The former top lawyer of Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra is asking the city’s ethics commission to weigh in on whether it was wrong for her relatives to have worked at city hall while she had a high-ranking position.
In a letter sent on Wednesday, Saundra Kee Borges pushed back against a report by city auditors that suggested that she inappropriately influenced the hiring of her son, her daughter-in-law, and others related to her fiancé, firefighter Terry Waller.
Kee Borges writes that she didn’t supervise her family, didn’t make sure their applications were in order, and didn’t have any input on their selection.
“I was never the hiring or appointing authority for any of these employees,” Kee Borges wrote. “Any sign off by me as alleged was done solely in my role as Acting COO or Acting HR Director…”
Borges also said that she’s not the only city employee with relatives who also work at city hall.
“City employees at all levels of government have relatives who also work for the City, in many cases in the same department,” Borges wrote.
In an interview, Borges said that Segarra knew her son worked for city hall.
“Everybody knew,” she said, in part because her son was involved in an incident that ended up with Kee Borges and Waller in the press.
The news of the audit broke on Tuesday, and Segarra’s own investigation uncovered still more people related to Borges and Waller who worked for the city. In response, the mayor said the city should strive to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
“While legally there may be no issue, the appearance of any favoritism being shown for hiring is just as disparaging,” he said in an internal email.
Nepotism has been an issue that has dogged Segarra’s time in office. A few years back, we reported that the wife of city Treasurer Adam Cloud worked in Cloud’s office. It was an issue that caused tension between Segarra and Cloud. Theissue has worked its way through several administrative hearings. Cloud’s wife apparently still works in the office – though, in 2013, he said she doesn’t report to him. We’ve asked for an update from Cloud.
Meanwhile, it’s an election year, which means Segarra is also being criticized by those who would have his job. In a statement, Democratic challenger Luke Bronin asked this question:
What’s the point of having a nepotism policy if your chief legal advisor is among the chief violators of that policy?
Although, on that point, Segarra’s human resources director disagrees. In a letter to the mayor, he said that “none of the above mentioned hires [is] a violation of the City’s nepotism policy.”
In an interview, Bronin said the issue is bigger than a policy pronouncement against nepotism.
“It’s not just about changing a practice,” he said. “It’s about holding your most senior team accountable. You don’t have to change any collective bargaining agreements to set the tone from the top that there’s an expectation that your corporation counsel is going to tell you when a member of their family, or multiple members of their family, are getting jobs.”
UPDATE: Democratic candidate John Gale also weighed in with a statement. He said Segarra "came to office on the heels of a ethically corrupt predecessor but can't seem to lift the office out of the mud. This is just another example of why Hartford doesn't need career politicians who care more about their friends profiting than our residences prospering."