Last week the Council and Board of Education members were summoned to the Capitol regarding the $2.7 million in bonuses handed out. 5th District Representative Marie Kirkley-Bey was asked what she thought about the bonuses, her response was quite clear "I'm pissed".
The videos below will give you an idea of some of the other responses. Some were political, some were quite candid. In the future I'm going to try to incorporate more video into the blog, let me know what you think.
Not all of the comments were recorded, but Councilman Corey Brinson actually made some comments at the end of the meeting that were interesting. It actually sounded like we may have a real Republican on the Council for the first time in a long time. He spoke about fiscal responsibility which may prove interesting this year at budget time. I doubt we will se him "abstaining" on tough budget votes.
The only Councilperson not present was Dr. Painter and the only Board member that was present was Robert Cotto. State Senator Fonfara came in midway through the meeting but seemed to make it clear that he did not want to be there.
BOARD MEMBER ROBERT COTTO'S REMARKS
MAYOR SEGARRA'S REMARKS
4TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MINNIE GONZALEZ'S COMMENTS
5TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MARIE KIRKLEY-BEY'S COMMENTS
Kirkley-Bey has no class
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your work in recording and posting.
ReplyDeleteI fell asleep about half way through the Mayor's technocratic rant, but very much enjoyed the vicious/humorous Gonzalez/Bey ones.
I think we need to find a few more Cotto's, the Board Cotto I mean. His honesty was refreshing although I would venture to guess that he is not very welcome around other Board members or at Adamowski's office.
ReplyDeleteIn case you missed it Mayor Segarra mentioned the word "transparency" at least 10 times in his remarks. If it wasn't for the information on the bonuses being posted on here, none of this would have ever come up. Transparency is not just a catch phrase to be thrown about, it translates into real actions. This administration is far from transparent, just look at the pending FOI complaints against the City of Hartford.
Glad you like the video's Peter, I hope to make them a regular part of the blog, the comments from Gonzalez, Kirkley-Bey and the rest will mean more when you can actually see them than me writing a quote from their remarks.
Be careful what you wish for Kevin. It's very well known that the Board Cotto and the council Cotto are good friends and that board Cotto was council Cotto's handpicked guy for BoE. Heck, board Cotto even identified council Cotto in his video as the first person to ask for the bonus info. They're all a bunch of union loving hacks. I could do with zero Cotto's thank you.
ReplyDeleteBoard Cotto
ReplyDeleteHe appears thoughtful and well-spoken.
Don't understand why he's testifying to these folks as if to an investigative inquiry. He would appear to know just as much about the bonuses as the wise, but pissed, ladies of the inquisition. But, at the end of the day, what he says is we should continue to ask questions. Call the State Dept. of Ed. of which Cotto is an agent.
he comments from Gonzalez, Kirkley-Bey and the rest will mean more when you can actually see them
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Don't know that any medium can make their comments mean anything, their vapidity has more impact with pictures/sound. Thanks.
I would agree with The Big Guy at the top, she has no class.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way that Kirkley-Bey (on her own) has that much juice to stop ECS funding from coming into Hartford. She has been there for a long time and that district needs new ideas, new blood, new leadership. Folks there should make sure that she is not re-elected again.
Gonzales has a lot of nerve stomping her feet/pointing her finger at Board/Super over "inappropriate" bonuses.
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In 2008, Ivan Maldonado, one of Hartford Democratic state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez's sons, filled out a job application.
It would not be accurate to say that Maldonado completed an application. The space provided for disclosure of criminal convictions is preceded by the notation that the "questions will be considered for examination/employment purposes if relevant to the position for which you are applying." Maldonado, 33, shared only a sliver of the wide swath of convictions he's accumulated.
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-rennie-mdc-0313-20110313,0,1109332.column