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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

OLGA IS NOT HAPPY

Apparently James Spallone from the Secretary of the States Office sent an e-mail to every election official in the State with information regarding an audit of election results to be conducted in the Secretary's Office tomorrow. The e-mail appeared to have probably well over a thousand e-mail addresses that it was sent to.The text of that e-mail is below

:Dear Election Administrators,

I wrote last week to inform you that we have scheduled the post-election audit for Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 11 a.m. in our Capitol office.  Unfortunately, we just discovered that due to a technological glitch, many of you did not receive that message.  I apologize for that.

Some of you may have heard that one of the candidates from the 5th Assembly District (including parts of Hartford and Windsor) has filed a complaint in Superior Court regarding the results of that district's Democratic primary.  Below is a link to an article from the Hartford Courant about the case, and attached is a copy of the complaint and summons.

http://articles.courant.com/2012-08-28/community/hc-5th-district-lawsuit-0829-20120828_1_mcgee-and-canty-absentee-ballots-election-officialsctmail
.ct.gov/OWA/redir.aspx?C=1ad50a031fbf4d0b9b9042c47376e3a0&URL=http%3a%2f%2farticles.courant.com%2f2012-08-28%2fcommunity%2fhc-5th-district-lawsuit-0829-20120828_1_mcgee-and-canty-absentee-ballots-election-officials>

If you are unable to open the attachment, please contact my assistant, Tina, at tina.prakash@ct.govctmail.ct.gov/OWA/redir.aspx?C=1ad50a031fbf4d0b9b9042c47376e3a0&URL=mailto%3atina.prakash%40ct.gov> or 860.509.6212.  She will be happy to fax a copy of the attachment to your office.

Sincerely,
James F. Spallone

Well, apparently Hartford's Democratic Registrar Olga Vazquez was not happy that her incompetence was once again being highlighted to her peers and she took offense to the e-mail. Vazquez's reply to Spallone is below :

Mr. Spallone,

Please, explain; what is the OBJECTIVE to your email addressed to all Election Officials in reference to McGee lawsuit. I can clearly see
Your objective and explaining due to a technological glitch I get, but I do not get it when you forward such email to all Election Administrators and only reference McGee vs. Vazquez.

I do not agree with your objective however; I also believe that because I am not the only Registrar named in this Summons.

I do not agree that the two matters should have not been combined.

Regards,

Olga Iris Vazquez,

Democratic Election Administrator/Registrar of Voters

Olga, this is what is known in the real world as transparency. If the e-mail keeps another city or town from having to incur the legal expenses that your incompetence will cost the taxpayers of Hartford, I strongly approve of Mr. Spallone's actions. And I think the reason he only mentioned McGee vs Vazquez is because no other district is being sued for losing ballots the Hartford/Windosr lawsuit is uinique to this primary cycle. The Bridgeport people must have taken some training for this election to keep themselves out of the news. Maybe Hartford should try that.




Tuesday, August 28, 2012

CHIEF ROVELLA ON "WE THE PEOPLE"

Chief Rovella was our guest on the "We The People " Program Monday on Hartford Public Access. the complete program is posted here.

And I apologize for some of the rough audio, there is no money put into equipment or maintenance at Hartford Public Access Television

Monday, August 27, 2012

LAWSUIT TO BE FILED TUESDAY IN 5TH DISTRICT HOUSE RACE

Numerous sources are telling me that lawsuit will be filed tomorrow in Hartford Superior Court challenging the results in the race for the open seat in the re-aligned 5th District legislative seat. Candidate Brandon McGee will be filing the suit in an attempt to overturn the results.McGee's suit is based upon two missing ballots that apparently were not counted.

At least one ballot was missing from the JFK School polling place in Windsor and one missing absentee ballot in Hartford. The Hartford ballot was an absentee ballot and although there are 79 envelopes counted from the submitted ballots, only 78 ballots can be accounted for.

The race was determined after a recount and gave a one vote advantage to Leo Canty, who was determined the winner by the single vote..

Once the suit is filed I will post it here.

This will be interesting as it moves forward, but even more importantly it raises the question of how the Democratic  Registrar of voters will attempt to justify a missing absentee ballot. Once again the taxpayers of Hartford will have to foot the legal bills for defending an office that appears to be the epitome of incompetence. Actually, let me rephrase that question, should the taxpayers have to pay when this appears to be beyond negligent or should the Registrar be on their own for the defense

Friday, August 24, 2012

A JOB WELL DONE BY ALL

A very observant resident from the Southend made it a tough night for two Hartford criminals. The resident observed some activity that he thought was suspicious as he saw two men park a minivan  in the lot of 90 Brainard Road and then walk to the McDonald's Restaurant next door. A short time later he saw the two men run from the McDonald's, guns drawn and jump in the mini-van and take off. The resident called 911 on his cell phone with a description of the van and he followed the van as it got on I-91 North

A Sergeant from the Southeast Conditions Unit was able to observe the vehicle as it headed north on 91 and exited to 84 West, they followed the vehicle until it exited 84 at Sigourney Street. The not too bright robbers were unable to negotiate the "T" intersection at the bottom of the ramp and instead crashed into a concrete barrier, ending their night of crime.

The cash stolen , a facsimile firearm and a 9mm handgun were all recovered from the vehicle.Both robbers were apprehended.

It just shows how important observant residents are in reducing crime in our community

Monday, August 20, 2012

INTERESTING READING

 Here is a story from the New YorkTimes archives, if you have the time, take a few minutes to read it,  just click here

PANAGORE OUT

Hartford's Chief Operating Officer is out, He submitted his resignation today effective September 15, 2012.

On July 27, 2012 I had called for Panagore's removal in a posting stating "I can go on and on, but let me be the first to go on the record and say David Panagore needs to go and take his travelling circus show of incompetence with him."  . less than a month later, he resigns. Not bad. You can read that posting here


MAYOR SEGARRA ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE OF
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER DAVID PANAGORE
Former City Manager and Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee Borges to Assume Position of Interim COO
--- MEDIA ADVISORY---
(August 20, 2012) Mayor Pedro E. Segarra today announced that he has received and accepted the resignation of David Panagore, Chief Operating Officer and former Director of Development Services for the City of Hartford since 2008. Panagore indicated that he is leaving in order to pursue other professional opportunities.
“David played an important role upon my taking office in 2010. The immediate successes we celebrated, the demolition of the H.B. Davis Building and Capital West, stabilizing the budget and increasing the Rainy Day fund, are just a few of the hallmarks he helped me move forward. He is creative and knowledgeable and I have no doubt that he will have great success no matter what he chooses to do next,” said Mayor Pedro E. Segarra
“I am truly grateful to have served Hartford and Mayor Segarra,” said David Panagore. “The opportunities that I have helped to restructure and professionalize the operations, and the projects I have been able to work on, like Capewell, Colt, iQuilt, and the One City, One Plan have moved the City forward and they were all professionally rewarding. I will miss the staff, the City of Hartford and the many friends that I have made over the last 5 years. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life.”
Panagore’s last day will be September 14, 2012. Mayor Segarra also announced that Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee Borges will serve as Interim Chief Operating Officer while a national search is performed to identify a permanent replacement. She will remain as Corporation Council but will temporarily assign her day-to-day administrative duties to Deputy Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden. Segarra also announced that his Chief of Staff, Jared Kupiec, and his Special Advisor and Director of the Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation, Dr. Jose Colon-Rivas, will remain as members of the Mayor’s Cabinet and may assume additional internal duties as assigned by the Mayor.
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