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Saturday, September 3, 2011

MAYOR SEGARRA: IT IS TIME TO SHOW SOME BACKBONE AND LEADERSHIP, END THE NOLAN LAWSUIT

Mayor Segarra, it is time the people of Hartford have a real leader and not just a ceremonial ribbon cutter. It is time we see some leadership more concerned about doing the right thing for Hartford rather than wondering how decisions will affect specific voting blocks across the City. It is time we have a leader more concerned about working to solve the City's problems than attending fundraisers.

A real leader with his pulse on the operations of the City should not need an outside report to realize the leadership of the Hartford Police Department is spiraling out of control. A leader who is able to read blog comments, as I know you do, should put a little bit of weight on the deluge of comments on a recent post regarding HPD. If even only 10% are accurate, you have a real problem Mr. Mayor.

If you had a Corporation Counsel reviewing potential litigation, you would put the brakes on the City's liability that your court actions are most likely compounding everyday.

In the Dan Nolan case you are perpetrating a fraud brought about by a corrupt Mayor headed to prison. The focus of your actions, former Deputy Chief Dan Nolan, a well respected firefighter who hails from a family of well respected firefighters and is also a respected veteran who is about to deploy to Afghanistan to once again serve his country.

A leader with a conscience wouldn't just admit in private that the Brooks and the Nolan matters are wrong,. A real leader would step up, especially a leader that claims he has fought injustice his entire adult life, and put an end to what is clearly wrong.

In the most recent brief submitted by the City in the Nolan case for a hearing this Wednesday, September 7, 2011 in Hartford Superior Court it becomes even clearer that this matter is wrong and malicious. In the brief it calls attention to Nolan's actions and states “However, I would be remise(sic) if I did not redirect the Courts attention back to the most egregious aspect of Mr. Nolan’s conduct and that is Mr. Nolan’s acceptance or encouragement of donations of varying types resulting in Mr. Nolan reducing disciplinary towers"

That is the most egregious behavior? Take into consideration that the decision to terminate Nolan was brought about, supposedly, by former Fire Chief Charles Teale. But even though Nolan was soliciting for charity, Teale admitted under oath that he took a payoff of several thousand dollars from an individual after he was disciplined by the City for improper behavior ,where he pocketed money for renting out City facilities and was forced to pay the city back the money he improperly pocketed.

Teale also testified that eventually he realized taking the payoff was wrong and he donated the money to charity. The timeline on that "realization" may have been a few years though and only after he realized questions had arisen about the payoff. Teale refused to answer any questions when I asked him about it. Sources familiar with the matter said he made a large donation to Camp Courant last year, several years after he took the payoff.

Nolan solicits for charity and is fired, yet Teale takes a payoff and that's acceptable? I'm not a jury consultant, but it seems like a no-brainer to me that should boost any settlement for Nolan if the City keeps moving forward.

Real leaders need to do what is right, and don't worry about the votes. If a leader is effective, I think the voters will recognize that and the support will be there. On the other hand, I would hope after the Perez years the voters will be smart enough to recognize more fraud and pandering for votes

Over the next week I will be posting excerpts from the transcripts of the Nolan Arbitration hearings and you can read the testimony in their own words as they testified under oath. You can read about Chief Teale's payoffs and forays to strip clubs in Springfield, although he claims he didn't have a personal relationship with Nolan.

You will be able to read about the City of Hartford's witnesses that they called that made better witness for the Nolan side. Firefighters that testified they were better firefighters because of Chief Nolan's actions. Testimony that they never felt they were endangered by Chief Nolan's training, in fact quite the opposite. They testified that Nolan's actions and taught them teamwork and the need to work together, something that it seems like any firefighter putting his or her life in another firefighters hands would appreciate.

You will also be able to read the testimony of former Assistant Chief Parker where he essentially concurs with Nolan's decision to remove several recruits from the Academy class because they were unable to cut the requirements and were dangerous to other firefighters.

All in all, the City's witnesses seemed to strengthen Nolan's defense.

Mr. Mayor, as an attorney yourself, I'm sure this makes even more sense to you than it does me, please cut our losses and end this lunacy now.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much money has that sideshow lawyer Natalie cost the city so far? What a joke. Can you imagine how much in resourses and settlements her poor guidance has cost us?

Anonymous said...

The city will end up losing money on the Nolan case just like they did with Secore and Murtha. You are right Kevin. Segarra can't or won't see the handwriting on the wall. He is no better for the City of Hartford than Perez was.

Anonymous said...

Hey Pedro plausible denyability is no excuse when your a strong Mayor form of Goverment. Act like someone yell at Charlie again and start chopping heads.

Captain said...

Really looking forward to the postings of those transcripts Kevin! The hypocracy that Dan Nolan has been subject to is sickening.

Anonymous said...

Kevin all you want is votes for your corner, you are nothing but a sore loser!

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Anbonymous 6:28pm,

And what exactly is "my corner"? I am not supporting anyone for Mayor yet

Anonymous said...

The way the City of Hartford treats its valuable employees is ridiculous. It's time for Segarra to right the wrongs of his predecessor. Step up to the plate, Pedro!!

Bruce Rubenstein said...

Kevin...until such time as you get a Mayor who won't treat the City as a cookie jar for himself,his family and friends, I don't think cases like this will be settled,if at all, until the last minute.The financial outlay to make things right for Nolan takes away from the outlay to be given to friends and supporters.

The name of the game is to get to be Mayor...hang around and cut ribbons...attend feel good press conferences...get yourself in the media...use the office to get jobs,appointments and money for friends,family and donors...and wait for a larger opening and/or political appointment from someone, all the while doing nothing to fix Hartfor's structural problems.

Anonymous said...

It is sad to say it is not about value in the city of hartford, but priviledge. It is killing this fine little city.
As soon as a no bs personality steps up and gives a damn about what it feels like to live in this city each day, then we will be attracting folks.
Pretty landscapes only paint a picture and it looks like we still have not even afforded those. Vote September 13th!!!

Anonymous said...

It's sad that this case has dragged on this long. How much longer will Chief Nolan have to fight just to get his job back and restore his name? It appears that Nolan will not back down from this fight and why the heck should he. He did nothing wrong. He served this City and our country proudly. How pathetic, with just a few days prior to his deployment, he will have to waste valuable time in court. The City needs to stop dragging this case out and give this man his job back that was wrongfully taken from him. The City has wasted enough taxpayers money. Besides, it's men like Nolan that you want working for the City.