Feb. 27, 2008
By Ken Krayeske • 6:15 PM EST
It's eye popping! Dozens of City Hall staffers have been interviewed by the grand jury.
The arrogance of power may lead to corruption, but for Eddie Perez, Johnny Law ain't too far behind.
In this morning's Hartford Courant, Jeffrey Cohen and Dan Goren explain how deep the state is digging into the Mayor's business. This doesn't sound like a fishing expedition.
State criminal investigators probing possible political corruption at Hartford city hall have asked for payment records related to the city's $1 billion school construction program — the first evidence of a connection between the investigation and the project.
The investigators have asked for and received payment records for Diggs Construction — the city's project manager on several school building projects — and for C&R Development, the construction manager for Noah Webster MicroSociety Magnet School, according to documents obtained by The Courant through a freedom of information request to the city treasurer's office.
The five pages of school payment documents, made available Tuesday by City Treasurer Kathleen Palm Devine, consist of computer-generated lists of payments. The payments to Diggs date from 2002 to 2004; the payments to C&R Development date from 2004 to 2007.
Four executives of Diggs Construction of Kansas, or their relatives, as early as April 2007, had given the Mayor a total of $1,000 in cash towards his re-election bid.
Joseph DeSanti, the local operations manager for Diggs, told the Courant he knew nothing. Mary DeSanti, possibly his wife, gave $250 to Perez.
The Courant quotes the man known for his obfuscation and silence, City Corporation Counsel John Rose Jr, as saying that "dozens of people from the city have been called to testify."
This probe is a drain on city resources and time. How many man hours of labor have been lost trying to determing the extent of Honest Eddie's dishonesty?
How long before we have Mayor Calixto Torres?
