Blumenthal Uses New Corruption Statute Against Perez; Sad City Applauds.

Attorney General and Senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal has filed suit to block convicted former Mayor Eddie Perez from receiving his pension. The suit is the first time the anti-corruption law has been invoked since it was passed after the corruption scandal of ex-Governor John Rowland. The Hartford Courant's Jenna Carlesso quotes Blumenthal

"The law requires that action be taken and my office is fulfilling its legal duty in requesting that the court revoke or reduce Mr. Perez's taxpayer-funded pension in light of his conviction and sentencing for violating a public trust," Blumenthal said. "Certainly, the court must consider the conviction a betrayal and misuse of public office and the message it is sending."

For a better understanding of the new law being invoked against Perez, here is an earlier Sad City post breaking it down.;

Attorney General/Senatorial Candidate Richard Blumenthal, busy dodging steel chairs from Linda McMahon, still has time to perform his AG duties and announced he will go after convicted Ex-Mayor Eddie Perez's pension. Blumenthal will try to revoke/reduce the pension under a new law enacted after the conviction of also disgraced politician, former Governer John Rowland.

The Hartford Courant has reported that Perez, 53, could start drawing a pension of $25,000 per year at age 55 and $31,000 at age 60. Blumenthal will test Connecticut General Statute 1-110a, which allows for the Superior Court to revoke or reduce the pension of a convicted city official based on four factors. The factors that the court will need to consider are;

(1) the severity of the crime as related to the office (bribery and extortion - pretty serious for a city mayor)

(2) the amount of money lost by the municipality (likely in the millions from awarding contracts to unfit contractors and other shenanigans)

(3) the degree of public trust placed in the person (ugghh...highest city elected official) and

(4) if the crime was part of a fraudulent scheme against the municipality (guilty).

Today the average age a 53 year old male will reach is nearly 79. That works out to $794,000 of your tax dollars that would be paid to a Mayor who has already stole untold monies from the City. Let's just hope that the Superior Court will drop the hammer and put some teeth into the new law. It's a hard road back for Hartford even without elected officials pillaging city coffers.