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Thursday, October 24, 2013

DEMOCRATIC REGISTRAR VAZQUEZ SETTLES ELECTIONS COMPLAINT FOR $3000.00 PENALTY

An Elections Enforcement complaint filed against Hartford's Democratic Registrar of Voters, Olga Vazquez has been settled after a lengthy investigation. Vazquez was fined $3000.00 for her involvement in the scheme.

The allegations surrounded Vazquez illegally signing petitions that were improperly filed with Vazquez in her capacity as Registrar of Voters. According to the complaint Vazquez and her Deputy Registrar Garry Coleman had signed off the improperly filed petitions to apparently keep the petitions from being thrown out as not being filed properly under Connecticut law.

For me this raises several questions that have to challenge the integrity of the Registrar of Voters Office. In a democracy, voters need to know that the system is beyond reproach. In this case it is not. We wonder why Hartford suffers from such low voter turnout and voter involvement in the system. Might it be because they just don't trust the process and have no confidence that it is above board?

Any one that reads this decision would have to agree with that mistrust. In an office that has three Registrar's , why was Vazquez and her assistant anywhere near these petitions in the first place . Vazquez was actually a candidate on the same petitions she was illegally signing and should have been smart enough to stay away from them to avoid any sign of impropriety or tampering. Clearly she was not.

For another story on Registrars behaving badly, click here

It is time for the Secretary of the State and the legislature to overhaul this system.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

INEFFECTIVE, INEFFICIENT AND PRONE TO ERRORS



 
The City vehicle of  former COO Saundra Kee-Borges after it was crashed. Hartford's Auditors had concerns how she obtained the vehicle in the first place
 
That is how the Hartford Internal Auditors described the City of Hartford's  Take Home Vehicle policy , from the report "In addition, we found that the current process of accounting for and controlling City vehicles is ineffective, inefficient and prone to errors and omissions. " Surprise , surprise on that one.

Although the City of Hartford apparently does have a policy, it was never implemented due to Union objections.
"Although City Administration had developed and documented a "City of Hartford Vehicle Use Policy" (COH Vehicle Use Policy), which included provisions for City vehicles with commuter privileges, it was not formally authorized, issued and implemented. According to notations on the COH Vehicle Policy, it was effective August 1, 2011, however, after it was implemented by the City Administration a number of unions objected, took exception to it and it was subsequently retracted by the City Administration. " according to the report


 The report shows the lack of control and at one point states there wasn't even a process to determine that City Vehicle drivers even had valid drivers licenses. Another eyeopener in the report was a vehicle that logged almost a half a million miles, although the operator of that vehicle was not identified specifically in the report "We noted that the annual mileage on two of these vehicles totaled 90,927 and 495,865, respectively. " the report stated

The report also questions the process by which the vehicle used by COO Saundra Kee-Borges was obtained. That vehicle was recently crashed and was  totaled: From the report 
" A number of issues and concerns were raised regarding how a vehicle that was originally purchased and used by the Police Department ended up being assigned to and used by the Chief of Staff of the Mayor. We obtained a "Transfers or Deletions of Fixed Assets’ form from the Police Department relating to this vehicle. Based on our review of this form and related matter, we noted the following:

a. The vehicle was reported to be transferred to City Hall as of October 10, 2012. There is no indication on the form who requested the transfer of this vehicle. According the Police Department management, the Chief Operating Officer initiated the request for this vehicle to be transferred to City Hall.

b. The form was approved and signed by the individual responsible for managing the Police Department vehicle fleet on October 12, 2012. We believe that the transfer of assets from one department to another should be reviewed and approved by a higher level of management. As noted elsewhere in this report, related policies and procedures were not documented.

c. The form indicates that the vehicle was received by DPW ESD management on October 12, 2012. Police Department management informed us, however, that they personally delivered the vehicle to City Hall.

Police Department management informed us that this vehicle was transferred to the COO at her request and for her use. They also indicated that they were not involved in how this vehicle was assigned after the initial transfer. This represents an example of the policy, procedure and control issues relating to the management, oversight, assignment and use of vehicles with commuter privileges noted throughout this report.


The full report paints a complete picture of incompetence and mismanagement when it comes to City vehicles, it details almost 200 missing license plates that had been issued by DMV to the City.

Read the full report below


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

IT HAPPENED, 1 MILLION PAGE VIEWS

 
 
As of 4:30PM today
 
Thank You for reading

STF CLEARS ANOTHER ONE ALONG WITH HPD PATROL DIVISION

 
 
Members of the Shooting Task Force have been investigating a shots fired incident that occurred at 75 Orange Street on August 14th, 2013, at 1305 hours. No victims were struck, however the shooting sent a playground full of children diving for cover.

Hartford Police patrol units were dispatched to the area of Capitol Avenue at Orange Street for reports of shots fired. Responding officers located (11) Ruger 9mm shell casings in front of 75 Orange Street. Officer Suarez developed information that a male in front of 75 Orange Street may have been involved along with two unknown vehicles. Numerous children were playing in the George H. Day playground on Orange Street.
 
Patrol Officer John Suarez located a witness that later proved extremely valuable.
This shooting incident was assigned to officers Mastroianni and Corvino. Members of the STF developed a suspected shooter and located additional witnesses.
The shooter was identified as Ocsiry DeJesus. DeJesus fired multiple gunshots at one or more vehicles. An arrest warrant was submitted to GA14 and granted on 9/20/2013, with a court set bond of $750,000.
On October 16th, 2013, at 0800 hours, Fugitive Detective Jose Perez apprehended DeJesus without incident.
Great initial response, investigation and documentation by Officer Johnny Suarez.
 
Accused: Ocsiry DeJesus, M/H/25 (3/23/1988), of 831 Capitol Avenue, Hartford CT.
Charges: Carrying a Pistol w/o a Permit, Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm, Reckless Endangerment 1st Degree and Criminal Attempt Assault 1st Degree.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THIS ISN'T GOOD

 
 
According to the Hartford Police Department, Hartford Police Patrol Officers responded to 416 Franklin Avenue , apartment B-3 yesterday at 6:30am on a complaint of a stolen/missing firearm. Upon arrival, HPD Officers spoke with an off duty Springfield Police Officer who stated that his Springfield Police Department issued weapon had been stolen from the apartment . Officers also said he gave inconsistent statements regarding the incident.

 The weapon was a Smith and Wesson M&P 40 caliber

The Springfield Officer was identified as Kevin Merchant

Sources familiar with the Incident said it might be interesting for Springfield PD"s Internal Affairs Unit to establish where Merchant was prior to the theft and how he ended up in B-3 at 416 Franklin Avenue at 6:00AM. It was definitely an interesting story.

THE START OF THE OTHER SIDE

This will eventually be a very detailed posting as their are so many aspects being uncovered. The documents will spell out the details and I have obtained a small portion so far and I am awaiting many more to come.The situation started with an Internal memo that was written by the Hartford Schools Chief Financial Officer, Paula Altieri. That memo is below:

It is unclear what started this chain of events or why Altieri launched her Investigation, but after you review the facts, it will probably be clear that the Accountants should stick to accounting and leave the investigations to the investigators.

Altieri begins her memo and also her "Investigation" regarding a payment that was supposed to have been made to Segur Insurance, the City's Insurance Agent, for a payment that was in excess of $600,000. The payment was about to become past due when the Broker for Segur, Hybrid Insurance, operated by Earl O"Garro, emailed Hartford 's Treasurer Adam Cloud.

As you can see from the e-mail O'Garro e-mailed treasurer Cloud on July 18, 2013 requesting the wire transfer and also submitted copies of the invoices to Cloud. The invoices were apparently copies that were originally sent by Segur to the City of Hartford. The invoices that O'Garro submitted to cloud appeared very generic in nature with no logo or distinctive markings, the original invoices from Segur contained the Segur Logo . it appears that O'Garro created a second set of invoices to send to Cloud

Upon obtaining O'Garro's invoices , Cloud, by e-mail, forwarded them to former Finance Director Julio Molleda. Molleda replied that the checks would be cut and included in the next days check run .According to sources, somewhere along the line in the Finance department, City Comptroller Lee Ann Ralls instructed Finance department staff person Ellen Mcreary to wire the money as mentioned in the O'Garro e-mail rather than mail a check.

This is apparently where some of the problems began. Segur was set up in  MUNIS, the City's computer program, as a vendor. Hybrid was not. If the proper protocols were followed, a payment would have never been able to have been processed to Hybrid and a check cut, but apparently when the wire information was provided, that allowed the process to be violated and the money was sent to Hybrid electronically rather than a check being printed to Segur.

It doesn't appear that Adam Cloud had input on that process , other than the e-mail to Molleda requesting payment for the outstanding invoices. So far it appears that the breakdown was entirely in the Finance Department. The normal process is that for any vendor payment, the finance Director has to apply a "warrant" for the payment and is then sent to the Treasurer's Office to authorize the payment. The way it has been explained to me is that the Treasurer's Office can not simply cut a check or process a payment without the Finance Department warrant



In Altieri's memo she also makes the claim that there is no proof that the Insurance is in effect in her September 24, 2013 memo, yet her own Risk Manager, John Griffin, who apparently answers directly to Altieri sent an e-mail on September 10, 2013 stating that "National sent confirmation that coverage is in place" National is one of the Companies that provided the policy. The other company, Starr, was apparently reluctant to confirm that the insurance was in effect , but the e-mail stated that Starr was  "awaiting approval from legal" before sending any confirmation

Although on face value Altieri's accusations seem serious, once you start peeling back the layers, you might want to ask yourself what is the motivation for the memo in the first place.
 The claim that cloud moved an Insurance Policy without bidding doesn't appear to be accurate. Quotes were solicited from numerous companies for the Fiduciary Liability Policy for the Pension Commission. The policy had been in place for years. According to sources, the policy was never intended to cover the Board of Education

The changes in vendor's was approved by a vote of the Pension Commission before any changes were made

Griffin, the Risk manager began asking questions and if the policy was in effect. It is unclear what his concerns were or why the Board felt it necessary to have the policy. Somewhere along the lines , Cloud and the pension Commission solicited proposals to attempt to save the City some money on the Policy. During that process, apparently O'Garro (Hybrid) proposed a company that would save the City and the Pension Commission approximately $3,000 annually. Below is a list of companies that apparently rejected the City's proposal offer and the reasons for the rejections

.CLOUD Fiduciary Policy Rejections0001 There is much more to come on this as numerous FOI requests are hopefully complied with by the City and the Board of Education. Sources are telling me that a string of e-mails between City Hall, Altieri and Griffin may lay the groundwork for the motivation behind this and it may have nothing to do with Cloud and his relationship with O'Garro. In the meantime though it seems that not just the City of Hartford was duped by a slick operator. Earl O'Garro is being chased by numerous entities who also apparently fell for his smooth talk. Included are the State of Connecticut who are calling O'Garro's loans in default and due in full. For more on O'Garros defaults read Jeff Cohen here

One source who spoke on the condition of remaining anonymous said he felt pretty confident the City's Insurance payment is gone along with O'Garro. He further stated that he believes O'Garro got caught up in a "High roller" lifestyle and in the end the bills caught up with him. O'Garro's homes are apparently headed into foreclosure, the restaurant he opened for his wife in Middletown was apparently suffering losses of over $30,000 per month in operating costs and many other losses that are public record now.

Since the payment was made to the City's broker, the City will suffer no loss. Under Connecticut law, it is apparently up to the Broker and the Agent to battle out who suffers the loss, but it won't be Hartford

Among those losses are the Cloud Family as well, Chris Cloud is apparently owed a large past due amount from O'Garro for his lobbying fees and the Cloud Family hasn't apparently seen a rent check from O'Garro for the 30 Lewis Street Office in some time.

Much more will be developed on this as time goes on