Bad week for politics in CT

Fence near The Capitol by MiraHartford

Pic of the day: taken over the summer on a Sunday afternoon while walking through Bushnell Park. It was a 'happy accident' due to moving the camera phone while taking the shot. However, considering all of the political scandals and shenanigans in and around the Capitol city in the last few weeks, thought it would appropriate today.

(This is from an email sent out to members of Progressive Happy Hour. Thought it would be appropriate for this post as well)

As if Hartford wasn't having enough issues, now we have *gasp* a political scandal! Upon scandals it seems!

To what may I be referring? Let's see... could it be...

Mayor Eddie A. Perez being arrested on that list of charges last week? Along with him, a contractor who may or may not have taken a bribe or just rebuilt the Mayor's kitchen for very cheap? (seriously, don't we all want to find contractors like that? Hey, I know contractors who were always cutting corners to save a buck, this bloke just offered the savings to his customer!) Does this really justify scandal? Where is the sex, death, and violence that usually makes a scandal front page saucy newsworthy?! I demand sex in my scandals! (not so crazy about the death and violence really...) And let's not forget the attempted coup d'etat against sitting Council President Calixto Torres, who is a politcal ally of Mayor Perez. This was attempted by bitter rival, Councilman Kennedy (oh, that's where the sex comes into play... i gotcha)...

According to Colin McEnroe, (dealing with his scandal of being to cool for AM radio that WTIC didn't know how to handle him and had to use their conservative pundits posse to commandeer his drive time talkshow of liberal leaning lieberman antagonizing - wish i had heard that show...), "a member of the East Hartford Board of Education and a staff lawyer for the state Freedom of Information Commission [...] was arrested after police said he hit another vehicle and attempted to drive away from the scene. Police said Pawlowski was so difficult to subdue that they gave him an electric Taser shock. When that failed to impress him, they had a police dog bite him. That didn't do much either, the cops said. Later, they pepper-sprayed him. That's the trifecta of resisting arrest."

Then there was the infamous DUI arrest of Susan Hamilton, commissioner of the Department of Children and Families. Oh, and the crazy video of Superior Court judge E. Curtissa Cofield, cussing out her arresting officers, with vulgar and racial insults. And I'm not going to mention the incident with state Rep. James O'Rourke. (because there is death in that one, and as I said, not funny).

Anything else?

Oh, yeah, the bigger scandal! I nearly got my car towed because of parking tickets! WTF?!?! This town needs an enema when hard working citizens like us can't park on the streets without being threatened with these parking tickets for $25! what a rip-off! and then getting threatened to have your car towed! Outrageous, I say! Don't they know who I am? What I represent to this town?! Do they think a tin shield and blue uniform gives them the right to dictate where citizens can or cannot park and whether they are over the time limit? Who set up these arbitrary parking meter time limits anyway?! Was there a vote that I missed? It's because I live on the Hill, isn't it?! I see how it is. Because I'm a coffee drinker?! Because of my Obama/Biden sticker... that's it... I knew cops hated Biden. Or is it my WWUH/WHUS stickers! Against freedom of the airwaves! They work for the RIAA, man! They're repressing my right to listen to good music without commercials. They can't keep a brother down. Oh, i know it's because I drive hybrid! The cops really work for the UTC/Oil-agarchy! We's got to fight the powers that be, man!



Perhaps I shouldn't have watched the roast of Flava Flav the other night...

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ConnCAN Success Stories: Brookside Elementary School, Norwalk, CT

Brookside Elementary School, Norwalk, CT by Rabbit Ears Media

This is the first installment of a project for the organization ConnCAN - Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now. They are "A statewide outreach, education, and research organization with an active member network of parents, teachers, students, and business and community leaders across Connecticut." Their Success Stories videos (which I'm working on) promotes "some of our nation’s high-performing urban public schools" here in Connecticut.

A little more about ConnCAN from their website, their mission is

to close Connecticut’s academic achievement gap, the largest gap between rich and poor students of any public school system in the nation. We will not rest until every child in our state, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, has access to a great public school.

* The achievement gap is the most urgent social and economic problem facing Connecticut. The time for change is now.
* All children, regardless of their background, can achieve at a high level when given access to a great public school.
* Securing “Great Schools for All” will require reforming the way our public schools work by raising standards, giving school leaders greater freedom to innovate, and providing parents with more public school choices.
* Every child wins when parents can choose among public schools where principals and teachers come together to pursue a shared vision of excellence while being held accountable for results.

It has been quite an experience to work on this project for ConnCAN, both in learning about Connecticut's educational institutions as well as being further educated in production. Again, check out their site, www.conncan.org, and the Success Stories from the last few years to learn more about their work and how to improve the achievement gap in CT.

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