Hartford Mayor Perez Stung By Bribery Charges

According to the Courant, Hartford Mayor Edward Perez will join a long line of Connecticut politicians when he is arrested as a result of a 15 month grand jury investigation into bribery. The contractor that performed $20,000 worth of kitchen and bathroom remodeling work was already arrested in connection with the case.  The Courant reports:

Perez said he has no plan to resign or temporarily step down while he faces the charges brought by the chief state’s attorney’s office in Superior Court. Santos said he did not know whether more charges were forthcoming.

State criminal investigators have been interested in Perez since early 2007, when news first surfaced about a controversial, no-bid parking lot deal the city gave to former state Rep. Abraham L. Giles. In October 2007, their interest was formalized with the formation of a state investigatory grand jury — a secretive court body led by one judge and with the power of subpoena.

That grand jury has since seen two extensions and is set to expire in April. But while the investigators’ interest is known to have expanded well beyond the work done on Perez’s home, it’s that work that has landed him in legal jeopardy.

State criminal investigators searched Perez’s home on a mid-August day in 2007. Two days later, on Aug. 16, Perez admitted that he had hired a city contractor to do what he said was $20,000 in kitchen and bathroom renovations. The work was done without proper permits and some of the work was done by an unlicensed contractor.

Costa completed most of the work in 2006, and Perez said he looked into a mortgage to pay for the work in 2006. But it wasn’t until early 2007 that Costa billed him $20,217, Perez said. He said he paid Costa in July 2007 — after investigators had begun asking questions.

Reached in his office Monday, Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane declined to comment.

Gerace said he has told Costa, his client, not to worry.

“I feel that Carlos is in a great position to prevail here, and I’ve told him not to worry,” Gerace said. “His conduct was minimally offensive in the whole scheme of things.”

Santos said he will seek a speedy trial that could bring the mayor before a jury within to two to three months.

Connecticut once again earns its reputation as Corrupticut. The issue in short is that Perez hired a city contractor to do work on his home around the same time that the contractor was having trouble completing a $5 million Park Street streetscape job. See the timeline here. Forget about the part where the billingon the project in Perez’s home was delayed. Forget about whether the contractor even had teh necessary licences to perform the work. Forget about the lack of permits filed to even do the work in Perez’s home. Hiring a city contractor to do work, with no documentation, is the problem here.

source: Courant, Hartford Mayor Perez Facing Bribery Charges, Will Turn Himself In Today, By JEFFREY B. COHEN And MARK PAZNIOKAS, January 26, 2009

  • Anonymous

    So apparently what this means is, either do your remodeling before running for office, or wait until your term expires?

    I wonder how many people have friends or acquaintances who are carpenters or electricians or remodelers who have never taken a freebie from one of them when it was offered? Since when is this considered “bribery”?

    What a farce.

  • Ex Cop

    Accepting a favor from a friend is not a crime, in itself. It becomes a crime when the favor is done for a public official by someone who is doing business with the city where the public official holds office and is in a position to effect the relationship between the contractor and the City. The federal law presumes some exchange of favors and does not require proof that the mayor, in this case, did anything for the contractor in exchange for the work on his home. Not paying for the work until after the investigation found a $20,000 job had been done for nothing, certainly suggests an agreement to exchange favors.
    In short, an elected official needs to be very careful to avoid any possible appearance of a conflict of interest. He should have hired a contractor who does not ever do business with the City.

  • Anonymous

    The Irish federal prosecutors always have it out for the ethnic Mayors, don’t they? Don’t think so? Google it. If you’re an Italian, Polish or Hispanic Mayor, you’re dead meat.

  • Anonymous

    Oh spare me that “ethic” shit!!! It’s about time this low life scumbag was finnaly taken down. He is one of the most corrupt politians in the state. Can’t wait to see the photos in the paper of him being led away in cuffs!!!!!

  • Ex Cop

    Irish prosecutors, are you kidding ? The only thing you can count on federal prosecutors for is they do not take cases where they are not 100% certain, based on the evidence, of a conviction. They hate to lose and have the option of passing a case off to local (state) prosecutors if it looks like they might not get a conviction. Most of their cases never go to trial because defendents , and their lawyers, look at the risks and negotiate plea deals. It doesn’t take much to prove municipal corruption where $20,000 worth of goods or services were taken by an elected offiicial from a contractor doing business with the City where the official holds office. My money, if I were betting, is on a resignation and a plea deal, as soon as possible, with some time in federal prison as part of the deal.

  • Anonymous

    Let me tell you: they’re not beyond reproach, and they’re as much RICO gangsters as their Defendants , as they need to be and can get away with it.

    http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/27/judge_chastises_federal_attorney/

  • Ex Cop

    TG:
    It is happening again, comments are disappearing and/or showing up on front page, but not on page they were posted on.

    • turfgrrl

      Ex Cop: There’s nothing in moderation or the spam queue right now. Will check to see what’s happening.