I THINK IN SPANISH THE WORD IS "COJONES"

Does anyone know how we could find a set for our Council President Calixto Torres?

The larger question though is, how could anyone allow the body that they chair to continue to be made a mockery of by the Perez Administration. Time after time I leave the Council Chambers shaking my head wondering how Torres has any self respect left. He continues to dance at the end of the marionette strings that Perez is pulling making Torres do the Perez shuffle. Although I could write all night(and probably all day tomorrow) about incidents where Torres seems like the captain of the Titanic headed full speed ahead toward an iceberg because Eddie told him to, the most recent incident happened this week.

As Councilman Segarra and others have been warning about our impending budget disaster, the Perez administration continues to stonewall the release of information requested by the Council's budget committee. Apparently the Perez Administration has even gone so far as to forbid department heads from attending Budget Committee meetings and answering questions regarding city finances. Rather than Torres stand up as Council President and insist that the information be provided as required by Charter, he rolls over and defends these actions by Perez. I'm not sure if Torres understands his position and responsibilities, or does he see himself as a member of the Mayor's staff and beholding to the man that handpicked him to be his puppet. How could anyone with any self respect chair a meeting where the debate focused on whether a public body (the Hartford Court of Common Council) should have the power to issue subpoenas to compel the Mayor to provide budget information. Does anyone get that these are public documents and should be provided to anyone upon request, ESPECIALLY COUNCILPEOPLE IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR DUTIES. It would seem that at the very least any department head that refuses to work with the council is treading on insubordination charges at the very least. I'm sure John Rose will issue another one of his off the wall opinions, once again forcing many to wonder if he really does have a law degree, stating that Perez can do anything he wants and the Charter means nothing. And I'm sure that Rose, in his typical stance regarding transparency of government, will withhold any public document that he feels will embarass Perez and his botched administration, because he can't allow these documents to be used as weapons against a corrupt administration. And in the true spirit of fiscally responsible spending, Rose will commit to appealing any FOI Commission decisions aginst Perez, no matter what the cost, because it is not their money.

How many times will Torres allow his buddy Perez to publicly make a fool out of him before he says enough is enough and steps up to do what the people of this city elected him to do? There have already been more than enough moves by Perez to show his total lack of regard for the Hartford City Charter, unless of course the wording of the Charter benefits him. Remember when he lectured Clarence Corbin about ethics? Just the fact that the Mayor's Chief of Staff stood before Torres and others during the recent budget hearings and publicly stated that the Mayor's Office considered the Council's resolutions merely advisory and not really binding, speaks volumes. Those comments would have sent anyone with a backbone into orbit, as it did to Concilman Segarra, but not Calixto Torres. That was just Perez being Perez and Calixto has agreed to take it as part of their unholy union.

How bankrupt can a person be in their self esteem account before they decide to stop allowing themselves to be made a joke of ? When does one decide that their reputation and image are more important than continuing to dance at the end of the strings of the corrupt puppeteer? I'm not a betting person, but I think Calixto Torres might just be on the streets long after the corrupt puppeteer has gone packing. Hopefully when he passes his former constituents on the streets, the comments might be "that's Calixto Torres, he waited a long time, but in the end he did the right thing". I know, we can dream, can't we?