Many of you have talked to me personally about my support for our City Treasurer Adam Cloud. Adam took a lot of heat over the O'Garro insurance payment matter. In conversations he explained to me, and I agree, it was poor decisions on his part. It was also because the entire chain of procedural errors throughout City Hall led to the mess. It wasn't just the Treasurer's Offices that slipped up .It was the whole process. The COO, the Finance Director, the Comptroller, they were all asleep at the switch , or in legal terms, co-conspirators
And as a sidenote, if there was criminal involvement by Adam Cloud in the payment, I kind of think it would have come out before O'Garro's Federal trial where incidentally he was convicted on all counts of the frauds he was charged with.
But unfortunately, poor decisions in the Treasurers Office are once again rearing their ugly head. Adam Cloud is being criticized for the reported $20,000 raise he is taking since his re-election. This is one decision I can not support. Yes, everyone is entitled to a salary. Adam does manage a large amount of money, especially with the City Pension Funds. But it is called Public Service for a reason. If the Treasurers salary of roughly $140,000 isn't enough, then Mr. Cloud needs to make a decision if it might be time to return to the private sector where the sky is the limit.
There are far worse choices that could be at the helm in the Treasurer's Office .We should be thankful that Adam and his knowledge are managing Hartford's finances.
Giving ones self a raise of $20,000 is not conducive to trust in government. Compounding that is the fact that no one is willing to give a solid explanation how it was slid through under the budgetary radar. I doubt vey much Cloud can tell Payroll to boost his salary by 20 grand on his own. Did the COO or the HR Director help slide it through ,or maybe someone in the Budget Office thought they could bury the increase in the budget?
Yes, the Treasurer is an important position in City Finances and City government , but no more important than other Department Heads . To the best of my knowledge no other Department Head is slated for a 20 grand raise this year.
And for a city that is quite possibly close to a State takeover or bankruptcy, Clouds raise is bad policy. How do we continue to ask employees for concessions at budget time every year and also ask most Departments to do more with less.
It is time for all of those in City leadership, including Mr. Cloud to lead by example and get a grip on reality. Mr. Clouds raise is more than many of the household incomes in our City, and it is a bad start for his new term.
Please reconsider this move Adam.
In the meantime, the Hartford City Council may be taking action at Monday nights meeting to stop the raise.
-
36 comments:
What's a $20,000 raise here, a $20,000 raise there. It all adds up to millions of dollars of wasted money, money our city doesn't have. Don't you get it: HARTFORD IS BROKE!
The city charter is very specific that only council can set compensation rates. Clouds arrogant act is illegal but he thinks he's untouchable since he skated on the O'Garro debacle (for now)
Sooner or later Adam will have to quit the City Treasurer job, and not because of this questionable self-raise.
He is under federal investigation. Back 9, Dillon Stadium, O'Garro, bad/shady pension investments... Constant shenanigans.
All that and this crooked assclown wants a raise????
The last time he openly asked for a raise it was turned. So, this time he sneaks it by. Nice work Cloud. Truth be told, sneaking something by Wooden and Kennedy is not exactly tough to do..... Nice job Wooden, on top of things again...
Nothing surprises me when it comes to the City handed out monies to employees, after working with the City for almost 30 years, I saw employees that would steel monies from the City, people who worked for the City that didn't deserve a promotion or raise, but if you are, and I'm not saying Cloud is ...but I saw employees that where, complainers, cheaters, lazy workers, slackers, employees that took unauthorized time off, people who never showed up on-time to work, people who took 2 hour lunches, people who claimed they worked during the day, but didn't, and quest what these were the people that beat the system and got the promotions, that got the job classifications change for larger pays, and at the end they walked out with better retirements, and better paying insurance...so do I think $20,000 is way too much to pay yourself Adam, yes I do, does it surprise me, no it doesn't, you are just added to the list of greedy people that had left before you.
It's not a raise, it's a Christmas bonus to himself for surviving the O'Garro scandal.
Adam: Too many ClaoudS over your head, way too many.
Adam Cloud routinely complains about police overtime because it factors into pension calculations. But he has no problem raising his own pay base for pension purposes. Or using pension funds to pay his personal lawyer to sit in court when he testifies.
Thank you for posting about this Kevin. I know that your relationship with AC has stopped you from questioning him, his acts and behaviors at city hall in the past. Like Liam Niessen, you have a certain set of skills ........ you reserved your investigatory abilities when it comes to looking deeply into his alleged wrongdoings and even defended him on occasion.
Even in this post that you are still trying to be nice to Mr. Cloud. The tone you use is nowhere near the level that you used to dismantle Pedro and his messes over and the years.
I do not share the same regard for Mr. Cloud. As early back as the p-card issue I saw several problems with some appearant lavish looking 'expenses" from the treasurer's card. 5 star Hotels in california, BIG bills at the Hartford club, but noone seemed to care. You have the O'Garro thing but no matter how much you make excuses for the rest of city hall, AC was clearly the little engine driving that trainwreck. AC admitted to a degree that he was wrong in using his emails to promote the back 9 from his position of authority. I can only imagine that this is the tip of the iceberg and that he likely steered more big bucks city banking connections to his friends and family.
Now as his end is in sight, he gives himself a payraise for what should be his last four years in office unless the Feds get their crap together and bring him down early for his other misdeeds. Jeff Cohen's articles do a good job outing AC for his BS but you should use your skills and connections to expose him for what he really is without having to play nice.
I call on you to get on the right side of this issue. Ask yourself this, what has he done for you lately? He certainly hasnt done anything for Hartford.
And before you buy into any of his crap about how well his investment decisions have bettered the pension fund and city accounts ,do an actual analysis and you will find that his returns are average at best. Hartford can get better financial advise from the summer intern at the local Merrill lynch.
Tell your friend on the audit commission to actually do his job and investigate AC unless he is planning to go down with the ship?
Merry Christmas AC, you deserve it!
Adam, his friends, and his family are exactly the reason that Hartford is a dirty, corrupt, sordid backwater. Do you really think any wise businessman would relocate a big company here? When was the last time a businessman came here without his hand out looking for money or tax breaks. As long as the institutionalized corruption continues among the politically connected in Hartford, the badly needed jobs will never return to this city. Perhaps this is by design, do Adam or his politico friends really want any change? No, they could care less about the common people. As long as these pigs are sucking from the trough, the community will never improve.
Let's see what Luke does. Time for Adam to pack his bags, enough is enough already, seriously.
Adam Cloud is an elected official He answers to the voters not the Mayor
Well said Kevin.
Lets face it Brookman, the electorate in Hartford is no where near sophisticated enough to make a determination about Adam cloud one way or the other. These dopes see a black face and say he's my man. It does not matter in Hartford if the man is stealing from the city or not, just as long as its not a white guy. If any White guy transferred 700,000 of city money to a corrupt "businessman", he would be in prison by now.
Kevin at 3:54 PM Adam Cloud is an elected official who answers to voters indeed. Hopefully he'll soon answer to the FBI too.
What a great arrangement, the O'Garros and the Clouds commingled
The Clouds and The O'Garros are just like one big happy family. Not for long. The Feds will be knocking on Adam's door with a subpoena in early 2016.
During the mayoral campaign Judge Killian repeatedly reminded us that the city is broke, that we were almost bankrupt. Judge Killian repeatedly told us that Segarra's baseball stadium will cost the city millions more than the $56 millions fantasied by Pedro Segarra (actually lied to us). Unfortunately the Judge was right. We should have listened to him.
City Treasurer Adam Cloud leaves again a very dark cloud over the capitol city. He must think he is so important that he can do whatever he wants and he did. His deputy is not even qualified for her job. She is another one that thinks the sun just shines on her. Cloud and his deputy should be fired and never be able to have any city employment again. Hopefully, the Court of Common Council will let them go before the Bronin administration takes office DO THE RIGHT THING,,,,FIRE THEM! ! !
1:14pm,
I know we don't teach civics in school anymore but please try to educate yourself on how the system works . The treasurer is an elected official. he is not under the control of the city Council for the mayor .the only one who can fire him are the voters and they just overwhelmingly reelected him for another term
Stan McCauley, now there is a former candidate for mayor that would have been a vast improvement to Pedro. My god, I just can believe how an educated person could push forward this project in a city that annually doesn't have sufficient funds to operate. I can't get my thoughts around this grand mistake. It is mind boggling. I have a feeling there will be a lot of angry voices in attendance at council Monday evening. I don't believe that public comment will be allowed but the halls will be filled with angry citizens. Betcha.
When is Shawn Wooden's last council meeting??! I bet he doesn't have the Coaco Puffs to show up. Worst Council President ever. Of course, his departure means that he and his little tickle buddy Alan Taylor might stop funneling info to you...
Brookman... I think you drank the cool aid over at Adam and Nicole's house, they know how to disguise it as iced tea. These folks are pretty slick.
Voters should stand up for what is right and fire Adam Cloud. Yes he was re-elected but with a dark cloud over him. His days are limited. He will fall soon anyway because of his cover ups. He is a nervous elected official. It will be a great day for the capitol city. The Bronin administration dose not need Cloud. There are other qualified Hartford candidates. Hartford voters get it straight this time.
Stop the insanity, no raise to Adam Cloud, not even a dime. Enough with all the crooks in Hartford. Clran up the mess, wipe out all the shit. Enough already.
Kevin,dennis house ,along with "all" our local reporters suck at exposing ct's corrupt politicians. Dennis had segarra on face the state and threw him softballs a 5 yr old could hit. Segarra is on his way out. Why wouldn't Dennis take the gloves off? At the end of the interview with segarra ,dennis teased the upcoming segment about Donald trump and snickered at trump being a joke. Kevin ,is Dennis house that stupid not to realize what a "real" joke is ?
Pedro Segarra was the real joke we have had to live with his comedy show for the last 5 years and I'm surprised others haven't seen the damage he has done to our city. And as a side note I'm not sure Donald Trump has a longevity to make it to the election but people really need to question why his poll numbers are so high and why is he resonating with many of the voters they should all be taking a message from that
I would hope every member of the Court of Common Council will vote to abolish Adam Cloud selfish pay increase. He is a rather self centered dude. The hot water is boiling over the top with Adam Cloud. Wake up Mr Cloud there are folks who can replace you in a heartbeat. Maybe it would be smart for you to start looking for other employment. Hartford deserves better than you.
Hey Adam, Hey Adam your popsicle is melting. So is your ambition to be the City Treasurer.....maybe your wife can get elected to replace you? Anything is possible when your popsicle is melting.
Ho Ho Ho ! There is plenty of work for Adam Cloud in the North Pole. There is an opening for an elf to count the toys. Please send your resume Adam as soon as possible. We need a nice young man like you.
It is unbelievable that Adam Cloud thought he could get away with awarding himself a pay raise. Boy, did the voters make a mistake to re-elect him.
You can't see the forest for the Clouds--I mean trees.
What is with this wishy-washy post?? If ANYONE else in City Hall had tried to give themselves a 20,000 raise you would be up in arms shouting from the rooftops and calling for them to resign.
This little stunt by Adam Cloud was wrong, it was sneaky and it is illegal. He's so greedy he put himself over the max and that can ONLY be done by a change to the State statute. Only Council can approve a raise for the Treasurer and that would have to be presented as a separate item not hidden in a budget approval. He knows that, he just operates above the law. While we're at it--As Treasurer, Cloud would have know that the City was never in danger of having it's insurance cancelled due to late payments-just covering his tracks to help out his buddy OGarro. I hope they take the "raise" back and he has to pay back the retro pay.
12:37 in that interview Segarra credited himself several times with the UConn move to Hartford. He forgot that that was a combined effort by the state and the university. He totally forgot that the letter he sent with Shawn Wooden to UConn President Susan Herbst, almost blew up the entire project.
Segarra told Dennis House that he reduced crime in the city. Just hours after the interview there were 2 shootings in Hartford (On Edgewood St. and on Greenfield Street), not to mention 31 murders so far this year in Hartford. That's not reducing crime.
It may be safer on the 700's Prospect block just across the street from West Hartford, but it's totally unsafe everywhere else.
Adam Cloud's self-raise by $20,000.00 to an annual salary of approximately $160,000.00 (That's over $13,000.00 a month, yes, each and every month) is outrageous! Shame on you!
Hey Adam wait until you have to give your pay raise back. The last laugh is on you.
Let's be realistic. It's not only Adam Cloud's fault, it's the Director of HR, the COO and the Comptroller. But guess what - they are all down together... always from office to office all day.
Post a Comment