It's not just me I guess, heres another "John Rose Classic Moment" as he tries to throw WFSB's Len Besthoff out of his office while Besthoff was reviewing public documents.
In this clip is also a brief reference to the e-mail Rose sent to me in error.
For anyone that has dealt with, or observed the actions of, Hartford Corporation Counsel John Rose, it is quite obvious that he has a total disregard for the Freedom of Information Act and public documents.
I have had my run-ins with Mr. Rose immediately since the first time I submitted an FOIrequest for documents. After receiving that first request, Attorney Rose sent an e-mail to his Deputy Corporation Counsel Carl Nasto asking "Carl, who lit a fire under this asshole?...how can I shut him down?"
Unfortunately for Mr. Rose, he also copied me on the e-mail and then hit the send button. Yes, this is the competency level of Mr. Rose.
After several FOI complaints against the City for not releasing documents, most of which I have won, myself and Mr. Rose are once again in the middle of an FOI hearing.
The current complaint is regarding the case of Hartford Police Officer Matthew Secore. Officer Secore was charged after he allegedly punched the nephew of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez once while Perez was in Hartford Police custody (That's Ruben Perez, Eddie Perez has only been in the custody of the State's Attorney, so far).
The incident happened after Ruben Perez and others allegedly viciously beat the brother of Officer Secore, leaving him seriously injured.
The charges against Officer Secore were eventually dismissed and the Connecticut Labor board ruled that "The Chief of Police did not have just cause to terminate the employment of Officer Matthew Secore. The termination shall be replaced by a ninety (90) day suspension. The grievant is further required to attend and successfully complete an appropriate anger management course. He is to be made whole for any lost wages and benefits beyond the ninety (90)day suspension period until he is reinstated."
The Labor Boards decision was issued on January 16, 2009.
When I heard about the decision from the Labor Board, I was curious about three issues. First was as to what influenced the Labor Board to decide that Officer Secore should be reinstated. Second was why, if the Labor Board had ruled on the matter, hadn't Officer Secore been re-instated. And third, what role did the fact that Ruben Perez was the Mayor's nephew play into the discipline and the eventual punishment of termination.
I submitted a request for documents to Hartford Corporation Counsel John Rose specific to the Secore case. The request included any appeals or court filings, e-mails or correspondence relating to the case as well as the internal police investigation into the matter.
All of these documents are clearly public documents as defined by Connecticut law with very little room for any exemptions to disclosure.
Regardless, Mr. Rose in his typical disdain for the publics right to review public documents, denied my request for ALL of the requested documents. Not one single piece of paper was released by Mr. Rose. Not one letter, not one e-mail , nothing , nada, denied denied denied.
I'm not sure what Mr.Rose knows about FOI statutes, if anything at all if his actions are any indication. When I have a question about documents and their release, I call the FOI Commission office and they are probably the most accommodating state agency I have ever encountered. FOI laws are not complex and essentially involve more common sense than legal knowledge, apparently something that Mr. Rose's actions indicate are both lacking.
So on we move. The documents were never released, not one single piece of paper, so I made a complaint to the FOI Commission. At the first hearing in December, Mr. Rose attempted to make a few baseless arguments and he started off by claiming "Attorney-Client" privilege. Apparently that argument wouldn't hold up because once documents are in the public domain, such as court filings and Labor Board decisions, they become public documents.
As the hearing continued, I produced numerous documents provided to me by a source that were pertinent to my FOI request, yet never released by Attorney Rose. The hearing officer from FOI made a comment to Mr. Rose that the documents I introduced seemed to clearly be public documents.
As a result, the hearing officer ordered Mr. Rose to itemize all of the documents that he was claiming an exemption for and produce them at an "in camera" inspection. For those, like me, who have not attended law school, an "in camera" inspection is essentially a review conducted in private by FOI attorneys who based on their review of the documents decide whether or not they are "public" documents or based on the City's argument they should be excluded from release.
As I mentioned before, John Rose is the gift that keeps on giving. The documents for the "in-camera" review order were scheduled to be delivered to the FOI Commission "on or before January 13". Today, apparently at 12:53PM John Rose sent an e-mail to the FOI Commission requesting a continuance. At 1:00PM he sent an e-mail to me stating " Mr. Brookman, I mis-sent this earlier, John Rose".
I was not sure what his intention was in the e-mail. Did he mean that he mis-sent it because he didn't need the continuance? There was no explanation from him other than "mis-sent" so I e-mailed him back as to what he meant. Was he looking for the continuance or delivering the documents? I thought it was a fair question.
The attached e-mail is what I received back from Mr. Rose:
From: "Rose, John " [Edit Address Book] To: Kevin Brookman Subject: RE: FW: Brookman v Rose Docket #FIC 2009-551 Date: Jan 13, 2010 4:01 PM
Brookman, you are a piece of work…if you look at the emails you will see that the first time I sent it to you I left out the “r” in your email address…that is to say I “mis-sent” it…Duh!! I asked for and got the extension. I will live up to its terms and conditions. Have a nice day…JohnRose
Yes folks, this is Hartford's "top" attorney. Obviously he takes his job as a public servant seriously as you can see.
Not once have I treated Mr. Rose with disrespect or sent him any e-mails such as those he has sent to me.
Is it any wonder Hartford is the mess it is with people like Mr. Rose in positions of "authority"?
After last weeks revelation that Hartford Democratic Town Chairperson Sean Arena and his brother Ralph Arena may have been beating Hartford's high taxes by registering their cars in New Canaan, a storm of denials by Arena erupted.
Arena even went so far as trying to justify the claim by saying one of the vehicles was his mother's.
Apparently those claims didn't hold up, because as of today the Hartford Tax Collectors online lookup service lists the Arena's vehicles as now being taxed in Hartford, dating back to at least 2006. More entry's are expected as the research by the Assessor and Tax Collector continues.
According to the Tax Collector's information, the taxes due Hartford amounts to several thousand dollars, and as of this date does not include interest and penalties which will add potentially several thousand dollars more.
Sean Arena's 2006, 2007 and 2008 Motor Vehicle taxes, less penalty and interest =$3183.35 owed to Hartford so far.
Ralph Arena's 2006, 2007 and 2008 Motor Vehicle taxes, less penalty and interest = $2162.92 owed to Hartford so far.
In the spirit of providing solutions to problems for the people of Hartford, please feel free to download the attached form.
For any Hartford resident whose vehicle might be registered in the wrong town, feel free to download this form.
With the Mayor projecting a $40 million dollar deficit for next year, we can use all the revenue possible. Even though taxes may be cheaper in other towns, please do the right thing and help Hartford out.
Yesterday I posted about Hartford's latest "dog and pony show" to present the crime stats for 2009.
In the comments on that posting under "Daryl K. Roberts", Hartford Police Media and Communications Coordinator Nancy Mulroy posted a link requesting people to check out Hartford Crimestoppers.
I did, and I'm very surprised by the numbers there. Hartford Crimestoppers has been in operation since August of 2008 according to their website. I'm hoping this is a mistake and that they just haven't updated their numbers, but they claim that they have resulted in 4 arrests during that time and have paid out $200.00 in rewards.
It is somewhat confusing though because it shows the "worldwide" numbers, which are impressive, updated through today, 1-12-2010 and the Hartford numbers as a year old almost, 1-29-2009. I'm not sure if that means they haven't done anything in a year, or just haven't updated in a year.
Either way, 4 arrests doesn't seem to be making a huge impact. Also, at an average reward of $50.00 per arrest, it might make people think twice about making that call.
Let me first say, it is hard to take Mayor Perez seriously when he stands up and talks about crime. It's like looking at two polar opposites when you see the Mayor standing beside Chief Roberts. One is the image of integrity and honesty the other is Hartford's poster child for corruption.
With that being said, what is the real state of crime in Hartford?
By the city's own handout that was presented at City Hall, it paints a dismall picture if you look at the facts. The entire report is available below by clicking on "2009 Safe City Overview". Essentially the report points out an increase in homicides in 2009. Aggravated assaults increased 16.2%, burglaries increased 12% and shooting incidents increased by 9.2%
By these numbers, it would appear that the crimes that make people fear Hartford are not moving in the right direction.
I guess we should take comfort in the statements and bullet points in this report, but they seem to defy logic or any positive "marketing strategy" to make people feel good about Hartford. As an example the report states "since 2003 Violent Crime has remained constant and in 2009 increased from 1,537 to 1,619". I feel better already knowing that violent crime has remained constant. What are they thinking?
I guess that is what they call looking at the glass as half full.It's like they are trying to say "violent crime has remained constant, you think it's bad now, imagine if it increased how bad it could be".
I don't fault the Chief or the Hartford Police Department for these numbers as much as I do the administration. If we added up all of the Police Officers we have been promised by Mayor Perez at election time, the HPD would be fully staffed and in great shape. Unfortunately the department is still losing officers faster than they are being replaced, and sources tell me that by year end, we potentially could once again be below 400 officers.
In addition, City Hall sources are telling me that this year at budget time, police and fire layoffs are an almost certain reality, reducing the numbers even more.
In addition, equipment and vehicles have been another real problem. It doesn't take an expensive study to figure out that if you are short vehicles and are doubling up officers in the same car, then they are only able to produce half the results together that they might produce working on their own. By only being able to cover half as much territory, then realistically half as much criminal activity might be noticed. Therefore only half as much enforcement might take place, and potentially crime could be doubling, unchecked.
Again, we already know our Mayor has very little regard for our laws as he has been charged with violating several felony statutes himself. Is it any wonder that he may not be strong on crime prevention?
The numbers below are compiled through FBI statistics and show Hartford, CT ranked at number 24 out of 400 US Cities. Hartford is ahead of Newark, New Jersey and way ahead of Boston, Massachusetts. That in and of itself tells the story that Hartford is a violent city.
THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS BLOG ARE STRICTLY THAT, MY OPINIONS.After getting fed up with the lack of openness in Hartford City Hall, I decided to begin a program on Hartford Public Access Television called "WE THE PEOPLE". Through tips received we have been able to expose numerous issues that the Perez Administration would prefer to keep quiet.
Any information received is kept in strict confidence, feel free to e-mail me at krbrookman@earthlink.net or call me at 860-883-2297 with any information.