HUERTAS "I CUT A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL TO GET MY JOB"
The phone calls began early Monday morning to advise me that Captain Thomas Dalton of the Hartford Fire Department is now on administrative suspension from his job. This apparently is the result of Dalton being the alleged victim of an assault by another Hartford Firefighter , LT. Michael Patterson. Yes,you read that right, Dalton is the victim and now he is the one suspended.
The Hartford Fire Department is a quagmire of incompetence and mismanagement. It has been for several years and that mess was compounded when the appointment of Fire Chiefs became bogged town, not by competence for the job but by political payoffs and dirty deals.That filth has never been more obvious than it is now. It begs for a full Federal Investigation. The message needs to be loud and clear that Hartford City Hall is not available to the highest bidder and those willing to cut the best deal for their advancement.
The interesting part is that the main recipient of the most recent dirty, most likely illegal deals,has been vocal about the deal making to myself and other members of the community and was even recorded talking about the dirty deal.
I had asked Chief Huertas about the deal making for his appointment to be permanent Chief, and I was actually surprised by his candor. It was a night that was my first conversation with Huertas as Chief . We were behind Bulkeley High School after a budget hearing in 2013. Myself and another community member, who shall remain nameless at this time but is willing to go on the record if necessary, were talking to Chief Huertas. He came right out and told us "he had to cut a deal with the devil" to get appointed Chief. Deal with the Devil, those were his words, not mine.
He further elaborated that he was forced to take Terry Waller as Assistant Chief if he wanted the job. I asked who he was forced by and he said Pedro Segarra and Saundra Kee-Borges. He explained that it was made clear if he wasn't willing to appoint Waller, he wold not get the job. He told both of us that he regretted that commitment everyday and he felt like a "babysitter" having to watch every move Terry Waller made because of his incompetence.
I think in most cases actions like that are called blackmail or more appropriately extortion. There clearly would be a financial benefit to Waller by his appointment .For Segarra and Kee-Borges to be using their public offices to benefit relatives and cronies with public funds is wrong, especially in critical positions such as the Hartord Fire Department. We already learned in the past year these dirty deals have the potential to cost lives.
The "quid pro quo" is pretty clear. You give us what we want, the Waller appointment, and we will give you what you want, the Chief's position. No one benefits from these dirty deals, least of all the people of Hartford, who suffer the consequences daily from lawsuit settlements and more mismanagement.
These details aren't just my recollection, FOX61 also recently aired a story with actual recordings of Chief Huertas making the exact same comments about he landed his position and the political influence and pressure that was exerted on him.
I am pretty confident that a Federal Investigation would find numerous examples of criminal wrong doing as well as a variety of Civil Right violation that occur almost daily at the HFD and throughout Hartford City Hall from a Mayor and Administration that almost seem like they are under some veil of immunity that allows them to operate the way they do.
This environment of lawlessness needs to change. The States Attorney had to come in the last time and clean the scum out with a Grand Jury, I think now maybe the Federal Corruption Task Force, which has mostly gone unnoticed since its inception, has a huge opportunity here to prove its worth.
And before all the comments start flying, this is not about Dan Nolan, Tom Dalton, Michael Patterson , or even Kevin Bell. This is about what is right. The people of Hartford deserve that and every member of the Hartford Fire Department deserves that. They need to know that when they are risking their lives, hey are doing it under the best leadership possible, not under the highest bidder.
30 comments:
As long as the Feds investigate the Hartford Police Department as well I'm all for it!!!
Charlie clearly agreed to give a kickback in the form of a promotion to Terry. This is a simple scam, just a common dirty kickback. Meanwhile we have great fire professionals with decades on the job who get passed over for these disgusting criminals. The Feds should apply the RICO statutes to the case. This is called racketeering with a criminal conspiracy. Men go to jail for the rest of their lives when convicted under these RICO statutes. Originally the legislation was intended to combat the mob bosses who never got their hands dirty enough to be put away. Charlie, Sandy, and little Terry abused their positional powers and conspired to steal yet another promotion from our deserving professionals. City officials at the highest level engaging in racketeering for financial gain, where are the Feds?
11:16am
Let it go wherever it leads. Mayor's office, L&I, Development services, anywhere. If there is no wrongdoing they have nothing to worry about.it is time for a thorough house cleaning.
Is there wrongdoing if huertas reneged on the deal? The guy's a loser but he had the props to kick waller to the curb and waller is gone.
Yes there is wrongdoing. The deal was done and Huertas's promotion hinged on accepting the dirty deal. If you commit a bank robbery and have second thoughts and give the money back before you leave the door, does that mean it never happened?I doubt it
Make the referral to the FBI. You can do it yourself. What are you waiting for?
https://tips.fbi.gov/
Hey Kevin , how about a little help with the current Lieutenat test results. It turns out that the testing company Morris & McDaniel who was hired to evaluate and score the Oral interview portion of the test never received it. During the orientation Mr. David M. Morris personally told every candidate in that room that all the videos recorded would be returned back to their facility in Virgina where every candidate would be evaluated by the same board. I thought that the reason for sending out this test was to have a reputable testing company evaluate every candidate fairly and without any nepotism? Some where along the way the City of hartford decided that it would be better if the men and women of Human resources evaluated these tests . Two questions arise for me a this point.. One , what qualifications does the men and women of human resources have to evaluate and assesment center style test based on standard, procedures and protocol of the Hartford Fire Department? And Two, what did the City do with the money that was alocated to pay the Morris & McDaniel firm? Was the money pocketed or did our Administration pay this firm top dollar with taxpayers money and just blow it. With all the corruption going on with this City and department I find it very easy to believe that favoritism played a major part in the scoring of this test. Men and certainly Women who spend anytime at city hall , in the Chiefs office , and that have any type of political connections scores were adjusted so they THE SCUM AND SUCK ASS LOSERS OF THIS DEPARTMENT WHO HAVE NO INTENTION ON GOING IN FIRES, LIVE IN THE CITY AND REFUSE TO WORK FOR THIER OWN PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY can be reached. This job makes me more sick everyday. In closing , I am very certain that a majority of the canidates for the test want to know the answers to these questions and We have a pretty good following and would like to move forward with legal action suit.
The corruption at HFD just seems to get worse everyday. You would think that the Segarra people in an election year would seize on this opportunity to make a bold statement to the electorate by telling Charlie to resign.
Waller wasn't the only piece to the puzzle. Just ask Charlie. I know he likes to tell the story about how certain council members wanted 2 captains promoted to fill Wallers spot as a deputy without a test. He refused to help the one that lives out of state. Charlie said he couldn't promote them without a test but if they gave a test he would take care of it. And take care of it he did.
Yea the council wanted Charlie to make Singleton and Jones Deputy Chiefs without a test. What a joke. Singleton has not been to work in 3 years and Jones is a complete fraud.
Segarra doesn't have the balls to FIRE Charlie. Besides, if Segarra gets rid of Charlie, the s#!t is gonna hit the fan. Charlie will spell out all the dirt he knows on Pedro and Sandy. Everything. This will start an FBI investigation.
As a matter of fact, Pedro just awarded Charlie with a brand new, fully equipped, $70,000+++ SUV.
Welcome to the Segarra Administration.
The SUV you guys talk about did not cost 70G the City paid a lot less than you think. And since when was the price of a vehicle for a chief an issue in the past. The chief lives in the city would it make you happier if he took the bus to work?
Jones is a complete fraud even though he's not the one to kill someone.
Charlie won't be going anywhere because the Union and it's thugs back him!
No it wouldn't make me happier if he took a bus. But it would make the majority of the job happier if he jumped in front of one
08/10/15 9:54 PM - that was uncalled for. How do you think that comment makes you look like. It is obvious who you are and we will pray for you.
Follow Kevin lead and contribute your thoughts are positive to improve the HFD. You are a disgrace.
No, but would make me happier if he took a Toyota Prius, Honda Civic or Ford Focus to work.
The city of Hartford is B-R-O-K-E !!!
Want to improve the HFD? Fire Patterson, fire Charlie, bring in a leader, a real leader who will clean up the mess, not someone who becomes fire chief as a condition for promoting a dirt bag like Terry Waller.
Hey Anonymous 08/21/15 at 0654, have you ever heard of due process. Your solution to fire Patterson without doing a complete investigation is preposterous. The chief has made mistakes, and certainly FF's have also made mistakes and they are given extra chances. If the Firefighters behaved on and off, duty what else would you bitch about? Do you think what you described is something new in the fire service. If the Chief were to leave, have you thought about what Chief in their right mind would want to come to Hartford. The current chief is home grown, has been in the fire service over 35 years. He helped so many prepare for promotions. There may be those that don't support him and there are those who do but do not come forward and show support. Members who don't get what they want resort to character assassination. Bring up old incidents that occurred in the fire service, when in the past the members were aware of miss-conduct and did nothing about it. Get back to fundamentals -do you job- follow orders - and stop bad mouthing the HFD. I love Hartford but history has shown that an outsider coming in to assume command of the Fire Department has failed. The other thing to think about whom from the ranks would even want to position. GOD please watch over the men and woman of the fire service till the poor attitudes and behaviors change.
What deal did HPD make to promote Ford?
Kevin did you hear that former Hartford Firefighter Douglas Caldwell recently passed-away in Hartford, and his brother firefighters responded to the call.
Charlie Huertas may have helped people prepare for promotions. He certainly did not help himself when he accepted the deal to be " force fed" Waller. Corruption certainly does not sit well on any decent persons palate.
08/21/15 1:23 PM your right - it wasn't right - so do, what you got to do. If you got the goods then deliver. Hey know-it-all -you want Huertas fired and you want to make who Chief?. D/C McTape, Please.
8/21/15 at 1:40pm. Just wondering, were you one of the people that Huertas "helped" prepare for a promotion?
Huertas was clearly chomping at the bit to get the chief's job. What makes you think that no one else would want it?
Charlie if you want to gain back the peoples trust then John Mancini must be the new EAP rep not some Union supporting piece of shit.
For the good of the department? Which department are you thinking of? Idiot.
08/26/15 at 10:01AM- who are you responding to? Your comment doesn't make sense.
This would be a great thing since the city hired a firm to do all of the work and a lot of guys have been failed because the city HR department took it upon them selfs to finish the process Davis and Morris had started.
The firm hired should had finish this process not the Ladies in the HR department.
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