Real Hartford

Confirming Rumors

Perez did in fact use public funds during his campaign. In a better system, candidates would all use public funds, but only that. To supplement an already disgusting amount of campaign funds with public money is unethical.

I love the claims that the various candidates put forth when they get caught doing wrong (gonzalez, perez, etc), that they did not know what the laws were. Bull! If that “ignorance of the law” thing does not work for the average citizen, it should not be used as a defense for politicians.

Election Accountability

Connecticut citizens can volunteer to be part of an audit for the new voting machines. You can’t participate in an audit for the town in which you vote, but you can decide how far you’d be willing to travel and on what days you’d be able to help. This will be going on from November 21-26th. For more info, or to sign up online, check out the website.

Mayor Perez Already has a Challenger

Progressive Republican candidate J. Stan McCauley has already announced his 2011 campaign for mayor. If Perez knows anything about math and patterns (his approval rating has dropped enormously, from around 75% to 49% at the polls) he would do best to stay out of it next time around. Anyone know if the mayor’s office has time or term limits?

The Limits of a Democracy

First, a congratulations is in order to the two Working Families Party candidates who won seats on the city council–Luis Cotto and Larry Deutsch. I was beginning to wonder if the new voting system was broke until I saw their names among the elected.

Now, so much of what has been going on seems to me the exact reasons for why historically, democracy has not been the norm. Yesterday there was an “altercation” between supporters of Eddie Perez and Minnie Gonzalez. Later I read that a poll worker was telling people who to vote for and was handing out Perez literature inside of the polling place. I know that you can’t control what other people do all of the time, but these stories make me think that like-attracts-like. I have not heard anything about rabid McCauley or Milner supporters, but at every forum there were out of line Perez supporters.

But there’s also something very Shakespearean and old time authoritarianism going on too, even if this still technically is a democracy. If you are familiar with Shakespeare, an ongoing theme that does nothing more than reflect history, is that of people in power going mad with power. In Hartford, we don’t have a megalomaniac ordering the execution of anyone who disagrees, but we do have a megalomaniac (and criminal) who, through other tactics, silences dissent.

I worry that prolonged episodes of bad behavior on behalf of politicians and supporters are what will eventually be used to explain why the U.S. will forsake democracy in favor of the kind of political system that has been used for most of history.Perez’s win should be recognized as bittersweet. The Courant writes:

Still, the unofficial results showed that Perez will begin his third term with less than a majority. After winning with 8,609 votes in 2001, his totals dropped to 7,590 in 2003 and 6,453 Tuesday. His winning margin was just 1,898 votes, down from 6,746 in 2001 and 5,714 in 2003. A total of 13,213 votes were cast, representing a turnout of about 31 percent of registered voters.

Let’s not confuse a majority with the plurality. Tallying up the votes of all his opponents last night, Perez did not have a sweeping victory. The numbers show that what voters wanted was Perez out, and those votes were distributed between McCauley, Mathews, Milner, and DeJesus.

How Much Do I Hate Those Glossy Postcards?

Enough, apparently, to dream about telling an unnamed politician to not send them out because they are such a waste of resources.

So, today is election day, which for me means not having to wait in line to cast my votes. Just an idea, but free coupons for coffee might entice more people to exercise their voting rights. A nice, steaming cup of gourmet coffee may seem like a piss poor reason to vote, but since we know that candidates run for office many times for reasons other than wanting to better the city/state/nation, a “coffee for votes” initiative would be the least corrupt thing going on.

Word on the Street

…well, actually, word from the bar is that Hartford voters are going to be flipping a coin when it comes to filling in the bubble sheets on Tuesday. Given this new method of voting, I think that the smart candidate is the one who opts to be on line C, since we all know that C is the best answer on multiple choice tests, and really, is voting nothing more than one big test– test of our patience, courage, faith, and nerves?

What I am hearing is that people are not happy with Perez. He’s under investigation, and for what it’s worth, is a little to stubborn for the liking of many. Continue reading Word on the Street…

Other Rising Stars

Heather at Urban Compass  posted this amazing assessment of what is going on with these renewal campaigns, as well as what is not going on. She points out that not enough is being done to make the public schools marketable. As she says, it’s like the only people that are being seduced into the city are young professionals and empty-nesters.

I want to say more, but it’s better if you just go read what she’s written.

Lost in the Bad News

Just about ten years ago, Hartford Public High was put on probation due to structural problems in the school along with overcrowding. It was announced yesterday that HPHS was returned to being fully accredited, thanks to the huge renovation. This news was perhaps overshadowed by the reports of “dropout factories.”