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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

HUMAN RELATIONS DIRECTOR'S POSITION TERMINATED





In the continuing effort to clean out City Hall, another resignation has been accepted by Mayor Pedro Segarra. Lillian Ruiz, Hartford's Director of Human Relations was shown the door yesterday and escorted out of Hartford City Hall.

Ruiz's department played a large part in the Perez corruption scandal according to testimony at former Mayor Perez's trial. Contractor Carlos Costa had testified that he was not in compliance with contract requirements and had reached out to at least one employee in Ruiz's office as well as Mayor Perez and Councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson to intervene on his behalf.

Ruiz is another one of the "Perez Allies" who is being purged from City Hall. In more changes announced today by Mayor Segarra it seems that several programs that drew criticism are being jettisoned. Aside from Dora, I mean Lillian Ruiz, her entire Department of Human Relations will now be under the Office of Corporation Counsel. Another sensible choice since the majority of what Human Relations does is deal with compliance in City Contracts and federal equal opportunity requirements.

Another change that definitely makes sense is the re-assignment of the Office of Capital Assets, also known as James Keaney and Charles Crocini, to be under the supervision of the Department of Public Works. That is where it should have been all along, not in the Mayor's Office. The only difficulty here is that James Keaney is most likely making close to $50,000 more than the Director of Public Works.

This could be an interesting match up since the DPW Director Kevin Burnham took away Keaney's SUV with the heated leather seats and assigned him a smaller vehicle shortly after Burnham became Director. I noticed last week that Keaney's city vehicle is now also adorned with the City of Hartford seal on it's doors now. So much for the stealth missions in the City's car. Maybe he has them on with Velcro.

The "311 Center" is also being moved to come under the Office of Policy and Management rather than directly under the Mayor's Office. This could be a problem at election time since "311" was also believed to be the unofficial polling operation for Perez.

City Hall sources are telling me that more changes may be coming in the near future, but my "hit" list for City Hall removals I posted earlier this year is getting smaller by the day. These changes are not only removing problems from the Perez administration but they are also removing a lot of the "fat" from a top heavy City Hall that we can not afford.

The official version :

MAYOR SEGARRA OUTLINES STRATEGY OF RESPONSIBILITY

FOR CITY OF HARTFORD GOVERNMENT

ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL STAFFING CHANGES/REORGANIZATION



---NEWS RELEASE---



(August 31, 2010)--- Today, Mayor Pedro E. Segarra made a 45 minute presentation to Department Heads to demonstrate how his administration is focused on four key goals that will move the City of Hartford forward during his tenure. He outlined the role of his Cabinet and announced that staffing changes and structural reorganizations are underway in order to reduce the cost of government and to achieve an increase in efficiency and effectiveness.



“Changes need to be made for the betterment of the organization. By clearly stating goals and objectives and the means of achieving these results, Hartford will be able to be proactive and progress towards common goals. The City Charter does allow for experimentation by the CEO of the City during the fiscal year in order to meet new demands and goals,” said Mayor Segarra.



By strategically working with all levels of governments, businesses, and community entities, the City of Hartford will address long-standing issues and opportunities to create sustainable changes that improve the City.

1. Ensure that each City office and department is held accountable for operating in a fiscally accountable manner and for getting results that advance the City’s interest.

2. Safeguard the health, cleanliness and safety of the community in ways that reflect the wants and needs of the people who live, work and visit Hartford

3. Create jobs and improve the quality of education and for Hartford’s children and adults

4. Pursue opportunities to accelerate and expand the economic vitality of Hartford’s business community and neighborhoods.



Internally, the size of the Mayor’s Office will be reduced, returning operations to departments where possible while holding them accountable for results.

1. The Office of Capital Assets will be merged with the Department of Public Works.

2. The Office of Human Relations will be merged into Corporation Counsel, eliminating the position of Director of Human Relations

3. Workforce and Minority and Women Business Enterprises certification moves to Procurement, to be overseen by the Chief Operating Officer.

4. The Office of Management and Budget will oversee 311.



“Change for the better is already underway and the Segarra administration intends to expand and accelerate it. A new standard for effectiveness and success is being established,” said COO David Panagore.

Friday, August 27, 2010

IT JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE, DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE SECRETARY AND LEGISLATURE CANDIDATE ANGEL MORALES UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION


Angel Morales, pictured above, 2nd from right

So many things are going through my mind right now, but here goes. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I had supported Angel Morales in his run for State Representative from the 4th District. Eventually I also served as his campaign manager. Shortly before the primary, several incidents drew Angel's integrity into question as far as I was concerned and we parted company. Morales lost the primary by a handful of votes.

Although I saw several things that questioned his integrity, nothing prepared me for the calls I began receiving last night. Several sources began calling me after 7:00PM and talking about Angel being caught up in some sort of investigation that was the result of a "sexual" type allegations.

The police report below speaks for itself, but apparently Morales approached a young man in the area of the Washington Street Post Office and offered him a job. Morales was apparently driving the Lincoln he had rented with campaign funds when he picked the young man up. That in and of itself is another issue as to why he still has the car so long after the primary and is he still using campaign funds for the rental. Morales also apparently has no drivers license to be driving a car.

The young man, according to his statement, freely got into the car at which point Morales went to his campaign headquarters at 21 Franklin Avenue with the man. Again, that raises another issue as to why Morales is still maintaining the Headquarters with the Campaign election funds which should have been closed after the August 10, 2010 primary.

Once inside the headquarters Morales apparently locked the door behind them and stated he needed to use the bathroom. According to the victim, after a period of time, Morales came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but his blue boxers with an exposed erection (the incident report states "unexposed" but police sources have confirmed the mis-type, it was "exposed").

After Morales asked the young man to time him as he did pushups, the man became upset and uncomfortable and fled from the building. He ran back to his home and reported the incident to his mother. His mother described her son to the police as "mentally retarded". Whether Morales knew that he may be taking advantage of a mentally challenged person is unknown at this point.

Morales has not met with or cooperated with investigating detectives at this point.Although the final line of the report states that the officer found no violation of Connecticut laws, HPD supervisors thought differently. The Major Crimes division is actively pursuing the case and sources have told me an arrest of Morales is likely.

Morales' future as Democratic Town Committee Secretary is unknown. Repeated calls to Hartford Democratic Town Chairwoman Jean Holloway for comment have not been returned. According to Hartford DTC minutes from their March meeting, State Representative Minnie Gonzalez nominated Morales for DTC Secretary and he was elected with 40 votes of the 64 member Town Committee.

HARTFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT INITIAL INCIDENT REPORT

Morales Case Report-redacted

Thursday, August 26, 2010

LET THE COMMONERS BE DAMNED

In a classic example of the wheeling and dealing that went on for the Council replacement seat, the final selection wasn't even part of the recommendation solicited from the public. The attached letter from the Democratic Town Committee sent to the Council on July 30, 2010 indicates that their selection process supported Arnaldo Sierra and Raul deJesus. Alexander Aponte apparently didn't even make the cut in the public selection process.

This appears to be just another sham process to make it look like our elected officials were listening. Many members of the public actually attended the public interviews and listened to the candidates who submitted to the process on July 12, 2010. For those that don't recall, July 12th was in the midst of one of the July heatwaves when the temperatures went above 90 degrees with terrible humidity.

I am sure that many of the attendees, as well as the candidates, would have preferred to be somewhere else but attended to be part of what they thought was a legitimate process. But then again, nothing in Hartford politics is even close to legitimate.

In the end though, the loser of the interview process was actually the winner of the Council's vote. Alexander Aponte, who didn't even place in the interview process was the ultimate beneficiary of the arm twisting and horse trading. Although Councilwoman Winch switched her vote after she pledged she wouldn't, it seems to be working out well for her. A special meeting has apparently been called for Tuesday to coronate her as the new Council President.

And if you don't think there were dirty deals, ask yourself why if only 5 votes were needed for approval, then why did the Councilwoman cast the sixth vote. The answer is simple, her Council Presidency was riding on her support of Aponte and by voting no and crossing the Aponte supporters, she would not get their support as Council President. It must have been a tough choice for her, keep her word and do what she had promised or trade her vote, support Aponte and get the prize she has been after- the Council Presidency.

The hell with what the people want, our elected officials know better I guess. Maybe next year we can encourage voters to choose candidates that actually listen to their constituents and realize they are there to represent the people, not promote themselves.

HERE IS THE LETTER FROM THE DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE:

DTC Recommendation Letter

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

ANOTHER ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR THE PEREZ YEARS

The website 24/7 Wall Street has confirmed what many of us already knew.

The Perez Administration has nearly killed Hartford. The website "24/7 Wall Street" has ranked Hartford as number three in its list of America's top 10 dead cities. Hartford takes its place of prominence with other cities like Detroit and New Orleans.

This actually comes as welcome news because the only direction under Mayor Segarra is "up". Once you hit rock-bottom the bar isn't set too high to improve and it seems that the bar is moving upward everyday. Already progress is being made in our parks. I have already noticed trees that have been left dead in parks for years are now being cut down and removed and simple tasks like cutting the grass is becoming a regular event.

Maybe it is time to change Hartford's slogan from "New England's Rising Star" to "At least we aren't as dead as Detroit"

The full article can be seen by clicking here:

I KNOW, I KNOW...INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH



PICTURED ABOVE, HECTOR ROBLES'S UNION ENDORSEMENT MAILER


After residents in Hartford's Southend got a political mailer that stated "Endorsed by the Hartford Police Union" before the recent primary, my phone was ringing. People were asking why the Police Union would support Robles if they knew the Internal Affairs Investigation was going to be bad and Robles might be getting arrested?

At that time no one had seen the report and much of the information was not known yet. Once the IAD report came out people, myself included, were asking "what was the Union thinking?".

Now my phone has started ringing asking why Hector Robles is still allowed to be working. I spoke to someone who saw Robles working a "PJ", a private duty road job, downtown last week. Today I got three calls asking why Robles was directing traffic on Preston Street for a construction site?

I responded that it might be contractual and maybe Chief Roberts hands are tied when it comes to suspending Robles. I think we have to ask though, why is Hector still allowed to work PJ's, or even be on active duty for that matter. It seems as though the City has no problem putting others on "Paid Administrative leave" as they handle employee hearings, why not Robles.

The first question to ask is why are they allowing the fox back into the henhouse? If you read Captain Ciesinski's original memo that led to the extensive IAD investigation, it was all about Officer Robles's abuse of PJ's and his double dipping, although others refer to it as larceny.

For a department that has worked hard under Chief Roberts to re-build its image with the community and show that Police Officers are not above the law, this does not bode well for building on those achievements.

Again, innocent until proven guilty, but for Hartford residents to see a Police Officer they know is potentially facing an arrest and termination any day now, this does not build trust or confidence in our Police Department.

An administrative suspension with pay would seem to be in order, anything else sends a terrible message to those that want to trust and believe in the good officers of the Hartford Police Department.

For those that might have missed it, Captain Ciesinski's memo is below:

Ciesinski's Robles Memo

MAYBE WE DO NEED AN "ANTI-RACISM" ORDINANCE


Pictured above: State Representative Minnie Gonzalez, on right in striped shirt, being threatened with arrest as she yells at Sean Arena to "stay the f**k out of Puerto Rican politics" Tuesday night at City Hall


I have been getting a lot of comments from people who have been wondering what Councilman Luis Cotto was thinking when he referred to "lily white people". Maybe it is time to remind people that racism is not a one-way street.

I have read the comments posted here about "Puerto Rican politics" and wondered who would use such terms. Do we also have special ways to deal with Black or white politics? Is it proper for lawmakers to design or gear laws to benefit only one group? Is there really such a thing as "Puerto Rican politics"?

Well, after witnessing the behavior of State Representative Minnie Gonzalez at Tuesday nights Council meeting, I have confirmed there apparently is such a thing. Gonzalez was yelling quite loudly at former Democratic Town Committee Chair Sean Arena outside the Council Chambers. The shouting attracted quite a bit of attention and at one point Gonzalez was swinging her arms at Arena and yelling at him to "stay the f**k out of Puerto Rican politics".

A Hartford Police officer assigned to City Hall stepped in and told Gonzalez that she would be arrested if she didn't stop her behavior. The altercation was pretty intense and the picture above was taken as the officer stepped in.

This divisive politics is childish and racist at the very least. Should Hartford voters vote only for for candidates by race and if we do that are we being properly served by the system? As long as nothing is said about the statements "lily white" and "stay the f**k out of Puerto Rican politics", we are condoning racism and allowing it to divide us as a community.

We need to look for, elect and support political leaders who can look at their constituents as "color blind" and serve each and everyone of their constituents as equals. Until we can do that, Hartford will be stuck with political leaders that belong in the deep south of the 1960's, not a multicultural community like Hartford in the year 2010.

It is one thing to represent a heavily Hispanic area or District, but to advocate for a single group when you are elected to represent all is wrong and offensive. If politicians can't learn to be "color blind" then maybe it is time to show them the door and elect people that treat everyone as equal.