WHY I SUPPORT REP. MINNIE GONZALEZ AND CONDEMN THE HARTFORD COURANT!

In a recent October 24, 2014 editorial regarding candidates who are running for political office, The Hartford Courant lashed out against Rep. Minnie Gonzalez who is running for the third house district. 

In its statement opposing Rep. Gonzalez, Hartford Courant editors justified their position as follows:  "This year, as a Judiciary Committee member, she's voted against the reappointment of at least a dozen respected judges in her bitter campaign for family court reform." 

Now wait just a minute--I have some serious problems with the adjectives that The Hartford Courant is throwing around here.  For example, "a dozen respected judges"?  Respected?  Is The Hartford Courant sure about that defining word "respected"?  Where did The Hartford Courant obtain its information on whether these judges were respected or not? 

I would suspect they didn't investigate those facts at all.  I'd suspect they just linked the word "respected" with judges the same way the rest of us join the word "Merry" with Christmas at certain times of the year.  Just because words seem to go along with one another euphoniously speaking, that doesn't actually mean they do in reality.  The Hartford Courant should really think about that.  Many Family Court litigants had reported to the State Legislature that the judges Rep. Minnie Gonzalez criticized had violated their professional ethics and had acted arbitrarily and maliciously.  Before making any statements implying the contrary, The Hartford Courant should actually investigate these accusations.  I, for one, seriously doubt that it did. 

Let us also consider the use of the word "bitter" in connection to the concept of the campaign for Family Court reform.  Bitter for whom?  As a person who played a central role in the campaign for Family Court reform let me just say right now I never found it bitter.  I can think of some other adjectives such as "liberating", "Validating", "Empowering", perhaps "Inspiring"!  The only people for whom the Family Court reform movement was "bitter" were the criminal elements who were being exposed--perhaps some of the "respected" Family Court judges The Hartford Courant previously mentioned. 

Let me tell you about the Rep. Minnie Gonzalez I know.  A few years ago, I received a phone call from Keith Harmon Snow, a well known investigative journalist who wrote about the corruption of the Connecticut Family Court System in the cogent and thoroughly researched article "A Life Sentence" which appeared online in May 2012. 

He invited me to meet with Rep. Minnie Gonzalez along with several other protective mothers, the majority of whom had lost custody and, for most, all access to their children based upon fraudulent and deceitful Family Court proceedings.  During the course of this meeting which lasted for at least three hours, Rep. Minnie Gonzalez listened patiently to each one of these mothers tell their story about what had happened to her.  Not only did she listen but she expressed her concern and compassion for the pain and suffering these mothers had endured, while at the same time asking intelligent and probing questions to discover why the judicial system had failed them. 

A few months later, we had another such meeting where additional mothers met with Rep. Minnie Gonzalez and told their stories of the pain and horror which they had endured from the abusive Connecticut Family Court system. 

Since that time, I am aware that Rep. Minnie Gonzalez has literally spoken with hundreds and hundreds of victims of Connecticut Family Court abuse and corruption, both Mothers and Fathers.  At a certain point, I am aware that Rep. Minnie Gonzalez offered to actually review all of the documentation that these parents had in regard to the Family Court abuses they had experienced. 

In response, she received a deluge of documentation from litigants throughout the state who had written evidence of the corruption and fraud they experienced in Family Court.

As a result of so many Connecticut citizens coming to her for help in dealing with Family Court corruption, Rep. Gonzalez eventually came to the point where she devolved into the unofficial spokesperson for our movement.  As she  herself has stated frequently, this is not something she volunteered for, and she is unlikely to benefit from it personally.  But her innate sense of justice and her fundamental opposition to corruption placed her there, no matter how reluctant she may be personally to take on such a prominent role in connection to such a difficult and problematic issue. 

The Hartford Courant may object to Rep. Minnie Gonzalez opposition to some judges, or to her broad ranging critique of the Family Court system.  But the editors should keep in mind that when Minnie Gonzalez spoke up, she cited direct conversations with litigants.  She held up documents parents had given her which specifically showed evidence of the abuses she spoke of.  She didn't just talk off the top of her head. She did her homework, she proceeded with a thorough investigation and then she confronted the legislature with the results. 

That is what I would call being a highly successful, well qualified, thoroughly efficient legislator. 

So what is going on with The Hartford Courant?  How could it be so wrong in regard to such an important matter?  Why is it wrong on Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, wrong on incompetent and arrogant Family Court judges, and soft on Connecticut Family Court injustice and corruption? 

There is actually a good answer to that question. 

As I understand it, the media is supposed to be "the fourth estate" which acts as a watchdog to ensure the proper conduct of the other branches of government.  In the word of one expert, "Access to information from the media is essential to the health of democracy for at least two reasons. First, it ensures that citizens make responsible, informed choices rather than acting out of ignorance or misinformation. Second, information serves a "checking function" by ensuring that elected representatives uphold their oaths of office and carry out the wishes of those who elected them.  In the United States, the media is often called the fourth branch of government (or "fourth estate"). That's because it monitors the political process in order to ensure that political players don't abuse the democratic process." 

So why isn't The Hartford Courant, let alone other Connecticut media, playing this critical watchdog role in regard to the Connecticut Judicial Branch?  Why is our Connecticut media pretty much giving the Judicial Branch a free pass to carry out whatever nonsense it cares to? 

The answer is that Judges, Attorneys, and Employees of the Connecticut Judicial Branch have systematically cultivated friendships with highly placed media executives and journalists.  These friendships have developed to the point where the media in Connecticut has come to believe that it has a greater obligation to defend the Connecticut Judicial Branch from all potential challengers rather than investigate and critique it on behalf of the citizens of the State of Connecticut which it has a fundamental obligation to serve.

I know that at this point you are probably curious to know how this media shift in perspective from outsider to insider took place. 

What happened is that in 2007, Judge Chase T. Rogers established the Judicial-Media Committee to discuss media access to Connecticut Judicial Branch legal proceedings and records.  The founding documents for this Committee state the following, "The goals of the Judicial-Media Committee are to foster and improve better understanding and relationships between the Judicial Branch and the media, both print and electronic, and to discuss and recommend resolutions of problems confronted by the media and the public in gaining access to court proceedings and documents." 

If you think this sounds like the basis for a judicial branch-media mutual admiration society, I would suspect you are correct. 

The bottom line is, if the media has the legal right to access to legal proceedings and documents, that would be something their lawyers would need to attend to.  But instead, what actually happened is that the Connecticut Judicial Branch arranged for ongoing friendly meetings over a period of seven years sometimes at the offices of one of the media moguls and sometimes at the Judicial Branch.  Clearly, these meetings were fundamentally unnecessary and intended solely for the purpose of skewing the opinions of media leadership in the direction of the Connecticut Judicial Branch. 

Some of the big media names involved in this Committee are as follows:  G. Claude Albert, Managing Editor, The Hartford Courant (retired); Tom Appleby, General Manager and News Director, News 12 Connecticut; Karen Florin, Staff Writer, The Day of New London; Eric Parker, Morning News Anchor, Reporter, WFSB, Channel 3; Chris Powell, Managing Editor, Journal Inquirer;  Thomas Scheffey, Connecticut Law Tribune, editorial board;  Nancy Schoeffler, Editor, Metro Desk, The Hartford Courant; Paul Giguere, President & CEO, Connecticut Network; Michael St. Peter, News Director, WVIT-TV Channel 30;  Kirk Varner, Vice President & News Director, WTNH-TV Channel 8;  Dave Ward, Assignment Editor, WFSB-TV, Channel 3; John Long, Photographer, retired from The Hartford Courant; Ken Margolfo, Assignment Manager, WTIC-TV Fox 61; Melissa Bailey, Managing Editor of the New Haven Independent. 

As you can see, this is an extraordinary lineup of media industry leaders and stars many of whom for a period of seven years conducted regular meetings with judges, attorneys, and judicial branch employees and essentially cemented relationships that could not help but be wide ranging and influential. 

This represents unprecedented access to opinion makers and information gatekeepers solely gathered for the benefit of the Connecticut Judicial Branch.  Those of us who are working for the reform of the Connecticut Judicial Branch had nothing like such access whatsoever and, as a result, have not been able to get the media to cover our stories and work with us for fundamental reforms that the legal system desperately needs. 

In  essence, what this amounts to is that the Connecticut Judicial Branch used its superior power and influence and its control over information sources that the media desperately wanted access to in order to win over the media and shut down any criticism the media might raise of its fraudulent and criminal activities. 

It is a strategy that is both brilliant and, at the same time, fundamentally in opposition to our nation's democratic principles. 

The result is that The Hartford Courant as well as other media outlets in the State of Connecticut have reneged on their professional responsibility to speak up about the many abuses of Connecticut Family Court.   Even worse, the media in Connecticut has  colluded in a conspiracy to deny the wrongdoing and act as apologists for the criminal actions of Family Court judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals. 

Thus, it is the Connecticut media we rightly condemn for their collusion with corruption and injustice. 

In contrast, Rep. Minnie Gonzalez has alone, among the many, fought for the vulnerable, the downtrodden, and the terribly wronged victims of family court.  I urge all of her supporters to do whatever they can to make sure that she is reelected for another term. 

ATTORNEY ROBIN YEAMAN CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT CORRUPT FAMILY COURT, WE IN CONNECTICUT ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME SITUATION!

RIDGEFIELD PROTECTIVE MOTHER FIGHTS BACK AGAINST GAL SHARON DORNFELD!

NEWSTIMES reports as follows:
 
"RIDGEFIED -- Following an acrimonious divorce, Rosemary Alfredo and her ex-husband couldn't agree whether their then 23-year-old daughter, Collette, who has Down syndrome, should move with her to Boston.

Alfredo felt her daughter, who holds a job and graduated from a special college for students with intellectual disabilities, could live independently there, with help from more comprehensive Massachusetts social services.                                                               


Her father disagreed, arguing Collette should be placed in a group home in Ridgefield.                                                               


So the couple went to Probate Court, where Judge Joseph Egan eventually appointed a guardian ad litem, Danbury attorney Sharon Dornfeld, to represent Collette's interests and make recommendations to the judge about the move.


Alfredo at first welcomed the appointment.                                                                 


"I thought it was better than dealing with my ex-husband," she said.                                                                
In May, Alfredo found a place in Boston, hoping to move there permanently with Collette. In July, the court allowed Collette to stay there temporarily, with a final decision pending an assessment by state-appointed experts.


But on Oct. 10, the judge gave Alfredo 10 days to return Collette to Connecticut to live with her father, Daniel DiVitto, in Ridgefield.                                                                
"The court is trying to take my daughter away against her will and put her somewhere where she doesn't want to be," Alfredo said."


For more information on this case, please click on the link below: 


http://m.newstimes.com/local/article/Ridgefield-mother-claims-abuse-in-court-appointed-5845833.php

ANNE STEVENSON JOINS WITH ATTORNEY LISA HUNT ON MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING FAMILY COURT!

Anne Stevenson in coordination with Attorney Lisa Hunt report as follows on Commdiginews:

"CONNECTICUT, October 22, 2014 — When pop-star Usher Raymond won sole custody of his two youngest sons, his family court case received international attention.

The outcome of Raymond vs. Raymond was not unique.

Fit, loving, capable parents like Tameka Raymond are losing custody of their children every day in family courts for the same reason that Tameka lost custody; their cases are tainted by money, power and influence.

Next month, court industry experts from around the country will meet at a family law reform conference in Arlington, Virginia to discuss possible solutions to improve the way the courts do business."

For more information, please read more at the link below:

http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/commentary/divorce-corp-conference-seeks-solutions-to-family-court-problems-28335/#FgbvyqPT24xUyV8D.99

NEWLY FILED LAWSUIT EXPOSES CORRUPT ATMOSPHERE IN NEW HAVEN FBI OFFICE! SEE NEW HAVEN REGISTER ARTICLE!

The New Haven Register reports as follows:

"HARTFORD >> FBI bosses retaliated against an agent for complaining about personnel decisions, managed by fear and were so dysfunctional that the bureau’s director apologized to the Connecticut staff for problems with local leadership, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

The agent, Kurt Siuzdak, is a lawyer and 17-year veteran of the bureau who worked in New York City and as a legal attache in Iraq before joining the New Haven field office in 2009.

In his lawsuit, Siuzdak said he was subjected to a baseless investigation when he complained he was passed over for supervisory positions. His wife, Heather Clinton, said in an interview that her husband was reluctant to publicize internal FBI disputes but saw no other way to address what they see as abuses by managers who allow social affiliations to influence promotion decisions."

For more information on this topic, see the link below:

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20141020/connecticut-fbi-agent-alleges-abuses-mismanagement-at-new-haven-office

Perhaps this report of corruption explains the FBI lack of action in regard to the fraud and racketeering associated with the AFCC infiltration of the judicial branch.  Apparently, the FBI thinks it is acceptable to ignore the AFCC's pattern of handing out plum GAL and Custody Evaluation assignments to its members. 


Further, it may explain the FBI's indifference to reports it has received regarding family court attorneys who have been defrauding their clients to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars.  Even when the FBI is perfectly aware of these activities and has received multiple complaints from various individuals, it still does nothing.


When the FBI becomes indifferent to its responsibility to uphold and protect American citizens, we have to wonder whether it is simply a self centered agency solely focused on perpetuating itself rather than actually meeting its obligations.  

EXCERPT FROM KEN DIXON'S 2010 ARTICLE IN THE HARTFORD COURANT SAYS IT ALL WHEN IT COMES TO TOM FOLEY'S LEGAL ABUSE OF HIS EX-WIFE!

"But in a transcript of a child-support hearing from December of 1991, Samuel V. Schoonmaker III, her [Lisa Foley's] lawyer at the time, described the protracted divorce litigation as a power game.

 

"She's [Lisa foley] got $60,000 to her name and he's got $39 million by his own admission and this fellow gets up there and he adopts the self-righteous, arrogant, dictatorial attitude, which is the only way I can characterize it," Schoonmaker said. "This whole hearing has nothing to do with money. This hearing has to do with control."

 

This is not a man who has the maturity to lead the State of Connecticut.

THOMAS FOLEY A GOVERNMENT INSIDER WHO ABUSED HIS EX WIFE--CERTAINLY NOT QUALIFIED FOR PUBLIC OFFICE!

EXERPT FROM KEITH HARMON SNOW'S GROUNDBREAKING ARTICLE ON THE CORRUPTION OF CONNECTICUT'S FAMILY COURT SYSTEM ENTITLED "A LIFE SENTENCE"

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

There were two other very interesting appointments to CT Governor John G. Rowland's Commission on Custody, Divorce and Children. One of these was Thomas C. Foley, a member of the elite upper class in America. At the time of his appointment to co-chair the Commission, Thomas Foley was himself involved in a very contentious divorce.

Thomas C. Foley has deep political connections. According to his biography posted on the web pages of Foley's investment bank, NTC Group: From August, 2003 through March, 2004, Thomas C. Foley served in Iraq as the Director of Private Sector Development for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Thomas C. Foley's responsibilities included overseeing most of Iraq's 192 state-owned enterprises, stimulating private sector growth, developing foreign trade and investment, and overseeing three state ministries. Thomas C. Foley received the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award in June 2004 for his service in Iraq.

However, the CPA granted total immunity from law to private military and security companies (PMSCs) in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. Despite the CPA's Memorandum No. 17 -- requiring that all PMSCs must register with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior -- the number of PMSCs deployed in Iraq was unknown, and the U.S. Department of Defense and CPA estimated some 60 PMSCs employing between 20,000 and 25,000 mercenaries in 2004 and 2005. CPA Memorandum No. 17 also protected private military companies from all prosecution. Thus, the CPA is responsible for mass war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq.

The CPA also organized the destruction and plunder of Iraq -- what Vanity Fair magazine called 'a sump for American and Iraqi money as it disappeared into the hands of Iraqi ministries and American contractors'. One of three top CPA executives, Thomas C. Foley described Iraq as a modern 'California gold rush'. The CPA was dissolved in June 2004, leaving at least $10 billion in U.S. taxpayers money unaccounted for, and billions more siphoned off through fraudulent contracts to GOP and Bush family favored companies. (See: The Privatization of Warfare, Violence and Private Military & Security Companies: A factual and legal approach to human rights abuses by PMSCs in Iraq, 2011.)

From 2006 to 2009, Thomas C. Foley was the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, appointed by President George W. Bush as a reward for backing the election of President George W. Bush. In June 2010, Thomas C. Foley was the GOP-endorsed candidate for governor against now-seated democrat Governor Dannel Malloy, a campaign he spent $10 million on, and lost.

Thomas C. Foley graduated from Harvard Business School, and before long he was making his fortune as an investment banker on Wall Street. Thomas C. Foley managed the mid-1990s leveraged buyout and bankrupting of the Bibb Corporation of Macon GA. After this killing his reported worth was about $200 million. He reportedly has an $8,000,000 estate in Greenwich CT. He funded CT Governor Rowland's campaign, and was therefore a shoe-in for placement on the Rowland Commission on Custody, Divorce and Children.

Thomas C. Foley's bio indicates that he served "in two Connecticut State Commissions involving education and children's rights."

However, Thomas C. Foley's 2010 gubernatorial campaign was marred by the sudden appearance of reports revealing his unethical behavior and the impropriety of his position on former governor Rowland's Commission on Custody, Divorce and Children.

"It was late 2001, and Thomas C. Foley, a Greenwich investor and a major Republican Party fundraiser, was immersed in a contentious and protracted battle with his ex-wife for custody of their 11-year-old son," wrote Ken Dixon in the CT Post. "When he heard that Gov. John G. Rowland was setting up a task force to examine the state's divorce and child custody laws, Foley asked to be on the panel. Later, Rowland also would appoint to the panel a Greenwich psychologist [Dr. Jerry Brodlie] who had sided with Foley in his legal fight to obtain sole custody of his son."

"Thomas [Jr.] was exactly a year old when Tom walked out on us," says Lisa Foley. "I received alimony of $25,000 a year per our pre nuptial agreement, so he wanted to leave on the anniversary of our 2nd year so I would only get $50,000 a year which is what I got. He left the exact day before it would have forced a third year of alimony. He left a note saying he was leaving and then sent roses saying happy anniversary. I sent them back with the delivery guy."

Lisa Foley filed for divorce in 1991, when their son Thomas C. Foley Jr. was one year old. The divorce was concluded in 1994, but the custody battle dragged on to 2006. Custody evaluators included Dr. Jerry Brodlie, Dr. Donald Tolles and Dr. Albert Solnit (d. 2002), a former psychologist at the Yale Child Study Center.

"Tom's ability to be a better parent because of his money and desire to raise [our son] Thomas in a completely white moneyed private school environment in Greenwich versus my desire to raise him in a multicultural environment at a public school was used against me," says Lisa Foley. "To do so, without seeming prejudiced, they insinuated that I was emotionally unstable and a borderline personality -- which was a grave diagnosis. We were told to visit therapists, which I did and I shared who I am and Tom refused. Thus, I was sick. I noticed this is similar with the other moms [like Sunny Kelley]. Sharing ourselves was used against us."

A few years after he served as the Foley's family therapist, Dr. Jerry Brodlie was appointed to sit on Governor Rowland's special Commission on Custody, Divorce and Children, co-chaired by Thomas Foley. Dr. Brodlie is today head of the psychology department at Greenwich Hospital.

"I was being unreasonable asking for joint custody, but my husband was asking for sole custody," says Lisa Foley. "Our court-appointed psychologist was Dr. Jerry Brodlie and we saw him for a year. I paid $20,000 to Brodlie and Tom paid another $20,000 and then Brodlie was appointed by Tom to be his right hand man on the [Rowland] Commission. It was a huge conflict of interest while we were appearing in family court."

Meanwhile, Lisa Foley was volunteering as a family counselor to help women with domestic violence in court, but she was 'fired' because it was a 'conflict of interest' to be working in the courts, even as a volunteer, when her custody case was ongoing.

Another court-appointed evaluator was Dr. Albert Solnit, the co-author of the groundbreaking 1970's book, The Best Interests of the Child: The Least Detrimental Alternative. This book set the stage for many of the 'Father's Rights' movement theories like PAS and the concomitant judicial abuses that now permeate Family Courts. The 1979 film 'Kramer vs. Kramer' provided another popular vehicle to help advance the 'Father's Rights' movement. The language "In the Best Interests of the Child" was codified in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified November 1989.

Both Dr. Jerry Brodlie and Dr. Albert Solnit also favored sole custody by Thomas C. Foley against his wife Grace Elizabeth (Lisa) McCowan Foley. During their trial, Lisa Foley was further humiliated by the appearance in court of Dr. Solnit and his students -- a real life demonstration of how his (quack) psychological theories were put into in practice to appropriately (sic) dispense with a difficult mother.

The custody evaluation of Dr. Donald Tolles was based in part on the previous custody evaluation of Dr. Brodlie, with attention to the claim that Lisa Foley "exhibits the signs and symptoms of a borderline personality, becoming irrational at times."

"Ms. Foley has a warm, loving relationship with [her son] Thomas," Dr. Donald Tolles wrote in his custody study of June 5, 1992. "Ms. Foley's values are different from Mr. Foley's, especially as it concerns education. She wants [son] Thomas to be raised in a heterogeneous community... and to attend public schools. She explains that if [son] Thomas resides primarily with her, he will be exposed to people from different cultures and ethnic groups. She is concerned that if Thomas lives in Greenwich and attends private schools, he will become an elitist like his father."

Dr. Donald Tolles recommended that custody of [son] Thomas be granted to his father, and that the mother be granted liberal and flexible access.

When Lisa Foley learned that her ex-husband had been appointed to co-chair Governor Rowland's Commission on Custody, Divorce and Children she met with Ann George, Rowland's Hartford attorney, and hand-delivered a large file of documents. Included in these were documents claiming that Thomas Foley was controlling and abusive.

"She promised to return [it] to me, but she never did, even after repeated calls. It was obviously buried somewhere and then unearthed by a reporter during the campaign. Tom accused me of giving the file to the reporter, which I did not. He also told our son that and this caused problems. Tom accused me of being the reason he lost the election."

The file delivered by Lisa Foley to contest Foley's appointment on the Rowland Commission for Custody, Divorce and Children surfaced in 2010, and this generated negative publicity that hurt Foley's gubernatorial bid. Thomas Foley then produced a letter signed by Lisa Foley in 2006, claiming that there had never been any domestic violence in their relationship.

"My former husband is a control freak. As soon as we got married he started posting rules about how I was supposed to behave. It was awful. It was hell. We lived together for five years but our marriage only lasted two years. I had my son at 38, and then after my son was born the rules were impossible.... He felt that if he was paying the bills, I should behave the way he wanted me to behave. And he was righteous."

Lisa Foley describes Thomas Foley as a violent, narcissistic egomaniac. In the file delivered to Rowland's attorney was a newspaper clipping about Tom Foley, long before he was married. In 1981, twenty-nine year old Thomas C. Foley was arrested and charged with first-degree attempted assault after he allegedly rammed a vehicle and terrorized its occupants.

"This clipping was sent to me anonymously when Tom ran me and my one year-old son off the road in Greenwich. Tom was in a fury because we were going to NYC to visit my best friend without his permission. This was his controlling personality. A passing car saw me yelling for help from my window and called the police at which point Tom returned home. I had to go to the police station and file a report and then we continued to the city. Early the next morning the police called to demand my return saying Mr. Foley had filed a report [charging that] I had tried to run him over in his driveway and that is why he chased me. This is a total lie. I was taken to criminal court to be put in jail for attempted grave bodily harm to him. Fortunately the Judge believed me and released me. Tom was never charged with anything. But the report of domestic violence was put in the paper and the former victim obviously saw it and sent me the clipping."

According to CT Post writer Ken Dixon, Samuel V. Schoonmaker III, Lisa Foley's attorney during a child-support hearing from December of 1991, described the protracted divorce litigation as a power game. "She's got $60,000 to her name and he's got $39 million by his own admission and this fellow gets up there and he adopts the self-righteous, arrogant, dictatorial attitude, which is the only way I can characterize it," Ken Dixon reported attorney Schoonmaker to say. "This whole hearing has nothing to do with money. This hearing has to do with control."

The Judge in the case of Grace (Lisa) Foley v. Thomas Foley in June 1992, was Anne Dranginis, the future co-chairperson of the Rowland Commission on Custody, Divorce and Children, a position she shared with Thomas Foley.

"The court ordered us to see Jerry Brodlie to decide custody," says Lisa Foley. "I told him everything -- I'm a very forthright person. Basically, I should have gone in there and said I was great, no problems, but I was sad about the dissolution of our marriage. My reality and emotional distress was used to say that I had a borderline personality disorder."

Thomas Foley's second marriage was to Leslie Fahrenkopf, the daughter of Frank Fahrenkopf, former Republican National Committee chairman. From 2003 to 2008 Leslie Fahrenkopf was an associate counsel to President George W. Bush in the Office of White House Counsel. Prior to the Fahrenkopf marriage, Thomas Foley lived together for five years with CT Judiciary Committee member Themis Klarides.

In February 2012, the CT Judiciary Committee held public hearings on the confirmation of nominees for new or returning judges. One of the newly confirmed judges is Maureen Murphy, former GAL in Liberti v. Liberti. While the Judiciary Committee heard ample public testimony about the judicial abuse involving Murphy, her appointment was confirmed with very little resistance.

 

Thomas Foley financially supports the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, and he runs it. He reportedly plans to run for governor of CT again in 2014.

"He was always verbally abusive," says Lisa Foley. "I was red neck white trash. I didn't want any servants. I didn't want the mansion. The one thing that money did for me was to make me hate it. It doesn't make you happy."

The other very interesting appointment to Governor Rowland's special Commission on Divorce, Custody and Children, a friend of Thomas C. Foley, was Pat (Patsy) D'Angelo, one of the original members of an organization called Divorced Men of Connecticut. Attorney Louis Kiefer was one of the founders. Mr. D'Angelo also at one time was coordinator of the state chapter of the national Children's Rights Council (CRC), an umbrella organization for 'Father's Rights' groups that protect abusive men and punish good mothers.