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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF

Some people can plead ignorance once, but twice for almost the same thing is beyond ignorant.

A source I spoke with this afternoon, said that Hartford's Acting COO Saundra Kee-Borges had gone through a very similar scandal as to the caviar soiree during Mayor Mike Peter's term when she was the City Manager. The source said it was over shots known as "slippery nipples" and other items ordered and paid for by Hartford's taxpayers in 2000.

After getting off the phone I "Googled" Saundra Kee Borges Slippery Nipples the following article came up. you could almost replace Carbone's with Max Downtown and Slippery Nipples with Caviar

Her is the Courant's story from 2001. I guess some people never learn. I guess some things never change

Where's The Accountability?

January 28, 2001
Last fall, Hartford Mayor Michael P. Peters, City Manager Saundra Kee Borges and several city council Democrats had a ``council meeting'' at Carbone's Ristorante in the South End. While deliberating, they ordered fancy appetizers and a bunch of drinks including 14 glasses of wine, some beers, brandy, a highball and an exotic concoction called a Slippery Nipple. They had the gall to stick the taxpayers with the tab, almost $300.
City hall denizens like to pass off such ethical lapses by officials as isolated events that the news media and residents shouldn't get worked up about. But they're wrong. As other recent incidents show, key city officials have a blind eye when it comes to ethics and the need to enforce high standards of conduct. They -- the mayor, the manager and council members -- just don't get it.
 
There has been a pattern of ethical misconduct at city hall for years -- maybe it could be called the Slippery Nipple Syndrome. But the incidents have become so common and the response from top officials so lenient that cutting corners has come to be seen as the way of doing business.
Ethics -- or the lack thereof -- ought to be an issue in this fall's municipal elections. The only question is, Have Hartford voters become so accustomed to shoddy ethics that they're beyond disappointment? We hope not. Here's more of city hall's pitiful record:
On Dec. 30, the city's public works director, Arthur Miller, attended a UConn women's basketball game at the Civic Center during a heavy snowstorm while ordering the rest of his employees to stay on duty. That absence of leadership was bad enough. Mr. Miller compounded his error by accepting a free ticket to the game from Connecticut Light & Power. So did a number of other city officials, including the mayor. The ticket taking was an apparent violation of the city's ethics code and gift ban, not that the ban is uniformly enforced.
And what did Mr. Miller's boss have to say about his decision to watch the Huskies rather than be on duty with his troops? ``It probably was not the best judgment'' was as stern a response as Ms. Kee Borges, the city manager, could muster.
No wonder officials keep crossing the line.
On Police Chief Bruce Marquis' first day on the job in December, some dissident officers egged his car. That's vandalism, and it would be investigated if a citizen complained that his or her car was the target. But Mr. Marquis decided not to investigate, saying he wanted to move forward. The city manager's office acquiesced.
In other words, the vandals got away with it. That's no way to impose discipline on an out-of-control department.
In November, acting Police Chief Robert Rudewicz was given only a two-week suspension without pay for lying on an accident report. Again, Ms. Kee Borges said she was ``disappointed at his poor judgment.'' What would happen to an average person who falsified an accident report?
Early last year, Fire Chief Robert Dobson resigned -- finally -- after a number of embarrassments, among them using a city car on city time to drive to Bloomfield to work at an art gallery and framing shop owned by him and his wife. Sometimes he failed to show up at fires because he was moonlighting.
In September, the city's enfeebled ethics commission took council members to task for accepting bathrobes as gifts from a group helping a local developer with a proposed downtown project. Judging by their comments, the council members thought they had done nothing wrong and resented being called to account. One called the ethics proceeding ``a sham and a farce,'' and another -- no longer on the council -- declared the hearing a ``kangaroo court.''
 
For years, Hartford firefighters used city property for private gain. They were paid by out-of-town fire departments, whose personnel received training in the city under the supervision of Hartford firefighters. The improper practice ended only in September after city officials were embarrassed by stories in The Courant.
Those comments typify the attitude of Hartford's elected officials toward ethical standards. It took the council more than three years to pass rules and procedures for the ethics commission. During the time the body lay dormant, never meeting, the term of one initial appointee came to an end and another resigned. The council breathed life into the commission in 1997 only because, said then-Majority Leader John Stewart, the mayor wants ``to get the press off our backs.'' And before jump-starting the commission, the council watered down its powers.
Let's face it. Mr. Peters, the city policy leader who could use the bully pulpit to demand high standards of conduct, has not done so. Neither has Ms. Kee Borges, who appears unable to lower the boom on offending department heads. Nor do council members leave the impression that they give two hoots about squeaky-clean government.
City voters should hold them accountable at the next election.

THE CAVIAR MAYOR AND HIS "LIQUOR CABINET"

 
 
 
Yesterday, Mayor Segarra's Chief of Staff issued a media statement claiming that the New years Eve dinner he paid for on his City Credit card had become a "distraction" so he was making the choice to reimburse the City for $457.21 for the apparent cost of the dinner.

A distraction? Lets call it what it really is, it was a criminal act, a theft from the taxpayers of Hartford by a group of pompous City officials who suffer from an extreme case of entitlement. A group of pompous officials who should know better.

Not to mention, where is the moral obligation to the people of Hartford? Mr Kupiec, who spends his fair share of his time in the "entertainment" district downtown, if his credit card receipts are any indication. must notice Hartford residents struggling to make ends meet. After Hartford's bars close and the streets clear, senior  citizens with shopping carts collecting bottles and cans pick up the recyclables trying to make ends meet, a nickel at a time, so they can survive.

Where is the moral obligation to their constituents? How do you dine on caviar and filet Mignon at the expense of the same people you are entrusted to serve.. The same people pushing the shopping carts in the streets.

How do you claim to not realize which credit card was used? It just seems that any thinking person would realize that they don't recall putting their signature on a paper slip and calculating a gratuity. So much of this just doesn't add up. And how do you not remember who else was sitting at the table?  It kind of sounds like a case of selective amnesia, to protect someone you don't want to publicly identify.

Ok, so lets get back to the criminal part. People make more choices everyday. Many of those people regret those decisions after they get arrested and charged with their crime. This was clearly a larceny from the people of Hartford. The fact that restitution was made several months later should mean nothing, other than to confirm they realized what they did was wrong and they got caught.

For the last few days I have used an example that seems to make sense when people say he paid the money back. Let's say you make a decision to rob a bank, that is called criminal intent. You do the deed, the teller hands you a bank bag full of cash. As you begin to exit the bank you notice police cruisers pulling up, so you throw the bank bag back to the teller.

Technically. you made restitution by giving the money back. I seriously doubt that you will not be leaving that bank in handcuffs, even though you gave the money back. The fact that Kupiec paid the money back does not make the original incident go away.

I think the fact that the Mayor and Kupiec readily paid the money back, looks worse for them because clearly they knew their actions were wrong, no one had to order or force them to reimburse the City.

There are plenty of other unsubstantiated liquor and restaurant charges on Kupiec's card that should prove troublesome for him, but just the caviar binge should be enough to get a criminal investigation rolling.

And the greater question for me is how is this tolerated, aside from the fact that the caviar Mayor and his Chief Operating Officer were all complicit in the act, why are heads not rolling? it appalls me that the same people that can so readily rip--off the people of Hartford are still occupying their positions of trust at City Hall to rob the taxpayers once again.

It is also interesting that the beluga swilling Segarra has decided to curtail all credit card users. The Audit report clearly shows that the majority of the offenders are under his direct control, the Office of the Mayor, the Chief Operating Officer,and Corporation Counsel.

And finally, should the Mayor's "Security Detail"  really be sitting  at the table eating with him?  I have never once seen Troopers assigned to the Governor's detail sitting eating with him. It is kind of hard to legitimately assess any security risk  while you are checking to see if your Filet Mignon was cooked correctly.  I know that the dignitary training program these officers go through is well respected and I doubt throwing back a spoonful of caviar is what is taught.

Apparently our Caviar Mayor developed his taste for the good life before he actually became Mayor, you can read more here

THE P-CARD AUDIT REPORT


Monday, May 6, 2013

SEGARRA, KEE-BORGES, KUPIEC DINE ON CAVIAR AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE

More details are coming out on the Mayor's new Years eve Dinner billed to the taxpayers of Hartford. In a document received from the City of Hartford today pursuant to a request , the itemized bill shows that $110.00 in caviar was billed to the taxpayers of Hartford.

More on this later ,and my thoughts when I have time to write more.

Caviar, while many in Hartford are wondering where their next meal is coming from.


Friday, May 3, 2013

IT MUST BE BAD

The Audit report that was requested by the Council in response to complaints about widespread Credit Card Abuse is apparently done, according to the City's Auditor, but the full court press is being put on to avoid releasing it. I can understand why, but according to FOI it isn't legal.

I spoke with the education Director as well as a staff attorney earlier today with my questions regarding the release of the report. Although Hartford's Auditor, Patrick Campbell  advised the Council, the requestor's of the audit at Tuesdays budget hearing that the audit was done and he hoped to distribute it the following day.

As you can see from the e-mail text below, he seems to be relying on semantics, repeatedly using the word "issue" to avoid the release.

Mr. Brookman:

I understand you are looking for a copy of the final issued report.  We are working on finalizing the report for issuance.  It has not been issued at this time.  Once the final report has been issued you will certainly be welcome to a copy.

Patrick Campbell


According to FOI, when Campbell said it was done, it was done, which means it is a public document at that point , whether the Audit Commission or the Council has reviewed it, it should be public. I am losing confidence in the performance of the Audit and why the Auditor would try to prevent the release of the document.

I fully expect that a finding will come forth that everything is fine, a little mismanagement and loose record keeping , but other than that all innocent mistakes.

The fact of the matter is that just the New Years Eve Dinner charged to the Mayor's Chief of Staff is enough to request a criminal investigation. They used City funds for their own personal gain and entertainment of their spouses and friends on the taxpayers dime. That is fraud and a larceny from the municipality Any one of us can drive to Rocky Hill and walk into the Office of the Chief States Attorney with documents in hand and request a review. Hell, I'd take the bus if I have to, and Rocky Hill is closer than the FBI Offices in Meriden.

So if the City's Auditor and the Audit Commission are suffering from a case of "Low T" myself and others will be glad to take care of business. If past practice is any indicator, the IAC and the Auditor's have been reluctant to refer anything for prosecution, even well documented thefts of large amounts of cash from the Tax Collector's Office, Seeing the behavior to keep this report from the public, I am not expecting too much.

ANOTHER ONE FOR THE "YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" FILE

It is ironic that after Eddie Perez was convicted, I thought the blog would dry up because people would start doing the right thing.  Well, let me just say, the information is coming in faster now than it ever did when Perez was Mayor.

One television reporter told me that "Hartford was the gift that keeps on giving" when it comes to material for blog posts and news stories. Boy were they right.

Today when I got the call telling me about an someone who is apparently a vendor for the City of Hartford. They explained that the vendor, who apparently is hired by Development Services to clean up illegal dumping sites in the City, was himself arrested by the Hartford Police for illegal dumping behind the Comcast Theater.

The Police reports are below, but other tan the police reports, the City is being very tight lipped about the incident. I can understand why, how many embaraasing situations can you be expected to have to address at one time> PCards, retiree issues, phony budget numbers, New Year's Eve soiree's and now the illegal dumping by the same vendor apparently paid to clean the messes up.

And now another twist, the employee in Development Services who apparently is tasked with working withe the illegal dumping "cleaner upper" vendor, has now sent an e-mail to Deputy Chief Hightower stating that, from what sources are telling me, she gave him permission for the illegal dumping.

I know that there may be enough illegal activity in the halls of Hartford City Hall, but now employees are giving permission notes for corrupt behavior? I think it might be more of a last ditch effort to save someones contract, but time will tell.

Sources at DPW are telling me that they are in the process of preparing a bill for the cleanup that they will try to collect from the illegal dumper. Maybe they should take it as a payroll deduction from the employeee that thought she had the power to authorize illegal activity.

The vendor, according to sources, is also a vendor for Manafort Construction on the MDC Clean Water's Project. It is unclear if any of the materials dumped illegally were from that project. On the day that the vendor was confronted by Police on Holcomb Street, where he was working for Manafort, Joseph Gallo, an Inspector from DEEP, shut the work down because the illegal dumper was also working illegally at the time because no "Call Before You Dig" notifications were never made and no permit issued for the work being performed.

Where are our Inspectors? is anyone in the City paying attention?

Through a request to the Mayor's Office for comment on the incident, the following statement was e-mailed to me:

Maribel,
As I mentioned to the police when asked yesterday, Mark Swiatowiec is the owner of New England Construction. New England Construction is an on-call City contractor that performs property maintenance services for the City. Mark has been cited for allegedly dumping construction debris on a City-owned lot on New Road. I informed the officer that I find it quite unlikely that Mark would dump on such a high profile City lot, especially when he has dumpsters at his disposal around town.

Please let me know if you need any additional information. 

Truly,

Julianne


Julianne Avallone
Senior Project Manager
Housing and Property Management Division
Department of Development Services
City of Hartford
T: 860-757-9029
 
The incident is outlined in the attached Police reports. Apparently the police were led to the vendor through a piece of unopened mail found in with the debris that had been dumped. When confronted, the suspected illegal dumper told the investigators the mail must have blown out of his window as he drove by cComcast. Sure sounds legit to me.
 
I hope the City has begun the process of removing the illegal dumper from any City purchasing lists and also put a hold on any payments owed to him to pay for the DPW cleanups. I will atempt to obtain the e-mail from Ms. Avallone to Chief Hightower regarding this incident through FOI, it could prove interesting from what I am told.
 
In the mean time, maybe Mr. Swiatowiec should keep his windows up when he drives by Comcast to avoid future incidents.