Wooden By Name, Wooden By Nature.
Many people possess high hopes for Hartford Democrat Shawn Wooden’s campaign for mayor of Hartford this year. They may adjust them after Wooden’s embarrassing debut on Sunday’s Face the State.
Wooden should not have been surprised by the first question. It was the classic, “Why do you want to be [insert office here]? Mercy, the Day Pitney lawyer seemed stumped. He rambled like he was trying to pad his billable hours. It got worse. Wooden, who has done well with early fundraising, offered a river of generalities in what ails Hartford and how he’d fix them.
The lowest moment came when Wooden tried to dance around the conviction of disgraced former Hartford mayor Eddie Perez. He would not say if he believed the Perez verdict was fair because, after all, he was never in the courtroom during the trial.
During his halting performance, Wooden promised to provide “serious, meaningful” leadership. His potential to do that was not on display during 12 1/2 painful minutes with Dennis House.
4 comments
I totally agree. mr. Wooden being “wooden” was one thing but the guy was like a “deer in the headlights” and an empty suit at the same time. That, I dare say, takes effort!! If this is the best in “leadership” that Hartford has to offer, now we know why….
I watched the link of the interview. Yikes.
Wooden states he will restore “Ethics to Hartford” but how when he violated ethics policy, failed to return the per diem when he resigned last year ………
Furthermore, since this case ended in January of 2010, it has come to the attention of plaintiff that former Board member Shawn T. Wooden was ineligible at the time he sat on the Board because either during or just previous to his tenure he was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, in violation of the restrictions on Board eligibility pursuant to 1-80, et seq. Upon information and belief, Mr. Wooden’s spouse is employed at UCHC. He did not disclose the potential conflict.
The fact that Mr.Wooden no longer includes his term on the Citizens’ Ethics Advisory Board for the Office of State Ethics in his bio is a question in itself.
According to C.G.S. 1-80(h), the “members and employees of the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board and the Office of State Ethics shall adhere to the following code of ethics under which the members and employees shall: (1) Observe the high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board and the Office of State Ethics may be preserved; (2) respect and comply with the law and conduct themselves at all times in a manner which promoted public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the board and the Office of State Ethics; (3) be faithful to the law and
maintain professional competence in the law; (4) be unswayed by partisan interests, public clamor or fear of criticism; [and] (11) represent that board and Office of State Ethics competently.” Given the position of the Board relative to this litigation, it would seem that several provisions of the aforementioned statue have been ignored and violated.
Seems like we need to keep looking for someone to restore Ethics to Hartford, Wooden is not the man for the job.
The full appeal brief can be found :DKT # HHB-CV-10-6003844-
[…] there’s Kevin Rennie — who watched Shawn Wooden’s appearance on WFSB’s Face the State and, apparently, wasn’t […]