Wednesday, April 13, 2011

IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT....COME ON DOWN


I'm not sure about you, but I am getting quite tired of the headlines.

"Segarra Raises $100,000" , "Wooden Raises More than $100,000 in Second Quarter"....blah, blah blah blah blah. But does anyone know what are they about and what they bring to the table ? Is the Mayor's Office really for sale?

Segarra claims he will make changes in City Hall if he is re-elected. Why not start now? Wooden claims his experience in the Perry Administration as a benefit to the people of Hartford. People in Hartford that lived through the Perry years might disagree.

And Kelvin Roldan, oh Kelvin, Kelvin, Kelvin what more can we say. Roldan, who has apparently had his moral compass adjusted to point in the right direction in the last couple weeks now will lead us out of the land of corruption. I think Roldan would actually take a pay cut if he became Mayor, and he would also have to start doing some work. And if anyone knows, Kelvin surely knows, that the side deals cut in the Mayor's office definitely aren't worth it.

It is still early, but I'm not hearing much substance. The conversations of substance seem to be coming from the candidates that apparently have already been written off because they are out in the community having real conversations rather than talking to the moviemaker donors in Beverly Hills, CA or wealthy attorneys in Washington D.C. who can write out a $1,000 check and think nothing of it.

News flash...many Hartford residents can hardly even afford a $10.00 contribution because of the mess our politicians have put us into. Our politicians seem to understand fundraising and arm twisting better than they do public policy and what is needed in our community.

I'd much rather see a headline that the candidates are putting forth ideas and showing some vision as to how they are going to turn things around from our previous professional fundraisers able to get elected and satisfy the donors who put them there.

Does anyone else have a problem with the campaign filings that show Shawn Wooden's donors are from outside Hartford by a margin of almost 5 to 1 ? They show only 46 donors from Hartford as opposed to 269 from outside Hartford.

And Mayor Segarra isn't much different. He's a little more balanced than Wooden with 124 donations from within Hartford, but the majority came from outside the city, 176.

And while I'm at it lets not forget Kelvin Roldan's fundraising efforts so he can pay off his buddies, over $15,000 to Matt Hennessy and $5,500 to his FOI scribe Derek Donnelley. Any bets as to whether or not we will see Eddie Perez as a "consultant" on his next filing? Nothing would surprise me.

We all will know how much money they can raise, but unfortunately little will most likely be revealed about what they stand for. What about jobs? What about supporting Hartford's small businesses? What about health care? What about reducing motor vehicle insurance rates equal to our suburban neighbors? What about the looming tax disaster threatening to double every property and vehicle owners tax bill?

Too bad that the only other candidates are actually focusing on the issues and talking to people and answering their questions when they probably should be ignoring the problems and raising money instead if they really want to be taken seriously. Do we really want the issues and some vision to interfere with selecting our next Mayor?

In the meantime, if you want to talk to candidates without writing a check, you just might want to find Stan McCauley riding a city bus with the people who can't write the $1,000 checks, or walk a few blocks with Ed Vargas and listen to what he has to say as they both talk to the real people of Hartford.

And by the way,to the other "professional fundraising" candidates, the real people on the bus and walking to work actually vote in Hartford, the Beverly Hills donors don't.And if you recall, Eddie Perez raised almost $750,000.00 in 2007, look where that got him.

Wooden campaign filing provided by Wooden Campaign

Wooden for Mayor - April 10 Report

13 comments:

  1. It's hard to take a piece like this seriously when everyone knows you are working for one of the candidates. Of course you are going to bash everyone else running.

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  2. Check your facts please. I'm not working for anyone running for Mayor, nor am I supporting any of the candidates at this time.

    What part of the facts do you dispute?

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  3. Wow - thank you for the information on where the funders are coming from. Interesting information.

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  4. We all will know how much money they can raise, but unfortunately little will most likely be revealed about what they stand for.
    ----------------------------------
    Amen. What little reporting we get is of the horse race variety. And, it's hard to blame the media for that since the candidates themselves don't tell us much.
    For my money, the main issue is City spending/taxing/budget.
    But, beyond that, your reporting and the comments on your blog on the doings of the fire dept. and police dept. are alarming. Everyone agrees that they are the fundamental functions of the muni government, but they are being corrupted/perverted by politics both ideological and petty. Where is the curiousity of our elected and prospective-elected guys?
    -----------------------------
    Anonymous said...

    It amazes me how Bridgeport,CT. has instituted the CPAT ( Candidate Physical Ability Test ) and now Hartford has eliminated it. This national accepted CPAT is endorsed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Firefighters, but again the City of Hartford chose to eliminate it, and go with a much easier agility test. Obviously the agenda is to hire a certain group of people to fill vacancies without regard to firefighter safety. Will the rumor hold true that some politician wants to hire 12 women off this upcoming firefighter list? The Hartford Fire Department has become the dumping ground for a bunch of political flunkies. If you can't do the job, you should try another profession.

    April 12, 2011 10:25 PM
    http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=982633190780306493&postID=321841857437330417

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  5. I stand corrected. But you were McCauley's campaign manager four years ago, and gosh, one of the only candidates getting a kind word in this piece is McCauley.

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  6. Once again, check your facts. I also had positive words for Ed Vargas. I never had anything to do with his campaign, but I did have breakfast with him once if you can find a way to make anything out of that.

    If you are comfortable voting for the candidate who can raise the most and say the least, be my guest. Try talking to Stan or Ed, you might learn something and cast an educated vote.

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  7. Since you are not supporting a candidate at this time, Kevin, what changed? You obviously believed in Stan four years ago enough to work for him. Why withhold your suppport this time?

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  8. Even though I recall Kevin saying on an old One Hartford show that he was Stan's campaign manager, I believe Kevin was just joking about that...he had nothing to do withthe campaign like he said.

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  9. Why all the interest in who I am supporting. My choice means nothing except that it amounts to one vote on election day. Educate yourself on the candidates and then hopefully make a good decision.

    I was Stan McCauley's campaign manager in 2007 and I believe his wife Nyesha is doing it this time.

    If you read the blog regularly, I tend to try to stay objective and put out facts. I didn't endorse anyone in the Governors's race and I don't think I will in the Mayor's race. I know who I think will make a good Mayor, but that is my choice, and I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how to vote.

    Do you really think people change their mind on candidates because the Courant or the New York Times make endorsements? I hope not.

    Look at who the Courant endorsed for Mayor in 2007, and we know how that worked out

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  10. Please ask Pedro to submit his report.

    Thanks !!

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  11. Just got a glimpse of Hartford's future. Update #2.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/15/967374/-UPDATEDx2And-so-it-begins-Emergency-Financial-Mgr-fires-entire-government-of-Benton-Harbor,-MI

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  12. Pedro,

    Kut the Krispy Kreme Dough HO BS and submit your report.

    Be Transparent Chocholate.

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  13. Come on, Kevin -- of course the Mayor'a office is for sale. All political offices are for sale. It takes money to run a campaign and it isn't coming in $1.50 donations from Grandma. It's coming in big money donations from interested parties (in Hartford, read: contractors, lobbyists, and out of town developers) who then expect their favors returned.

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