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Sunday, April 24, 2011

GREATER HARTFORD AFRICAN AMERICAN ALLIANCE HOLDS ANNUAL BREAKFAST AND MAYORAL PANEL

The Greater Hartford African American Alliance held its annual breakfast Saturday morning at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hartford. The event was well attended by almost 200 people and featured an awards ceremony and a Mayoral candidates panel question and answer segment.

Connecticut's US Senator Richard Blumenthal made a short appearance also.

The introductions of the four Mayoral hopefuls can be seen below. Mayor Segarra's first few seconds was cut out on the video and the angles aren't the best, but the audio is clear so you can hopefully learn a little bit more about the candidates. The interviewers for the QandA segment were Len Besthoff from WFSB 3, Robert Cotto from the Board of Education and Rufus Wells from the Minority Construction Council.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stan will be getting my support because he seems honest and is outside the political network. We need honesty and integrity in our Mayor more than any other trait.

I could care less how many agencies you worked for before you decided to run for Mayor. In fact, the more you worked for the more favors you probably owe people, so the more corruptible you are.

Segarra already had his shot and he's not much different than Eddie Perez. The city still fights mosts FOI requests so his claim to making Hartford transparent under his leadership is BS. There's only a few reasons a government tries to hide what they do and there's all bad.

News flash: you work for the public, we don't work for you.

Anonymous said...

Its funny that you say something in support of Stan because it was the table hopping from Stan to Pedro that is now the talk of the town. Well it looks like the leader of the Voices of Women of Color's favorite color may be green.Even though "Stan was the Man" they stood behind from the beginning and vowed allegiance to money or not...the whispers in the room told it all. What is Janice Fleming doing sitting with Pedro? I know its not because Pedro has been a longstanding supporter of North Hartford. As a matter of fact I would love to know how many times he visited the likes of Blue Hills Civic Association,the NorthEast NRZ, Northwest Boys and Girls Club or Milner School prior to his mayoral campaign? But I guess accountability and neighborhood responsiveness doesn't mean anything if your running a campaign consulting business. Just seems a little hypocritical to me. Wasn't that the reason the VOWOC supported Matt Ritter over Kenny Green, they felt Kenny wasn't advocating enough and visable enough to his constituents. Maybe the real reason is because the only "green" Kenny had was his last name.
I say best wishes to Stan. You have continued to run with integrity and dedication to seeing a transparent government.
And to Pedro I say,you get what you pay for. Doesn't seem so far removed from Eddie now. Looks like he stole a page right out the Eddie/Abe "pay" I mean "playbook". The black vote cannot be bought Dear Mayor. And if it can then we deserve you as Mayor. Wake Up My People!!!!

Anonymous said...

Kevin, is there any way we could see the rest of the debate? If not, how did it go?

Bea-Ling said...

Dear Ms.Anonymous,

I just read your post in regards to the VOWOC and Janice Flemming and felt the need to chime in.

First, the thought of you taking time out of your day to focus on where a person was sitting says to me that you have to much time on your hands.

This idea that the VOWOC are the only ones being paid during this election is so far from the truth that it needs to be checked right now!
First both Shawn and the Mayor is paying folks who dont live in Hartford a boat load of money to be there campaign managers and no one said anything. And how many jobs will Shawn create for poor people in Hartford during the election? Or for that matter how many black people will get a job at cityhall if he becomes Mayor?

More absurd is the idea that Janice and the VOWOC should not be paid for their services. Dont the Working Families Party get paid during election time to do the exact same thing that the VOWOC does? How different are the VOWOC from the WFP? Oh I know, the short answer is all of the members of the VOWOC are actually from Hartford and the VOWOC engage the residents from Hartford daily! But I guess that doesnt matter when you have relationships in higher places. The people on the ground isnt the focus at that point.

And about your questions on where janice was sitting. Lets rephrase it; Why where you watching Janice instead of listening to the candidates?

Moveover, are you or someone in your camp threathen by the idea of the VOWOC working with Pedro instead of Stan? If so, then my suggestion to you is to start door knocking becuase the VOWOC has already started!

By the way, if my memory serves me correctly the VOWOC along with Stan have met with all of the candidates upon their request and have been informed by the VOWOC that their candidate is Stan.


So stop worrying about Janice and do your job becuase we all know if nothing else Janice will surely do her job!

Signed by,

Deon

Bea-Ling said...

So I just read the post about the Voices of Women of Color sounds like someone maybe just a little scared of what Janice gone do. I dont blame you I would be a little nervous too if I didnt have the Voices on my team. Hell you better stop spending time on the computer and get to work cause you got a reason to be scared Ms.Anonymous. Whether you like her or not Janice is a force to be recokoned with cause if she was not we would not be talking about her! Keep your head up Janice we got you!

And to you Ms. Anonymous, didnt anyone teach you there is no such thing as bad press!

Ronda Burrell

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Not that it matters where someone was sitting, but I think if you look back at the video, Janice at one point is in the camera view as she sat down at the table I was recording from, which was also the table the McCauley's were seated at

Cy said...

Winston Churchill once said “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something sometime in your life” and
There is very little doubt that Janice Flemming and the VOWOC have stood up and been about something throughout their short four year history. Therefore it is no coincidence that anonymous would take the time to be a detractor in light of their very exceptional work.
The VOWOC have an outreach service model that is not exclusive to politicians. They have formidable network that paces them in the halls of Academics, Corporate and Non-Profit, Institutions, and small businesses. They are hired because of their successful track record with political advocacy and their effective support “On the Ground” for social issues.
The VOWOC utilizes the monies they earn from their varied activities to compensate women and men who come from the poorest communities in the city of Hartford for the work that they perform. They create a number of temporary employment opportunities for folks who generally volunteer and are rarely considered for employment.
The VOWOC also provides a safe space in which men and women traditionally without voice can learn how the political system works while earning a paycheck. The VOWOC is more than talk as they have knocked on over SEVEN THOUSAND doors on more than one deployment. In conjunction with their for profit arm they have delivered more volunteer hours on the ground then most of the organizations in the city of Hartford. I.e.: they recently worked with the Salvation Army and city council to ensure that the women’s shelter would remain open and funded. They also maintain an open-door policy in which a monthly provision of foods and toiletries are given to single mothers and fathers in order to provide a small respite in these hard times belittling them. Janice and the VOWOC are helping to groom the cities next leaders that certainly can’t be a bad thing. I believe I will close with this. When people who don’t even know you seem to hate you that’s when you know you’re doing something right and by the way anyone who truly knows Janice knows her name has 2 m’s and her favorite color is Yellow not green.
Cy

Martha Hood PhD Consultant said...

That’s a lie I was there when the VOWOC dropped stan after Pedro gave them $10,000