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Monday, June 21, 2010

THE PEREZ INVESTIGATION, HOW IT BEGAN FOR ME



It has been a long path from my initial feelings that "something" was wrong in the Perez Administration to the final guilty verdict last week.

I guess my original suspicions were raised after I began receiving threats made directly to me or directed at me by Perez staffers. The first was from the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Matthew Hennessy, and was apparently made to Marilyn Rossetti,the Executive Director of HART (Hartford Areas Rally Together)according to what Rossetti had relayed to me.

At the time, I had made a decision to stay in Hartford and become vocal about issues I saw facing the City. To do that I had decided to become involved with HART, who at the time I felt was a strong grassroots neighborhood organization advocating for Hartford's residents. After getting involved with HART I quickly found that wasn't the case, but that's a story for another day.

At the time I became involved with HART, Eddie Perez was being tested by a severe crime problem and he was preparing to make what many thought would be his first major challenge as strong Mayor. The selection of a new Police Chief was in the works and I began to advocate for Assistant Police Chief Mark Pawlina. Myself and others saw Pawlina as the perfect fit due to his reputation in the community and his years of service to the Hartford Police Department and the people of Hartford.

Mark Pawlina was always accessible and was comfortable in every neighborhood across the city. Mark was "colorblind" when it came to serving the people of Hartford and every person and every neighborhood received Pawlina's full attention.

Unfortunately my efforts were not appreciated by those in the Mayor's Office as a selection for Chief had apparently already been made and did not include Mark Pawlina. An outsider had been selected apparently due to his ties with the Hennessey family and Matt Hennessey's father. Patrick Harnett was brought in from outside as Perez's choice for Police Chief.

During all of this, I received a call one day from Marilyn Rossetti and she asked me to stop by her office at HART to meet with her and John Kennelley who at the time was HART's attorney. I agreed and met with them and Rossetti informed me that I would have to stop speaking out and making my comments to the media.

Rossetti stated that she had received a call from the Mayor's Chief of Staff Matt Hennessey who advised her that if I kept speaking out against Perez that HART's funding from the City would be cut. As I said before, I wasn't impressed with HART's "scripted" operations, so rather than become silent as Rossetti requested, I stepped away from HART.

It bothered me that City Hall could wield funding as a weapon to silence residents, but we now know that is how the Perez criminal operation succeeded. It also bothered me that Rossetti and HART would succumb to such threats, but I guess to some a paycheck is a paycheck.

The next threat came directly to me from Perez sycophant Lew Brown. I had been asked to attend a press conference that the African American Alliance was holding on the steps of Hartford City Hall. I had never really met Lew Brown, but I knew who he was from his days as a Television reporter.

I had parked at the curb directly in front of City Hall and was leaning against my truck waiting for the event to begin. As I was standing there, Lew Brown came out of the front entrance of City Hall and made a path directly for me. He stood directly in front of me and began poking me in the chest saying "I know who you are". I was a little taken aback my his demeanor and actions, but he continued poking me saying that I needed to stop "making the Mayor look bad" by saying what I was saying.

As if the poking in the chest was obnoxious enough, he then went on to state that he knew I had "a close friend on the Police Department" who was in line for a promotion to Captain and if I didn't stop saying what I was saying "my Friend" would never get the promotion.

What were they hiding that they were so concerned about one person raising issues? I was concerned about the threats and as to how this administration seemed to stop at nothing to conceal their activities.

For some reason, at about the same time, people began passing information on to me about questionable activities relating to City Hall and specifically Mayor Perez.
Some of the information made sense and could be easily verified, other information took work to dig out and I quickly realized that something was wrong and the Perez Administration was in a bunker mentality.

Although a lot of allegations were being made, the name Carlos Costa soon became a repeating theme. Costa's name originally began surfacing after he was given a "no-bid" emergency contract for the Church Street parking garage. Although that bid appeared to be a legitimate "emergency" contract, most of Costa's bids for the Parking Authority suddenly became emergency work. The source that provided that information to me was concerned that Costa was receiving special treatment to avoid any competitive bidding process.

At the trial of Perez there was a quick reference to work on the Mayor's home being "charged out" to the Church Street Garage during Costa's testimony. That testimony was never followed up as to whether the Parking Authority actually was billed and paid for work on Perez's home or whether it was just an accounting procedure by Costa.

TO BE CONTINUED......................

Saturday, June 19, 2010

THANKS FOR THE INQUIRIES, I AM STILL AROUND

Just to answer the questions, e-mails and comments, I have been very quiet this week at a time when most would expect me to have been very vocal.

Unfortunately it was due to a situation which was out of my control as I was hospitalized most of the week. Things are definitely on the mend now, but it was a tough week where the blog and Eddie Perez were the furthest thing from my mind. Without going into a lot of detail, most of which you wouldn't want to hear anyway, I somehow came down with "infectious colitis" apparently caused by the e-coli bacteria.

Thanks to those who have expressed their concern and to those who have called, e-mailed, and even visited me in the hospital. It definitely makes you realize what is important and appreciate those around you.

With that being said, I plan to start posting this afternoon some of my thoughts on the Perez verdict and also explaining details as to how the investigation began for me.

Thanks again.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

I'M SURE IT IS JUST AN OVERSIGHT....BUT....

I received the attached letter and flyer today regarding a candidates forum being held by the Blue Hills Civic Association.

I do believe that the more voters are educated regarding their choices, the better the turnout will be.

I commend the Blue Hills Civic Association for their efforts, but it seems as though many candidates have been left off the list of invited guests.It is easy to forget that there is actually a Republican Party in Hartford. Even though they are on their last gasps of breath on their race towards irrelevance, it does seem only fair that they are included in public events such as this.

Blue Hills Civic Forum

HUBIE, JUST A SUGGESTION......

Hubie,

I know you haven't had the best track record the last few years, you know what I mean, Michael Skakel, Michael Ross and the rest. Now to be stuck with this Perez case, I know it's tough and in this economy a job's a job.

No one can fault you on this one because you are almost guarunteed to get paid by the City if you bill quick enough. I suggest the day the jury goes into deliberation quickly hand deliver the invoice to Susan McMullen for Eddie's legal fees. Hopefully she can "walk the invoice through" for quick payment like they did with Carlos Costa's invoices for Park Street payments after he worked on the Mayor's home.

If you are lucky you can get to the bank before a jury verdict comes back and cash the check. Make it quick though because if Eddie is convicted they will probably stop payment on the check. You know how that works, when Eddie is found guilty he has to pay his own legal fees. And good luck with that one. If he had to run to the credit union after Inspector Sullivan left for a $25,000 loan to pay off Costa, your bill might be a little tough for Eddie.

I wish that "Dyslexia Defense" had gone better for you today. It was creative, I'll give you that, but it doesn't look like many people bought it. Is dyslexia something you can develop late in life, like diabetes? Now that could be another creative twist though if you could get another witness to testify to it like McMullen did. You could probably even find a doctor to testify to it.

Just think of it, as if this trial hasn't brought enough attention to Hartford, you could now be the first to identify the "Perez Syndrome". Adult onset of Dyslexia, blame it on bad air in City Hall, or maybe radio waves from "wireless Hartford" transmitters beaming out the "Gospel of Perez".

And Hubie, in case you don't recall, early on in this sad saga I suggested an insanity defense for Eddie. I think it is more believable as every day passes in this trial, let Hennessey finish his testimony and then I think getting Eddie to cop an insanity plea is a slam dunk.

Maybe he can still collect a pension if you can make the case it was work related.

WILL THE REAL "PEREZ PAWNS" PLEASE STEP FORWARD

I was somewhat surprised when I received an e-mail from former State Representative and former Hartford resident Art Feltman on Tuesday.

The header on the e-mail was "Keep a Perez pawn out of the State House".The body of the e-mail is copied below:

Subject: keep a Perez pawn out of the State House!
Date: Jun 7, 2010 8:03 AM

>
> Sen. John Fonfara, my mentor, is being challenged for his seat in a D
>> primary by union leader Ed Vargas, who organized El Jefe's successful
> field operation when we challenged Perez for mayor- although Eddie has
> one foot
>> in the jail house, he wants to put the other in the State House: he
>> never
>> stops!
>>
>> to qualify for public financing, John is hosting a fundraiser this Wed.
>> June
>> 9th, 5 to 7 p.m. at Casa Mia restaurant at 381 Franklin Ave. (there is no
>> min.)- donations from any address in Hartford or Wethersfield (both of
>> which he represents) up to $100 makes his campaign eligible for public
>> financing- contributions from elsewhere help, too- please send a check,
>> payable to Fonfara 2010, to Alex Rodriguez, 81 Cromwell St., Hartford,
>> Ct.
>> 06114- if you can, stop by that p.m., too
>>
>> please give John the chance to present his side to the voters- if you
>> support me, please support John at this critical time: Eddie is down,
>> but
>> not out
>>
>> thank you


I was even more surprised when I received a phone call later that evening from Art Feltman asking me to support John Fonfara and reconsider my support for Ed Vargas. Just to clarify a point, I have not decided to support either candidate, but it is safe to say it will not be John Fonfara. I really do like the Republican candidate Barabara Ruhe and potentially think she would be the best candidate, but that "R" after her name makes her candidacy an effort in futility.

I am not a fan of John Fonfara, and each year observing him I become less and less of a fan. Has he done positive things for Hartford and the State? I guess you would have to give him some credit and say yes.

Does he listen to the concerns of his constituents? Absolutely not. The major criticism I have of Fonfara is the same that many have for their elected officials. John is not accessible and does not return phone calls. This is just not my observation, but numerous people I have spoke with have voiced their dissatisfaction with Fonfara's not having the common courtesy to return calls.

It is also not acceptable to pay attention to your constituents only when you are facing a serious election challenge, or in the couple months before an election when you are soliciting donations and votes.

But back to the e-mail from Art Feltman. I found it interesting that Feltman referred to Fonfara's potential challenger Ed Vargas as a "Perez Pawn". I'm not overly friendly with Vargas, I do know him though, and I would not consider him a "Perez Pawn". I think at one point Vargas was friendly with Eddie Perez, and like many people has realized the error of his ways and has now distanced himself from Perez.

I had spoke with Fonfara shortly before his last re-election bid and told him I hoped a serious challenge would be a wake-up call for him. I had said that no one is entitled to an elected position indefinitely and any politician had to earn their seat everyday of their term. We spoke about the return phone call issue as well as others.

The one thing you may notice is that Senator Fonfara never seems to miss a photo opportunity with Mayor Perez. I brought that up to Feltman when he was claiming that Vargas was a Perez pawn. Art had no answer for that and I even mentioned that Fonfara marched shoulder to shoulder with Perez in Sunday's Puerto Rican Day Parade. Along with Fonfara and Perez was State Representative Kelvin Roldan.

I pointed out that if ever there was a Perez Pawn, it was Representative Roldan and I asked Feltman if he was supporting Roldan in his re-election bid. Feltman said he would "never support Roldan" and it just seemed ironic to me. In fairness, I am working with Roldan's challenger, Angel Morales as his campaign manager. Art wouldn't answer if he was going to support Morales.

In looking at Fonfara's campaign filings for his 2007 election bid, it seems that he has paid several Perez "pawns" thousands of dollars to work on his own campaigns. Among them Evelyn Mantilla who has benefited quite well from her alliances with Perez as well as David MacDonald who serves on the Board of Education as a Perez nominee and works for Fonfara at the Capitol.

We don't need more negative campaigning, the facts are the facts. To see who John Fonfara was paying during his last campaign, his last filing for the 2008 Campaign is below. The actual pay-outs begin on page 18.

Fonfara Seec30 January 10 Filing 3451

DYSLEXIA? IT COULD EXPLAIN A LOT, IF IT WERE TRUE



It would be easy to be sarcastic regarding testimony today that Eddie Perez suffers from Dyslexia. In respect to those who actually suffer from the affliction, I will not be sarcastic at this point.

As one who has watched Eddie Perez read his scripted remarks for years, I would agree that he is a terrible public speaker. Has he appeared to have a problem reading the remarks? I would say no. I am far from an expert on the topic, but people suffering from Dyslexia usually have long pauses as they attempt to make sense and unscramble the printed word in their minds.

Eddie just seems to have a problem reading, not making sense of what he is reading.

Unlike Democratic candidate for Governor Dan Malloy, who has been upfront about his education issues and his dyslexia diagnosis, this appears to be a last minute diagnosis by a desperate Chief of Staff. It would be interesting to see if any documentation is available to confirm this diagnosis by an actual medical professional.

The other sad part about this is the total lack of trust in anything said by Perez or his administration. When Dan Malloy speaks about his dealing with dyslexia over the years, no one questions it. When Perez's Chief of Staff mentioned dyslexia in the courtroom today as an excuse for Perez not reading his e-mails, her claim was immediately suspect.

Maybe the Perez staff has been reading and taking notes from Malloy's life experiences. Mayor Perez, you are no Dan Malloy.

If it is true, Perez has done a good job of hiding a disability that there is no reason to hide. If it is a concocted attempt to sway a jury, it just adds to the list of Perez's despicable traits.

It is too bad that the Mayor's credibility has sunk so low that we now have to ask for proof of his disability claims.