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Hearing Set On Report Disclosure

Jeffrey B. Cohen

July 13, 2009

Hartford- A state court judge is scheduled to hold a hearing today on whether to make public his long-awaited final report in the grand jury investigation of Mayor Eddie A. Perez.

Last week, as rumors swirled through city hall, several attorneys representing clients involved in the inquiry said they had been asked to appear at Superior Court in New Britain today to argue whether the report should be sealed.

The state's investigatory grand jury spent 18 months looking into allegations of corruption at city hall. That investigation wrapped up roughly two months ago. Since then, all attention has been on Superior Court Judge Dennis Eveleigh, who is serving as the one-man grand juror. By law, Eveleigh had 60 days from the end of the investigation to file his report.

Perez was already arrested earlier this year on charges of bribery, falsifying evidence and conspiracy to falsify evidence related to allegedly discounted work done at his house by a city contractor. He has pleaded not guilty and trial is set to move forward this fall.

Unless Eveleigh affirmatively seals the report after today's hearing, the report, by law,should soon be public. He has five calendar days to rule. Regardless, it's unclear just what, if anything, will come of the report and whether Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane will seek additional arrests.

But a day after false rumors of arrests caught the attention of many at city hall, many are hoping for a speedy resolution.

"I wish by now they'd just show us what you have," said Councilman Matt Ritter. "The rumors have been so destabilizing and they've been uncivil, too. There's a lot of bad gossip out there. We want to know what we're dealing with, deal with it and move on."

Online Extra: For complete coverage of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez's bribery case visit courant.com/perez.