Convicted: Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez found guilty of bribery

After a long corruption investigation and a two-month trial, current Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez (D) was found guilty of bribery. He was found not guilty of fabricating evidence. Should he immediately resign?

Since this is really a local story, I’ll consider updating this post later in the day, but there really is no reason to re-invent the wheel. Added: Perez has been convicted on five corruption charges, including taking a bribe and attempted extortion, and faces up to 60 years in prison.

I’ll use the Hartford Courant as a linked resource for those interested in reviewing the history of the case. It all seems to revolve around a mayor who had about $40,000 in personal home improvements completed by a local contractor who had been awarded a city contract or two.

Perez never paid for the work done on his home until after he caught wind of the investigation when he eventually started paying the contractor for the work … two years later.

Here is the story timeline and a collection of past stories from the Courant.

Of course, race is part of the story, since the lawyers began expressing concern about the racial make-up of the jury back in April. Makes me sick…

I may put a poll up for the weekend, but in the comments let us know if you think Perez should resign.

Update: More from the Hartford Courant, with my emphasis in bold. On his way out of the courtroom, there was a report Perez would be making a

Perez was charged with receiving a bribe, fabricating evidence, accessory to the fabrication of evidence, conspiracy to fabricate evidence, conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny by extortion and criminal attempt to commit first-degree larceny by extortion in the trial that began May 12. The only charge Perez was not convicted of is fabricating evidence.

The maximum sentence Perez could receive is 60 years. On the individual charges, the maximum sentences are up to 10 years for receiving a bribe; up to 5 years for fabricating evidence; up to 5 years for accessory to fabrication; up to 5 years for conspiracy to fabricate evidence; up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny; and up to 20 years for criminal attempt to commit larceny.

In final arguments the this week the prosecutor said that the mayor abused his power and hurt the people of Hartford by taking a bribe in the form of free home remodeling work and trying to extort a payoff on behalf of a political ally, the prosecutor said in his final argument Wednesday in the mayor’s corruption case.

Defense attorney Hubert Santos acknowledged that the mayor showed bad judgment in some instances, lied to an investigator, and was distracted by his wife’s illness, but maintained that there was no corrupt agreement with the city contractor who did the home renovations, and no attempt to facilitate a payoff to North End politician Abraham Giles.

Update2: Doug Powers at Michelle Malkin’s blog notes the AP story about the Perez conviction does not mention his party affiliation at all … nowhere in the article.

Posted in

Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

9 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on June 18, 2010 at 9:56 am

    Wow!  How could there be corruption and bribery in a city controlled by one party for decades?  Who could have seen this coming?  Stunning.



  2. steadyjohn on June 18, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    He should resign immediately…



  3. Dimsdale on June 18, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    He should resign and accept the full measure of the law in his sentencing, as he is supposed to be a role model.  You don't have to be squeaky clean to be a mayor, but you should not be actively committing felonies.

     

    Considering the performances of people like Perez and Øbama, shouldn't minority groups be electing people that will shine a positive light on their groups?

     

    Maybe we should just elect competent people regardless of their race.  Duh.



  4. ali-t on June 18, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    Book'm Danno.



  5. Enlightener on June 19, 2010 at 4:59 am

    Wanted: Hartford- One Mayor who can drive himself. Must show vaild CT driver's license and birth certificate. Err… Forget the birth certificate. Just say that you are for HOPE AND CHANGE. Must demonstrate experience in getting money from the other guy. Must hold an advanced degree in B. S.

    Salary- As much as you can get. The minority applicant is the majority applicant.

    For spanish version please scroll down.



  6. JollyRoger on June 19, 2010 at 7:00 am

    This, is all Bush's fault!  It's complicated. I'm sure Rick Green will tell us all about it in the Hartford Courant…



  7. Anne-EH on June 19, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    Hartford DESERVES BETTER then this and I hope it gets a fresh start with a new mayor.



  8. phil on June 20, 2010 at 4:39 am

    Let me try again…  Why does it take us so long to recognize the stench of political corruption?  Just askin', is all.



    • Dimsdale on June 20, 2010 at 5:32 pm

      It's like living next to a slaughterhouse: eventually, you get used to the stench.  And if they hand you free sausages, you get used to it faster.



frontpg-eddie-perez

The website's content and articles were migrated to a new framework in October 2023. You may see [shortcodes in brackets] that do not make any sense. Please ignore that stuff. We may fix it at some point, but we do not have the time now.

You'll also note comments migrated over may have misplaced question marks and missing spaces. All comments were migrated, but trackbacks may not show.

The site is not broken.