Angel Morales pictured , far right, at Sundays Parade with Mayoral Candidate Luke Bronin.
The problems keep coming for Hartford's wannabe politician Angel Morales. Morales, who spent several years in prison after being convicted of felony charges related to his unlawfully impersonating an attorney, is once again in hot water. This would seem to be an usual spot for the clerk of the Legislatures Law Committee to be once again running afoul of the law.
Let me start at the beginning.
Back in 2010 Morales made a decision to run against State Rep. Kelvin Roldan. Roldan had his own problems at the time. Amidst allegations of being out of touch with his constituents and being the right had for a corrupt Mayor, Eddie Perez, Roldan was going to face a tough fight.
Morales approached me and asked me to manage his campaign. I knew he was a convicted felon and I had done some of my own research into the charges to feel comfortable I was making the right choice if I said yes. I eventually said yes and we began fundraising to get Morales to qualify for the Citizen's Election Fund. He did and that is where the latest trouble began. After receiving his check from the State, the spending spree began.
Apparently Morales hired a campaign Treasurer from Springfield and paid him a sizeable amount. Off the top of my head I think it was $7500 he paid. Of course he broke that news to me the same night he showed up in my driveway in a brand new Lincoln Towncar. When I questioned him on the car, he advised me it was a rental and it was being paid fro from his campaign funds. Now Morales didn't have a car and for that matter didn't even have a drivers license.
He knew my displeasure with the way he was spending his money and I insisted the rental car be returned the following morning. Angel refused to return it and I quickly got away from his campaign. As it turns out that was a very wise choice on my part.
As it turns out, Morales was eventually investigated by the Hartford Police on allegations that he picked up a mentally challenged young man on Washington Street and took him to his campaign headquarters on Franklin and performed lewd acts in front of the man.( Police report on the incident can be read by clicking the second link below) This was done in the car that he continued to rent after the election was over in a campaign headquarters he continued to rent after the election was over. The Citizen's Election Fund money is supposed to cease being used once the election is over except for cleaning up campaign debts incurred during the election.
Apparently, Morales opponent in the election thought something stunk with Morales's required campaign filings and filed a complaint with the State Elections Enforcement Commission .These things don't move quickly, especially in agencies decimated by budget cuts, but the matter has recently made it before the State Elections Enforcement Commission. At a hearing the Commission found that Morales had failed to account for, or provide documentation for almost $20,000.00 in Campaign expenses.
Due to Morales's failure to comply with the requirements of the Citizen's Election Fund, Morales was ordered to repay $19,381.85 he received from the fund. Morales was ordered to pay an additional $10,000.00 fine and his Treasurer was ordered to pay a fine of $5,000.00.
Morales has continued to work as a paid staff member on various campaigns including recent campaigns of Mayor Pedro Segarra and Senator John Fonfara.
To read more on Morales posting on "We The People" click here or here for another posting
For more on the predatory allegations against Morales, read the Courant's version here
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