.

After quickly reviewing the WWL interview I can only say that the poorly plowed roads in Hartford have kept Mayor Segarra confined to City Hall for too long giving him a very bad case of “cabin fever”. This stream of consciousness performance has Segarra; spending $67,000 for four days to rent a snow machine you can allegedly buy for $250,000, defending a $480K payment he approved to a contractor arrested for bribery, claiming to be a psychotherapist , forgetting the location of the Nelton Court Housing project and finally, calling the “poor people” of Hartford “manipulated” and “incapable of performing the analysis” at election time. I think in this context, any additional comments on my part would just detract from this insightful interview.

Thanks,

Kelvin

The whole exchange seems a little ridiculous. Although Segarra may have made a mistake and forgotten the location of Nelton Court, many of Roldan's constituents would make the same claim that Roldan has forgotten the location of his district. Roldan sent out a press release last week urging his subjects, I mean constituents, to send him pictures of poorly plowed streets so he could document Segarra's inefficiency I guess.

It might have made a lot more sense for Roldan to go out and actually walk his district and take a few pictures of his own. Especially in this age of GPS, Roldan should be able to find just about every street in his district without too much trouble.

And I'm not sure what Roldan meant about defending the "$480K" payment to a contractor arrested for bribery. As we heard repeatedly during the Perez arrest and trial..."innocent until proven guilty". And someone that would set up a phony e-mail name for a convicted felon Mayor to facilitate that Mayor's corrupt activities might want to think twice before throwing around any allegation involving corruption.

I'm sure that if we looked deeper into how certain people formerly in the Mayor's office who then landed $128,000 a year positions at the Board of Education might not necessarily have the "cleanest hands".I'm just saying.

And criticizing Mayor Segarra for spending $67,000 for snow removal equipment rentals is interesting also. Wasn't Roldan a key advisor to then Mayor, now convicted felon Eddie A. Perez before Roldan landed his $128,000 a year unknown position at the Board of Education? I might be mistaken, but I think I recall a time when Perez and Roldan could claim responsibility for numerous dollars squandered.

One that immediately comes to mind was the "Wireless Hartford" brainstorm that cost the people of Hartford millions of dollars. That was the plan to provide wireless internet to Blue Hills and Downtown, all paid for by the City of Hartford. Most of that equipment is probably sitting in a city warehouse somewhere now collecting dust and the program was a huge failure.

And that $67,000 dollars is a lot less than the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by the taxpayers of Hartford for attorneys representing Roldan and others when they were brought before a Grand Jury investigating Roldan's mentor...yes, you guessed it....the convicted felon Eddie A. Perez.

At least with the money spent for the snow removal equipment rental we are seeing some benefit and results. The streets are becoming passable, little by little. Not Mayor Segarra's proudest hour, but at least something is getting done.

And as far as Mayor Segarra suffering from "cabin fever", that allegation might be true. Luckily for Kelvin, his frequent travel allows him to spend time at country clubs in much milder climates lounging under the palm trees and playing golf, where he can unwind and forget about his constituents. Constituents of his that comprise probably the poorest district of any other in the State of Connecticut.

And Segarra's comments that Roldan referenced...“manipulated” and “incapable of performing the analysis at election time." probably can't be disputed. How else could you explain the corrupt Mayor and now convicted felon Eddie A. Perez being re-elected in 2007 while undergoing the scrutiny of a Grand Jury investigation which was common knowledge at the time and would lead to his eventual arrest and conviction and sentence of prison time?

I'm just saying.