The hearing is over, the report should be done and the election is fast approaching.
I have received numerous calls asking if Chief Roberts will make his decision before the November 2nd election that includes Hector Robles as the incumbent candidate for the 6th Legislative District.
The answer to that question is a pretty simple one.....how the heck would I know?
Common sense would say that Chief Roberts is not going to let politics play into his decision. With that being said though, the Chief is well aware of the criticism he received when the initial Internal Affairs Investigation report was released two days after the August primary. The report at that time was out of his hands and I know for a fact that both the Hartford Corporation Counsel's Office and the State's Attorney's Office were both involved in the delay of the report being released.
The timing of the release, 2 days after the primary, raised the suspicions of many that it was done for political reasons to protect Robles, but I feel comfortable saying that wasn't true.
With that being said though, hopefully it shouldn't happen twice. Whether it is the Chief's fault or not, it might be hard to convince City residents that the second delay until after an election is just bad timing.
This has dragged on since August 14th, the hearings were completed a week and a half ago, and from what I understand, the facts and the evidence have not had any real change.
Hopefully Chief Roberts, who is out of town this week at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting in Orlando, has made sure that the hearing officers report will be sitting in the center of his desk when he returns at the end of this week.
Political pressure should not play into this decision, but a large part of the confidence that the public has in Chief Roberts and his leadership will be challenged by any unnecessary or unjustified delays.
In the meantime, bring your pencils to the polls, three "write-in" candidates have qualified for the ballot to challenge Robles. Democrats Alyssa Peterson and Kathy Evans as well as Republican Mike Lupo will all be on the ballot in the 6th District.
At the risk of being accused of bashing Richard Blumenthal again, I think it is only fair to post these You-tube videos. Doesn't it seem somewhat hypocritical to now be denouncing Linda McMahon and the WWE when politicians, both Democrat's and Republican's, had no trouble using the WWE to further their campaigns in 2008.
In this age of video, it is interesting the video you can find on the internet. Whether it is a politician who "misspoke" about serving in Vietnam or other politicians using the "evil" WWE to further their campaigns, it is all there for public view.
PRESIDENT OBAMA ON WWE, SENATOR OBAMA AT THE TIME IN 2008
Have you ever laid your keys down and then a few minutes later can't recall exactly where you put them? Then add some stress to that, you have a doctor's appointment that it took months to schedule and you can't find that ring of keys to head to the appointment. You begin stressing and wonder why you can't remember everything exactly as it happens, your brain is supposed to be a perfect "video recorder" of your actions, right.
Now imagine that you are a police officer on a poorly lit, snowy street in an industrial area of Hartford in a high stress situation with a convicted felon intent on escaping. If that escape involves taking your life, he's going to do what he has to do, and the car he is in comes hurtling toward you. As a police officer you draw your gun and try to stop the deadly weapon, also known as the felon driving toward you at high speed, in an effort to protect yourself from possible death.
You do what you have to do, do what you were trained to do, you make the decision to use deadly force and you fire at the vehicle. In firing at the vehicle you strike the driver and he is wounded, but not killed. The end result though is that the convicted felon intent on escaping has been stopped and as you check yourself you are still intact, breathing, heart beating, so far so good.
Now the hard part begins. You couldn't remember where you put your car keys earlier but you are going to be expected to give a complete description as to what happened, second by second, inch by inch. And if you thought it was stressful trying to remember where you set your car keys down, then try having to be able to remember every detail in your decision to fight for your life and use potentially deadly force.
That begins the eight year plight of Hartford Police Officer Robert Murtha.
I'll post some of the documents here as they are available, but several big questions remain.
The first being is why does the City of Hartford continue to appeal this case? Is it a personal or political agenda being pushed by someone?
The only hearing that has seemed to be decided against Murtha was the Hartford Police Department's internal disciplinary hearing. That hearing is ripe with questions and would most likely raise the suspicions of any reasonable jury that may eventually hear the case. Both the Arbitration award and the Hartford Police Union's attorneys brief raise some real questions.
The hearing should have been conducted by an "impartial" Captain assigned by the Chief of Police. Newly hired Police Chief Patrick Harnett assigned Captain Joseph Buyak as the hearing officer. Coincidentally, Captain Buyak at the time of the Murtha incident was also the Commander of the Investigative division of HPD. Essentially that means that Buyak was responsible for the overall results of the Internal Investigation into the shooting.Then, Captain Buyak was also called upon to oversee the discipline hearing and decide on the actual legitimacy of the investigation and the same report that he was responsible for supervising.
That would seem pretty close to a police officer making an arrest and then also serving as the Judge for the trial. Why Chief Harnett didn't see this as a conflict of interest should be a very interesting question to be put before a Jury.
Eventually, due in part to Captain Buyak's hearing and the original investigation and acting on Chief Harnett's recommendations, Murtha was arrested on criminal charges related to the incident. After a criminal trial, Murtha was acquitted by a Jury and found not guilty of the criminal charges.
Murtha subsequently filed a lawsuit against the City of Hartford.This lawsuit was brought by Murtha to enforce Connecticut General Statute 53-39a, which provides economic recovery to any police officer who is acquitted after being prosecuted for criminal charges arising in the performance of police duties.
Before the end of the trial in Murtha's suit for damages, former Corporation Counsel John Rose recommended to the Hartford City Council settling Murtha's suit. In the memo, dated June 22, 2009 Rose urges the Council to settle with Murtha and he states "There is no question that Murtha will recover against the City. The only question is how much the jury/a court will award him.The damages claimed by Murtha are NOT covered by insurance." The Council disregarded Rose's advice and Judge Thomas Corradino rendered his decision on February 24, 2010 and agreed with Murtha's claim and awarded Murtha damages that could total $1,019,478.03.
Subsequent to that decision, the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration issued their decision in Murtha's Labor Board hearing. An Arbitration award ordered Murtha reinstated to his position and ordered that he "shall be made whole for all losses incurred including back pay and other benefits".
Although Rose had warned the Council that they would lose the original suit, which they did, the City is now also appealing that decision. That decision could potentially more than double the original award since the City chooses to gamble on the appeal. If the City should lose this next round, they are once again liable for all of Murtha's legal expenses as well as the costs incurred by the City defending the appeal.
In the meantime, the dollars are still adding up on the original award at the rate of approximately $1210.00 per week. That figure does not include any legal fees. Attorney Helen Apostolidis, a retired City of Hartford Senior Assistant Corporation Counsel who is now a partner in her own private law firm based in Middletown (Bird & Apostolidis), has been hired by the City to defend the case. The city is paying Attorney Apostolidis in addition to paying Assistant Corporation Counsel Nathalie Feola-Guerreri to be co-counsel in this matter.
There is much more to come on this, but the attached documents should provide some interesting reading to start with.
Since I can't text anymore while I driving, I tend to amuse myself thinking about potential blog entries. And for those about to scream at me about texting while driving, I was only kidding, I actually surf the Internet with my laptop propped on my dash. I find the laptop is much quicker than typing with my thumbs.
Seriously though, I was thinking today what would our political system be like with actual individuals rather than party puppets?
I amused myself thinking how different the race for US Senate would be if the party affiliations were reversed. Democrat Linda McMahon would probably be a shining example of the Democratic Party where even women can excel and build a multi-million dollar business. Democrat McMahon would be held up as an example of what America should be and could be if only the voters would give her a chance.
And imagine if Richard Blumenthal were a Republican. I know, I know, the thought alone would scare the heck out of him, but for the sake of argument, just imagine Dick as a proud member of the GOP. Blumenthal, the law and order Republican, standing up for the people of Connecticut, fighting for the little guy. A formidable candidate racking up votes on the campaign trail.
Then, when everything was looking good for Republican Blumenthal, a video appeared where he claims he "misspoke". The media and public opinion turned on him overnight. How could a Republican candidate lie about his military service and claim he served in Vietnam when he didn't? Don't those Republican's remember how many young American men went to Vietnam and died for their country?
Republican Blumenthal was forced to drop out of the race due to the outrage over his lies. That's the way Republicans are handled, just ask former Senator
At last nights debate between the candidates for the 1st Congressional District, neither major party candidate was willing to speak about corruption, especially in Hartford, even when the opportunity was presented to them on a silver platter.Only one candidate, Ken Krayeske of the Green Party was willing to talk about the blind eye turned to corruption by Hartford's politicians. He spoke of the corruption of Eddie Perez and his conviction and the current allegations and investigation of Hector Robles.
It would have been a perfect opportunity for Congressman Larson to state clearly that he doesn't condone corruption, even in a "generic" type of message, but he remained silent when it came to his buddies Eddie and Hector.
I wonder how our elected officials would change if they weren't chained to a symbol of a donkey or an elephant. Imagine if they actually had to prove to us who they were and what they stood for rather than just proclaiming their allegiance to Republican or Democrat party machines.
One perfect example is in Hartford's south-end for the 1st State Senate District Race. Probably one of the best candidates running for the Connecticut Legislature has almost no chance of winning. As much as I hate saying it, Barbara Ruhe, a Republican, is running in a heavily Democratic district and she will unfortunately most likely be steamrolled by someone who has lost his "leadership" compass and has no business in the Senate. John Fonfara has lost sight of why he is there and who his constituents are.
Barbara Ruhe seems to realize exactly what the role of a Senator should be. Yesterday a southend resident and a Democrat called me complaining that she has left eleven messages (yes, you read that right, eleven) for Senator Fonfara, and not one has been returned.
With Barbara Ruhe, you really don't need to call her because the odds are good that you would see her somewhere in the community within a few days and be able to speak with her personally. And it is not only at election time you see her. She really seems to share the interests of the people in her district and beyond and it is a shame she won't get elected. Not because she isn't qualified. Not because she doesn't know how to campaign. Not because she can't be found. Simply because she has an "R" after her name she most likely won't have the title "Senator" after November 2nd.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could get rid of the tunnel vision and actually look at our candidates for who they are and what they actually do and who has the most potential. Instead we continue for the worst candidates only because they are the right party or the right nationality or the right race.
It would also be nice if we chose our candidates based on who knows how to remain civil to their opponents. In this election cycle, only a handful can say that. There is a big difference between pointing out facts and going into the gutter politics.
Denise Nappier, Jerry Farrell and Denise Merrill (I might have missed a couple others) should all be commended for their upbeat commercials and letting us know what they are about as opposed to showing us how much they can bruise their opponents.
I think most people are tired of the finger pointing. We don't care if it is the Democrats or Republicans that created the mess, we just want elected officials who care more about fixing the problem than continuing to be part of the problem.
Imagine a Senate full of Barbara Ruhe's, maybe some Republican, maybe some Democrat and maybe even a couple of Green or Working Family members to keep them all honest.
This past Friday night, numerous calls were received by Hartford's 911 Center regarding gunshots being fired in the area of Capitol Avenue and Orange Street. The victim was found in the street and was eventually pronounced dead. The "victim", who hasn't been "officially" named by Hartford Police, has a fairly extensive arrest record for drug, weapon and assault charges. The 32 year old has spent several years in and out of prison.
Saturday nights homicide was a sharp contrast. Even though several shots were fired, some of them recorded on nearby video recordings, not one call was received by the 911 Dispatch Center. No one called regarding the body laying in the street in the area of 1830 Broad Street. This is near a fairly busy intersection of Broad Street and New Britain Avenue.
Eventually a police officer on patrol noticed the man laying at the curb about a half hour after the murder. According to police sources, the officer first thought was that the man might be intoxicated, but after approaching the body he realized that was not the case.
This victim has not been "officially" named yet either, but he did have a passport on him from another country.
I'm just wondering how several gunshots can be fired in close proximity to residential neighborhoods and not one call is made to the Police. Are we that immune to Hartford's violence?
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.