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Friday, June 17, 2011

ROLDAN SHUT OUT BY HARTFORD DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE, BUT DID IT EVEN MATTER ?

Hartford's 4th District State Representative Kelvin Roldan today ended his exploratory flip flop adventure and announced that he has finally decided what he wants to be when he grows up....Hartford's City Treasurer.

Apparently that decision, or the delay in arriving at it, didn't sit well with the Hartford Democratic Town Committee. Roldan made his announcement just hours before the HDTC was scheduled to interview the announced candidates for Treasurer and Mayor. Roldan did show up at Bulkeley High School loaded with his literature handouts ready to finally jump into the process, but he was not allowed to participate.

According to HDTC Chairperson Jean Holloway, their was a process and a schedule for submitting resumes and being invited for interviews. Roldan chose not to follow the process .

Roldan didn't miss much though since only a handfull of HDTC members even bothered to show up to hear the Treasurer or Mayoral candidates speak. Tonights interviews were even more poorly attended than the Council candidates interviews last night. Wednesday about 25 HDTC members were in and out throughout the night, tonight maybe about a doze n showed up.

It was far from any show of courtesy to the candidates that took the time to show up or even to members of the public that attended. It is a tribute to old-style Hartford politics where it is not about evaluating the candidates and making the best choice. If it was, all 64 HDTC members would have made it a point to be there and do what they were elected to do. Instead it showed that they have either made up their minds without evaluating the possibilities or, worse yet, they just don't care.

With a system as flawed as this one and so loaded with political patronage, it might just make sense to skip the endorsements and let everyone go to a primary and see who survives. It would be interesting to see all of the candidates have to work to gain their offices

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

ANOTHER CHANGE

I have decided to use a seperate website for my campaign. The site is still being built, but over the next few days it should be up and running for more information than just the home page that is there now.

Information on my ideas for the City, campaign issues, campaign events and how to make campaign donations will all be there soon.

Click on the logo to the right to go to the "Brookman for Council" website

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, HARTFORD STEPS UP


Sometimes it may seem like Hartford has no heart, but I'm sure the people in tornado stricken Monson,Massachusetts have a different impression.

Unfortunately things like this don't make the "main stream" news cycles, I guess it doesn't rise to the level of sensationalism that a murder or shooting does.

Almost two weeks ago, Hartford Police Officer Mike Allen called me and asked for some help to get the word out that cardboard boxes were desperately needed for his neighbors in Monson Massachusetts whose homes had been destroyed or damaged by the tornadoes that swept through Massachusetts. I quickly agreed and then approached the next hurdle. Where could the boxes be collected?

I figured the State Armory or some place similar would work well as a drop off point. I contacted Governor Malloy's office and they also quickly went into action and in less than a half hour the State Office Building on Capitol Avenue was identified as a drop off point. Hartford DPW Director Kevin Burnham also offered a spot at the City Yard on Jennings Road as a drop off point.

Many people came forward to make it happen, state employees brought boxes to work, residents and business people dropped boxes off, my mother went around her neighborhood collecting boxes and law firms like Halloran and Halloran cleaned out their store rooms of folded file boxes. thank you to all of you

Although the "box drive" was only scheduled to go through last Friday, the boxes are still coming in. As of today, two 30 foot trailers have been filled with boxes and been delivered to Monson Massachusetts by Officer Allen. It is expected that there will be enough boxes to fill another 30 foot trailer full by the end of the week.

A few special thanks, first to Officer Allen for coming forward and being a good neighbor to his less fortunate neighbors in Monson, Mass. A very special thanks to Governor Malloy and his staff, including Shirley Surgeon, Chief of Staff Timothy Bannon, Commissioner of DPW Jonathan Holmes the building superintendents from the State office Building who facilitated the collection and the loading of the trailers and to all of their staff that helped and to Hartford DPW Director Kevin Burnham.

This is the common sense, no nonsense approach that can get things done and all of those that I mentioned above got this done in record time.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

MY CAMPAIGN FOR HARTFORD CITY COUNCIL

I have been going back and forth on whether I should set up a separate website to post information regarding my campaign for Hartford City Council. The one thing I did decide though was that I was not going to make it part of the regular posting on the main page of the blog.

I think many of my readers are interested in the future of Hartford and the direction it is going, but I don't think everyone wants to read about me and why I'm running. If you are a regular reader you already know my position on a lot of things affecting Hartford.

I am going to try, at least to start, to just have a second page here on the blog than can be accessed by the tab in the upper right hand corner here on the blog.

Let me know what you think.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

MORE POLITICAL THEATRICS AND SOME DIRTY TACTICS ALSO, THE RACE FOR MAYOR IS AS DIRTY AS USUAL

In true Hartford political style, the old "in the gutter" politics and showmanship are alive and well. If only as much thought and energy was put into making Hartford a truly better place.

I took some more pride in the power of bloggers to make change yesterday. If you recall, last week I had posted and asked the question when was the last time we saw any of our elected officials, the Police Chief or his Command staff or any of our various "Poverty Pimps" on a street corner in a problem area on a Friday or Saturday night.

Well, low and behold last night I was watching the 11:00PM new on Channel 30 when they had a story showing that Mayor Segarra and Chief Roberts and their entourage to create a true media spectacle, had descended on some of those very street corners I had asked about last week. I guess I need to commend them both for their true leadership and coming up with the idea to actually hit the streets to see what goes on.

I might suggest though, Gentlemen, that you are not dealing with stupid people. Even a young man out on a corner with a gun tucked in his pocket, probably doesn't see your visit as really one out of concern for them. The television cameras and the press release probably made it clear that you actions were more self serving for your own tarnished images and an attempt to save your own political lives, rather than the lives of the numerous homicide victims still to come this summer.

And if that isn't enough theatrics, in a city that hardly ever fills empty patrol cars or walk beats when they really should be filled, tonight to complete the Pedro and Daryl Dog and Pony show, HPD is bringing in at least 18 officers on overtime for tonight.

That's not a bad idea, the extra officers might make sense.It probably would have made more sense after homicide number 5 or 6 to start doing something rather than waiting for number 17 to be pronounced dead though.

But while the Mayor's side show was taking place out in the open and on the streets, another Mayoral campaign is forming its own strategies in the dirty political backrooms of Hartford. I can't say for certain 100% that it is the Wooden campaign because I'm sure they won't take credit for it, but last night I got a call from an "800" number, claiming to want me to be part of a political poll.

Now, usually legitimate polls sample between 500 or a 1,000 people through a random sampling of phone calls. The number of people that have called complaining about the poll would seem to indicate that it was more of a mass marketing phone banking scam rather than a legitimate poll.

It is what is called a "push poll" and is meant to instill either a negative image of one candidate while making his opponent look favorable by the way the questions are phrased and asked.

The reason I would think it is Wooden's campaign is because he was the one portrayed in the favorable light, while very negative questions were asked about Segarra, and Vargas and McCauley were quickly mentioned and passed over after the first few questions.

Did you know Shawn Wooden is going to improve education, focus on small business, make Hartford safer and and basically come in as Superman to rescue Hartford. Oh, and another good thing mentioned by the "pollster". he's not been a political insider like Segarra who has "been around too long to be effective" as one of the questions referred.

Did you also know that Segarra moved out of Hartford after not paying taxes, went bankrupt, was "financially reckless" while on the Council, left office as Corporation Counsel in "disgrace" after being forced out by Mayor Mike, he and his "husband" are currently being sued by a City employee, he kept Perez "cronies" in office, including Police Chief Daryl Roberts and finally he fails to take blame for his mistakes.

These are all things you can learn from a "pollster's" questions.

If this is what we have to choose from, the underdogs are looking better every day. The call came from 866-810-9248

ALYSSA PETERSON CALLS UPON CHIEF STATE'S ATTORNEY FOR ACTION

Southend activist and sometime political candidate Alyssa Peterson is calling on Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane to act on the Hector Robles delaying tactics after his recent arrest.

Robles still has not entered a plea in Court after his arrest on felony charges. According to Robles' attorney, that delay is apparently being caused by the City of Hartford's lack of transparency and stalling tactics in providing Robles with documents requested through an FOI request.

The lack of a plea does seem unusual to many observers.Some of the claims such as asking the Judge for a continuance until after an FOI hearing, even though his attorneys had actually asked for the FOI hearing to be delayed themselves are raising questions. Some are questioning if Robles wasn't a State Representative if he would be given the same "courtesies".

Peterson unsuccessfully tried to get the 6th District Democratic Town Committee to reconsider the nomination for Robles's seat when she raised the issue of his alleged criminal activity and the ongoing IAD investigation at the Hartford Police Department. Robles denied the accusations and was eventually arrested by the States Attorney's office, after his reelection to the Legislature

Peterson's request to Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane is posted below.
Alyssa Peterson Letter