I guess some people just aren't buying the "miracle" defense.
In the letter below, Attorney Robert Ludgin lays out his preliminary claims against the authenticity of the actions by the Democratic Registrar of Voters Olga Vazquez.
In the original posting, I referred to the two slates as the "Giles" slate and the "Kirkley-Bey" slate. In Attorney Ludgin's letter he refers to the "Giles" slate as the "Olga Vazquez" slate. I will agree with Attorney Ludgin and in future posts refer to the "Olga Vazquez" slate. It does seem more appropriate , considering her involvement.
Stay tuned, I'm sure this will only be the beginning of legal action that should make this whole matter much clearer.
The level of corruption in Hartford City Hall seems to rise to new heights daily, some would say hourly.
Numerous examples are coming to light on a regular basis. Whether it is apparently fraudulent petitions or tax scams or cash thefts from the Tax Collector's office, most people aren't surprised when the next corrupt activity is documented.
For most people, myself included, we shake our heads and ask if this administration has no shame? Do they not realize that just about everyone is watching their activities?
Of course none of these corrupt activities happen in a vacuum, and what happens to those individuals that finally decide that enough is enough? What happens to the Lee Erdmann's, the Chief Teale's, and others? Is a "retirement" really a retirement, or a way to exit gracefully when you reach your limit?
One such example is Hartford Police Officer Hector Robles. Officer Robles took an interest in politics from an early age, interning at the Connecticut State Capitol, before becoming a police officer, and getting a taste for democracy.
Robles, one of the few Hartford Police officers that actually resides in Hartford, took an interest in local politics and became a member of the Hartford Democratic Town Committee. During that time, several sources told me that he was supportive of the Perez administration and towed the "party line".
In November of 2008, Robles ran for the legislative seat open in the 6th District and won a spot in the Connecticut House of Representatives. He was sworn in as a freshman legislator in January 2009.
Everything seemed to go well and Robles introduced legislation that benefited Hartford and its residents that included a bill to reduce "speed-racers" on Hartford streets. Robles remained in his position as a Community Service Officer (CSO) for the South Meadows area of the city.
According to sources, Robles began to drift away from the influence of the Perez Administration and began to remain more independent. This independence did not come without a price.
With little explanation, Robles was removed from his CSO position in late 2009. The CSO positions are highly coveted positions by many officers. Robles's area was an area heavily populated by commercial and industrial businesses. Several business people I have spoke with had no complaints regarding Robles's performance as their CSO.
After being removed from his CSO position, Robles was assigned back to the patrol division, working days in a marked cruiser.
In early January 2010, apparently it came to light that Robles and other members of the 6th District Democratic Town Committee did not intend to support Democratic Town Chairman Sean Arena for his re-election bid this coming March.
Apparently as a result, Officer Robles was again transferred, unwillingly from what I have been told, to the midnight shift. When Robles was told he was again being transferred, he didn't argue, but instead requested to be assigned to "Teleserv" the name given to the HPD front desk.
Well, I guess aggravating this administration and refusing to be a puppet has its consequences.
No front desk for Robles, instead he was assigned to the "relief" squad on midnights. The relief squad is usually given to officers lowest in seniority, which Officer Robles is far from that level. The relief squad means that the officer has no assigned area or car, but rather fills in for other officers on their days off or vacations, sick days, etc.
If anyone has any questions as to how they can do this to a veteran officer protected by a union, I asked the same question. Apparently, according to sources, Hartford Corporation Counsel John Rose issued an opinion that they could.
HPD Chief Daryl Roberts and HPD Union President Richard Rodriguez did not return my calls for comment.
In the meantime, Officer Robles continues to serve the city, working midnights where he has been assigned. Although he probably does sleep better than others that didn't maintain their independence and lay awake at night waiting for the next shoe to drop in an ever increasingly corrupt operation.
And to other city employees, you have to ask at what price you continue to support corruption, and will it be your job next.
PICTURED ABOVE, HARTFORD PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BILLIE SCRUSE
In the previous post, I laid out the information about Sasha Hunter and her program being removed from Hartford Public Access Television. Since no reason has been given to Sasha Hunter for her removal, many feel it is a clear violation of her free speech rights as guaranteed by the legislation that created public access television.
Hunter's program was removed from the HPATV lineup after she made comments that some say pointed out the apparent incompetence of the management of the Hartford Public Access Television operations.
Since no reason has been given for the programs cancellation, it would appear that the actions by Scruse are most likely retaliation for Sasha's comments.
Ironically, this month's meeting of HACTAC (Hartford Area Cable Television Advisory Council) had already been scheduled to be held at the HPATV offices. The meeting of the Advisory Council will be held on Wednesday, February 17 2010 at 7:00PM at the HPATV office at 20 Sargent Street in Hartford.
Unlike the HPATV Board of Director's meetings, HACTAC's meetings are open to the public and public comment is welcomed during the meetings.
Please try to attend and voice your opinion on the denial of Sasha Hunter's free speech rights.
PICTURED ABOVE,HARTFORD PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BILLY SCRUSE
In 2007 after Stan McCauley was removed as the Executive Director of Hartford Public Access Television, the only explanation given by the HPATV Board of Directors was that they wanted to move in a "new direction".
In 2009 the Board of Directors hired former Perez spokesperson Billie Scruse as the new Executive Director. As of now, after several months with Billie Scruse at the helm steering HPATV, many producers and others familiar with HPATV would probably say the new direction the board wanted is apparently reverse.
Although several producers and former employees have complained to me about the lack of respect they claim Scruse shows to those involved with the station, that seems to only be the tip of the iceberg in what is being called incompetence by some.
Operating the station is a highly technical operation and does require a working knowledge of numerous electronic equipment to keep the programming on the air. From what sources have told me, Scruse has refused numerous offers to be trained to better understand what it takes to keep the operation functioning.
This was evidenced last year when HPATV channel 5 was broadcasting a blank image over channel 5 for almost 20 hours. Scruse apparently had no clue how to rectify the situation until a long time former Executive Director of the station, who wishes to remain nameless, corrected the minor problem within minutes and HPATV was back on the air immediately. Although he wishes to remain nameless, this is the same Executive Director who was terminated to make way for the Board's "new direction".
The Hartford Public Access Television web site appears to not have been updated in a year, mentions a producers meeting which was held almost a year ago as an upcoming event, and even lists names of employees who left months ago. A new website called "hartfordtv.org was reserved by Scruse in October of 2009. No content appears on the site, other than numerous pop-up ads when you go to the site.
According to information found on-line in a search for "billie scruse", her area of expertise is branding and marketing. I would think that would include an active updated website. Although one of Scruse's first official acts as the new executive director was to paint the lobby of the station, she also introduced a new "logo" for Hartford Public Access Television and unveiled it at an open house. Most people have never even seen the logo and apparently is has never even appeared or been used on the station. So much for branding.
In addition, apparently several pieces of computer equipment, including laptop computers have "disappeared" from the station recently. Police sources have advised me that the thefts or "disappearances" have not been reported to them for investigation.
Just as a little history, Public Access Television was implemented by the FCC in 1972 and required all cable systems in the top 100 markets to provide three access channels. These three channels are often referred to as "PEG", standing for Public, Education and Government channels.
In 1972 the US Supreme Court upheld the requirement for Public Access Television, which had been challenged by cable operators. In 1976 the requirement was expanded to all communities with 3500 or more subscribers.
Public Access Television is open to anyone wishing to produce a program, regardless of content or quality, Both Federal and Connecticut law are very clear on confirming the publics free speech rights and prohibit any censorship or editorial control over programming with one exception. No commercial programming may be aired on public access channels, including fundraisers or "infomercial" type content.
In numerous court decisions, the public access channel has been compared to the modern day town square and these decisions continuously reaffirm an individuals free speech rights to say what they want on public access channels.
Now the connection to the Sasha Show. Sasha Hunter, a longtime producer at HPATV has experienced numerous technical problems with failing and poorly maintained equipment while producing her programs at the station. Sasha Hunter as well as other producers readily admit to a contentious relationship with Scruse, beginning shortly after her arrival as Executive Director. Producers I have spoke with described Scruse as "condescending" and "disrespectful" in her dealing with them.
Apparently during a recent "Sasha Show", Sasha reached her boiling point and apologized to her viewers for all of the technical difficulties during the program. She then went on to say that the management and staff needed to get their acts together and fix the problems at the station.
Sasha was well within her 1st Amendment right to free speech in her comments. Free speech rights are the basic premise that Public Access Television was born out of.
Apparently though, in the eyes of Scruse, Sasha crossed some imaginary line in Scruse's mind for publicly calling her out on her incompetence. The following week when Sasha Hunter arrived at HPATV to begin preparing for her program she was told by staffers that Scruse had suspended her show for at least three months.
Although I made numerous attempts to contact Scruse , she has not returned any of my calls. I understand there are two sides to every story, but so far the only version available is that of Sasha Hunter and other sources I have spoke with since Billie Scruse does not have the courtesy to return my calls.
Scruse apparently made the comment that it was the Board of Directors who made the decision to suspend the Sasha Show. Not surprisingly, two Board Members I have spoke with had no idea that the program was suspended and never were contacted to make a decision and claim it has not been brought up at any board meetings.
Furthermore, Sasha Hunter has not received anything in writing to detail any infractions or received any warnings from Scuse or any others regarding her behavior.
The clip of her comments on the air have been obtained and are available for your consideration below. Prior to seeing the clip , I was expecting much worse than what the clip shows. Sasha's comments begin at about 1 minute into the clip.
As of today, no explanation has been provided to her, her show is still off the air and Billie Scruse still hasn't had the decency to call me back. This issue is definitely not going away as Sasha Hunter promises to follow through with court action if necessary.
As Scruse was a staffer in the Mayor Perez administration before she lost her job, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by her lack of regard for courtesy, transparency and the public's free speech rights.
If you would like to voice your opinion to Ms. Scruse, please feel free to e-mail her at billiescruse@hartfordpublicaccess.org
This issue is also discussed in detail on our "1 Hartford" program tonight. The link to the program is on the post below.
I have to say I think I witnessed a miracle on Main Street today, that's 550 Main Street, Hartford City Hall to be exact. As if that wasn't enough, I was lucky enough to witness this miracle in the presence of my newly adopted grandmother Prenzina Holloway. Gramma was ranting about something and kept saying "no one intimidates me, I don't care what color they are". I'm not really sure what she meant, but she kept looking at me as she said it.
Gramma, weren't the Christmas presents enough?
Anyway, back to the miracle. As the previous blog entry said, on January 27, 2010 at 4:00PM the deadline had expired for the submission of petitions to qualify for the March 2, 2010 Democratic Town Committee elections. Unfortunately for team "Arena" and team "Giles" discrepancies were noted, essentially clerical errors that none the less would invalidate those petition sheets that were incomplete.
Now I've always wondered how miracles are actually validated and after today it is all much clearer to me. Apparently on Wednesday just before the 4:00PM deadline for any changes or submissions, someone had photocopied the petitions clerical errors and missing signatures and everything else. Well, for some reason after the mistake was realized the documents in question left the City Clerks vault and made their way back to the Democratic Registrar's Office. Apparently the documents arrived in the Registrar's hands with mere minutes to spare.
Now here is where the miracle begins. Even though the circulators who had failed to sign the petitions were not in the Registrar's Office, she apparently laid her hands on the stack of forms and by some miraculous power, within seconds all of the missing signatures appeared on every single document in question. I know it happened within seconds, because if the documents were changed after 4:00PM it would have been illegal.
And as anyone who follows City Hall knows, nothing illegal would ever happen in that building.
Myself and Grandma were there when the petitions were turned back over to City Clerk John Bazzano, and lo and behold, as I turned over page after page, the documents that just 2 days before were verified incomplete, were now 100% complete. I knew it had to be a miracle, things like this just don't happen on their own.
I guess I'm an optimist because I prefer to see the glass as half full and I want to believe that a miracle has happened. If it was closer to Christmas I could almost be convinced that it was a gift to team "Arena" and team "Giles" from Santa Claus, but we all know he is back at the North Pole now. And after what the Arena's have done with their taxes, Santa might just be giving them a bag of coal next year.
But you'll always get the pessimists who see the glass as half empty. They might claim that the signatures that suddenly appeared are the result of fraudulent activity on the part of certain individuals wanting to win an election at all costs with no regard for the law, integrity or honesty. Did they even consider that the copies showing the missing sections that would invalidate them could also be part of the same miracle and the copy machine deleted those sections?
Well, it's time for a nap, it's not easy witnessing miracles, not to mention spending time with Grandma. Besides, Easter is fast approaching and I need to get ready for the Easter Bunny, not to mention St. Patrick's Day and the leprechauns.
This week on the "1 Hartford" program we discussed the recent actions by the Executive Director of Hartford Access Public Television Billy Scruse. The program airs weekly on Hartford Public Access Channel 5 Saturday's at 10:PM and Monday's at 11:00PM
After HPATV producer Sasha Hunter made comments that were less than flattering regarding Scruse and her operation at Hartford Public Access Television, Hunter's programs were immediately removed from the air for at least the next three months. We discussed Hunter's right to say what she did and Scruse's retaliation.
We also talked about Hartford's impending budget disaster and the way it is being handled, or some would say ignored, by the Perez Administration.
If Sasha Hunter's comments got her show taken off the air, let me be the first to say good-bye and thanks for watching "1 Hartford". This program is hard hitting and lays it all out about the mis-management of Hartford Public Access Television.
If Billie Scruse disliked Sasha exercising her free speech rights, she'll go ballistic over this.
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.