here is the KING of hartford in full action
Perez Makes Parking Deal Critics See Political Patronage In Parking Contract
By DANIEL E. GOREN Courant Staff Writer February 3 2007
Despite interest from the city's own parking authority, the administration of Mayor Eddie A. Perez recently awarded a potentially lucrative contract to manage a city-owned parking lot to a longtime political power broker in the city's North End.The agreement - signed by Perez without the knowledge of the city council or a formal bidding process - transfers the management of a 3-acre surface parking lot downtown to a company run by former state Rep. Abraham L. Giles.The agreement was signed in November 2006 despite a request months earlier by the Hartford Parking Authority to discuss taking over management of the lot.According to critics of the mayor, the contract appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to lock up political support. Giles, political insiders say, controls key votes on the city's Democratic town committee and exerts strong influence in the predominantly black 5th House District, a constituency Perez needs as he seeks re-election this year.Former state Sen. Frank Barrows, who is running against Perez in the 2007 election, said the contract represents everything that is "wrong with politics in this city.""That's Hartford for you," said Barrows. "My old saying is that you can buy someone's soul if you buy them a chicken dinner, and that is one chicken dinner right there."Parking in downtown Hartford has long been a rich source of political patronage. In the late 1990s, the state went so far as to stop funding any new parking garages until the city changed its laws, removing the city manager as the highest parking power and establishing a parking authority...........
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