Sixto Lazu, the long serving Administrative Assistant to Mayor Segarra during his Council tenure will be leaving the Mayor's Staff. Sixto followed Mayor Segarra from the Council offices to the Mayor's Office recently when Mayor Segarra assumed the role of Mayor.
Lazu won't be leaving the employment of the City of Hartford though.
Both in the Council positions and those in the Mayor's Office, the employees serve at the will of the elected official that appoints them. If a Councilperson leaves office or decides not to run again, their assistants in most cases are out of a job. According to Lazu, he began looking for a more permanent and secure position with the City several months ago.
After several interviews, Lazu was accepted for a position in the office of City Clerk John Bazzano. The City Clerk's office also serves as the record keeper and the secretary for Council records and meetings. Lazu's knowledge of City Council operations should prove helpful in the Clerk's office.
And before the rumours start, all indications are that this was an amicable change and no pressure was put on Lazu to leave. The interviews and the final decision seem to have been made without any influence from the Mayor. Sixto Lazu has been an asset to the Council during his time there and has always been very helpful and responsive whenever I have had the opportunity to deal with him.
Congratulations Sixto and best wishes on your continued service to the people of Hartford.
At the July meeting of the Maple Avenue NRZ, Senator John Fonfara, co-chair of the Legislature's Energy Committee, gave a presentation about the Energy Bill he introduced in the last session. He spoke about the wonderful benefits of the bill and made it a point to tell everyone how much they would save on their energy bills under his legislation. He went on and on, accompanied by his co-chair on the Energy Committee, Representative Nardello.
I would imagine many in the room were already counting their savings under the "Fonfara Plan". Many of the people in the room are senior citizens living on a fixed income or young people trying to raise a family where every penny counts.
The only problem with Fonfara's bill is that it failed. It was vetoed by Governor Rell and Fonfara didn't have the clout to force an override of the veto with his fellow legislators. As it stands now, Fonfara's plan will not see the light of day and will not save anyone one single penny.
When it came time for questions, I asked Fonfara why he would waste the time talking about all the wonderful benefits of a bill that failed and we would never see any effect from it. We went back and forth a bit and when I stated that there was no incentive for legislators to pass energy legislation because lobbyists and energy company executives funded their campaigns.
Fonfara quickly fired back that what I was saying was untrue and lobbyists couldn't donate to his campaign. I'll admit when I'm wrong, and due to changes in campaign laws, lobbyists can't donate to campaigns. That may change again if a recent Appeals Court ruling stands, but right now they can't donate.
Fonfara didn't say anything about energy company executives funding his campaigns, and now I see why. After reviewing his donations received from by his campaign it appears that a large portion are energy company executives. Is it any wonder why legislation to curb the utilities and energy providers goes nowhere?
And just to give Senator Fonfara the benefit of the doubt, I didn't include donors in the list below that actually live in his district. If you would like to see his complete list of donors, the entire report is below.
HERE IS THE LIST OF ENERGY AND UTILITY EXECUTIVES DONATING TO FONFARA 2010:
Juan Rodriguez, VP,Public Power , $100.00 William Bucksee,VP,Public Power, 50.00 Robert Zappone,Supplier, Starion Energy , 100.00 Robert Wesson, Owner, Wesson Energy Inc., 100.00 Donald Mitchell, Petroleum Distributor, N.E.Mitchell Inc., 100.00 Alexanger Martinez, Manager, Starion Energy, 50.00 Rachel Schmidt , Admin Asst, Starion Energy, 20.00 Ruzdhi Dauti, President, Starion Energy, 100.00 Steven Haigh , IT Energy Consultant, 100.00 Kevin Zupkis , Executive, AT&T , 100.00 Ben Kaplan , CFO , Solar US Inc., 100.00 Raymond Necci , Consultant , 100.00 Erik Bartone , Owner, DBS Energy Inc., 100.00 Tina Bartone , DBS Energy Inc., 100.00 Brian Forshaw , Dir of Power, CMEEC, 100.00 Tracy Gionfriddo, Envir.Spec., Northeast Utilities , 30.00 Robert Smith , Director , Northeast Utilities, 100.00 Melissa Lauderdale, Gov Affairs, Integrys Energy Svcs, 100.00 Peter Podurgiel, Competitive Power Ventures , 100.00 Douglas Egan, Developer, Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 Julie Egan, Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 Robert Burke , Atty. , Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 Gary Lambert, Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 Sherman Knight, Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 David Magil, Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 John Foster, Competitive Power Ventures , 100.00 Paul Buckovich, Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 Sean Finnerty , Competitive Power Ventures, 100.00 Joseph Wood , State of CT, DPUC , 100.00 Trevor Herbst, VP, Public Power Utility , 20.00 Sharon Bloomer, Apple Oil Co , 75.00 Juan Gantomasso , Analyst, United Illuminating , 100.00 Bonnie Heckert , Tech Supp., United Illuminating , 100.00 Fred Shaffer , Dir.Gvt.Rel.,Kimberly-Clark, Wisconsin , 100.00 Fitor Mamudi , Supplier, Starion Energy, 100.00 Deborah-Anne Verbil, Attorney , AT&T , 100.00 Jason Calabrese , Public Power,LLC , 50.00 Michael Cassella , Director , CT Muni. Elec.Energy Corp , 100.00
***NOTE: Raymond P. Necci, listed above as a "Consultant" is the former president and chief operating officer of The. Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P), Connecticut's largest electric utility.
The maximum donation allowed is $100.00 per individual,
One of the big complaints against Senator Fonfara is his lack of attention to his constituents. People routinely complain that he doesn't return phone calls. Do you think he returns calls when Competitive Power Ventures is on the line?
Last week WNPR's Jeff Cohen posted the back and forth letters of John Rose and Mayor Segarra when Rose refused to resign (the letters are below). Mayor Segarra requested letters of resignation from all department heads after he was sworn in as mayor. In the typical John Rose style, he dug his heels in and refused to resign for Mayor Segarra , who he described as the "interim" Mayor.
Rose always seemed to have an issue with his "fantasyland" interpretation of Hartford's Charter and also State and Federal laws. The letters can be read below, but as you can see from the final sentence in the last letter, Mayor Segarra was able to finally accomplish as Mayor what he couldn't do as a Council Person.
On July 8, 2010, Mayor Segarra informed Rosie that as of July 9, 2010 his "service as Corporation Counsel is terminated". Long overdue, but finally common sense prevailed and Rose was done. Yes, long overdue, but John Rose has been terminated
Now that Rose is gone, it is time for someone to start culling the files from the (less than)Rosie John Rose years. A couple of immediate cases come to mind.
First off would be any case with the three magic letters of FOI associated with them. At the very least, tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on nonsense FOI appeals and hearings. Not just FOI requests I had made, but numerous others including the Hartford Courant and a group consisting of writers for a prisoners newsletter. In that case thousands of dollars have been spent to fight a fee for copies of under $30.00. The waiver of the fee appears legitimate because the complainants could prove "indigence", as allowed under the FOI laws.
Another case that I have written quite a bit about is the Dan Nolan termination. Any lawyer would have, or should have, advised their client that this was a loser of a termination. An Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, an exemplary member of the Hartford Fire Department who had been firefighter of the year in the past, all of a sudden terminated. And the terrible conduct he participated in? He encouraged fire department recruits to participate in charity events. He disciplined recruits as a total group to encourage teamwork.How awful!
What may prove more even more interesting though is potential testimony on information that has come to light in the last couple months. I had received information regarding a situation that was reported several years ago in the Hartford Courant about the "burnmaster". It had been reported that Teale and two other officers working at the Hartford Training Academy had received payments from neighboring towns for using Hartford's fire academy facilities.
Teale and the two others pocketed the money paid to them, rather than pass it through to the City of Hartford. When the Courant's article came to light, apparently the Teale Trio were forced to repay the City about $3,000. Teale paid the re-imbursement for all three members of the Teale trio back to the City. Apparently during that period, the City was adding laser eye surgery as a benefit for police and firefighters. By this time, Teale was acting Chief of the Department and for some reason he met with Dr. Fichman of the Fichman Eye Center. During that meeting, Dr. Fichman handed Chief Teale a check for the amount he had paid to the City and Teale accepted the check.
I have attempted to contact both Teale and Dr. Fichman to get their version of this payoff, but neither would comment. Teale angrily stormed away when I asked him for his version, and Dr. Fichman's son returned my call with a "no comment". Repeated calls to the senior Fichman were never returned.
I would hope that a union attorney representing Nolan would raise the question of this payoff during a Labor Board hearing. It seems rather ironic that Chief Teale would terminate Nolan for having recruits get involved in charity events when he was in fact taking potential payoffs for himself.
The only issue here is that the new Corporation Counsel, Sandra Kee-Borges, was also the City Manager at the time this scandal first surfaced and was responsible for disciplining Teale at the time. I would hope she can look at the facts objectively and realize that this is a loser of a case and if it eventually ends in front of a jury, it won't look favorable for the City.
I did speak to a source in the Connecticut States Attorney's Office and explained the facts as I knew them. They informed me that for Teale, or any public official to accept a check made out to them under such circumstances would be illegal. Fortunately for Teale, they said the statute of limitations would have expired by now. I'm sure there will be some "silver tongue" explanation from Teale, but is he willing to offer proof ?
Settle with Nolan now and avoid paying any larger settlement than we already are going to have to pay.
Another interesting case currently under appeal was the termination of a Tax Office employee branded a thief by her bosses in the Finance Department. The only problem was that the Labor Board didn't see any evidence of her being a thief, the City and her boss Lydia Rosario couldn't provide any evidence of her being a thief, and the Board of Mediation and Arbitration ordered the employee, Vilma Rivera-Saez reinstated to her position. The City under the direction of Rosie's legal masters has refused and is appealing the order.
One of the big problems was the fact of documented thefts from the Tax Office, but the evidence didn't point to Rivera-Saez, who the City labeled a "thief" according to the arbitration award. Testimony actually pointed to another individual who apparently is related to Deputy Finance Director through marriage to Rosario's niece, who also by coincidence works in the Finance Department.
Another stinker of a case headed to , I predict, a big payout if the City continues to appeal.
And finally, to end this for today is the pending appeal of another Labor Board decision regarding Hartford Police Officer Matthew Secore. Secore was terminated after he struck the nephew of former Mayor Perez after Perez's nephew brutally attacked Secore's brother.
The Labor Board determined that termination was too severe a punishment and ruled that Secore should be re-instated less a 90 day suspension. The City has refused to abide by the decision and the case is winding its way through the courts. Several attorneys I have spoke with tell me that the appeal has little or no chance of winning and Secore will most likely prevail in the end. The short version is that these decisions are very difficult to overturn unless the City can prove wrongdoing on the part of a hearing officer. There have been no claims of any wrongdoing.
It also appears that the punishment served to Secore doesn't fit the past practice of the degrees of punsihment. As an example, Secore was honest from the start and didn't try to deny the incident. On the other hand, an Officer who was involved in an incident where she shot an individual with a less than lethal shot-gun blast and initially lied to investigators, has since been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. This as well as other incidents appear to have figured into the Labor Board's decision.
This is another one to settle and get Officer Secore back to work as the Labor Board ordered.
In a cash strapped City we can hardly afford to pursue cases and appeals that are clear losers and have already cost the taxpayers of Hartford enough just in legal fees, never mind the potential jury awards down the road.
Labeling an employee a thief without documentation,as the Deputy Director of Finance Lydia Rosario allegedly did most likely will not sit well with a jury. Signing a letter of termination to a respected veteran, Deputy Chief Dan Nolan with one hand while having the other out to accept a check from Dr. Fichman I'm sure will not impress a jury. And the photos of Matthew Secore's brother Slade Secore after his severe beating by Reuben Perez will most likely not sit very well with a jury either.
Common sense should prevail and a sense of justice should prevail in the new Office of the Corporation Counsel.
I might be reading too much into this, but it seems to me that we have seen a much more active Hartford Police Department since the end of the Perez Administration. Just this week alone raids of small neighborhoods stores resulted in the closing of a couple stores as well as arrests of some operators.
The part that was even stranger is that the media was actually invited along to show the good work that HPD is doing. What a difference a few weeks makes.
It used to be like pulling teeth to get a press release or even photographs of weapons and drugs seized. Now today on the heels of yesterdays raids, a press release and photographs of drugs and weapons seized was sent out from HPD. The press release is below.
It may just be a coincidence, but hopefully Chief Roberts and the men and women of the Hartford Police Department will be allowed, and encouraged, to do what needs to be done.
HARTFORD POLICE NEWS For Immediate Release: July 23, 2010
(Hartford) - On July 22, 2010, detectives from the Hartford Police Department’s Intelligence Division executed search and seizure warrants at 58 Annawan Street and 6 Regent Street. As a result of the execution of the warrants, detectives made one arrest and seized over 10 pounds of marijuana, PCP, $14,945 dollars in US currency, two (2) long guns, two (2) revolvers, four (4) pistols and numerous rounds of ammunition.
The arrested party , a previously convicted felon, was identified as Jorge Oquendo (03/20/58) of 58 Annawan Street. He was charged with eight counts of Criminal Possession of a Firearm, three counts of Theft of a Firearm, two counts of Possessing a Firearm with an Obliterated Serial Number, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Operating a Drug Factory, Possession of a Restricted Substance and Possession of a Controlled Substance within 1500 feet of a School. Some of the evidence seized is pictured below.
This might easily be the most difficult post I have written on this blog. I know for sure it is the one that I have lost the most sleep over and spent the most time considering the ramifications, not for me but for the person involved.
Hector Robles is someone I consider a friend, someone I have respected for his actions, his work in the community, but more importantly his honesty and candor with me in many of our private conversations. But like us all, Hector is a human being and human beings make mistakes. How they deal with those mistakes is a measure of themselves and their integrity.
Leadership can be shown , even in the worst situations, by someone who puts the interests of his constituents first, rather than selfish personal reasons. That is exactly the situation facing Hector at this time.
As I said in the beginning, this posting raised several difficult issues. First off, I had no problem raising issues regarding Eddie Perez, John Rose and others. They were easy people to dislike. Hector on the other hand is a different story. He's a likable type guy, always accessible and responsive and overall a decent guy.
With that being said, I would say I expect more out of someone I consider a friend. I had originally heard about an ongoing IAD investigation into certain activities of Hector and his position with the Hartford Police Department. The allegations were troubling to me, and I tried to verify their accuracy. The journalistic standard a couple of my mentors have instilled in me is to double verify everything. Verify the facts through two independent sources who most likely aren't hearing the facts from each other.
The first source related most of the facts to me and advised me that Hector was well aware of the investigation, the facts uncovered and the direction the IAD was taking. The second source related pretty much identical facts and circumstances. But these were allegations that would definitely not only affect Hector's professional career but also his political career.
Not because he is a friend, but because I felt it was the right thing to do I went further. I verified the IAD information with a 3rd and 4th source, both of them also gave me information verifying the facts and all were about the same.
I don't intend to layout all of the information here, but eventually the entire report will have to be released as a public document and will be available here when that happens. In the meantime, it is not a good situation for Hector, HPD or the image of the City of Hartford.
One of the troubling parts of this is the information being fed to the media. Both the HPD spokesperson and Robles are saying that this is an "administrative investigation". This is a matter of more smoke and mirrors. Every IAD investigation could be classified as administrative in nature to begin with. In many cases as the investigation proceeds, information is developed that eventually leads to the uncovering of criminal activity. From what my sources are telling me, that is the case here.
We have had enough of the "smoke and mirrors" defense from Perez's case. We see how that has worked out for him, claiming it was merely a lapse of judgement, right up until the time that a jury convicted him of five felonies. Perez was a huge embarrassment and a media black eye for the city.
Hector has the opportunity to step up, be honest and truthful and do the right thing, unlike his political mentor Perez.It is a very difficult position, but doing the right thing isn't always easy. Admitting you are wrong and are willing to deal with the consequences may be difficult. Putting the city under another cloud of corruption after we are just beginning to come out of the cloud created by the Perez years is not only wrong, it is selfish and will damage everyone in the end as the truth will eventually come out.
Another issue with the investigation is the potential consequences. One high ranking source has said the "ball is in Hector's court". Apparently he has been given the opportunity to resign. That in and of itself is fine if the situation warrants a resignation. If that is being traded for a promise of no prosecution that would be wrong and further undermine the credibility of the Hartford Police Department. If criminal activity is found and documented, and probable cause is established, a decision needs to be made by the States Attorney as to whether an arrest is warranted, not Hartford PD.
Even in a bad situation someone doing the right thing for the City rather than himself will still come out ahead in the end. It might take a lot to regain the public's trust, but being honest up front is a good start.
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.